Chapter 19
CHAPTER 19
D espite changing shifts so that she didn’t have to go in on Saturday, Gemma found herself unable to stop thinking about the Waterfront Café. She lay in bed, with the book club’s pick on the nightstand next to her, and lifted it up several times, only to place it back down after just the same couple of pages read. This was officially Kent’s first day as executive manager at the cafe. What had he told Sophie, she wondered. Perhaps he’d got little badges made like they had done in larger chain stores that said “Kent, Executive Manager” underneath. Or printed out their photos to pin up on the staff room wall in a triangle shape, with him firmly positioned at the top. She wouldn’t put anything past him. Eventually, she gave up on the book and decided to get up.
Despite her prediction that the sunny spell would be over the moment the weekend came, morning light was streaming through the windows, and it appeared to be yet another cloudless day, the perfect type of day for a walk along the waterfront.
“You’re being ridiculous, Gemma,” she said to herself as she pulled her baseball cap down lower over her head.
She was already wearing sunglasses and had no need for both garments other than it was her attempt to look innocuous. She had tried avoiding the café. Her walk started with a very large loop all the way to the top of town, where she headed to the coffee shop by the arcade for a brownie. After which, she tried to kill more time, weaving in and out of the charity shops and strolling around an art exhibition in the church. But it was no good. Now, despite her best efforts, she was standing only ten metres from the door.
The problem was that she couldn’t see what was happening inside. Were the customers happy? Was the food okay? Had Kent done anything to upset Sophie or anybody else yet? As she continued to stare at the door to the Waterfront Café, it swung open, but rather than a customer leaving, it was Sophie striding straight towards her.
Gemma dropped her head, trying to pull her cap down further, but there was no way around it. She’d been busted.
“Gemma,” Sophie said. “Are you spying on us? Seriously?”
Gemma didn’t see any point in denying it. They knew each other way too well for that. Instead, she pulled off her cap and pushed her sunglasses back to the top of her head.
“I just wanted to see how things were going, that’s all. How’s he been?”
“Kent? Oh, he’s been lovely. Really, really nice. And the food, oh my God.”
“What do you mean, the food?” Gemma’s stomach tightened. “He shouldn’t have changed anything about the food. The menu should be exactly the same as it was.”
“Oh, it is, it is. It’s just like, little things. He’s put this homemade pesto on the poached eggs, and it’s so good. Honestly, every customer has said they are the best thing ever.”
“I bet they have,” Gemma muttered.
Well, pesto poached eggs on the first Saturday was one thing, but she could bet it would be a whole different kettle of fish when he’d had to be up at 4:30 every morning for a fortnight. Something told her he didn’t have to do that in his fancy Michelin-starred restaurant.
“So he hasn’t been... a problem?” Gemma said, hoping that she picked the words correctly.
“No, honestly, you two just got off on the wrong foot, that’s all. I think you’d really like him when you get to know him better and...” Sophie’s eyes glinted in a way that made Gemma feel uneasy.
“And what?”
“And he’s single, thirty-six, and hasn’t had a serious relationship for the last three years.”
Gemma didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“Why are you telling me? And how have you got all that out of him already? All he does is scowl and pout.”
“I just asked,” Sophie said with a roll of her eyes. “Honestly, if you talk to him, you’ll find him really nice. Promise me you’ll try, right? I think we’d all get on really well working together.”
Gemma chose not to reply, but Sophie wouldn’t let it go. “Please promise me you’ll try,” she pressed again.
“Fine,” Gemma said, sounding remarkably like a petulant teenager. “I promise I will try.”
It was only when Sophie was back in the cafe that Gemma scoffed to herself.
“Like hell, I will,” she said.
Kent might have won Sophie over, but Gemma had seen through it all. His days at the cafe were numbered, and she was doing the countdown.