Page 84 of The Little Board Game Café

It didn’t bear thinking about.

She put Annie and Costa to the back of her mind and inevitably found her thoughts wandering back to Ludek.

Soon she’d be face-to-face with him for the first time since they’d agreed just to be friends. And just being friends was the last thing she wanted. This would be awkward. Super awkward.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

We’re just going to be friends, we’re just going to be friends, Emily repeated to herself in time with the rhythm of her footsteps as she walked back to the café to open up for the group. It was her new mantra. She resolved that she wouldn’t indulge in any daydreams about him; she mustn’t stoke that flame. She wouldn’t allow seeing him again to stir up her feelings.

In the end, it was surprisingly simple. All she had to do was avoid looking at him. If she didn’t catch sight of his curly hair, his long lashes or his smile – and he didn’t smile much that evening anyway, she noticed when she did steal a tiny glance at him – then she could almost believe that she didn’t fancy him at all, that she didn’t long to run across the room and fling her arms around him.

And, of course, it helped that she’d joined the Trainspotters for a game of Ticket To Ride.

‘I need to sample a wider variety of games,’ she’d told them. ‘It helps when I’m chatting to customers.’

Emily tried to avoid making eye contact with him, but he hung back in the break, after the others had taken their mugs of tea.

‘Is something wrong?’ he said. ‘Have I offended you in some way?’

‘I’m just tired. The café has been busy this week. So busy that I’m wondering if I need to take someone on.’

‘You must make sure you have employers’ liability insurance,’ said Malcolm, returning to the counter and helping himself to a second biscuit.

Employers’ liability insurance? Emily hadn’t thought of that. And there’d be National Insurance to pay too - what a minefield! Still, not something she needed to think about just yet.

Alan joined them. ‘Are you worried about Costa opening, Em? The impact on business?’

‘Of course I am,’ said Emily. ‘I can’t think of anything else.’

Her eyes met Ludek’s.

Anything else. Except you.

*

The number of workmen coming in each morning seemed to have multiplied.

‘We’ve been spreading the word,’ said Rob as Emily served up his keto breakfast and his mates’ rolls stuffed with bacon and sausages, all dripping with ketchup. When they went back to work, she did a quick stock-take: she’d have to start ordering more food.

There was a steady stream of customers in the café every day. Emily found it exhausting; trying to take orders, make coffees, serve up food and clear the tables afterwards, but she was determined to enjoy it. Only ten days now until Costa opened, and then everything might change. What if her customers decided that the chain’s coffee was superior – it probably would be – and that her café having a few board games didn’t really make up for that?

Not everyone played the board games, she noticed. Some people just ordered coffee and cake as if it was an ordinary café; they barely looked at the games shelves. And, of course, there were others who’d borrow a game, order one pot of tea and sit playing for three hours, without buying so much as a piece of shortbread. Thankfully they were in the minority. And Emily didn’t mind, not really. It gave her a thrill to see the café full of happy people, to see children’s faces when they came in for the first time and saw the tables painted with Snakes and Ladders boards, to hear the little place buzzing with conversation and laughter.

She thought back to her first visit to Nico’s, to how she’d thought it was like the losers’ café in the Apprentice. It was full of winners now.

If only her mother could see this, could see how she’d transformed the dreary little building. Food brings people together, Mum always used to say. And board games do too, thought Emily.

*

Saturday. Five days to go. Costa had a picture and a headline in the Gazette far bigger than Emily’s had been. The local MP and a celebrity were coming to the opening. She should have thought of that for her launch event. Not the MP – she wasn’t bothered about him – but a celebrity would have been nice. It might have boosted her social media following for a start. Too late now though.

*

Four days to go. Emily walked past Sweet Delights on the way home and saw Peggy staring out of the window, an anxious look on her face. Sweet Delights had been there for years, she thought, and had a loyal clientele. Surely Peggy didn’t have anything to worry about.

*

Three days to go.