Page 52 of The Sugar and Spice Bookshop Bakery

Louise watches her face as the phone rings out then hears the click as it goes to voicemail. ‘Theo! Amazing news, call me back!’ Maddie’s voice holds none of the disappointment that Louise can see on her face. ‘He’s probably just in a meeting.’

‘Oh, Maddie!’ Louise reaches out for her, hating this Theo who’s ruined her stepdaughter’s moment of joy.

Real life romance.

As she’s always thought, it just doesn’t live up to the real thing. She glances down at Jack, still toiling in the garden. Yes, he’s lovely. Yes, he’s attractive. But he’ll be going soon, back to London. So it’s far better – far safer - if she keeps him at arm’s length.

Seventeen

Half past one. Louise locks the door of the bakery firmly behind her last ‘customer’, slides the bolt across just to make sure no one else wanders in, and then leans up against it, her knees bent.

Thank goodness that’s over. It’s been chaos all morning. Most of the village has been in – with the notable exception of Jack who hasn’t been in the garden working either – and it’s been doubly difficult because Maddie is away in London at her job interview. Louise dreads to think how she’ll manage if Maddie gets the job.

She wants her stepdaughter to get it, she really does.

Or at least, she knows she should want Maddie to get it. A good stepmother – ex-stepmother – would definitely want that, for Maddie’s sake. It’s a proper career move, a fresh start. Maddie didn’t spend those three years at uni studying marketing just to hang about here, creating mood boards for her stepmum’s little business venture.

But a London job would place Maddie in the same city as Theo, and that definitely isn’t a good thing.

And if Richard is given the all-clear, Jack will be heading back to London too. He’s hardly going to hang around here and wait tables, is he? Or man the till?

Louise would have to recruit someone, which is another scary prospect. Imagine someone else being dependent on her to make their living… What if it all goes tits up and she has to let them go? That’d be yet another name to add to the list of people whom Louise has let down.

And the grand opening she’s envisaged? Well, she knows it’s selfish but she wants Maddie here for that. It won’t be the same if she isn’t.

There’s a knock at the door. Still slumped against it, Louise feels it as well as hears it. She rights herself, and looks through the glass to see Jack staring back, grinning. He holds something up so she can see. It appears to be a cake tin.

‘I made you something,’ he says as she opens the door. He holds the tin out to her. ‘Cannoli. I figured the way to a woman’s heart might also be through baking.’ He winces. ‘That sounded less ridiculous when I rehearsed it in my kitchen.’

‘Very cheesy.’ Louise tries not to smile. ‘If one of my authors had written that line, I’d have crossed it out and put a comment in the margin.’

‘That bad?’

‘Terrible.’ She lifts the lid off the tin. Six perfectly shaped cylinders of golden pastry sit inside, oozing with different-coloured fillings.

‘Lemon. Chocolate. Pistachio,’ he says. ‘Take your pick.’

‘They look incredible.’

‘Nonna’s recipe.’

She chooses a lemon one and bites into it. The crisp, golden shell shatters as she bites and she cups her other hand under her chin to catch every shard of sweet, delicious pastry. In contrast, the lemon filling is sharp but creamy at the same time.

‘Mmmm,’ she murmurs, unable to say more with her mouth full.

‘You like?’ Jack says.

Louise swallows. ‘I love! You really can bake.’

‘Yeah, I’ve always liked baking.’

‘Do you do a lot then? Back home in London.’

Jack looks distinctly sheepish. ‘Okay, I have to admit, that if I really like someone, I’ll woo her with my Italian bakes.’

‘And does it work?’

‘Usually.’ He blushes. ‘But I’m in a tricky situation at the moment.’