Stirred with Love

by Steele, Marcie

  ‘You always bring it up. It’s a funny story!’

  ‘At one time, I even heard you giggle when he whispered something to you.’

  Kate was lost for words as she thought back over the day. She couldn’t recall anything untoward and besides, Graham was with Maddy. She wouldn’t do that to anyone.

  ‘You’ve got it all wrong,’ she tried to explain. Chloe sat down on the wall, so she sat down beside her. ‘I didn’t flirt with your father. He’s the last person on earth I’d want to get involved with.’

  ‘Why, what’s wrong with him?’ Chloe snapped. ‘He’s a good looking man.’

  Kate sighed. ‘I know he is, but he’s with Maddy.’

  ‘Maddy noticed too.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘When he said you were beautiful, Maddy looked hurt.’

  ‘No, it was a bit of friendly banter. The kind of thing you say to someone to break the ice. It was very nice of him to say so but it didn’t mean anything.’

  Chloe huffed. ‘It did from where I was standing.’

  All of a sudden, Kate understood. ‘Is that why you’ve been funny with me all afternoon? You thought I was trying to steal your thunder? Oh, Chloe, I’m sorry. I was only being friendly.’

  Chloe shook her head and quickly looked at her feet. ‘I suppose we don’t really know each other yet, do we?’

  Kate waited for her to look up again. ‘I think it’ll take time for us to trust each other,’ she said, choosing her words carefully. ‘I know there’s a huge age gap between us and that’s something we need to overcome but I thought we were friends.’

  ‘We are.’

  ‘Then why would you think I fancied your father?’

  ‘I…I don’t really know,’ she admitted. ‘Maybe it was seeing him turn up with Maddy today.’

  Kate thought for a moment. ‘What you really mean is you thought it would be good if I did fancy him, so that I could give Maddy a run for her money?’

  Chloe shrugged.

  ‘Maddy is comfortable with your dad, Chloe. That’s why she didn’t feel threatened. It shows the kind of relationship they have, built on mutual trust.’ Kate paused. ‘Look, if you ever have a problem like that again, then you must talk to me. Little differences like these have a way of blowing up out of proportion, and if that happens, working here is going to be Hell. And neither of us wants that, do we?’

  Chloe shook her head again. She was about to apologise when Alex and Tom erupted onto the forecourt.

  ‘What are you two doing out here?’ Alex wanted to know. ‘We’ve left loads of good wine in there. If you’re not careful, Lily will drink it all.’

  Lily was following up behind them. ‘Less of the cheek, young man.’ She smiled at Kate and Chloe when she realised they had sorted out whatever was bothering them. ‘Come on you two, I’m sure you’ve got things to do tonight. You’ve worked so hard today. I can lock up.’

  ‘Because, guess what?’ screeched Tom as he whisked off his tie and threw it up into the air. ‘You’ve got to do it all again on Monday!’

  When she’d finally locked the door behind Alex and Tom, and Kate and Chloe had gone upstairs, Lily poured herself a small glass of wine and sat down again to relish the silence. After the hustle and bustle of the day, everything seemed so peaceful.

  She’d been dreading this moment for weeks now. It was great finally to have the coffee shop up and running but it was also the first time she’d done it without Bernard. Today, she’d felt so many emotions, desperately wanting to enjoy the day but also wishing that Bernard was there. If she could have only one wish, it would be to share this moment with him, sit and talk over the day with a glass of wine apiece.

  Lily lifted her eyes to the heavens, then, in a silent tribute to the man she would always love, raised her glass to him.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  The clock had barely reached half past ten on Monday morning when Chloe started moaning. It was their first full day open for business and so far they’d only had a disappointing handful of customers.

  ‘I'm so bored.’ She pushed back her chair and stretched out her legs.

  Kate stirred a spoon around in her coffee. ‘We should be prepared for these lulls while the business is building up.’

  Lucy thudded down on the empty chair next to Chloe. ‘You said it was really busy on Friday. I thought we might have at least half of the customers back today.’

  ‘People always take advantage of something when it’s free. Now look at the place.’ Chloe stuck her thumb over her shoulder. A couple sat in the window drinking their second cup of coffee. In the far corner, a middle-aged lady sat idly flicking through a slimming magazine whilst demolishing her second chocolate-chip cookie.

  ‘Where does your husband work?’ Chloe asked Lucy as Kate sloped off to find something to do.

  ‘He has his own building firm. He’s extremely talented. He can put his hands to anything,’ she said with a grin.

  ‘Does he work away a lot? I’d hate it if my fella did. You never know what he might be getting up to.’

  ‘Oh, I trust Karl. He would never have an affair.’

  Chloe huffed. ‘And you’re so certain, are you?’

  Lucy giggled like a five year old. ‘Of course I am. I’m his wife. You should see the things he treats me to. Jewellery, clothes, shoes, handbags. I can have whatever I want. He treats me like a queen.’

  ‘That’s not the word I was thinking of,’ Chloe replied.

  Lucy glared at her but chose to ignore her.

  Five minutes later, the middle aged lady picked up her cup, finished her drink and left.

  ‘Another one bites the dust.’ Lucy sighed wearily as Kate sat back down again.

  ‘We need to chill out,’ Kate told them. ‘It’s our first full day. It’s time to worry if it’s like this in a few weeks.’

  ‘But time’s going so slooooooooooooowly.’ Chloe leant back in her chair. ‘And it’s too quiet without Alex and Tom.’

  ‘I know. I keep waiting for one of them to pop their head around the door and interrupt us. Not that we’re doing anything they can interrupt.’

  ‘How long will they be working in Birmingham?’

  ‘I think Terry said the job would last them for the rest of this year,’ said Kate. ‘So it means they won’t even be popping in anytime soon.’

  ‘They won’t come in here now that the work is finished,’ said Lucy. ‘They’ll be off to the nearest Wetherspoons for a cheap pint.’

  ‘How would you know?’ said Chloe. ‘You don’t even know them.’

  Kate sat upright as the door opened. ‘Oh, we have a regular. He came in on Friday.’

  ‘He’s the one I was telling you about,’ said Chloe with a nod. ‘The one with the funny name. I’ll see to him.’

  Lucy jumped to her feet. ‘No, I’ll go. I need something to do.’

  Kate hurried over behind them but Chloe got there first.

  ‘Hi. It’s Serle, isn’t it?’ In her eagerness, she forgot to stop and landed with a thump in his chest. ‘Oops. Sorry.’ She flashed him her sweetest smile.

  Serle smiled back revealing a set of straight white teeth which contrasted with his ebony skin. The scar of quite a recent accident was visible under his left eye and a red woollen hat hid what little hair he had.

  Huge black hands held Chloe at arms length. ‘Hey, it’s not often I have girls fighting over me.’ His voice seemed to fill the whole room.

  ‘What would you like?’ Chloe stood poised with her notepad.

  As Serle studied the menu on the wall behind her, Kate and Lucy sloped away.

  ‘Never mind, someone else will be in soon,’ said Kate as she sat down and practiced her little knowledge of origami on a paper napkin.

  Wednesday had been pretty much the same as Monday and Tuesday. So when Thursday started off busy and stayed that way, no-one had actually been prepared. Chloe lost her temper when a squat, weedy man accused her of short-changing him. Lily rushed in
with apologies which had made Chloe even worse. Lucy seemed to be getting on with things nicely, despite the frosty looks coming from Chloe every ten seconds and Kate lost count of the times that she’d been moaned at by people kept waiting. They hadn’t complained last week, she fumed silently, when everything was free.

  Friday was much steadier. Saturday started off well but by eleven-thirty, the coffee shop was completely empty. It gave them a chance to take stock of the first week and keep their chins up regarding the second. At their next meeting on Monday morning, over a working breakfast of tea and toast, Lily offered congratulations as the first item on the agenda. Kate, Chloe and Lucy smiled, relishing the praise after all their hard work.

  ‘All in all, I think our first week went pretty well,’ Lily continued. ‘We had a marvellous turnout on Thursday and Friday and, even if the earlier part of the week was quiet, the end certainly made up for it.

  ‘Moving swiftly on.’ She checked the next item. ‘We need to keep The Coffee Stop in the spotlight, so to speak. Have you any ideas?’

  ‘What about a takeaway service?’ Chloe suggested. ‘Let people come in and take a drink away with them. That way we could catch some of the workers as they pass by. They might then buy a muffin or a cookie to go with it.’

  ‘That’s a great idea,’ said Kate. She looked at Lily. ‘Shall I look into that?’

  Lily nodded.

  ‘What about handing out more cakes?’ asked Lucy.

  ‘It isn’t cost effective now that we’re open for business,’ explained Kate.

  ‘We could have some sort of a promotion,’ agreed Lily. She tapped her pen lightly on her upper lip. ‘Something that will help people to remember us.’

  ‘How about the local radio?’ Kate suggested, trying to remember the name of the morning deejay.

  ‘Yeah, I’ve listened to that,’ joined in Chloe. She swallowed her toast before continuing, ‘That Reg Barker’s really quirky. Do you think he’d let one of us do an interview? Or a jingle, maybe?’

  ‘Is that something you could look into, Kate?’ Lily wanted to know.

  Kate shook her head slowly from side to side. ‘Not me,’ she said. ‘You know how tongue tied I get.’

  ‘Oh, go on,’ said Lily. ‘You said you’d done presentations before. It must be similar to that.’

  ‘It’s nothing like a radio –’

  ‘I’ll do it,’ piped in Lucy. ‘I think it’d be a laugh.’

  ‘I don’t think so!’ Chloe shook her head fervently. ‘You’ve only been here two minutes. It should be me or Kate.’

  ‘I’m only saying if Kate doesn’t want to. You can’t force her to do it.’

  ‘It’s not fair if she does it.’ Chloe looked at Kate for support. ‘I want to do it then.’

  Lucy glared at Chloe. ‘Don’t be a baby. You only want to do it so I can’t.’

  ‘No, I –’

  ‘Okay, you two! Enough of the bickering!’ Kate raised a hand for silence, rolling her eyes at Lily. ‘I’ll do it, if it means you two being quiet.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ said Lucy, spotting her big moment sliding away. ‘I can –’

  ‘Me too,’ cried Chloe.

  ‘I’m sure,’ said Kate, never feeling so unsure in her life. ‘I’ll get it organised.’

  ‘Has anyone moved the sign from outside?’ Chloe called out as she barged through the front doors of the coffee shop.

  ‘You mean the visa sticker on the door?’ Kate slid two dirty cups onto her tray, the only two drinks she’d made since the rush of seven people at lunch time. ‘I took it down because it kept peeling off. I’ll try and fix it again later.’

  ‘No, the one we had made to stand by the pavement. You know, with all the different coffees and prices on it?’

  ‘It was there when I went to the bank,’ said Kate. At Chloe’s insistence, she came outside. She walked around in a small circle before scratching her head. ‘Where the…?’

  ‘Perhaps someone else has moved it.’ Chloe went back into the coffee shop to see but came out again moment’s later, empty handed.

  ‘Are you sure we didn’t just forget to put it out?’ Kate questioned her.

  ‘No.’ Chloe shook her head. ‘It was definitely there when I came in.’

  ‘Then it must have been stolen.’

  ‘Don’t be stupid! Who would want to steal a board displaying all the prices of our coffees? It’s useless to anyone else.’

  ‘Maybe,’ Kate retaliated, not liking Chloe’s tone at all, ‘if you kept your eyes on your work, you’d know exactly what happened to it.’

  Chloe turned quickly in her direction. ‘What do you mean by that?’

  ‘Sometimes you’re like a dog on heat. You make eyes at every male who walks past – single or accompanied – whether he’s coming in here or not.’

  ‘It’s called PR,’ snapped Chloe. ‘Something you’d do well to learn.’

  ‘What on earth is going on out here?’ said Lily, moving as fast as her arthritic legs would take her. ‘I can hear you two from in the kitchen!’

  ‘The sign’s gone missing,’ Kate informed her. ‘It was here when I came back from the bank –’

  ‘Cover your own back, why don’t you,’ Chloe muttered.

  ‘Look, it’s not the end of the world.’ Lily stood with her hands on her hips. ‘Now come on, get a grip. I’m surprised at you, Kate. While you two are arguing out here, who is looking after our customers? There might be only two of them but one of them is my worst critic!’

  Kate lowered her eyes, even though she could feel Chloe’s boring into her.

  ‘Chloe, come and help me out in the kitchen,’ Lily commanded. ‘And Kate, I’m sure you can find something to do. For heaven’s sake, we need to keep what little customer base we’ve managed to build up happy, never mind worrying about a blasted sign that can be replaced.’

  As they took flight in opposite directions, Lily glanced over at Alf sitting in a seat he’d commandeered as his own. She could swear she saw ‘I told you so’ tattooed on that bald head of his.

  ‘So tell me, Katie Cool,’ Reg Barker spoke in a practiced velvet tone. ‘What does a man have to do to get a good time at your place?’

  Kate tried to calm her nerves before she began to speak on the Thursday morning breakfast slot. She skimmed her eyes around the studio, trying not to take in the vast space filled with buttons, dials and microphones. Don’t think about the thousands in the audience, Reg had told her on her brief induction. Just clear your throat before you go on air and you’ll be fine.

  Fine? I bet he doesn’t get palpitations, or sweaty palms, probably not even a frog in his throat on a bad day. Kate cleared her throat anyway and was mortified to hear it amplified around the room.

  ‘He could always request a house special,’ she finally spoke. Reg’s assistant screwed his face up in agony as he pulled his headset away from his ear and frantically started to fiddle with buttons.

  ‘Oh, you do specials, do you? A bit like extras?’

  ‘Not exactly.’

  ‘And what about the other girls working there? Do they do specials?’

  ‘Oh yes. And we have many different varieties to choose from. We do –’

  ‘Different varieties, huh? Do you do different sizes too?’

  ‘Of course. Grande and regular.’

  ‘Tell me what size I’d like,’ Reg said huskily.

  ‘Hmm, let me see…’ Kate paused for effect. ‘I bet you’d like a café grande, the top of the range with oodles of froth, and plenty of whipped cream.’

  ‘That sounds good to me. Tell me something else, Katie Cool. Are you footloose and fancy free?’

  ‘Well, I wouldn’t go so far as to say free.’

  ‘Ah, sounds like you’re heading for a break up? Am I right?’

  ‘No, I’m –’

  ‘So, there you have it folks,’ he interrupted her again. ‘Another exclusive here on the Reg Barker Show on your local radio station 107.2FM. Here’s a me
ssage for all you single guys out there. Get yourself down to The Coffee Stop, because Kate could possibly be in the mood for love.’

  The sound of Lionel Ritchie telling everyone that it’s easy on a Sunday morning came into range as Kate pulled off her earphones. Reg stuck up his thumb in appreciation.

  ‘That was fantastic,’ he said when they came off air. ‘You played me well and that’s what people will remember when they hear your jingle. They’ll be coming to see you in droves.’

  ‘You made me sound like a complete tart,’ said Kate, visibly relaxing now that her nightmare was over. Then panic set in. ‘I didn’t sound too desperate, did I?’

  ‘No,’ Reg assured her. ‘You sounded flirty. It’s just a laugh, anything to keep the public interested. You were so convincing, I might even come and see you myself.’

  ‘Well, you never know.’ Kate smiled cheekily at him. ‘Maybe I’ll let you have a free house special.’

  ‘Shush, here she comes.’ Chloe ran from the window as she caught sight of Kate marching across the forecourt and joined Lucy and Lily at the counter. Kate opened the door and jumped as she heard one almighty cheer.

  ‘Yay!’ screamed Chloe. ‘You were fantastic, Kate. It sounded real cool!’

  ‘I agree,’ said Lucy, with a lot less noise. ‘Although I still say someone younger would have been more appropriate.’

  ‘Well, you couldn’t have done any better,’ said Chloe.

  ‘How do you know?’

  ‘Okay, okay, you two.’ Kate tried hard to ignore their chiding. ‘Give me the low down. Did I sound pathetic?’

  ‘It was brilliant,’ reiterated Chloe heading towards Serle with his takeaway coffee and muffin tucked neatly inside a brown paper bag.

  ‘It was okay,’ sulked Lucy as she strode off into the kitchen.

  ‘I heard you!’ Serle took off his baseball cap and ran a hand over his smooth head before putting it back on again. ‘It was really funny!’

  ‘You were very good.’ Lily smiled her approval.

  ‘It was humiliating!’ Kate feigned a hurt expression as she stood in the middle of the room, not sure what to do with herself. It had been a nerve-wrecking experience but she had yet to come down from the high. ‘I’ve never heard a conversation with so many double entendres.’