Page 107 of The Sugar and Spice Bookshop Bakery

When he’s gone, Louise sits in the empty bakery, her heart full of sadness.

*

The night before the grand opening, and Louise is heading for the Red Lion. It’s unusually busy, even for a Friday. She pushes through the crowd, looking for Maddie, and spots her tucked in the corner booth. And there he is, sitting alongside her stepdaughter, looking at his phone, as Maddie talks animatedly beside him.

Theo.

He’s exactly as she imagined. Artfully tousled hair, expensive-looking jumper, the kind of face that knows it’s handsome.

‘Lou!’ Maddie jumps up, pulling her into a hug. ‘You’re here! This is Theo. Theo, this is Louise, my stepmum.’

‘Louise.’ Theo finally looks up from his phone, gives her a brief once-over. ‘Right. Maddie’s mentioned you.’

Not ‘nice to meet you’. Not ‘I’ve heard so much about you’. Not even ‘hello’. Just the briefest of acknowledgments that she exists.

Louise slips into the booth beside Maddie, and reaches for her stepdaughter’s face, brushing a stray strand of hair away. ‘You look tired, Mads. You okay?’

‘Yeah, I’m working long hours, that’s all.’

‘And you’re living…’ Louise pauses, uncertain of the situation. Perhaps she shouldn’t ask.

‘I’m in a shared house,’ Maddie says brightly. Too brightly. ‘Theo and I felt it was a little too early in our relationship to live together.’

They’d been together… how long? Louise isn’t quite sure. She knows they met at uni.

She waits for a few seconds, wondering if Theo will offer to go to the bar and get a round in, but he’s looking at his phone again. ‘Can I get you another drink, Maddie? Theo?’

‘Theo,’ Maddie says quietly.

He glances up. ‘What?’

‘Maybe you could go? Get Lou a drink?’

‘Yeah, sure.’ He slides reluctantly out of the booth. ‘What would you like, er, Louise?’

‘A red wine please.’

‘Any particular type?’ he says. ‘Merlot? Shiraz?’

She thinks of Jack and wants to say, ‘Red red’ but senses Theo won’t find it in the least bit funny. ‘Valpolicella, please.’

Theo looks surprised for a second. ‘Valpoli… Coming right up.’

Maddie watches him go then turns to Louise. ‘So what d’you think? Lovely, isn’t he?’

‘Yes, he seems nice,’ Louise says. She glances at the bar where Tom is pulling a pint and Theo is still waiting to order.

Not as nice as Tom, she thinks. Not nearly as nice as Tom.

From all the missed phone calls and mixed messages, she’s always suspected Theo wasn’t right for Maddie, but now she knows it.

‘And Dad’ll get to meet him tomorrow,’ Maddie says excitedly.

‘Oh, he’s coming?’

‘Yeah, that’s still okay, isn’t it?’

‘Of course.’