Page 99 of Love Letters on Hazel Lane

Jo followed his gaze over to the shelves, stacked high with games. ‘No Scrabble,’ she said. ‘I checked whilst I was waiting for you. A board game café – well, pizzeria – with no Scrabble.’

‘I can’t imagine why anyone would play a board game that isn’t Scrabble.’ There was a pause, then he said, ‘What happened, Jo? We became friends. We organised this massive event together and it was an enormous success and then wham! You disappear.’

Jo was about to say that he’d been the one who’d disappeared but the waitress was back again, setting the drinks down in front of them.

Razz murmured, ‘Thank you,’ then took a sip of his water. ‘That first Scrabble club after the festival… well, it was such a shame you didn’t turn up. I’d asked Annie to bake a special cake for you as a kind of thank you. For all your hard work. And to celebrate how well the festival had gone.’

‘A cake?’

‘Yeah, it was fantastic. Like a showstopper from The Great British Bake Off. With a little figurine of you on top.’

It sounded amazing, thought Jo. When was the last time anyone had baked a cake, especially for her? Not since the last time she’d spent a birthday with her parents, so long ago now that Jo couldn’t even remember when it was.

‘I’m gutted I missed that,’ she said. ‘What happened to the cake?’

‘Well, obviously we ate it. It was delicious.’

‘And the little figure of me?’

‘Cosmic wanted to eat that too but we saved it for you.’ He reached into his pocket and pulled out a little parcel, wrapped in tissue paper. ‘It might be a bit squashed. With hindsight, my trouser pocket probably wasn’t the best place to put it. Hope it hasn’t melted.’

Jo unwrapped the tissue, revealing a little model of herself, made entirely out of sugar paste icing, complete with red hair, a T-shirt and a pair of jeans and carrying a Scrabble box.

‘That’s so lovely,’ she said. ‘Thank you.’

‘Well, it was my idea but Annie did the hard work, so you should probably thank her. Oh yeah, and there’s this.’ He handed over an envelope. It was white, with poppies in one corner, and someone had written Joanne Knox on it. Si was the only person who’d call her Joanne and not Jo, but she didn’t recognise the handwriting.

She was curious, desperately curious, but decided it could wait. Getting her friendship with Razz back on course was the most important thing this evening. She slipped the letter into her Filofax, and the figurine into her bag.

‘So, what happened, Jo? You disappeared after the festival without saying goodbye and…’

‘I disappeared? You disappeared. I had to help Mr Morgan with something and when I came out of his office, you’d gone.’

‘You were in his office?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Oh.’ Razz bit his lip. ‘The one place I didn’t look.’

‘And then you didn’t get in touch,’ said Jo.

‘I was mad busy. Catching up on all the paperwork I’d fallen behind with because of the festival. And…’ He hesitated for a moment. ‘But then you didn’t get in touch either.’

‘I thought you’d left without saying goodbye.’ Jo paused too, wondering whether to be completely truthful with him. A month ago, she wouldn’t have had the courage. But now – well, she definitely felt more able to speak her mind these days. ‘To be honest, I thought you’d rushed off to be with Zoey.’

He spluttered, choking on his water and showering the table with little drops. ‘Zoey?’

‘Kate’s friend. The gorgeous one. She came to Scrabble speed-dating. Come on, Razz. You know Zoey. I saw you flirting with her at the speed-dating…’

‘I wasn’t flirting. I was being friendly.’

‘And then you ticked her box. And she was the only one you ticked. You didn’t tick me.’

‘Ah,’ he said. ‘I forgot you’d see the forms.’

He took another sip of his water.

‘Look, Jo. She was sweet. I enjoyed talking to her. And you’re Kate’s friend and she’s Kate’s friend. I wasn’t going to tick her, but when she stood up, she looked down at my sheet and it was blank and I felt obliged to. I was being nice. I don’t like disappointing people. I didn’t expect her to tick me too, for us to be a match.’