Chapter 3 #3
Finally, Ada let her go but was speaking at a million miles an hour firing questions at her. ‘Where shall we go first? Have you eaten? Do you want lunch? Coffee? No, you’ve got coffee. Water? Prosecco? We should celebrate!’
Milly laughed. ‘Ada, calm down. I’ve literally only just arrived. We’ve got a few days, haven’t we?’
‘We’ve got a week! I’m so excited you’re here. And this is the perfect time for me to introduce you to Theo.’ She turned and Milly was aware again of the flirty look in his eye. ‘Theo, this is my friend Milly. She’s going to use my room while I’m away and she’s going to help turn the café around.’
Theo’s handsome, bright eyes clouded, his whole demeanour darkening as his jaw hardened. ‘She’s doing what?’
His voice was cold, and it sent a shiver down her spine, even though it was a hot, beautiful sunny day.
Milly glanced at Ada who adjusted some of the cups Milly hadn’t long ago knocked over. ‘I did tell you.’
‘You told me you had a friend using your room while you were away; you didn’t say she was … what was it? Turning the café around?’
Oh no. This had not been part of the plan.
Milly turned to Ada, annoyance tightening her muscles.
Had her friend really not given him one of the most vital bits of information?
She felt the need to speak, to try and smooth things over.
The last thing she wanted was to start off on the wrong foot. ‘I think what Ada means is—’
‘It’s fine, Milly,’ Ada said. ‘Theo’s being stubborn, that’s all. Milly’s not only a financial adviser—’
Milly was going to add ‘on investments’ so as not to oversell herself but didn’t get the chance as Ada barrelled on.
‘She’s an influencer and she—’
‘Of course she is,’ Theo said crossing his arms over his chest.
Annoyance bubbled inside her and before she could stop herself, Milly had responded, mirroring his actions. ‘What does that mean?’
‘Let me guess, you’re going to post about the café on your silly Instagram account, and all your millions of followers will flock here.
You’ll film yourself having a meal, batting your eyelashes, flicking your hair, and saying “hmmm” and they’ll think, “Wow, this is the place to be. I must go there now”. ’
His voice dripped with sarcasm and both Ada and Milly were left dumbstruck, until Milly – embarrassed at his hair-flicking comment – felt her annoyance turn to anger.
‘Actually, Theo,’ she said his name slowly and deliberately while pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.
‘I share life and financial hacks on my silly Instagram account, and I work in financial consulting, so I do know what I’m talking about.
Ada said the café wasn’t doing as well as you were both hoping and asked me to come and take a look.
If I flicked my hair it was because it’s hot and not because I’m some ditzy idiot. ’
She knew her eyes were blazing, and she could feel heat in her cheeks. Theo met her gaze, his kissable lips turned down.
‘Whatever you do, I – we—’ He looked pointedly at Ada. ‘Don’t need your help.’
Had she really paused her life – upped and moved to Copenhagen for the summer – for nothing? Frustration burst and an anger she hadn’t known existed, but was most likely repressed rage over Tom, began to pour out.
‘Well Ada seems to think otherwise and given she owns half your business – a business that’s currently empty when all the other cafés down that end are full, by the way – she has a right to a say in what happens to it.
And if she wants me to help her, I most certainly will because she’s my best friend and that’s what friends do. ’
He couldn’t argue with this and instead pinned Ada with his gaze. ‘I can’t believe you’re going and leaving me to deal with all this.’
‘All what?!’ Milly exclaimed, moving to ensure she was directly in his eyeline.
‘Guys—’ Ada said, urging them to calm down with her hands.
Was he referring to her? Was she the all this in this scenario? Theo whatever his surname was might be utterly gorgeous with sexy shoulders and kissable lips, but he clearly was not as nice as he’d first seemed. ‘If you’re referring to me I—’
‘I’m not just talking about you. I’m talking about—’
Ever the peacemaker, Ada took a step forwards, in between both of them. ‘Let’s all just calm down and take a minute, shall we?’
A minute? It was going to take more than a hot minute to sort all this out.
Milly had upped and left her life back home for the summer, and she wasn’t just going to have to work with Theo, she was going to have to live with him too and right now, she couldn’t think of anything less appealing, no matter how gorgeous he was.
He’d basically called her a ditzy blonde because she was an influencer (not that she called herself that, she much preferred the term ‘content creator’, as many did now, and even then it was more about helping her online community than follower numbers or likes) and he clearly wasn’t open to any sort of constructive criticism whatsoever.
She had the horrible sinking feeling she’d made a terrible mistake and, even worse, that spending the summer here was going to be more painful than watching Tom play find the bra strap in the stationery cupboard.