Page 15 of Barging In
He approached her and sniffed the air. “Better. I’d have another one later, though, just to be sure. You’ve had a few customers, mostly asking what happened, but they all bought something. I assumed the offer on the sign still stood, so I gave them hot drinks on the house.” He reached into his pocket and extracted a pile of coins. “Here. They all paid in cash except one, but Ihave the same card reader as you, so it wasn’t a problem.”
Clem opened her mouth to speak only to close it again as she took the coins.
“You’re wondering how I served two espressos, one cappuccino, and one latte?” he asked.
She nodded again, tying her damp hair back into a ponytail.
“I’ve done my time as a barista and as a barman.”
“Thanks for helping me out,” Clem said with a grateful smile. “I really appreciate it. You should get back; you might have missed customers of your own.”
Max shrugged. “I ran over between making coffee and stuck a sign out asking people to pay here, so I’m good.”
“Great. Let’s see how good your coffee tastes, then. I’ll have an espresso. Not even a hot shower has warmed me up after that dunking.” She shivered. “I still feel cold inside.”
“One espresso, coming up,” Max said, springing into action.
Clem picked up her phone from the worktop, relieved it hadn’t been in her pocket when she’d fallen into the canal.
“I can’t get over the barefaced cheek of that woman to move my sign and then to fight me for it.”
“That was Victoria Hargreaves,” Max explained as the coffee grinder crunched through the beans. “She runs the wharf. I told you to watch out for her.”
“So did my parents,” Clem sighed. “She’s their neighbour.”
“Yikes.”
“She was sniffing around here yesterday. Came to try my coffee and cake with some chap in a rather fetching orange waistcoat.”
“Oh, really?” Max said, the corners of his mouth curling tightly. He nodded towards the windows overlooking the wharf. “She’s probably there right now, watching you from her office and plotting your downfall.”
Clem gave a light chuckle, then wondered how much truth there might be to his words. “Have you met her before?” she asked, wandering to the window and trying to guess where Victoria’s office might be.
“No. One of the other traders warned me about her when I arrived. She’s a stickler for keeping signage off the towpath — bit of a health and safety nut, perhaps.”
“I get she doesn’t want competition, but we all need to make a living,” Clem said, her tone sharp with frustration.
Max hummed his agreement as he twisted the portafilter into place. “Living on the water is not as cheap as people think. By the time you’ve paid for insurance, licences, mooring fees, safety certificates, not to mention fuel costs for both you and the boat, it’s a tough gig. A private landowner controlling the towpath pushes up the costs, too. Everyone wants a piece of our pie.”
Clem let out a weary sigh of agreement as rich coffee ran from the spouts in two silky ribbons, filling the cup. Thankfully, her dad had sorted most of the paperwork for her; he was well versed in the rules of the waterways. She’d completed her food hygiene certificate and registered with the local council’s environmental health department, but he’d handled everything else. She knew how much it had all cost her, though, and how much she needed to earn to break even for the year. With most of that income coming in during the warmer months, she could ill afford to be at war with the neighbours.
Max passed her the cup. “Here.”
“Thanks,” she said, wrapping her hands around it and instinctively blowing on it before taking a sip. The liquidhit sharply, the heat and bitterness lingering on her tongue.
“That’s good,” she said, giving her neighbour a smile of approval as she placed the cup on the worktop. “I just hope I can make enough to cover my expenses. I’m not expecting to get rich. This was never about becoming a millionaire. It’s a lifestyle choice. A way out of the corporate grind, of feeling stuck and?—”
“Unfulfilled?” Max suggested.
A faint smile touched her lips that he seemed to understand.
“Most of us are, aren’t we?” he continued. “All trying to find something that feels more like living?”
Clem nodded, cursing her naivety for thinking that everything would be easy. Just because life was challenging and unfulfilling, it didn’t automatically mean change fixed everything. New beginnings came with their own trials: uncertainty, hard graft, and moments like these where optimism felt foolish. She’d wanted a fresh start, not a fresh set of problems dressed up as opportunity.
Victoria stood in the cobbled courtyard, cold and dripping wet. Every instinct told her to move; to act. Instead, she stood frozen by shock and disbelief. She couldn’t enter the building like this, soaked through and stinking, but what now?
People were beginning to stop and stare. She rubbed her arms as waves of shivers ran through her, only to realise her cashmere jumper was missing and likely at the bottom of the canal. It had been one of her favourites, too.
