Summer at the Kindness Cafe

by Victoria Walters

  Louise shrugged. ‘No, not really. I wouldn’t want to be with someone just because I was lonely, I’d want to be with them however I was feeling just because they’re them. You know?’ She knew that after Peter she’d never expect, or want, a partner to complete her. She was fine on her own, but she now conceded that having someone to share her life with, to be partners with, might be nice. If she could learn to trust someone again, that is.

  Julie smiled but Louise could tell she didn’t feel the same way; she wanted a boyfriend and it looked like she was about to get one. ‘You’ll find someone. If I can, then so can you!’ Julie looked at her watch. ‘Crap, we’d better be getting back. This afternoon is going to go so slowly.’

  Louise got up and followed Julie out, telling herself to be pleased that Alex and Julie had found each other. If she did decide she wanted to be with someone, she would find him. Alex wasn’t the only man in the country, for goodness’ sake.

  It was just that he was the first one that made her think she could trust someone again.

  ***

  The afternoon went too quickly for Louise, in contrast to Julie. She watched Julie get ready in the staffroom as she gathered her things and told her she hoped she would have a good time. In a way, she was glad Julie and Alex were having this date so quickly, as it meant she could now get over any interest she was starting to have in Alex. It was for the best anyway. She had been on her own for two years; she would just carry on the way she had before.

  ‘I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow,’ Julie called as Louise headed out.

  She waved back to her and walked towards the hospital entrance. She was looking forward to a night in front of the TV.

  ‘Louise!’

  She jumped as someone called her name and she turned to see Alex walking towards her. She smiled but it felt as if her heart was sinking. ‘Hi, Alex,’ she said.

  ‘Are you heading home?’

  ‘That’s right. Julie won’t be much longer.’

  Alex followed her through the doors out into the late afternoon sunshine. ‘Are you feeling better now?’

  Louise wished he wasn’t so thoughtful. ‘I am, thank you.’ She paused. ‘Right, well, I’ll see you then? Enjoy the film.’

  Alex looked confused. ‘Film?’

  ‘Oh, I thought Julie said you were going to the cinema?’

  He still looked confused. ‘Julie?’

  ‘On your date,’ Louise said, wondering what was up with him.

  ‘Date? You mean her and David?’

  ‘Huh?’ Louse stared at him stupidly.

  He nodded. ‘Yeah, David and Julie, they’re going out together. That’s why I’m here actually, David’s car is playing up, so I dropped him off. Why did you think we were going on a date?’ Alex looked amused.

  Louise’s cheeks were by now ridiculously red. She moved her bag on to her other arm to try and look casual. ‘Oh, I guess I just assumed.’ Her heart had just decided that now was a good time to beat furiously inside her chest. She couldn’t believe it. Julie and David?

  ‘After you left my party, the two of them were joined at the hip,’ he explained. ‘He has talked of nothing but her for days, so I’m glad they’re finally going out, I couldn’t take it much longer. Let me walk you to your car.’ They started strolling across the car park.

  Louise was stunned that she had got it all wrong and wished that she didn’t feel quite so pleased. She stole a glance across at Alex, his hands were in his pockets and he was looking at the blue sky with a smile on his face. He radiated calm. She, however, felt like a nervous wreck. They reached her car quickly though. ‘Thanks, Alex,’ she managed to say, eager to be alone with her thoughts.

  ‘No problem. Maybe I’ll see you soon? I’ll probably need to escape David talking about his date with Julie,’ he said with a smile.

  She let out a nervous laugh. ‘I’d like that,’ she said quickly, her cheeks turning even more red, if that was at all possible. ‘I’d better go,’ she said, opening up her car door.

  ‘See you later,’ Alex said to her back.

  Louise climbed into her car and took a deep breath. She watched Alex walk away and slumped over the steering wheel. She felt like a silly teenager, but she was so relieved. He wasn’t dating Julie!

  As Louise drove home to Littlewood, she thought seriously about whether or not she might be able to let Alex into her heart one day. The problem was, how long did she have to decide? He wasn’t going to stay single forever. She knew that. Julie had been interested in him after all; she just happened to connect more to David. Louise wondered whether Alex had nudged the two of them together. Could that mean he was still interested in Louise? Even after she told him she just wanted to be friends? Surely that was too much to hope for. But if it wasn’t, would she ever be brave enough to take a chance on him?

  Chapter Twelve

  Eszter looked up from her laptop as Anne and Zoe walked into the cottage. ‘Did you have a lovely time?’ she asked her daughter, who bounded over for a hug. She had been at a friend’s house and Anne had been to collect her. It was a warm afternoon and Eszter had the back door flung open to the small garden, letting in a stream of light as she sat at the kitchen table in front of her computer with a glass of chilled wine beside her. She’d had the day off from Brew and had been putting it to good use, searching the internet for a key to her future. But it turned out that Google could only really help if you knew what you were actually searching for.

  ‘It was fun. Can I carry on reading my book now?’

  ‘Sure. Why don’t you go in the garden? Dinner’s in the oven, I’ll call you when it’s ready.’

  Zoe skipped outside with her father’s book.

  Anne sat down at the table with Eszter. ‘Catching up with your parents?’

  ‘I phoned them earlier, but I’ve been looking online for jobs. Which would be a lot easier if I knew what I wanted to do. I’ve never found anything I really loved, not like Nick,’ she said with an apologetic smile as she knew Anne had hoped Nick would have ended up doing a very different career.

  But Anne nodded. ‘I never had a career either, and I always envied Frank for how much he enjoyed his job. What about Brew? I thought you enjoyed it there?’

  ‘I do, mostly because Joy and Harry are so lovely, but coffee shops aren’t quite as pleasant in Budapest, and as you say, it’s not really a career.’

  ‘You think you will go back to Budapest then?’ Anne asked her.

  ‘My parents live in too remote a place, they’re retired now, so it’s fine for them, but I’d struggle to find work, and the nearest school for Zoe is too far for her to go to every day. It just wouldn’t work unfortunately.’

  ‘I mean, you don’t think you’ll stay in the UK?’

  Eszter looked at her. ‘I suppose I haven’t really thought about it,’ she replied, slowly.

  ‘I think you should consider it,’ Anne said quickly. ‘You said yourself you love living in Littlewood, there are some great schools nearby and you and Zoe are really settling in here. I’m sure you could find work easily, you could even work in London. Plus . . .’ Anne’s cheeks coloured, ‘I would love you both to stay.’

  ‘You would?’ Eszter was amazed, given how shaky their relationship had been at the start of the summer, that they had come to this point. She knew that Anne had been enjoying spending time with Zoe, and the three of them saw each other pretty much every day. She had been so helpful looking after Zoe so she didn’t have to sit in Brew every day, but Eszter hadn’t realised Anne had been dreading the end of the summer too.

  ‘I would.’ Anne smiled, and got up. ‘I’ll check on the dinner. Have a think about it, Eszter.’

  She nodded, still a little taken aback. Eszter wondered what Nick would have said about his mother’s offer. Then again, he was the one to send them to Littlewood when he knew he wasn’t going to be there for their future. Perhaps he was already thinking further ahead than Eszter was and believed Littlewood might be the plac
e they could start afresh.

  Eszter got up and looked out of the door at her daughter sitting cross-legged on the grass, absorbed in her book, the summer sun brightening her hair. She had certainly cheered up since their cookery class, where she had made several good friends, and was blossoming now. It had been such a tough couple of months for the pair of them.

  Eszter was unsure if she was up to making such a big, life-changing decision so soon after Nick’s death, but then again, was there ever really a good time to make that kind of decision? Life usually pushed you into a corner, leaving you not much choice but to make a change, and life had definitely thrown them through a loop recently.

  ‘It’s ready,’ Anne said gently behind her.

  Eszter called Zoe inside and they sat down for their dinner with Eszter’s mind whirling through the whole meal. There were a lot of advantages to Anne’s suggestion – Zoe would be close to her English grandmother and Nick had always said she’d have a great education in the UK, Eszter could definitely make more money working once she decided what she wanted to do, and they would always feel a connection to Nick, living in his birthplace. But she would be far away from her own parents and living in a foreign country, having to get used to how everything worked. A place always felt special on holiday, but would they be happy to stay year after year? Eszter was unsure. There were only a few weeks left before their return flight back to Hungary so time was running out to pick a future out for her and her daughter.

  ***

  The sun was only just setting outside Zoe’s room when Eszter went in to say goodnight to her. She perched on the side of her bed and took away the book. ‘You’ve almost finished it.’

  ‘It’s so good. Can I read the rest of the series afterwards?’

  ‘Of course. We’ll go book shopping at the weekend.’

  Zoe lay down and Eszter pulled the sheet up, brushing back her hair.

  ‘Are you enjoying your summer here, Zo?’

  ‘It’s fun,’ she replied with a yawn.

  ‘Do you miss home, though?’

  Zoe considered that. ‘I miss my friends, but we do more things together here, which I like. And Gran’s really nice. We have more cake here.’

  Eszter laughed. ‘That’s a good summary. Sleep well.’ She kissed her goodnight and left the room, walking back downstairs in the silent, darkening cottage. Anne had gone home after dinner and Eszter still found moments like this tough. It was just her and her thoughts. This was the time she and Nick had spent together, curled up on the sofa with wine, talking about everything and anything until bedtime.

  She thought about how hard it would be to return to their apartment and resume their old life there without Nick. Would it be harder to be without him there or here? Or did it not matter? He would always be a huge missing piece in their lives. She supposed it was just about finding the right place for them to be while they attempted to carve out a new life without him.

  She sat down on the sofa and pulled out her laptop again. She started looking for jobs around Littlewood out of interest, to see what she could do if she did stay. She had been content when she was with Nick to do whatever job she could find, just to earn money, eager to get home to him and Zoe at the end of the day. It didn’t matter to her then, but now she was a single mother, she wanted to do something more challenging and make as good a life as she could for her and Zoe.

  She just had to choose what she wanted that life to look like.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Abbie walked to Huntley Manor after having her first official driving lesson. It had gone pretty well, considering how nervous she had been, and thankfully there had been no near misses with the handbrake or a tree as there had when Thomas had taken her driving on the estate. He had called her to wish her good luck in the morning and now they were meeting up to continue their party planning. She had missed his calm presence in the car with her, although she had to admit that there had been no distractions as her instructor was a middle-aged woman, which she conceded was probably for the best if she was ever going to pass her test.

  The afternoon was cool, a fresh breeze whipping through her hair, and she felt the end of summer drawing ever closer. She hadn’t expected to still be in Littlewood, but she had never felt more optimistic about the future.

  Her phone vibrated in her pocket and, when she checked it, she was stunned to see Jack’s name flash up on the screen. She took a deep breath before reading his text.

  I’m sorry I lied to you. Can we talk? I miss you.

  She put her phone away quickly. She had no idea how to process that or how she would even compose a response. He obviously thought she could forgive and forget. He didn’t even seem to realise why she had upped and left. It wasn’t just that he had lied to her: he had stolen money, he had tried to trap her into working with him, threatening her own future, and he had told her he loved her when it was clear he didn’t care about anyone but himself.

  She had been concerned when Kate had rung her, but that concern was rapidly evaporating. She decided the best thing would be not to reply and then hopefully he would realise that the bridge between them had been burnt permanently. Abbie knew they really needed to have a clean break. It was sad, but it was better he was out of her life for good.

  ‘How did it go?’ Thomas greeted her at the entrance to the hotel. He looked much better than when Abbie first arrived back, she was pleased to see. The sun had put golden streaks in his dark hair and his face had caught a tan, the circles under his eyes had gone, and he smiled at her. She could tell he was feeling more positive again about the future of the hotel, and she wanted that to continue.

  ‘It was good – no crashes to report,’ she said with a laugh. She slipped an arm through his as they walked through the hotel.

  She could see a few guests in the lounge and dining area, which helped the house look much more alive than it had felt when she had taken her first tour of it. The place was cleaner and brighter after Abbie had made a checklist for the housekeeper to work from, and she had organised a thorough window clean by a local firm who were quite reasonable. The reception area was far more welcoming too, and the social media had put the hotel back on the map.

  Now they just needed a relaunch that would get everyone talking.

  ‘I had an idea,’ she said as they went into the library, which had become relaunch headquarters for them. ‘We could really make this party special by having a theme, and I thought what about doing the 1920s? It would be like the picture we found in that library book when I first arrived. I think it could make the room really feel as it did back in its heyday.’

  Thomas grinned. ‘I like it. We could have all the staff dressed up and we can use the 1920s dinner service we have.’

  ‘Exactly! And serve 1920s cocktails and have the band play music from the time, if they will. We could even send out emails to everyone and say they can dress up too if they want to.’

  ‘I love it.’

  ‘I’m so pleased. Let’s do it!’ Abbie started googling ideas for a 1920s party immediately. This is what she loved about her job – the buzz that came with a great idea. She paused for a moment to look at Thomas across the desk, also typing on his laptop. ‘This is what I want to do for my career.’

  He met her gaze. ‘Then do it, Abbie, I know you can. It wouldn’t cost too much to set up your own PR business. As I’ve learnt recently, you just need a good website, and you’ll have a great reference from me, and I’m sure your old clients would provide testimonials, and if you contacted them they might even hire you over City PR.’

  ‘I did think about that. Especially if I was cheaper,’ she said with a chuckle. ‘But what about where I would work? I don’t think home-working would look that good, would it, but renting an office would require money. I’d be nervous about getting a bank loan.’

  He nodded. ‘I know I’m having trouble with the bank, but they are behind new small businesses. There’s no need to take the risk if you don’t need to, though. Let
me show you something.’ He got up and nodded at her laptop. ‘We’ll come back to that.’

  He held out a hand and she took it, standing up and enjoying the feel of his skin against hers. But he let go of her hand as he led her through the corridor and up the stairs into the wing where his apartment was. He didn’t take her in there though but led her down another corridor, where there was an open door. They walked through and he stepped forward to show her the long, narrow empty room. Light flooded in from the large window which overlooked the grounds.

  ‘What do you think? Our old events manager used this room as an office and, as you can see, it’s just empty space right now.’ He turned to face her. ‘Why don’t you take it?’

  Abbie looked around the room in wonder. It was perfect. Plus, it would mean she would still get to work every day with Thomas after the party. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘No one is using it, I’d love you to have it, and that way you won’t need to pay rent.’

  ‘I couldn’t use it for free,’ Abbie immediately protested.

  ‘After all you’re doing for me, I absolutely insist,’ Thomas replied firmly.

  Abbie twirled, taking in the space from every angle. It would suit her perfectly. She was scared though. This would be a tough thing to do. She wasn’t sure how she felt about trying it on her own. She had seen how stressed Thomas had been before she arrived, and at City PR she had liked being part of a team.

  ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘I’m going to think about it. I want to be really sure this is what I want, but, Thomas, this room is wonderful. Thank you,’ she said, giving him a wide smile. She had only known him a few weeks, but it felt like so much longer than that. ‘It would really make a great office.’

  ‘I can see you in here,’ he agreed, giving a tender look that threatened to make her melt.

  He walked towards the door, and she took another look at the room, already thinking about how she would transform it into her workspace. She didn’t want to go into this full of nerves though, she wanted to be confident and determined. She wasn’t sure why she was still hesitant, but she was learning to trust her gut, so she was going to listen to it, and trust that the right way forward would become clear soon.