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‘Not a chance, Layla, love.’ Elsie sighed. ‘We’ll have a little chat, see if we can’t work out what’s going on between you and Graham.’
Looking down at the table, Layla closed her eyes. Her thoughts were jumbled. She couldn’t think straight. She leaned back as Ian slid a mug in front of her.
‘Two sugars in yours, Layla. Hope things are okay.’ Ian patted her on the shoulder before leaving, the door clicking shut behind him.
Wrapping her hands around the mug, she fought the urge to draw her hands away from the hot ceramic and instead she held tight and tried to focus on the heat penetrating her skin. On anything but how she was feeling.
‘Do you want to talk about it, love?’ Elsie’s voice was low, almost a whisper in the silent bakery.
Layla shrugged. ‘I don’t know what happened. Yesterday, things were perfect. Really perfect and today...’
‘Has something happened between yesterday and today?’
‘Eli, someone who I used to have a bit of a crush on when I was working on the ship, turned up. Said he wanted to go out with me, which was really weird as he’d never shown any interest.’ She took a sip of her tea, the overly sugary sweetness clinging to the roof of her mouth. ‘I told him I was in a relationship with Graham. And he left.’
‘And you think that’s what has caused Graham to pause?’ Elsie questioned, looking across at Layla.
‘Maybe. I don’t know. His family, who have come down early for Harry and Diane’s wedding, includes his cousin who had an affair with Graham’s ex.’
Elsie whistled through her teeth. ‘What a nerve.’
‘No, no, Graham wanted them to come, his cousin, for Harry.’ She looked up at Elsie. ‘But he’s not spoken to his cousin since it happened, Graham, I mean. And just now they were all on the beach together, Graham, Harry, the cousin and the ex.’
‘Poor graham. That must have been a really tough time for him.’
Layla nodded as a fresh wave of tears streamed down her cheeks. ‘I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if he really just wants a break while he gets things straight in his head, or if he wants to finish things. I don’t know if it’s because of Eli turning up or because of his ex.’
Elsie nodded.
Taking a long, shuddering breath, Layla forced out the worst of her suspicions. ‘I don’t know if it’s because he’s still in love with her, with his ex.’
‘Oh, love.’ Elsie passed a napkin across to her. ‘You need to talk to him.’
‘He doesn’t want to. He wants space.’
Elsie patted Layla’s hand again. ‘I’ll have a word with Harry, see if he can’t talk to him.’
‘No, please don’t.’ Layla wiped the napkin across her eyes. ‘I don’t want to cause a fuss. Not with Harry, not so close to his big day.’
Elsie nodded. ‘Then I think you need to try to speak to him again, love. Ask him what he’s feeling.’
‘I know. I do.’ There was nothing else she could do. Even if she wasn’t ready to hear the truth, at least she’d know. That had to be better than not knowing, didn’t it? She crumpled up the napkin in her hand. She wasn’t sure if it would be.
‘Give him space tonight and see if you can speak to him tomorrow. He’ll be coming into the bakery to help anyway, so he’ll be here.’
‘Yes.’ But would he want to even talk to her?
Chapter Twenty One
Layla drew her duvet back up under her chin and closed her eyes again. It was no good. There was her alarm going off again, and she must have snoozed it at least ten times. She knew she’d have missed most of the morning’s baking and she felt guilty for that, but she hadn’t slept a wink last night after her conversation with Graham. Every time she’d closed her eyes, his words had whizzed around her mind, not giving her a moment’s peace to try to even think, to try to make sense of everything.
She listened as the door to the bakery clicked shut. Wendy and Molly must have arrived. She really would be late even for opening if she didn’t jump in that shower now. Rolling over, she picked up her mobile, trying to focus on the numbers on the screen. It was half seven.
Scrunching her damp hair in the palms of her hands, Layla ran down the stairs, stopping abruptly before opening the door to the bakery. Was she ready for this? Was she ready to see Graham again so soon after he’d called a stop to their relationship? A pause?
Not really, but did she have a choice? She couldn’t let Elsie down, not with them being so short-staffed as it was and Wendy was having to finish the wedding cake today so Molly was working on the wedding planning by herself – there was no one to step in and cover her.
She pulled down the door handle before she gave herself the chance to run back upstairs. It would be fine. It would all be fine. Besides, as Elsie had said last night, she and Graham needed to talk. She couldn’t avoid him forever.
