AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘I’ll have the same, saves thinking about it.’
‘Things that busy?’
‘Always,’ smiled Hazel, heading over to the fridge to pull out two cold cans.
‘Thick or thin?’ Celeste’s sister Jade called out from the back.
‘Thick, please,’ Hazel hollered.
Jade soon came out with two loaves sliced, bagged and ready to go. ‘There you are.’
‘You’re back at work already,’ Hazel grinned. ‘Nothing like a family business to cut short maternity leave.’
‘Maternity leave? What’s that?’ smiled Jade, who had the same willowy build as her sister, which didn’t show much sign of having just had a baby. ‘Good job I love it here.’
‘How’s Phoebe?’ Hazel asked, thanking Celeste for the roast beef baps she’d put on top of the counter, both wrapped in a little paper bag with the bakery’s logo on front. ‘I saw Linc out walking with the pram last week – he didn’t want to stop, though, in case the baby woke up.’
‘She’s gorgeous, I’m totally in love with her and despite the lack of sleep for us both, Phoebe can do no wrong in her daddy’s eyes. He’s embracing paternity leave and with the summer rush almost upon us, it works out well, as he’s almost into the long school summer holidays, so he’s happy to swap teaching for full-time parenting.’
Hazel left the sisters to it and with everything stowed in the reusable bag she’d brought with her, she set off for home. Turning out of the bakery, she walked into a chest she knew the look of beneath the T-shirt. ‘I’m sorry, I really should look where I’m going,’ she stammered, embarrassed at the body contact but not entirely regretting it.
‘No need to apologise,’ said Gus. ‘I was rushing to get in there and grab some lunch.’ He didn’t seem in much of a hurry to move away from her either.
‘Busy at the practice already?’ She wondered if his heart was beating as hard as hers. The way he was looking at her, his eyes falling to her mouth as she spoke, suggested it might be.
‘I’m getting there.’ And with a sexy smile, he told her, ‘I don’t like to shut up shop when I don’t have a receptionist, it doesn’t look very professional.’
‘No, I don’t suppose it does.’ And when she thought she might fluff anything she tried to say, she held her bag aloft and blurted out, ‘I can recommend the roast beef and horseradish bap.’
‘That sounds good.’
‘Arnold’s favourite.’
He still showed no signs of rushing off and she wondered how long they could stay here for before someone noticed this was more than a casual passing, that maybe there might be something more than a business arrangement between them.
‘The Cove is great for food,’ he approved. ‘Yesterday I had a full English at Etna’s, the day before it was casserole in the pub, I’m still enjoying the novelty of so many places to eat within walking distance.’
‘For a small village, we do well on that front,’ she smiled, willing him not to mention lessons again. She liked it when it was just the two of them, when they weren’t talking about anything that made her feel stressed.
‘Will I see you later on?’ he asked, as he leaned against the wall beside the bakery’s entrance, apparently with no intention to get moving just yet, despite the enticing aroma snaking out from the Twist and Turn Bakery.
‘Later?’
He grinned at her confusion and she felt as though maybe he’d worked her out, that he could tell she liked him. ‘Yeah, you know, at the stables, where we keep a horse and I might just bump into you.’
‘Yes, of course. You’ll see me. I’ll be around.’
As she walked off, she felt jittery, the same way she had the other day when she rode off into the distance after she saw him outside his new practice, as though she couldn’t relax until he was out of sight. Because she still hadn’t heard the bell above the bakery door tinkle to let her know he’d gone inside.
