CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
He was frowning. ‘I suppose... well, I was hoping we could walk Barley together?’ He looked uncertain of my answer.
‘Oh.’ I stared at him, completely wrong-footed.
‘But if you’d rather not... that’s fine.’ He shrugged, and I could see my own bitter disappointment reflected in his eyes. Perhaps he did feel the same, after all?
A wave of happiness started in my toes and surged up through my whole body. The tears came but this time, they were happy, and I laughed and brushed them away.
‘Barley would love it if you came with us.’ I smiled up into Jensen’s eyes and watched relief soften his face into a smile. ‘We both would,’ I added. Just in case he was in any doubt at all...
*****
‘I need to explain,’ Jensen said later, when we were sitting in my kitchen drinking coffee at the table, and Barley was lying flat out on the cool tiles. ‘About coming to the café that time.’
‘And leaving when you saw my face on the poster?’
‘Yes.’ He smiled sheepishly. ‘Do you remember me telling you that a mate of mine had managed to get me some temporary work in marketing?’
I nodded. ‘You were hoping it would fill the gap between finishing your studies at uni and landing a full-time job in marketing.’
He looked surprised I’d remembered. ‘Yes, well, that temporary work was with The Flour Mill, helping Sasha to organise the competition?’
‘Oh. Gosh.’ A light went on. ‘Sasha? She came to the last meeting of the Pudding Club. I really liked her.’
He nodded. ‘Sasha was the old friend who got me the job. She’s the marketing person at The Flour Mill and she needed some help organising the competition, so the company agreed to her taking on an assistant, just on a temporary basis.’
‘And that was you?’ I frowned, trying to get things clear in my mind. ‘So you came along with Sasha that night to check out my puddings?’ I laughed. ‘If you know what I mean.’
He grinned. ‘I do.’
‘To see if my pudding business was good enough to make it to the next stage in the competition?’
‘Exactly. Sasha was in charge of dealing with all the submissions, and she logged yours just under your grandmother’s name. So I had no idea that you were an equal partner in Vintage Puddings. It was only when I saw the poster on the café door with your face on it that I realised I’d be compromising you if I came in.’
‘I don’t understand.’ I frowned at him, puzzled. ‘How would you have compromised me?’
‘Well, it’s written very clearly into the terms and conditions of entry that no person associated with an employee of The Flour Mill is allowed to enter. I didn’t want you disqualified if they found out I knew you.’ He shrugged. ‘You can imagine how it would look if you actually won the competition and then it transpired that I was...a friend of yours.’
‘Oh, I see. So that’s why you left, and only Sasha came in?’
He grinned. ‘It was her idea in the first place to come to a meeting of the Pudding Club. Your grandmother’s submission apparently mentioned it, and Sasha’s a real pudding fanatic. She persuaded me to come along.’
I grimaced. ‘But the meeting was a total disaster. Salt in the puddings?’
He nodded. ‘She mentioned that. Although I’m sure it wasn’t as bad as you imagine.’
‘Oh, it was,’ I assured him with a sheepish grin. ‘It was very bad. In fact, I’d imagine Sasha has now crossed Vintage Puddings off her list of possibilities?’
As I asked the question, I was aware of feeling a certain amount of relief. But there was the oddest little touch of disappointment in there, too...
‘I’ve no idea,’ confessed Jensen. ‘I’m not working there any longer.’
‘Oh. Why not?’
He shrugged. ‘As soon as I realised Vintage Puddings was actually you, I felt I should step away from being involved with the competition. As I said, I didn’t want to ruin your chances.’
‘Really?’ I stared at him. ‘Oh, but what a shame!’
He shook his head. ‘It’s fine. I only had a week to go of my temporary contract and to be honest, Sasha had it all in hand anyway. She no longer needed my help. So the owners were happy to let me go.’ He smiled. ‘I got that marketing job in London, by the way. The one I was supposed to be interviewing for the day we met.’
‘You did? That’s amazing. Congratulations!’
‘Thank you. Yes, I start in a few weeks’ time.’
‘Oh.’ Jarred by this news, I still managed to paste on a smile. ‘Well, how exciting. So... I suppose you’ll be moving away from Sunnybrook, then? Getting a place in London?’
He laughed. ‘You’re joking, aren’t you? I’d never be able to afford the rent. Not on my starting salary. No, I’ll just be commuting to and from Sunnybrook every day.’
‘Right.’ Relief washed through me. ‘Yes. Of course. Very wise.’
There was a pause while we drank our coffee.
Jensen broke the silence. ‘You know... I couldn’t believe I didn’t ask you for your number that day. I’ve been kicking myself ever since.’
‘You have?’ I smiled. ‘Actually, me, too.’
‘Really? I wasn’t sure . . . whether you . . . well, you know.’
I nodded. ‘Believe me, I’ve also given myself a few hard kicks in the shin about that.’
He laughed, looking relieved at my confession. ‘Quite a hard thing to do, I’d imagine.’
‘Never kick yourself in public,’ I joked. ‘That’s all I’m saying.’
He smiled. ‘I went for a lot of walks by the river – a lot more than usual – but you were never there.’
‘I did that, too. We must have missed each other every time.’
‘I even went into the wedding boutique and asked about you. But the woman in charge said she couldn’t possibly give out any personal information about you.’
I groaned. ‘Bloody Marguerite. I suppose she was right, though.’
‘I asked if she’d mind passing on my number to you, and she said she would. But then I never heard from you, so I had to assume you weren’t interested.’
I stared at him, recalling that Marguerite had been about to confess something else to me when we’d clashed earlier. It must have been that Jensen had been in the shop looking for me.
‘Well, she had ample opportunity to tell me you were trying to find me, but she never did.’
‘Oh, right. I thought she seemed a bit frosty.’
‘Frosty.’ I nodded sadly. ‘That’s Marguerite, all right.’ It was strange. I didn’t feel the anger towards my old boss that I might once have felt on hearing this news. I just felt sorry for her now.
I glanced at my watch. I needed to get a move on if I wanted to see Loli. And I had a very important reason for wanting to visit her today.
I’d found Jensen.
The question was, would she keep to her side of our bargain?
I explained to Jenson that I was due at the hospital and he said he had to go anyway. It was his parents’ thirtieth wedding anniversary and the family were going on a short break to London to celebrate, so he had to get packed.
‘But... how about we meet up when I’m back and take this little fella for another walk together?’ He nodded at Barley, and I agreed happily.
My heart was singing as we parted at the door and I waved him off. He’d only just left – but already I couldn’t wait to see Jensen again!
But now, I needed to get to the hospital and have that talk with Loli...