Page 46 of The Sugar and Spice Bookshop Bakery

Fifteen

‘You’re not an architect?’

She hadn’t seen that one coming. So that’s why he doesn’t have a website.

She frowns. ‘But why did you say that you were?’

‘I didn’t. I never said that. I wouldn’t lie to you. To anyone.’

She thinks back to that first morning, when he came into the bakery, trying to remember exactly what he had said.

I create buildings.

It had been an odd choice of phrase, now she comes to think of it. He never once used the word ‘architect’. It was her mother who’d first said that was what he did for a living.

She shakes her head. ‘I don’t get it.’

He looks up at the ceiling and bites his lip.

She watches him and waits. No wonder he was reluctant to take the job.

He stares over towards the bar, his fingers drumming on the table. She reaches over and stills his hand. ‘So, if you’re not an architect, then…’

He turns to her and meets her gaze. ‘I’m a carpenter.’

‘Right, and you can build sheds?’

‘I’m very good at building sheds.’

‘Which is why you’re good with an axe?’

‘Very good with an axe. In fact, I’d give even the most highly skilled axe murderers a run for their money.’ His mouth forms a smile, but his eyes don’t join in the way they usually do.

Over his shoulder, Louise sees Maddie come in and walk up to the bar. Her stepdaughter gives her a little wave and a thumbs up.

Please don’t come over, Louise wills her silently.

But Maddie hops onto a bar stool and begins to chat to Tom. Relieved, Louise gives Jack her full attention.

‘I still don’t get it,’ she says softly.

‘My father always wanted to be an architect himself, but no-one in his family had ever been to university, and they didn’t have the money. I guess in those days people stuck to their lane, didn’t they?’

‘I suppose.’

At the bar, Maddie is laughing at something that Tom has said. He hands her a drink, but bats away her card when she tries to pay.

‘Anyway,’ Jack carries on, ‘the next best thing for him was for his son to become one. I guess he wanted to fulfil his dream through me. And as a child, I loved building things – Lego, Mecano, that kind of thing. I thought maybe being an architect was what I wanted to do, so I applied for uni in London. You should have seen his face when I got a place. He was pleased as punch. But it takes seven years to train, Louise. Seven long years. And the longer it went on, the more I knew it wasn’t really me.’

‘So you quit?’

‘No. I stuck it out for my dad. I loved him so much. Wanted to make him proud. And I still do.’

‘Yeah, I can relate to that. I feel the same about Mum.’ Louise leans in towards him a little and lowers her voice. ‘Just so you know, Maddie’s at the bar.’

Jack glances round nervously.

‘Don’t worry,’ Louise says. ‘She can’t hear us. Too busy chatting to Tom. What happened next?’