Page 77 of The Little Board Game Café

The five people who’d had lunch left, and she watched from a distance as Florence thrashed Mrs Scott and Mrs Sinclair at Scrabble; there was some kind of dispute about a triple letter score. And then they packed up the game and left. Emily had just decided that it was about time she cleared up when she heard the door opening again.

She went back into the café. The new arrival was Ludek.

‘Aren’t you at the surgery?’ she said. A daft thing to say. Clearly he wasn’t.

‘Lunch break.’

‘It’s after three.’

‘Late lunch break. Most days, I don’t even get one. But I wanted to talk to you. To apologise. Saturday night. I shouldn’t have kissed you. I got carried away and I shouldn’t have. It was a mistake.’

Chapter Twenty-Seven

‘A mistake? I thought…’ Emily bit her lip, fighting back tears. She scrutinised his face, but couldn’t read his expression. ‘I thought you liked me?’

‘I do like you.’

‘But not in that way? You don’t fancy me?’

Oh god. Had she misinterpreted the signs?

Had there been any signs?

Yes, she was sure there had been. Holding her gaze for a little too long. Inviting her out to dinner. Creating that Masala! game for her. A hand-made gift and now he was saying that kissing her had been a mistake?

‘You’d better take your games back.’ She gestured towards the shelves.

‘No, Emily. Please. Don’t be like that.’

‘I feel like a fool. I practically threw myself at you on Saturday, because I thought you liked me. And now you’re telling me you don’t find me attractive?’

‘No. Yes. Yes.’

He said that last ‘yes’ rather emphatically. Almost shouted it.

Confusing. He found her attractive but kissing her was a mistake?

‘You do fancy me then?’

‘Very much so.’

Emily didn’t understand. She opened her mouth to say that, but the café door opened. Julia, the woman who’d taken the last two tickets for Saturday’s launch event, appeared with a sulky-looking boy of about nine or ten, wearing a maroon school blazer and grey trousers. Presumably this was Boy George.

She had longed for customers so many times, but now she wished they would turn around and go away.

‘Hang on,’ she said to Ludek, then she fixed a smile on her face and went over to George and his mum and said, ‘Lovely to see you both. Do take a seat. Anywhere you like.’

They sat down at a corner table and Emily fetched her notebook. She wanted to serve them as quickly as possible, so she could go back to her conversation with Ludek.

‘What would you like?’ Julia said to her son.

George looked Emily squarely in the eye. ‘A mint choc chip Frostino and a Gimme S’mores cake.’

‘Please,’ Julia added.

Emily had no idea what a Frostino was. Nor a Gimme S’mores cake either. ‘I’m afraid I don’t have either of those.’

‘When Costa opens,’ said George, ‘they’ll have Gimme S’mores cakes and Frostinos.’