Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
I t’s my first day at managing Frankie’s café.
Yesterday I’d said an emotional farewell to Frankie. ‘Take care of yourself, lovely girl,’ Frankie whispered, his voice thick with emotion.
‘Give my love to your mum. I haven’t prayed since Sunday School but I’m going to start for her sake,’ I croaked, shutting my eyes tight and sending God a quick silent prayer about Rose.
Frankie chuckled. ‘You never prayed in Sunday School as we were always too busy messing about.’
‘God will understand,’ I sniffed, clinging onto my best mate. ‘He’ll have forgotten about all the mischief we got up to in the vestry.’
Frankie stroked my long red hair, and his finger got stuck in a knot which made us both forget our sadness and giggle.
My day has not started well. I’m outside the café trying desperately to get bird poo off my top with a wet wipe from my handbag.
Dad took Lucas to school, so I decided to go down to the beach and watch the sea rush in and out. I’d hoped it would stop me panicking at the almost impossible task before me. The sea and the weather reflected my mood. An irritable grey sea took out its frustrations on a miserable damp beach much to the amusement of a gang of rowdy seagulls who sounded like they were cackling with laughter.
Last night I’d planned to read through my training notes, but Lucas wanted an extra-long bedtime story and I fell asleep beside him.
Whilst I sat on the beach, I’d taken out my notes from my bag to have a quick scan over. I wanted to come across as knowledgeable and prepared. The seagull poo disaster occurred shortly after I’d placed the notes on my lap and looked up at the sky to silently ask God whether I could outshine Noah at everything today. This would make him question why he was needed at The Little Love Café and possibly leave by lunchtime. God clearly hasn’t forgiven me for the mischief Frankie and I got up to at Sunday School when we were kids as I was hit by a missile of seagull poo which made me yell. Frustratingly it had missed my coat and hit my top. I walked along to the café cursing seagulls, Frankie’s decision to open a love-themed café and ex-boyfriends who showed up unexpectedly after twenty years of ghosting you.
‘Hello.’ It’s him. He’s behind me. I whirl around and he greets me with an awkward glance. I survey his tan coloured leather jacket, a blue checked shirt, and jeans. His outfit suits him. From a young age Noah always wore clothes that looked good on him. He never went through the fashion wilderness which I found myself in between the years of twelve and seventeen, where any combination of colour and patterns were thrown together.
I have opted for an old black long-sleeved top, which now sports an ugly white stain and an old pair of grey jogging bottoms.
To my annoyance his eyes flick to the white stain on my black top. ‘You have some white paint on your… T-shirt.’
‘It’s not paint,’ I snap and rummage in my bag for the café keys.
‘You can try out Frankie’s pink uniform,’ says Noah, as my agitation levels rise.
Once the doors are open, I hurry to the baby pink counter and head out the back where Frankie said the pile of Little Love Café pink T-shirts and aprons were kept.
‘Have you found them?’ Noah asks, standing by the counter.
‘Yes thanks, Noah,’ I snap. Standing behind a cupboard so Noah can’t see me undress, I remove my stained top. I quickly pull on my new T-shirt. As I step out from behind the counter, I look up to see Noah staring at me. His eyes roam my T-shirt and heat travels up to my face.
‘Pink suits you, Alice,’ he says, as I grab a T-shirt and apron for him. There’s no way I am going to be the only one wearing this ridiculous uniform.
He groans. ‘Really?’
I take pleasure in nodding and flashing him a fake sugary smile. ‘Yes.’ He grimaces.
‘I don’t want to wear this,’ he says, holding up the bright pink clothing.
‘You don’t have a choice,’ I snap. ‘Put them on.’
When he walks out from behind the cupboard in his new pink attire looking uncomfortable, I turn away and savour this moment. Karma is seeing your ex-boyfriend wear a tight pink shirt with the words, ‘LITTLE LOVE CAFé,’ emblazoned across his chest.
‘Let’s look at the bookings for today,’ I say, ignoring Noah mumble about feeling awkward in his uniform.
Frankie has left us the table bookings log and several sheets of A4 paper of notes. On the top of the first page in big bold letters and underlined are the words: ALICE BELIEVE IN LOVE.
The word makes me flinch.
We check the bookings log. I point to the top of the page for today. ‘We have Julie Hanbury and Graham Hitchcock coming at nine.’ A groan escapes my lips as I read their requirements. ‘Graham’s going to propose to Julie and has asked for rose petals to be chucked on the floor and the Snug is to be sprayed with that heavenly floral spray.’
‘Sounds romantic.’ Noah runs a hand through his golden hair and at once I am reminded of us sat together in class at school. Back then he used to have floppy blond hair. When the teacher wasn’t looking, he would turn to me, flick his fringe out of his eyes, and mouth, ‘I love you.’
I quickly dismiss the memory. ‘What a waste of good petals. Think we can skip that part.’
‘Alice, we must give Julie and Graham what they want. This is their special day, and we are here to celebrate them.’
I let out a sigh. ‘We don’t have to go over the top.’
Noah ignores me and looks at the booking log. ‘You look after Julie and Graham in the Snug out the back, and I’ll sort out here.’
After everything I have been through, the last thing I want to do is watch someone ask their loved one to marry them. It will bring back the memory I have of Scott bending down on one knee in the Indian restaurant in between courses and asking me to marry him. Worse still, it will take me back to when a certain someone and I had a pretend wedding in front of our special rock.
I can’t get the words out fast enough. ‘No, I’m not dealing with Julie and Graham. I’ve had enough of bloody marriage proposals to last me a lifetime…’ My voice cuts out and an awkward silence descends on us both. Noah and I both find interesting things to look at on the wooden floor beneath our feet.
Noah speaks first. ‘You manage out here, and I’ll deal with Julie and Graham.’
‘Fine.’ Turning away I use Frankie’s list as a fan to cool down my warm face.
‘I need to sort out the social media, too. Frankie wants me to take some shots of the café.’
This place is hell. I am even struggling with the heart-shaped menus. It’s also hard being forced to listen to a man and woman engage in what can only be described as loud kissing. They’ve been slobbering all over each other for the past half hour. Surely their lips must be getting sore. I can’t take this anymore and go to their table near the counter. ‘Excuse me?’ They both pull apart, breathless. ‘Do you think you could do that a little quieter? Many thanks.’
‘Graham has popped the question,’ announces Noah, coming to the counter with his silver tray. ‘She said yes.’
‘Lucky her,’ I mumble with an air of sarcasm, folding my arms across my chest.
Noah flicks his eyes to his pad. ‘They’ve ordered two…’ Noah mumbles something.
‘Sorry, Noah, what did you say?’
‘Two… Sexy Hot Chocolates with Whipped… ’ Noah mumbles and points to the name of the drink on a heart-shaped menu.
‘Oh, right…’ I say, feeling my cheeks heat up. Feeling flustered I set to work on the drinks and curse Frankie for his ridiculous drink names.
‘They look really happy together; Graham and Julie.’
People used to say that about Scott and me. Tears prick my eyes. We looked happy together. But then Scott went and ruined everything. What sort of man does that the day before his wedding? Did I mean that little to him?
‘You don’t seem very happy,’ Noah observes as I huff and puff behind the counter.
‘I’m great, Noah. Here you go,’ I say, keeping my eyes firmly fixed on the drinks and trying my hardest not to burst into tears. I should still be in Ronald’s Starfish Tea Shop tucked away high up on the cliffs with nobody to talk to but the dodgy starfish hanging on the wall.