Chapter 5 #2
‘I don’t know, he just showed it to me one day when I came to stay.
He said he’d found a secret room and you can imagine how excited I was about that.
I never knew whether he’d found it like he said, or whether he built it for me.
Knowing him, I wouldn’t be surprised if he did build it.
He had a lot of time for me, he was always playing with me or telling me one of his amazing stories.
’ She smiled sadly as she touched the fairy lights.
‘It’s been fifteen years since he died and I still miss him. ’
‘Sadly I never met Tom but I know he was a great man and his legacy of this place continues. ’
‘That’s why I came down here to fight for it. This was his dream and maybe it was a silly dream, when a place like this has so many overheads, but I believe in it and I want to help it continue for many, many years to come.’
‘I do too.’
She smiled at that and then turned to face him. ‘So are you going to tell me why you threw me in a cupboard to hide from that woman?’
Luke let out a groan. ‘Natalia. She wants to date me and won’t take no for an answer. She comes up here all the time bringing cakes or asking me out or just blatantly sliding a condom into my hand and telling me she could show me a good time.’
Flick felt her eyebrows shoot up. ‘That’s bold.’
She couldn’t help feeling a little bit impressed by that.
Not the harassment, just the courage to go up to someone and do that.
She couldn’t even bring herself to kiss a man in a cupboard who was looking at her like he wanted to eat her in case she was rejected.
And in this case, she had been right not to since he had awkwardly put an end to that little tête-a-tête and immediately distanced himself from her.
But Natalia, with her swishing blonde hair, long legs and short skirt, had no such reservations.
She was clearly used to getting any man she wanted and she’d set her sights on Luke which was an odd match.
Natalia looked the sort of woman who would want to be wined and dined in the most expensive and exclusive restaurants in the world.
She’d be most at home in a top-of-the-range Porsche convertible with diamonds round her neck.
Maybe Flick shouldn’t judge a book by its cover but the woman had been carrying a Gucci handbag and was wearing the famous, red-soled shoes of Louboutin.
A man like Luke couldn’t fulfil those dreams for Natalia.
He was wearing a t-shirt that had a hole in the shoulder, jeans that were probably ten years old or more and a tatty pair of trainers that probably didn’t have any brand.
That wasn’t to say he wasn’t an attractive man – he was, with lovely warm eyes and a gorgeous smile.
He had the kind of body that was perfect for a hug, solid, comforting.
Nice strong arms too. He could take Flick out for fish and chips on the beach and she would be very happy with that.
Except he’d backed away from that kiss so maybe she wasn’t his type either.
‘I don’t mind bold, but she’s not really interested in me, none of them are.’
‘You have… multiple women chasing you and giving you condoms?’
‘Not giving me condoms but yes I have a mini fan club,’ Luke said, dryly. ‘To be fair, the others just sidle up to me in the town if they see me, they don’t make the effort that Natalia is putting in.’
‘But if they’re not interested in you, what are they interested in?’
‘It doesn’t matter. Shall we go to the café? I expect Polly will be there soon.’
She followed him out of the secret room, carefully shutting both doors behind her .
‘Are you some kind of god of sex?’ Flick asked.
‘You can give women multiple orgasms simply by looking at them. You have a super-powered penis that sends all women into some kind of erotic frenzy. You’ve slept with one woman from the town who nearly died from multiple orgasms and now everyone wants a piece of you. ’
Luke’s cheeks flushed adorably. God, she really liked this man.
‘That’s it, isn’t it?’ Flick teased. ‘You really are a god of sex?’
‘I’m pretty sure all the women I’ve been with had a good time, I made sure of that, but I don’t think anyone has ever called me a god of sex before. Just the regular, good kind of sex.’
She smirked at him downplaying his sexual capabilities.
Any other man would have bragged about his sexual prowess.
It was like Luke didn’t know the rules of flirting.
‘Surely this is your opportunity to say something like, Baby I will rock your world , not tell me your sex is the normal, regular kind.’
‘Ah yes. Of course.’ He cleared his throat. ‘Yes, I’m a god of sex, that’s why everyone wants to be with me. And if me and you ever get down to the, umm… rumpy-pumpy we’ll be swinging from the chandeliers. How’s that?’
Flick nodded, trying and failing to suppress her laughter.
‘That was too much, wasn’t it?’ Luke said.
The laughter burst out into a snort. ‘Rumpy-pumpy? ’
‘Well what am I supposed to call it?’
‘Here, let me show you.’ Flick pushed him up against the wall and ran a finger down the collar of his t-shirt touching the bare skin of his chest. ‘When we make love for the first time, you’ll be begging for mercy,’ she said, softly.
He looked genuinely terrified.
‘Was that too much?’ Flick said, letting him go.
He cleared his throat. ‘No… umm… a little.’
‘It was better than offering to have rumpy-pumpy with someone,’ Flick huffed.
‘I’ll give you that.’
There was the sound of someone clearing their throat, and they both looked up to see Polly watching them.
‘Sorry, did I come at a bad time?’
‘No, sorry we were just…’ Flick trailed off. ‘We were just messing around. This is not… We’re not—’
‘Thanks for coming,’ Luke said, smoothly.
Since when was he the smooth one? Unless Polly was his type. Flick felt a stab of disappointment at that thought but quickly recovered herself. Having Polly here was for the greater good, even if that meant that Polly and Luke would be the ones swinging from the chandeliers.
‘Let me show you around,’ Flick said.
She moved into the café. ‘Well this is the main area, seating for up to forty people. Behind the counter we have a… coffee machine.’ Flick gestured to the great big monster of a machine.
She had never worked in catering bu t even she could see this thing was old and dated.
‘Umm, various cake cabinets.’ Which definitely needed replacing.
‘And through here is the kitchen and…’ she trailed off when she saw the extent of the kitchen was a small seventies-style oven with built-in grill, a microwave and a toaster.
‘Whatever you need to make this work, we can get,’ Luke said, his eyes widening as he took in the lack of facilities for the first time.
‘We can get everything cleaned or repainted. We had plans to replace the countertops and the tables and chairs but you tell us what you want and we’ll get it sorted. ’
To Flick’s surprise, Polly didn’t look disgusted or horrified.
She looked excited. Flick smiled, recognising that look.
It was the look she’d had a few minutes before when looking around the gift shop and seeing its potential, excited for what she could make it.
And with Luke’s offer of getting whatever Polly needed or wanted, Flick knew this was in the bag.
Polly rearranged her face into something more professional. ‘This place needs a lot of work.’
‘I know,’ Luke said, sadly, clearly not realising that Polly had already decided she was going to do it.
‘It’s been closed for so long and the lack of facilities was a bone of contention for the last chef, which is why he left.
But I figured you were used to working in much smaller conditions in your van with the bare minimum of facilities so if anyone was going to make this work, it was going to be you. ’
Polly smiled at that .
‘If I’m going to do this, I have a list of things I’d need,’ she said, pulling out her tablet from her bag.
‘Of course, whatever you need.’
Polly looked around and this time she wasn’t able to hide her excitement.
Luke smiled. ‘Is that a yes?’
Polly nodded, the smile growing on her own face. Luke let out a small sigh of relief.
‘Let’s get started then.’ Luke gestured for her to go back out the kitchen and followed her to a table and chairs. They all sat down and Polly immediately pulled up a webpage showing various different kitchen appliances and utensils.
They started talking about what Polly wanted to do with the place, the colours, the tables, the layout of the counter and the kitchen, and Luke nodded and wrote everything down while Polly compiled a shopping list and then sent him a link to it.
Flick watched the two of them chatting animatedly about Polly’s plans and Polly getting more and more passionate and Luke seemingly falling in love with Polly because of it.
She could see it on his face, this look of wonder that Polly knew exactly what she wanted to make her dreams come true.
Flick wondered if that was the reason Luke wanted Polly to come and work there – because he’d had feelings for her all along.
Although it was a bit late for him to do anything now, he was leaving in a few weeks.
It didn’t matter. Let them have fun for a few weeks.
If Polly could run the café half as well as she could run her catering van, then the café would be a big success and that was the only thing that did matter.
And it wasn’t like Flick had any claim over Luke, she’d known him for a day.
Just because her silly, impulsive heart had started having feelings for him, it didn’t mean anything.
And this way was better because if anything did happen between her and Luke she could fall for him very easily and then he’d leave and she’d get her heart broken.
So she would be happy for him and ignore the ache in her heart that said otherwise.