Chapter 23
23
After being stuck on the train and losing most of her planned early start, Libby hustled straight into Platform 1 and ordered a latte with an extra shot of coffee.
Katy smiled at her. ‘I’m not surprised after all the gin you drank last night,’ she said.
‘It was our gin night,’ Libby told her. ‘That was the always the plan. Drink gin and be merry.’
‘Except you didn’t seem very merry,’ replied Katy, giving her a hard look.
Libby shrugged her shoulders. ‘There’s a lot going on, thanks to the massive order for more chocolate than I’ve ever made in my life,’ she said.
‘Listen, if it’s too much,’ began Katy, ‘let me help, or Harriet, or Flora. Even Ryan. Remember that he’s actually a chef, so he’ll be good at this kind of thing.’
But Libby automatically shook her head. ‘It’s fine,’ she said, trying to offset her friend’s concern. ‘I’m grateful. Truly grateful for this. It’ll really help me and Dad out.’ She picked up the latte and paid for it. ‘Listen, we’ll catch up later, okay?’
‘How about tonight?’ asked Katy.
‘What about tonight?’ replied Libby.
‘Why don’t you come over to our place and have a nice hot chocolate and a proper chat,’ said Katy.
Libby began to panic about the time already lost to complete the order. ‘I’ll see how the day goes, okay?’ she said. ‘Talking of which, I’d better get out of here. Laters.’
She rushed out, relieved to have got out of Katy’s laser-vision glare. But as Libby headed down the platform towards home, she wondered when life had got so hectic that she needed to make up an excuse not to see her friends. She missed them terribly of course, but there would be plenty of time after the order was complete. She had an awful lot of chocolates to make in that time.
Libby found her dad already having breakfast in the kitchen.
‘Good morning, Elizabeth,’ he said, seemingly unaware that she hadn’t been home all night. He didn’t even seem to notice that she was wearing the same clothes as she had left in the evening before.
‘Good morning, Dad,’ she replied. ‘I grabbed an early coffee.’
He nodded and looked down once more at his newspaper.
Libby was just about to go upstairs and change her clothes when he suddenly said, ‘You’re working long hours at Harriet’s spa.’
Libby spun around, her cheeks blushing. ‘Oh! Yes. She’s got a bit of a busy time on, which is great for the business obviously,’ she lied, her words coming out in a rush.
‘Indeed,’ he replied, nodding his head thoughtfully.
Libby gulped. She hated lying to him, but what could she do? The thought of telling him that she made chocolate was unbearable. He wouldn’t understand and would just get upset. And she would never cause him more pain.
So she cracked a joke about needing a shoulder massage of her own, made him smile and then rushed upstairs to get changed.
After grabbing some toast for breakfast, she gave her dad a kiss and left the cottage for the old school.
Libby hesitated before knocking on Ethan’s front door. She was desperate to get on with her busy day but somewhat apprehensive about seeing Ethan again so soon after their night together. There had been a moment of connection between them and it unsettled her to such a degree that she felt immensely grateful to find that he wasn’t at home yet and had to bring out the spare front door key instead.
Presumably he was carrying on getting the train ready after the run earlier that morning. Her cheeks were still glowing at the thought of falling asleep next to him. She still couldn’t believe that had happened.
Not only did she need to complete this order in time to get paid, she also needed to get it done so that she could stop using his kitchen. It was becoming too awkward, too weird to be around him all the time. And what was that about last night? It must have been the gin, she decided.
Thankfully, she was sober now and had a large latte to power her through the next hour.
Although a couple of hours later, she was wondering whether another gin might just sort out her hangover and also relax the panic inside. The days were beginning to fly past and she wasn’t anywhere close to her daily target, let alone the five thousand total.
It looked as if she had a couple of hard weeks ahead of her and mentally rolled up her sleeves to prepare for the long days of work ahead.
But she would miss this lovely kitchen, she thought, looking around. And, she had to admit to herself, she would miss Ethan a little bit too.
Because he was leaving a few days after Halloween and then would be abroad for a couple of months. He had been kind enough to offer her the loan of his kitchen until the order was complete. And yet, she knew that it wouldn’t be the same not having him around all the time. After their conversation on the train that morning, she felt that they had finally begun to get over the awkwardness that had shrouded their relationship for so many years. They could actually talk to each other, although it had only been about non-romance matters. For that she was grateful as it would only complicate things more.
It wasn’t as if she had forgiven him for the prom, nor their disastrous wedding in Las Vegas. But she would miss him.
Libby shook her head as she focused on the chocolate once more. It must definitely have been the gin, she decided.
Because the last thing she needed right now was to fall in love with Ethan all over again.