Page 34 of The Sugar and Spice Bookshop Bakery

‘The Sugar and Spice Bookshop Bakery,’ Maddie adds.

‘Oh?’ Jack looks at her questioningly. ‘I thought you didn’t want to run the bakery?’

He glances at her mother, and Louise can guess what he’s thinking. That she’s been pushed into this by Elizabeth.

‘It’s the perfect solution,’ she says. ‘I didn’t think I wanted to run a bakery, but actually, I’ve enjoyed it. But I didn’t want to give up on the bookshop idea either. This way, I get to do both.’

‘Keeping the family tradition alive, but still pursuing her own dream,’ Elizabeth chips in.

‘So where do I come in?’ Jack says. ‘Apart from being your most valued customer, obviously.’

Louise laughs. ‘I can’t fit a bookshop and a bakery into the existing space. There isn’t room for bookshelves and tables and chairs. I was thinking I’d remove the wall between the kitchen and the seating area – open the place up – and build a big glass extension at the back.’

‘So you’ll be needing an architect?’ Richard’s eyes light up. He turns to Elizabeth. ‘Did I tell you that’s what Giacomo does?’

‘Yes, you did mention. Just once or twice!’ Elizabeth laughs. ‘It’s perfect, isn’t it? Whilst he’s staying in Applethwaite, he can design the extension for Louise.’

Jack shifts uneasily in his seat and takes a gulp of his wine.

‘What do you think, Jack?’ Louise says. ‘Would you be my architect please? Obviously, we’d have to talk about fees and so on, but in principle, would you like to do it?’

The last sentence comes out in a nervous rush. She looks at Jack, wondering what he’ll say.

But it’s his father who speaks. ‘Oh, that’s wonderful. Your first client in Yorkshire, and she’s the daughter of one of my oldest – and dearest – friends.’ Richard turns to Elizabeth and pats her hand, and she blushes. Actually blushes.

‘And the project is in the village where I grew up,’ he continues. ‘Where your grandparents grew up, in fact. They’d have been so proud.’ He turns to Louise. ‘He’s done lots of big projects in London, haven’t you, Giacomo?’ He gives Jack a rueful smile before turning to Louise, his eyes warm. ‘I know I’m biased, but he’s brilliant.’

Jack looks decidedly uncomfortable, Louise thinks, but then she would be too, if Elizabeth were gushing about her talents in front of other people.

‘Have you designed anything we’d have heard of, Jack?’ Maddie says. ‘You didn’t do the Shard, did you?’

Jack nearly chokes on his wine. ‘No, no. Nothing iconic like that. Those places… well, it’s the big famous architects who create those. I’m not in that league. I do a lot of garden rooms. Oak-framed kitchen extensions. That kind of thing. They’re very popular with the housewives of Putney.’

‘Putney?’ Maddie says. ‘Theo lives in Putney. Maybe I’ll see some of your work when I go down to see him.’

‘Yeah, maybe,’ Jack says.

So Theo is still on the scene, Louise thinks. Shame. And Maddie is clearly still harbouring hopes for the relationship.

And Jack looks awkward. He definitely doesn’t enjoy his father bigging him up, making him out to be some architectural hotshot, when his jobs sound more modest.

‘Will you excuse me for a moment?’ Jack stands up, and heads off in the direction of the gents.

‘He didn’t sound too enthusiastic,’ Maddie says.

‘Nonsense,’ Richard says. ‘He loves the idea.’

But Louise isn’t so sure. For some reason she can’t quite fathom, she senses Jack is reluctant to take on the project. Maybe he thinks she’s compromising her dream, by keeping the bakery and running it alongside the bookshop. Or perhaps he simply doesn’t want to work with her?

Maddie’s phone pings. She glances at the screen, and smiles. ‘You know, I’m quite tired.’ She stretches in an exaggerated way, then stands up. ‘I might go back to the flat and give Theo a call.’ She wraps her scarf round her neck. ‘You never know, he might actually answer. Say bye to Jack for me.’

‘That man isn’t right for her,’ Louise says the second the pub door has closed behind Maddie.

‘Perhaps I should have a word,’ Elizabeth says. ‘But I know from past experience that it doesn’t work when you try to intervene in situations like this.’ She shakes her head and tuts.

Louise knows full well what she’s referring to: the endless conversations where her mother tried to convince her that Graham was, as her mother put it, ‘a cold fish’.

A very cold fish indeed, Louise.