Page 11 of The Little Flower Shop By the Sea
‘Sorry,’ I say after a bit, looking back at Jake. ‘For snapping at you before. It’s a bad habit of mine.’
‘Not a problem,’ Jake says, shrugging amiably.
‘It’s only I’ve heard it all a hundred times before,’ I continue, wanting to explain. ‘How I should go into the family business with everyone else. How I’m odd because I can’t settle into anything in life.’
‘I never said you were odd,’ Jake says, looking at me differently. ‘Do you think you are then?’
‘Now you sound like one of my therapists,’ I reply, rolling my eyes. ‘Turning my words around on me like that.’
‘You’ve had counselling?’ Jake asks, sounding very interested. He sits forward in his chair.
‘Yeah, so what? Loads of people have.’
‘I didn’t say there was anything wrong with it. Gosh, you’re hard work.’
I look at Jake. I’ve been giving him a tough time and it isn’t fair, he’s only trying to be nice. ‘I know. I’ve heard that before too. Some people call it “high maintenance”.’
‘What do you call it?’ Jake asks, his dark eyes twinkling again in a very attractive manner.
‘I’m just an awkward bitch really,’ I reply, lifting my glass and taking a drink while I wait for his reaction.
To my delight, Jake laughs. We smile at each other across the table, and any previous tension between us melts away.
‘Shall we order some food?’ Jake asks, looking at his watch. ‘I know it’s only five o’clock, but I’m starving.’
‘Yeah,’ I reply keenly, never one to turn down food. ‘So am I.’
‘I’ll get us some menus,’ he says, standing up. ‘Then I have to make a quick phone call.’
‘Sure,’ I say, watching him as he wanders over to the bar. He collects Miley and couple of bar menus, walks back and hands me one. ‘I’ll just be a sec,’ he says, holding up his phone.
I pretend to take a look at the menu while Jake goes outside to make his call, but really my mind is racing. Is this wise, Poppy? I ask myself. You’ve only been here a couple of hours and you’re about to have dinner with a complete stranger – a fairly hot stranger, yes, but that shouldn’t make any difference.
Jake isn’t my usual type at all. He’s a bit more mature than the type of guy I’d usually go for – I’m guessing he might be in his late thirties to early forties. His broad shoulders and well-developed arms suggest he works out regularly too, but that could be because he does a lot of manual labour at his nursery. He seems like a nice guy, but I don’t want to get involved with anyone right now, especially anyone who lives here in St Felix, or I might never get away.
No, I need to remain calm and focused on what I came here to do, even if Jake does have one of the cutest smiles I’ve seen in a long time…
Jake returns, sitting down opposite me again with Miley on his shoulder, and I pretend I’ve been busy with my menu.
‘Sorry about that,’ he says, as I look over my menu at him. ‘Had to tell the family I’d be late getting home.’
‘No problem,’ I reply casually, as my mind races again.
Family?
I covertly glance at his left hand while pretending to examine my menu, and notice a gold wedding band for the first time.
Damn, I knew it was too good to be true. He’s married.
‘Is your wife OK about you having dinner out?’ I feel very uneasy about this. Having a meal with a man you’ve just met is one thing, but a married man…
‘It wasn’t my wife I was calling,’ he says. ‘It was my children.’
Oh God, he has children too!I begin to run through ideas for getting out of this pub as quickly as I can. This is why I try to steer clear of the male of the species. I’ve only been here five minutes and already I’ve been duped by a nice smile and a tight butt.‘Ah, I see,’ I reply carefully, my menu swiftly becoming very interesting again.
‘They’re teenagers, so they’re quite capable of getting their own dinner,’ Jake continues, apparently unaware of my unease. ‘But I like to let them know where I am if I’m going to be late.’
‘Sure.’
