Page 57 of The Sugar and Spice Bookshop Bakery

Her phone rings again. Louise ignores it.

The back door opens.

‘Is everything okay?’ Jack asks.

Louise can’t speak. Can’t look at him.

‘What’s wrong, Luisa?’

‘Nothing. Just… work stuff. From before.’

‘Doesn’t look like nothing.’

She shakes her head, unable to find words that won’t lead to more questions. How can she explain? That an author is being torn apart online because of her mistake?

‘I just need a minute.’

Jack doesn’t look convinced, but he nods. ‘I’ll be outside if you need me. Now. Later.’ He pauses. ‘Always.’

‘Thank you,’ she manages to croak.

He closes the back door behind him. Louise looks down at her paint-covered fingers, her hands shaking. Do Sheila’s hands shake when she opens her post? Does she dread checking her emails?

And all because Louise muddled up two documents. A simple mistake, that anyone could have made. Perhaps one day, Sheila will forgive her. Perhaps one day, she’ll be able to forgive herself.

Nineteen

Louise and Maddie are standing outside the bakery, looking at Louise’s favourite bath towel which appears to be draped over some kind of frame.

‘Ta-dah!’ Maddie says proudly, whipping off the towel to reveal an A board. It’s painted dark blue and in curly bright pink handwriting, someone – Maddie herself, presumably – has written Coming Soon: The Sugar and Spice Bookshop Bakery.

‘Do you like it?’ Maddie asks.

‘Love it,’ Louise says. She’s managing – just – to put all thoughts of Sheila Penhaligon and the hate mail to the back of her mind, so she can focus on the huge to-do list that she needs to get through if she’s going to be ready to open the bookshop bakery in a few weeks.

‘And wait till you see what else I’ve bought,’ Maddie says as they head back inside, leaving the A board in pride of place on the pavement outside the bakery. ‘All from charity shops too. Some fluffy, pink cushions for the Love Shack. A big magnifying glass and a Sherlock Holmes hat for the Crime Scene. Well, it’s almost a Sherlock Holmes hat. Are you any good at sewing? It might need a bit of adjustment, just to make it more Holmes-like. I got a pipe too. And I’m going to try and get some of that police tape that they put around crime scenes, and I’ll mock up some mug shots too. I might get some of the villagers to pose for those. Do you think the Geriatric Mean Girls would be up for being my models?’

‘No,’ Louise says. ‘But Mum and Richard might.’

‘And Jack.’ Maddie smiles. ‘It’d be a good excuse to take his photo. Then you can gaze at it.’

‘I don’t know what you mean.’

‘Come on…you know you like him.’

Louise moves behind the counter and begins rearranging the cake display. ‘When you were in London, he came round with cannoli. Home-made cannoli!’

‘He baked for you?’

‘He did. And then he taught me how to make them.’

‘Very romantic. Did you kiss you?’

‘No. Not yet. And you know, I probably shouldn’t get too involved. He might go back to London and I don’t want a long-distance relationship.’

Maddie frowns. ‘Yeah, long-distance relationships really suck. I mean, I love being here with you, but I miss Theo.’

‘Have you heard about that job yet?’