Page 107 of The Little Board Game Café

‘Hot cakes?’ said Mr B.

‘Yeah, hot cakes. People love them. We could put some flyers for the café in the farm shop if you like, Em. Get a bit more publicity?’

‘That’d be great. Thanks, Annie.’

The door opened again. This time it was Kate. She had a bit of a knack for showing up soon after Annie had arrived with a box of cakes, her keto diet conveniently forgotten.

‘Mmmm.’ Kate helped herself to a cupcake and took a bite. ‘Delicious, as usual.’

She munched on the cupcake whilst walking round the café, casting a critical eye on the new paintwork.

‘I’m not sure about this colour, Em. It’s a bit…dull.’

‘I chose it,’ said Mr B. ‘And it isn’t dull. It’s neutral.’

‘I think something bolder would make more of an impact.’ Kate walked over to the table where they were all sitting and took a second cupcake. ‘Perhaps a midnight-blue feature wall along here…’ – she gestured, waving the cupcake around in her hand – ‘…and then the canvases from the old café could go on that wall there.’ Some crumbs flew off onto the floor and, without a word, Marjory fetched a dustpan and brush and began to sweep.

‘I think it looks perfect as it is,’ said Mr B. ‘Why don’t you stick to the marketing and let me get on with the décor?’

Kate and Mr B glowered at each other, neither one willing to back down. Emily mentally added ‘peace-keeper’ to the list of roles that she had to perform as a café-owner.

‘When are we going to meet your new business partner, Emily?’ asked Marjory, sitting down again. ‘All that time of having you as my neighbour and I never once met your dad.’

Emily shrugged. ‘Soon, I hope.’

But she wasn’t that hopeful. For all his promises when he’d persuaded her to take a risk and buy Sweet Delights – well, it was him taking the risk as it was his money – he hadn’t yet set foot outside Thornholme, let alone caught the two buses between there and Essendale.

There was always an excuse.

‘I’m feeling a bit under the weather today, Emily.’

‘I’ve got an appointment at the optician’s.’

‘It sounds like you’ve got a lot of helpers at the café already, Em. I don’t want to get under your feet.’

Or her personal favourite. ‘Tomorrow. I thought I’d come over tomorrow.’

And, of course, he never did.

She wanted her dad to see her new venture, to squeeze her hand as they opened the doors to customers for the first time, to meet all her friends as they toasted the café’s success. Surely he’d be happier if he broadened his horizons a little? Became something of the man he used to be?

*

There was another man whom Emily was desperate to see, stepping through that café door. Ludek. Persuading Dad to come over was proving tricky but Ludek? Surely all she had to do was invite him?

There was no time like the present, she thought later that afternoon, when she and Mr B had finally washed out their paintbrushes and hung up their overalls.

It was growing late. Might Ludek be home by now? She’d pass his house on the way back to her new flat. Well, almost. If she took a diversion down St John’s Street, cut across the park and walked an extra three-quarters of a mile. That was on the way, wasn’t it?

The extra exercise would do her good anyway, she decided. She knew she’d put on a bit of weight after she’d bought Nico’s – all that slipping an extra bacon rasher in the pan for herself when she fried up an all-day breakfast for a customer; all that dipping her finger into the cake mix to ‘double-check it’s okay’ – but her second visit to the running club had shown her that she was even more unfit than she’d thought.

She hesitated as she reached his street. Was it a little intrusive to be knocking on his door, uninvited? Did she know him well enough to do that? Was it a bit stalker-ish even? You spend one night with someone. They decide they want to cool it, then show up on your doorstep over two months later. Yes. Decidedly stalker-ish. But they had been friends, hadn’t they?

Emily was almost there when she saw a woman, just a few metres away, leaving Ludek’s house. She was slim – she would be, wouldn’t she? – and smartly dressed with long dark hair tied back in a ponytail. She pulled his front door shut behind her, took out a key and locked it.

Emily watched as she unlocked Ludek’s car – she had his car key too? – and climbed into the driving seat. Then the car sped off. Emily stood frozen to the spot.

His girlfriend? Must have been a whirlwind romance to have reached the ‘have a set of my house keys’ stage already. It wasn’t that long since he’d spent the night with Emily and she was sure he wasn’t with anyone then; there’d been no evidence of another woman at his house and he wasn’t the type to cheat. She was certain of that.