Page 24 of Kiss Me Ever After
“What time are they coming? I don’t know if he’s working today.” This much was true. I guessed he still worked in the hotel, given he wore the uniform the previous evening.
“They said around two.” Si shrugged. “It didn’t seem as if they were too interested.”
“But we need to file the report for insurance purposes, Si.” Bryony crossed over to the space behind the till and stood next to me. “Do you want to make a start here?”
I headed towards the staff room. “Sure. I’ll text Justin first.”
Once in the relative sanctuary of the back room, I pulled my phone from my bag and opened up the messaging app he’d sent me the photos on yesterday.
My fingers hovered as I took a deep breath. It was a simple enough request. Be at the cafe to talk to the police about the robbery. It was literally all I had to say. But there was so much more I wanted to say, wanted to ask. Like why he ran out on me after he’d kissed me, why he was even at the cafe yesterday.
Lennon: Hey, the police need to speak to you about the robbery. Can you come to the cafe at two? xx
I went to press send, then reread what I’d typed. Saying they wanted to speak to him about the robbery was incriminating, as if I thought he had something to do with it. Why had I put kisses at the end? It was a habit, and I did it to pretty much everyone. What if he misunderstood? What if he thought I was chasing him? What if he hadn’t meant to kiss me last night?
It was a whole fucking minefield.
Deleting what I’d written, I tried again.
Lennon: Can you be at the cafe at two this afternoon? The police want to talk to us about the robbery. Let me know? TY.
Much better. Straight to the point. Simple questions. Satisfied, I hit send.
Almost immediately, the bubble with the three dots appeared. I hadn’t expected him to respond so quickly. Then they stopped. Maybe he didn’t want to seem too keen. Wait, there wasn’t anything for him to be keen about. This was a business request. The dots popped up again. Seconds later, I had my answer.
Justin: Sure. I should be able to take a late, long lunch break. I’ll let you know if there are any issues.
Me: Thanks xx
Shit.Kisses.
He sent me back a smiley-faced emoji followed by a single kiss.
Now what on earth did that mean?
* * *
We spentthe morning until the police visit cleaning, tidying and reorganising.
By the time we’d finished, my fingers resembled prunes from the amount of time they’d spent in soapy water. I really should’ve worn rubber gloves. Doing something to help the clean-up eased the guilt. The first time Bryony had left me on my own and it had all turned to shit.
Every time I tried to apologise, Bryony cut me off, reassuring me it could have happened to anyone, and that they had been unlucky. Her words went a little way to pacify me. The robbery had happened on my watch, I doubted I would get the responsibility again.
“It looks almost as good as it did on the day we opened,” said Si.
It was shortly after one and we’d taken a break. Bryony had nipped along the road to the supermarket to get us some sandwiches, as she couldn’t be bothered to make anything. We sat at the table by the window as we ate. Passers-by peered through the window, frowning when they realised we were closed. A couple of families knocked to ask why we were shut, and Si fobbed them off with some story about doing a stock take.
When there was another knock on the door, I stood up. “I’ll go this time. And it’s stock take, right?”
I pulled open the door, ready to tell whoever was there our cover story, but I stared right into Justin’s face instead. “Oh, you’re early?”
He grinned. “You don’t seem too pleased to see me.”
“I, um, wasn’t expecting you until later. If at all. You did say you’d let me know.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “I said I’d let you know if there were any issues. There aren’t. I got the afternoon off.”
“Did you tell your boss why?”
