Page 79 of The Little Board Game Café

‘So was the event a roaring success after we left?’

Emily could hardly bring herself to tell her. ‘It was awful, Kate. During Mr B’s slideshow…’

‘I knew that slideshow was a mistake.’

‘No, it wasn’t the slideshow itself that was the problem. Marjory choked on a nut in the middle of it. I thought she was going to die. Thank god for Ludek. He did the…what’s it called?’

‘Heimlich manoeuvre.’

‘Yeah, that’s it. And she was fine. But everyone drifted off then. And then I threw myself at Ludek. Full-on snog. And he couldn’t leg it fast enough.’

‘You should have waited for him to kiss you, Em. Have I taught you nothing?’

‘No. This is the twenty-first century, Kate. Women can make the first move. Anyway, today he came to see me. Said he regretted kissing me.’

‘You see. This is because you made the first move. You’ve scared him off.’

At this, Emily swallowed her tea the wrong way, then spluttered, showering her friend, herself and the table. She coughed to clear her throat. One choking incident in a week was quite enough.

‘That’s ridiculous, Kate. I don’t buy into all that play-hard-to-get stuff.’

Kate dabbed her top with a piece of kitchen roll. ‘I think you should forget about Ludek. He’s lovely, but the games obsession…it’s a bit geeky. I’ve never liked geeky men.’

‘We’re talking about me here,’ said Emily. ‘Not you. I’m quite partial to a geek…’

‘Yes, I ’spose. Greg was a bit geeky, come to think of it.’

Emily frowned at the mention of her first love and hastily moved the conversation on. ‘And I like the games. I run a board game café, remember?’

‘Okay, so play games with him. See him as a friend. But forget about any romance. He’s made it clear he isn’t interested. Take him at his word and move on.’

*

On Tuesday morning, Emily walked down the high street on her way to the café. The shopfitters at Costa were carrying materials inside, whilst dodging the hissing white geese on guard outside the door. Emily couldn’t help hoping the geese would stay there when the coffee shop opened for business. They’d be sure to deter a few customers from going in.

She crossed over the road to peer into Sweet Delights. It was business as usual, a queue already forming at the counter.

She spent a couple of minutes perusing Oxfam’s latest window display, then ambled along the towpath to The Little Board Game Café, still wondering about Ludek. It was all very well for Kate to tell her to forget him. That was easier said than done.

She’d loved Peter, of course she had, but when they’d first met, he hadn’t set her pulse racing the way Ludek did. He didn’t occupy her mind every waking minute. She didn’t walk round town hoping to catch a glimpse of him. She’d only felt this way once before. With Greg. Emily stumbled over a tree root, and narrowly avoided falling. Greg. She didn’t want to think about him.

By the time she reached the path up to the street, she was running late. Only a few minutes, and what did it matter anyway? Her first customer of the day would be Mr B, and he never arrived before eleven.

But she was wrong. A group of workmen were standing outside the café.

They stepped aside as she approached, allowing her to open the front door.

‘Morning,’ she said. ‘Sorry I’m a little late.’

She flicked the lights on, fired up the coffee machine and put some water in one of the kettles.

‘What can I get you?’ she said, smiling at the first man in the queue. They all requested bacon or sausage butties and extra strong tea. One of them seemed familiar, but Emily couldn’t think where she’d met him before. He asked for two hard-boiled eggs and some grilled bacon instead of the butties that the others ordered.

‘I’m on a keto diet,’ he said.

Not another one, she thought. First Peter, then Kate and now … no, she really couldn’t place him.

‘Haven’t seen you lot in here before,’ she said.