Chapter 11
Elodie tried not to rush as she and Leon walked across the car park. It was dark now, but there was plenty of light from the pub and the streetlight just outside it. The village was pretty, even in the dark. One of the cottages had a string of fairy lights on the windows.
Leon hadn’t done anything overtly wrong, but she had been feeling more and more on edge as the evening wore on. When she’d left the restaurant, she’d caught herself scanning the pub to see if Mal was still there, as though she might need to run to him for safety. Which was ridiculous. He was just a familiar face, that was all. She told herself not to be silly, but she gripped her keys in her hand anyway.
She unlocked the car and said, ‘That was a lovely dinner, thank you.’
Leon was looking at her with luminous eyes. ‘I’m glad you thought so. I did too.’ He moved closer.
He was looking at her mouth. Ew. No. The idea of kissing him did not appeal. She took a hurried step backwards. ‘Um. Yes. But I have to go now.’
His eyes flicked back up to hers. ‘Oh. I see.’ He rallied and smiled. ‘I’ll call you. Next time we’ll go to this place a bit farther away from here that has really great reviews in TheGood Food Guide.’
Oh no. There wasn’t going to be a next time. ‘I … Listen, Leon. You’re a great guy and I did have a lovely time, but I’m really not ready for anything serious right now.’ She opened the car door to emphasise her point.
A scowl flitted across his face. ‘Who said anything about “serious”?’ he said. ‘I’m very busy with work so it’s not like we can see each other all the time, anyway. I thought perhaps we could enjoy each other’s company on occasion. See where this goes.’
Could he not take a hint? Had she not been clear enough? She edged closer into her car, so that the car door was between them. ‘That’s a nice idea,’ she said, carefully. ‘But no. I don’t think so. Thank you for dinner.’
‘But—’
Before he could continue, she said, ‘Bye, Leon,’ and shut the door. He stood there, gaping at her. She drove away, leaving him in the car park. Thank god she hadn’t let him drive there. That would have made things so much worse.
As she drove out the village, her shoulders relaxed. She hadn’t realised how tense she’d been. If going out on a date was so stressful, she was glad she hadn’t wasted any more time on it. At least now, when Marty and her mum went on at her about hiding away from the world, she could wheel out this date as evidence that she was trying. It was hard meeting people once you started a business. Most of the time, all she wanted to think about was what she could do in the shop. There was a never-ending stream of things she could, or even should, do to improve the shop. It wasn’t ideas that were her problem. It was finding the time to narrow the ideas down to a manageable number so that she could actually do something about them.
Like talking to Mal. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense to team up and do a joint pitch for this wedding. Would he be up for that? She thought of him, standing by the corridor in the back of the pub. He wanted to talk to her, he’d said. He hadn’t looked angry. So maybe he was thinking along the same lines too.
Funny. Those five minutes outside the loos talking to Mal had been the most enjoyable part of the evening. Leon clearly disliked Mal. She had assumed that whatever his beef was, there must be some truth in it, but now, she wasn’t so sure. Mal was annoyingly well-connected locally and keto bores were always sanctimonious about carbs, but … Mal wasn’t. She thought about how he interacted with his nephew. He and the boy clearly adored each other. They were family, obviously. She thought of her own brother. Family didn’t mean anything, did it? Travis wouldn’t cross the road to help her if she’d been run over. If she failed to get Saffron’s wedding contract, Travis would gloat so much. He had always sneered at her desire to run her own business. He would probably gloat a little bit if she ended up needing Mal’s help, but that would be nothing compared to the grief she would get if she lost out to Mal completely.
Elodie sighed. Mal was one of Travis’s gym buddies too and she had no idea how close they were. But she needed to be involved in this wedding one way or another. Even if it meant teaming up with Trav’s gym friends. This was the only way to show him that she was a force to be reckoned with.
Elodie got to the pasty shop early. She had popped into Man Buns and suggested a meeting time to Mal. He had looked up from the coffee he was making and nodded. ‘I’ll see you there.’
As ways to arrange a meeting went, it was pretty rushed and informal. She flicked through her notebook and smoothed it down on the right page. Her heart was hammering and her knee jiggled like it always did when she was nervous. There was nothing to be nervous about, really. She was meeting her business rival to talk about a collaboration. It wasn’t a failure to collaborate with someone, was it? It was simply a way of making a bad situation better.
If he said no, then she would just have to stick to her guns with Saffron and hope for the best. Whatever happened, she couldn’t annoy Saffron. The commission for the wedding cake was worth too much to lose. It was almost worth folding on the rest of the wedding to make sure she kept the contract for the cake.
She tapped her pen against the page. Should she do that right from the off? Just stick to what she knew and make the cake … She thought of Travis. There would be so many comments about her sweet tooth and her girliness and her weight. Most people’s comments just rolled off her, but Travis knew how to make it hurt. No. This collaboration was the best way forward. If his friend Mal rated her as a baker, Trav would just have to shut his face. She glared at the notes in front of her. Yes. That was what was best.
‘Elodie?’
She startled. Realising that she was scowling, she quickly schooled her face into something almost a smile and looked up. Leon was standing in front of her.
‘Oh,’ she said. ‘Hi.’ Did he look cross about last night? Was this going to go wrong?
‘What are you doing here?’ he said. He didn’t look cross, she noted. ‘I was going to pop round to the shop and say hello.’
Discomfort prickled. Did he still think she was interested? She thought she had been pretty clear last night. ‘What for?’
‘Pardon?’ He put his takeaway coffee down on the table.
Elodie stared at the cup. Did he think he was staying? ‘I … have a meeting,’ she said. She checked her phone. ‘In about three minutes. That’s why I’m here.’ She gave him a polite smile. ‘The shop is open though. Marty will sell you whatever you need.’
Leon’s smile faltered. ‘Oh. I … Right. Yes.’
The door to the café opened and Mal rushed in. ‘Hi. I’m sorry I’m late.’ He reached the table and spotted Leon. ‘Oh, hi, Leon.’ He looked from Leon to Elodie and back again. ‘I’ll just go grab a coffee.’
Leon’s expression clouded. ‘Oh,’ he said. ‘I see.’ He picked up his coffee cup. ‘This explains a lot. Last night. You—’
‘What? I have a meeting.’
‘That guy,’ Leon snarled. He leaned forward, so that his face was very close. Elodie scooted back alarmed. ‘Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you about him.’ He turned and marched out, his shoulder hitting Mal’s back as he stormed past.
Mal turned, stared at Leon’s retreating back, then rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to paying for his coffee.
Elodie slowly picked up her own coffee and took a sip. Wow. Leon’s moods changed quickly. Good job she hadn’t taken anything further than one innocuous dinner date. Her subconscious must have picked up on some warning sign that her conscious mind had missed. Phew. Bullet dodged.
Mal glanced across at Elodie to check that she was okay. She was watching Leon walk away with something like relief on her face. She seemed fine. Good. Logically, he knew that Leon’s reaction to him was different to his day-to-day interactions with everyone else. He and Leon had hurt each other. In all honesty, he still felt a bit bad about what had happened, but what was he supposed to do? Keep taking the beatings because Leon wasn’t ready to do anything about it yet?
The day when he had finally cracked, Leon had got away, leaving Mal to take the worst of the bullying. He knew that once he had changed his life around, Leon had continued to be beaten up. He had tried to help. Tried to get Leon to join him and Jake in the gym. He had even reported the bullying to the school again before he left to go to sixth form college elsewhere.
The barista handed him his coffee. Mal pulled his scattered thoughts together. This was an awkward enough meeting. It was humiliating to have to back out of a pitch like this. He wasn’t even sure why he was talking to Elodie first rather than going to Jamie directly. Another glance at her. She was biting into a pastry. She put the remainder back on a plate and licked the crumbs off her lips. Her lips were pink and plump. Mal looked away. He was noticing her far too much lately. He needed to pull himself together and be a professional.
He paid for the coffee.
Anyway, to business.
He approached the table and put his cup down on it. Elodie hastily brushed crumbs off her fingers.
‘So,’ Mal said. ‘What did you want to talk to me about?’
A small frown. Her nose wrinkled a little when she frowned. ‘Actually, you wanted to talk to me. You said yesterday, at the pub, remember?’
Of course he had. He had to get it together and stop noticing things like how her nose wrinkled or how she’d missed a few crumbs on her cheek. ‘Um. Right. Yes.’ He took a deep breath and let it out. ‘It’s about Jamie and Saffron’s wedding. It’s a big deal, obviously, with them being influencers and having target audiences that speak to exactly the same customers as we each need. And—’
‘I agree,’ she said.
‘What?’ Was she agreeing that it was a big deal? That was obvious, surely.
‘I agree. We should work together,’ she said. ‘I care about Saffron and you clearly care about Jamie, so we should work together to give them the wedding they both deserve.’
Oh. He caught up rapidly. Working together. Oh yes, that would be a brilliant idea. His heart might actually have leapt. ‘You mean … Yes. A half-and-half-type affair? We could rework the pitch so that we have keto snacks and more decadent non-keto snacks in roughly the right proportion. It would mean that everyone gets what they want and both Jamie and Saffron are happy.’
This was a great idea. Why hadn’t he thought about it sooner?
She sat up straighter, some of her defensive attitude gone. Her eyes shone. She looked radiant. ‘You’ll do it? You think it’s a good idea?’
‘It’s a wonderful idea,’ he said. ‘It makes perfect sense. Not just from the point of view of Jamie and Saffron, but we’re both quite small businesses. If we pool our resources a bit – equipment, transport and such, we wouldn’t need to hire as much stuff in.’ And he wouldn’t need to take such a large loan from his own savings to tide him over until the gig paid up.
They stared at each other for a moment.
‘Of course, it’s all about making sure Saffron and Jamie have a great wedding day,’ said Elodie.
‘Oh. Of course.’ He took a sip of coffee.
‘Should we call them and tell them first and then work up a new proposal?’ said Elodie. ‘Or get on with sorting the details out first?’
Jamie had been at the gym that morning and had been careful to avoid Mal. ‘Let’s call them first.’
She picked up her phone.
‘I’ll just nip outside and call Jamie,’ said Mal. He needed a few seconds alone. While Elodie called Saffron, he left the shop. Once outside, he did a little air punch and said, ‘Yes!’ before he dialled Jamie’s number. He hadn’t realised quite how worried he’d been about the pitch until the weight had suddenly been lifted.
‘Hello. Mal?’
He had expected to get Jamie’s answerphone, so Mal was momentarily thrown when Jamie actually answered.
‘Jamie. Hi. Can I have a few minutes?’
‘Er. Sure. It’s literally only a couple of minutes though.’
‘Great. Listen. About the catering for your wedding. I’ve spoken to Elodie and we have an idea that would work for everyone.’
‘Okay … I’m listening.’
‘We thought we could team up. My expertise is in keto meals. Hers is in cakes and confectionery, we could do half the menu each. That way, everyone is happy. What do you think?’
There was a pause at the other end of the line.
‘Jamie?’
‘Listen, mate, this is awkward. I know we did that jokey TikTok, but this has been causing a lot of problems between me and Saffron and we decided that we would say no to both of you and … ask a third party to quote for it.’
What? No. Mal’s heart sank. ‘But both of us as a team would work so well.’
‘I know, mate. But I really can’t face dealing with the stress again …’
‘Give us a chance. At least consider it.’
Jamie sighed. ‘Okay. Can you get the pitch to me by … tomorrow? I’ll run it past Saffron and see how we do.’
‘Tomorrow? That’s tight.’
‘We would already be delaying by a day and the wedding being so close, every day counts.’ Jamie’s voice was tight. He was clearly under some strain. Mal fought down the urge to point out that it was Jamie and Saffron who had wasted days dragging their feet over the decision.
‘Okay. Yes. Tomorrow. We will have it with you by lunchtime tomorrow.’
‘Tomorrow morning,’ said Jamie. ‘Sorry. I’m working most of the day, so … I’ll need it in the morning. Send it to me and Saffron at the same time.’
‘That’s … yes. You’ll have it in the morning. Thanks, Jamie.’
‘That’s okay. I’m sorry it didn’t work out as straightforwardly as you’d hoped.’ Jamie sounded genuinely sorry. ‘I’ve got to go. I look forward to tomorrow.’
Mal hung up and stared into space. Shit. That was a tall order. He and Elodie hadn’t worked together before. She didn’t even like him. Maybe this was going to be harder than he’d thought.