Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
I t’s Tuesday and I am back at work after my day off. Dad and I have barely spoken, and Pete still hasn’t replied to my texts. A teenage girl with poker straight, chestnut brown hair and amazing winged eyeliner taps me on the arm as I hurry past clutching empty coffee cups. ‘Do you have free wifi here?’
‘Yes,’ I say, pointing to the password printed on the back of the menu.
Grinning she taps it into her phone and then turns back to me. ‘I am a YouTuber. Do you mind if I film in here?’
Her boyfriend grins. ‘You’re seriously going to vlog our date, then?’
She nods. ‘I told my followers last night I was coming here, and I was inundated with people getting excited about us two having a coffee date in a romance-themed café.’
‘Isn’t that a bit odd?’ her boyfriend asks. ‘You’re filming our date?’
‘I think it’s going to be fun. You must improve your topics of date conversation though, as last week’s discussion on what you ate in your break at work will not go down well; nor will your other topic about which flavour Pot Noodle you prefer.’
‘So, are you saying all of your twelve thousand followers will be watching our date?’
She nods and her boyfriend shakes his head.
I get excited about having YouTubers like this girl interested in The Little Love Café. This is exactly what we need. ‘Can you use The Little Love Café hashtag?’
As I return to the counter, I spot Pete casually wandering into the café. Irritation bubbles inside my stomach and my shoulders and neck stiffen. He looks up and smiles. Taking him by the elbow I steer him towards one of the empty booths. Noah casts me a worried look as I glance back at him.
‘Why haven’t you text me back, Pete?’ I hiss.
Yawning, he scratches his mass of black curls and smiles. ‘I was on a stag do. What do you want?’
Blood is rushing past my ears and my mind wheels out the memory of Noah telling me about the email he received from me all those years ago. Through gritted teeth I hiss, ‘Did you send an email to Noah pretending to be me when he left?’
Pete’s smile evaporates. In a fraction of a second, I know he’s guilty. I’ve looked into those blue eyes of his so many times. He used to try to lie about his secret casino trips and spending money we didn’t have.
‘I– umm… I–’ he stammers.
‘You lied, Pete. You sent that email pretending to me – didn’t you?’
He stares at me. ‘I didn’t, Alice.’
Someone has turned up the heat on my cheeks. They are flame hot and my eyes are stinging. Emotion and anger are rising inside of me. ‘You sent that email, and you didn’t post my letters to Noah – did you?’
Pete squirms and fidgets in his seat. He remains silent and looks away.
My angry voice is loud and shrill. ‘You lied, Pete. You told Noah I didn’t want to go out with him.’
Pete’s eyes darken. ‘I have always loved you, Alice. When he came to live in Blue Cove Bay, he stole you from me.’
Out of the corner of my eye I can see the teenage YouTuber holding up her phone at Pete and me. ‘Got to film this drama,’ she says. ‘This is much more interesting than our date.’
Pete sits up and runs a hand through his hair. ‘The past has gone now, Alice. I can’t believe you are publicly embarrassing me over something that happened twenty years ago.’
‘Your lies ruined my life, Pete.’
He rises from the booth. ‘I saved you from a lifetime of heartbreak.’
I stare at him face on. ‘That’s a joke, Pete. You gambled away all our money; you never helped me with our baby son; and then when I came to my senses, you stormed off to London for two years.’
His eyes flash with anger. ‘You used me to get back at HIM.’
The Little Love Café has quietened. Everyone’s gaze has followed Pete’s finger, which points at Noah.
‘You never sent my letters – did you?’
He laughs. ‘I shoved them in the bin.’
Everyone gasps and rage like hot lava ripples through me. ‘Get out of this café, Pete.’
To my horror Pete turns to Noah. ‘Thanks for stealing the love of my life. I don’t suppose you’ve told her about those rumours back then regarding your father and her mother.’ He lets out a sarcastic laugh and turns to me. ‘Goodbye, Alice. Say hello to Brian for me.’
Pete walks out as Noah rushes out from behind the counter. He guides me out the back of the café as everyone around us returns to their conversations. I am shell-shocked. In my head all I can hear is Pete saying those rumours .
Wrapping his arms around me, Noah pulls me to him. ‘We’re going to get to the bottom of this,’ he whispers.
I pull away from him. ‘Did you know about these rumours?’
He flicks his eyes to the floor. ‘I did but I never believed them.’
‘You never told me?’ I take a step back in shock.
Noah runs his hand through his hair. ‘I asked my father about them, and he said nothing happened between him and your mum.’ He tries to stroke my cheek, but I bat his hand away. ‘Noah, you never told me what people were saying about my mum.’
‘Alice, it was harmful gossip.’
I take off my apron. ‘I need some fresh air.’
I walk up to the promenade and sit on a bench. My head is a swirling mass of thoughts. Were these rumours why Dad took a dislike to Noah? Why had Noah not told me? I find a gang of white-tipped waves to focus on. They race towards the shore as cackling seagulls cheer them on.
Someone comes to sit beside me. I look up and see Esme. Without warning, hot, salty tears spill over my cheeks and she puts her arms around me. Once I have let all my frustration and anger spill out of me, I tell Esme everything. She listens and strokes my hand.
‘You need to speak to your dad, Alice.’ She sighs. ‘I never heard any of these rumours if that makes any difference.’
‘I’m angry at Noah for not telling me.’
‘He made a mistake in not telling you, but he probably didn’t want to believe the rumours either. I mean they were about his father. He also probably knew how much you loved your mum.’
I nod and wipe my wet cheeks.
‘Your mum was an angel, Alice,’ says Esme. ‘She once shouted at Joy for being nasty to me.’
I look at her and she grins. ‘Yes, that’s true. Joy was forcing me to jump off the old pier into the sea and I didn’t want to. Your mother came to my rescue.’
‘I’m glad Mum helped you. Thanks, Esme.’
She places her hand over mine. ‘Don’t be mad at Noah.’
He’s serving a couple on table three when I enter the café. When he’s finished, he comes over with a sheepish look to his face. ‘Alice, I’m sorry,’ he says. ‘I should have told you. The thing is, those rumours were about my own father too, and I chose to ignore them once he assured me nothing had happened between him and your mum. He did say that she had become a good friend to him, and they always shared a joke or two when they were on a long hike. I also used to sit by you on our rock and I could tell you felt close to your mum by the cliffs. You would talk so much about her and your father that I didn’t want to hurt you with cruel small-town gossip.’
Leaning my head against his shoulder I allow his arm to circle my waist. ‘It’s okay, I understand.’
‘You mean a lot to me, Alice. You always have.’
I look up at him and he leans over and kisses me.
We have a half an hour left until closing time. I’m in a booth on my own struggling to process the events of today. My head feels like a tornado has passed through it, leaving an array of havoc and chaos.
Reaching for my phone, I log on to The Little Love Café’s Facebook account and groan. A few customers from today have already left comments with the words, romantic drama in the #LittleLoveCafé. One person has commented to say:
Shouldn’t we be using the new Heartbreak Café name?
It has already got several likes.
A Rocco Reid fan, has posted:
Why are we shocked to hear this? You can only order a cup of misery and sadness at the #LittleLoveCafé. They are probably still busy sweeping up Lil Tia’s broken heart.
This has garnered an eye-watering number of likes.
A new notification appears and my heart stops. A customer has added a link to a Matilda’s Life YouTube video and today’s post – Heartbreak at The Little Love Café – check out my new post #LittleLoveCafé. Matilda’s video opens and I am stood screaming at Pete. All my hard work at turning public opinion around has been a waste of time. My chest aches as I imagine Frankie seeing this. I delete the comment and the link and pray Frankie has not seen it.