Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
A fter Esme leaves me, I take out my phone and look at The Little Love Café’s Facebook feed and read each negative comment in turn.
An uncomfortable feeling passes over me as I see that they all relate to me. Customers have picked up on my inability to smile, my angry face, my distracted state and the mistakes. Have I been that bad? Blimey, what has Noah triggered inside of me?
When I close my eyes, I can see Frankie’s face – his emerald green eyes, his peroxide blond hair and his goofy grin. He will not be happy to hear about what’s been going on. Frankie has always prided himself on giving his customers excellent service.
I have gone some way in damaging his café’s reputation. Guilt nibbles away at me. Somewhere inside me, a little voice whispers, Go back to your job and put things right.
Noah and I could agree to be civil with each other and we could also be strict at ensuring we don’t annoy the other. At the end of the day, we are doing Frankie a favour, and this is not a job for life. Frankie has enough on his plate. He doesn’t need to hear about this.
I walk back to The Little Love Café and find Noah in the middle of chaos. There is a queue of dissatisfied customers and he’s frantically trying to make drinks. This was not the day to walk out of my job.
After placing my bag behind the counter, I nod at him, before seeing to the queue of customers. With the complaints on Facebook still fresh in my mind I greet everyone with a fake smile and concentrate on getting them their correct drink order.
Half an hour later and we have got things under control. ‘You came back?’ Noah says, placing two Magical Mochas on a tray.
‘Yes. Look, I agree I have not been professional, Noah.’
He looks taken aback. ‘You agree with me?’
I nod. ‘You were right. Going forward can we put our differences about the past to one side and just get the job done here? We don’t have to be friends.’
He raises his hands in defence. ‘Fine by me. I just want to do a good job for Frankie.’
‘Okay, if you work on the drinks, I will serve the customers. Let’s not encroach on the other’s role.’
His face softens. ‘Yes, I’ll do that. I’m sorry if I annoyed you in the week. You didn’t need my feedback on your photography skills.’
For the rest of the day, we both concentrate on running The Little Love Café. Noah sticks to our agreement and stays behind the counter. I work the tables and make sure everyone gets the correct drinks and a smile. The wall-to-wall romance still annoys me, but I let it simmer under the surface. Noah and I part ways with a friendly nod which is remarkable given how the morning started.
The following day is easier as Noah and I carry on our working arrangement. We don’t mention the past and we both stick to our allotted areas. I force out smiles when excited couples tell me they are on a date, are celebrating anniversaries or are sharing their baby news by standing in front of the flower wall, holding their scan images while I take photos of them.
When I am alone out the back getting more milk or tripping over the cans of pink paint Frankie has acquired since decorating the place or cleaning the café toilets, I let out a silent scream and tell myself that I don’t believe in love anymore.
On my way back into the café after my lunch break, I spot a customer with his head in his hands and an empty chair next to him. ‘Noah,’ I whisper, ‘is the man on table four okay?’
Noah shrugs. ‘Why don’t you go over and ask him?’
As I get closer the man turns and greets me with a sad face. ‘My girlfriend – well, my now ex-girlfriend – brought me here to confess to having an affair with the postman.’
‘I’m sorry,’ I say, resisting the urge to sit down next to him and tell him all about what happened to me. That would only lead to anger which in turn would impact how I serve customers.
‘This place should be renamed Heartbreak Café – right?’ He looks at me with watery eyes. In his hand is the bill for two Luscious Lattes.
I tell him, ‘Your bill is on the house.’
‘That’s very nice of you,’ he says, rising from his chair. ‘I’m going to the pub.’
I try to forget about the man but later an argument breaks out between a couple on table six. ‘We are finished, Gareth,’ yells the woman. ‘I never want to see you or your annoying mother ever again.’
‘Fine,’ shouts the man, ‘I don’t want to see you or your interfering sisters again either. Oh, and my mother was right about you – she took one look at your profile on the dating app, and said you looked like trouble… with a capital T.’
Noah casts me an awkward glance as the woman shouts, ‘We’re finished. Goodbye, Gareth.’ She storms out of the café leaving Gareth to stare miserably out of the window.
‘Is it me or has the atmosphere changed in the café?’ I ask Noah later. We are half an hour away from closing and he’s looking at our socials. ‘There are a few comments on our Instagram post.’ He passes me his phone.
@SnarkySue: ‘There was no love in the #LittleLoveCafé for me today. Husband annoyed me so much with his constant moaning I walked out.’
@JeremyLightYear: I got dumped in this place today – should be renamed #HeartbreakCafé
I hand Noah’s phone back to him. ‘Do you think we should worry?’
Noah shakes his head. ‘Probably the weather.’ We both glance out of the café window. It’s been the first proper warm day in April and a few holidaymakers are still dotted on the beach enjoying the last few rays. As we lock up the café and go our separate ways, I pray things go back to normal soon.