Chapter 9
Mal didn’t have help on weekday mornings, which meant that it was just him in the shop. Sometimes it got hectic. He looked around the silent café. He could do with a bit more hectic right now. It was quiet this morning, so he was looking at the flyer samples that Dilan had made for him. It turned out that the boy had a good eye for design. He had set up an account on a freelancing website and Mal was currently his only customer. He wasn’t charging Mal very much because he was learning how to do things right now, but Mal could already see that he had potential. Dilan’s work was slow, but no one needed to see that. He set a time frame to deliver and he stuck to it.
A movement outside caught his eye. Elodie was returning to her shop after going out on an errand. She often popped out mid-morning, leaving the shop closed. It seemed that Marty only worked there in the afternoons. A delivery guy had been round earlier and Mal had taken a parcel in for her. That was the downside to being out. Not that he minded. Mal looked back at his laptop. He had been seeing Elodie a lot lately. He wasn’t watching out for her or anything. He just … noticed her more. It was only natural, he supposed. She was an attractive lady and now that she didn’t hate him so much, it was okay to notice.
His gaze drifted out to the cake shop again. Elodie was standing in the shop, looking at something. She looked up, straight at him. The eye contact made his breath stall. Startled, he smiled. She returned the smile and came over.
‘Hi.’ She waved a ‘while you were out’ card. ‘Did they leave a parcel with you?’
‘Yes.’ He scrambled to his feet and got it from behind the counter.
‘I’m sorry about that,’ she said. ‘They usually let me rearrange delivery.’
‘I don’t mind. It’s no bother at all.’ He was still feeling flustered. This was weird. And embarrassing. ‘Any time.’
She hitched the parcel up against her hip. ‘Will you be at the meeting tonight?’
It took him a second to remember what she was talking about. There had been an email. ‘The … er … leaseholders meeting? For all the shop owners?’
‘You should tell them about the baked beans thing. We’ve been asking for CCTV to be installed for a while and it would be a good argument for it.’
He nodded, slowly. CCTV would be useful. ‘I will do that,’ he said.
‘You’ve reported it to the office, right?’
He hadn’t. ‘I’ll do that now.’
‘Great. I’ll see you there then.’ Another smile and she left.
He watched her walk across to her shop and let herself in. The idea of a leaseholders meeting gave him a sinking feeling in his stomach. It sounded like politics, which he had managed to steer clear of most of the time. But she was right. He should report it. Dealing with other people was part of doing business. He may as well get used to it.
Mal tried hard not to fidget. The leaseholders meeting was taking place in the Cornish pasty shop at the other side of the arcade. A notice saying ‘private function’ had been taped to the door. An assortment of people sat around the room while Warren had gone through some very boring things about financials and fee increases. They had stopped for a tea break now and Warren had disappeared.
Mal felt hopelessly out of his depth. There were clearly discussions that were ongoing, which he knew nothing about. Everyone seemed to know one another and there were invisible factions that he couldn’t work out. He watched as Elodie got her tea. She made eye contact with him and he sent her a silent plea. He needed someone to give him insider info and guide him. Elodie gave him a small smile and took a step towards him, but got accosted by a man who was holding a mug in one hand and two cupcakes in the other.
A woman in a flowy skirt and beading in her long dark hair came over.
‘I hear you do keto meals,’ she said. ‘That’s very exciting. I’m paleo vegan myself, so I feel completely aligned with what you’re doing. I’ve felt so much better since I started paleo, you know. So much more in tune with nature. It’s been very nourishing, spiritually. I feel like I’ve reconnected with the universe.’
‘I …’ He scrabbled around for the best thing to say. ‘Our meals aren’t vegan, I’m afraid,’ he said.
To his relief, Elodie dragged a chair over and sat down.
The woman eyed Elodie’s cake. ‘Sugar is very bad for you, Elodie.’ She nudged Mal. ‘Tell her.’
Mal shook his head. ‘Everyone’s different. Some people seem to manage okay with sugar. I personally find it not helpful.’
‘Oh. I don’t eat anything processed,’ the woman said. ‘Only things that our ancestors would have eaten. It’s a much more authentic way to live.’
Suddenly, Mal understood why Elodie was so anti-keto. She had been associating his low-carb meals with this judgemental side. If she thought he was constantly judging her for her sugar-based products, no wonder she was off with him.
Elodie nodded. ‘I imagine you’re also fine with other inauthentic things like indoor plumbing.’
It was hard not to laugh. Mal looked down at his tea. The other woman sniffed. ‘There’s no need to be like that, Elodie.’ She stood up and marched away.
‘It was nice to meet you,’ Mal said to her retreating figure. She looked over her shoulder and gave him a nod. He turned to Elodie. ‘You … don’t like her?’ he asked in a low voice.
‘Not really,’ said Elodie. ‘She once referred to me as “that fat baker girl”.’
‘Ouch.’ He caught his gaze taking in Elodie’s shapes. Curves. He looked away before she thought he was checking her out. Which, if he was being totally honest, he sort of was.
‘That’s Jade. I should have warned you about her,’ Elodie said. ‘She runs the candles and incense shop.’
He smiled. ‘Anyone else I should know about?’
‘Well …’ She looked around. ‘You already know Lydia from the Cornish pasty shop, she’s nice. That’s Bradley who has the computer games place. He’s lovely too.’ She pointed to a beagle sitting obediently under the table. ‘And that’s Cooper.’
She told him who he should make friends with and introduced him to a couple of them. He understood that the people who’d had his shop space before him had been popular and that people were curious about the newcomer. They seemed to like Elodie, which was reassuring to see.
The lady who owned the travel agents was chairing the meeting. She tapped the table in front of her. ‘Everyone. If we can resume the meeting now.’
The man from the second-hand bookshop stood up and talked about an increase in shoplifting.
‘We should have some sort of way to catch these miscreants,’ he said.
Elodie nudged Mal and made a go on gesture to him. Oh. Right.
He raised his hand, cautiously.
The chairwoman said, ‘Yes, Mr … Partee … runner? Did I say that correctly?’
Mal didn’t bother to correct her directly; instead he said, ‘I’m Malindu Pathirana. Call me Mal.’ There was a murmur of greetings. ‘I’m new here. I just wanted to add that someone threw baked beans at my shop front a couple of days ago. It was only a minor sort of vandalism, but CCTV would have been really helpful.’
‘Oh, I’ve heard of this,’ someone else said.
Voices chimed in raising the noise level in the room. The chairwoman tapped the side of her mug with a spoon. ‘It does sound like we need to put the case for CCTV to the landlord again,’ she said, a little wearily. ‘Would you be able to give us a statement about what happened?’
Mal nodded. ‘Sure.’
A few more animated discussions later, they dispersed. Mal found himself walking alongside Elodie as they headed towards their cars.
‘Well done. You survived your first meeting,’ she said.
‘Are they always like that?’
‘Pretty much.’ She gave him a quick grin, which surprised him. He wasn’t used to her smiling at him. He smiled back.
‘You did well,’ she continued. ‘You’ve made friends by supporting the cause of the hour.’
‘I’m glad,’ he said. ‘I didn’t want to get off on the wrong foot there as well.’
Elodie didn’t reply, merely looked straight ahead.
‘Have you …’ he asked the question that was always at the back of his mind these days. ‘Have you heard from Saffron?’
She shook her head. ‘No. I guess you haven’t heard from Jamie?’
‘No. They’re leaving it rather late.’
‘They are,’ she said, grimly. ‘I always thought Saffron was a well-organised person, so I’m a little bit surprised.’
Mal didn’t like to say that, but he couldn’t help agreeing. ‘Wedding planning is stressful, I guess,’ he said. ‘That’s why people hire professional wedding planners.’
Elodie sighed. ‘Yes, well. Either way, I hope she tells us soon.’
The silence that followed was strained. Elodie stopped by a small car. ‘This is me. I’ll see you tomorrow.’
He said goodbye and carried on walking to where he’d parked his van. When he glanced over his shoulder, Elodie had already pulled out and was driving away. She wasn’t so bad when she wasn’t angry. Given time, they might even become friends.
Elodie decided to take a brisk walk around the block. She had been working on a Minecraft cake for hours, cutting out squares of fondant and setting them into place. She needed to stretch her legs and shake the stiffness out of her shoulders. Instead of going past Man Buns, she chose to go the other way.
The Chipping Sawdon arcade was old, but in reasonable repair. Originally, all the shops had been small ones, like hers. Barely more than kiosks with a room at the back, but over the decades, some places had expanded, taking over more than one unit and knocking through until eventually they were left with a hodgepodge of differently sized shops. The food shops tended to be near one of the four entrances, where people ducked in on their way past. There weren’t many chain stores; apart from the key cutters and the photo shop everything else was independent. The town liked to keep it that way. It was the ‘historic’ part of town. She paused to look in the window of the candle and incense shop. The proprietor might be irritating, but it didn’t mean Elodie couldn’t admire the things she sold. Today there was a beautiful candle shaped like Minas Tirith in the window. It wasn’t so much a candle as a work of art. Who would be able to set fire to that?
The Cornish pasty shop where she’d had her coffee with Leon was at one of the other entrances to the arcade. Her path took her past it, so she popped in to get herself a pasty for lunch. Being in there made her think of Leon. He seemed nice enough. He had texted a few times, making conversation. It was nice being asked out. But she didn’t feel any excitement about him. Surely, at this stage of things, she should be buzzing at the prospect of seeing him again? She had barely thought of him since meeting him for coffee. Granted, she had been busy with putting together the pitch for Saffron’s wedding. She’d spent more time thinking about Mal than about Leon. She had been impressed by how he had stood up for his nephew. She would have expected that someone who clearly worked out and had sculpted arms like he did would have been more aggressive. He had been firm and polite instead, but with the suggestion that if things went wrong, an even firmer and more impolite Mal was just below the surface. The restraint was kinda hot.
Elodie froze, pasty partway to her mouth, and looked around guiltily. She told herself off. As if anyone would know what she’d just thought inside her head. Taking another bite, she carried on walking, but she felt weird and self-conscious now. Her face was too warm. What on earth had made her think that about Mal? They weren’t enemies anymore, but they weren’t friends. Thinking about his forearms was just a bit inappropriate.
Getting to know him meant that it was harder to dislike him. He wasn’t arrogant, like she’d initially assumed he was. The fact that he seemed to care about the people who worked for him and was so protective of his nephew had taken her by surprise. She had expected him to be a boring muscle-head, interested only in exercise and diets and other things that generally made you feel unhappy. Instead, he was kind and sweet and … not unattractive.
No. No. She couldn’t think like that. That was all too embarrassing. She took an overly aggressive bite of her pasty and accidentally bit her cheek. ‘Ow.’ Her walk had taken her all the way around the arcade and she was back at the shop now, so she went in, grimacing at the pain.
‘What happened?’ Marty was leaning at an odd angle, peering through the door. Elodie turned to see what he was looking at. Mal’s business partner, Jake, was standing outside the café, talking to one of the customers. Elodie stepped in front of Marty’s line of vision.
‘Move.’ Marty waved a hand.
‘Stop staring at him. It’s weird.’ But she moved out of the way anyway.
Marty sighed. ‘But look at him. He’s so beautiful.’
Elodie shook her head. ‘You shouldn’t be objectifying him.’
‘I’m not. I’m admiring and appreciating.’
She raised an eyebrow at him.
He shifted position. ‘But what about you?’
‘What about me?’
‘I saw you checking out Mal the other day when he was here.’
‘I did not.’ She turned away so that he couldn’t see her face heat up.
‘You were staring at his hands.’
‘I wasn’t.’ She’d been staring at his forearms. It was a completely different thing.
Marty was talking to someone. Elodie zoned his voice out and focused on what she was doing. Marty was an absolute godsend when it came to talking to customers.
‘Elodie!’ Marty’s voice was high with excitement.
‘Is it urgent? Or important?’ she shouted back. They’d had this discussion before.
‘Erm … important, I guess,’ said Marty. ‘Not urgent.’
‘Then it’ll have to wait.’ She carried on making the arms and legs out of fondant. When she finally finished and went into the shop front, Marty leapt up and pointed at the floor.
There was a box from a local florist containing a bouquet of brightly coloured flowers – roses, freesias, carnations and lilies.
‘Who’s it from? Who’s it from?’ Marty was practically dancing with excitement.
Elodie felt it too. The flowers were gorgeous and someone had thought she was special enough to send them to her. Who was it? Heart hammering, she sat on the ledge that ran by the window and opened the box so that she could pick out the card. ‘Dear Elodie, I can’t wait until we meet again. Here are some flowers so that you can think of me until the next time. Leon.’
‘Romantic,’ said Marty, eyes sparkling. ‘Things are progressing!’
‘A bit full-on?’ said Elodie. ‘I only went for one coffee with him. We’re not dating.’
‘Possibly,’ said Marty. ‘Maybe he really likes you. No point messing about if you know you like someone, right? We’re not getting any younger.’
‘Maybe.’ She studied the bouquet. ‘What should I do with these? Take them home?’
‘Or,’ said Marty. ‘You could put them up on the counter so that the shop looks nicer.’
‘The lilies will shed pollen everywhere,’ she pointed out. ‘But I guess I can remove those and take them home.’
Marty went into the back and returned with a glass vase that she normally used in springtime to put daffodils in. ‘Things are going well with Leon, then?’
Elodie shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I’m not particularly excited about the idea of seeing him. That’s not right, is it?’
Marty put his head to one side and studied her. ‘No. I’d have expected that there would be some … fizz. If you see what I mean. But,’ he continued, ‘you’ve been so stressed out and obsessed with the business for so long, maybe it’ll take a while for you to get into the right headspace.’
She wrote a quick message to say, ‘Thank you for the lovely flowers. What a wonderful surprise’, and sent it to Leon. As an afterthought, she took a photo of them, still in the box, and sent that as well.
‘Let me untie this and take the lilies out.’ She picked out the bouquet carefully and gestured to Marty. ‘Pass me the ribbon scissors, please.’
They had a small gift-wrapping station for when people needed their cupcakes boxed and decorated to give as gifts. Marty was especially good at those. He handed her the scissors. ‘It seems a shame to undo it. It’ll never look the same.’
‘Yes, but I can’t have pollen all over my counter. It’ll get on the cakes.’ She removed the three glorious orange lilies and put them on the ledge beside her. She was marshalling the bunch back together when her phone rang.
‘Damn. Who’s that?’ She glanced at it. ‘Oh. It’s Leon.’ The stab of annoyance she felt was also not a good sign. ‘I’ll let it ring out.’
Marty knelt on the floor and put his hands around the flower stems. ‘Or. I could handle this and you can speak to the nice man and thank him for the flowers.’
She rolled her eyes at him, but she answered the phone anyway.
‘Hi. They arrived then?’ Leon’s voice sounded echoey, like he was in a large room or a stairwell.
‘They’re beautiful. Thank you so much.’
‘Not as beautiful as you,’ said Leon.
Elodie had to stop herself from making a barf noise. ‘Thank you. You didn’t have to.’
‘Oh, but I wanted to.’
She couldn’t argue with that. ‘I’m … putting them in the shop. Hope that’s okay.’
‘That makes sense. You spend the most time in the shop. Every time you spot them, you can think of me.’
She gave an awkward little laugh.
‘I’ve been thinking about you a lot in the last week,’ he said. ‘I’m really looking forward to our dinner date.’
She didn’t know how to respond to that. On the one hand, it was a nice thing to say, but on the other hand, it felt like too much. Was it too much? The pause was going on too long. ‘A customer just came in,’ she said, quickly. ‘I’d better go see what they want. Thanks for the flowers.’
‘I’ll see you on Friday for our dinner date. Text me your address and I’ll come pick you up.’
‘Sure. See you soon.’ She hung up quickly before he said anything else.
Marty raised an eyebrow at her. She related the conversation to him. ‘Is that … a red flag?’
Marty frowned thoughtfully. ‘He didn’t seem like a creep, did he?’
She shook her head. ‘Seemed normal. Nice enough. And really, all he’s done is send flowers, which is a nice gesture.’ She shrugged.
‘Do you still want to go out for dinner with him?’
‘I don’t know.’ She stretched her arms out in front of her and felt a shoulder crick. ‘I have so much work to do … but if I try to cancel, it’ll be awkward.’
Marty hunkered down in front of her. ‘Honey,’ he said. ‘You have been working hard for the last two years and you will always have a ton of work to do. You deserve a night off. A nice man likes you and wants to buy you dinner. Why don’t you let him? Relax a bit. See what happens.’
She stared at his earnest face. ‘But …’
‘What exactly are you worried about?’
Elodie threw up her hands. ‘I don’t know. It’s been a long time. I haven’t been out with anyone in years. I haven’t even bothered to shave my legs for months. And I’m not feeling … anything much about this guy, apart from he’s okay to look at. Is that really the basis for a date?’
‘You’re getting to know him. That’s what dates are about. You’re not committing to anything. Let him buy you dinner. See how you feel. If it doesn’t work out, be honest with him.’ He waved a hand airily. ‘I do that all the time. It’s fine. It’s just a step in a process where you work out whether there’s anything there or not.’
She clasped her hands around her knees and stared at him. He had a point. She was fighting this because she was scared. It would do her good to get out of her nice, comfy rut.
‘You can’t use the business as an excuse not to have a life,’ Marty said, sagely. ‘You don’t want to end up old and lonely, like me.’
She smiled at that. ‘You’re six months younger than me.’
Marty grinned. ‘All the more reason, crone.’
She swatted him. ‘Fine. I admit. I’m a little scared. But you’re right. It’s a good thing to do. And he does seem like a nice guy.’
‘And genuinely into you.’ He pointed at the flowers.
She nodded. ‘Well,’ she said, picking up the bag that she’d popped the lilies in. ‘I should get these somewhere safe and then get back to work.’ She stood up and took another look at the bouquet of flowers. It really did brighten up the place. They were pretty and sending them was a thoughtful gesture. Maybe, if she let her guard down a bit, she could have a nice time. Marty was right. She deserved to be valued.