Page 28 of Autumn at the Oak Leaf Café
Madeline’s cheeks flushed.What’s wrong with me? It’s like I’m fifteen again.‘It’s only temporary,’ she said.
‘That’s a real shame,’ he said. ‘I’d love it if you stayed around. It would be great for us to reconnect, wouldn’t it? I … missed you.’
Reconnect. Was that a modern way of saying get back together?
A month ago, she wouldn’t have heard of it. Rory was metaphorically dead and buried, Rory was the past. But that had been the old Rory. This new, mature Rory was a different matter, almost like an improved, updated model of a classic car. All the good parts remained, but all the parts that had frustrated, worried, and even angered her … were gone.
She made the coffees and brought them over to the counter, adding a couple of slices of chocolate cake. Looking at the set up, it could almost be a first date.
‘You know,’ Rory said as she sat down beside him, ‘It’s weird being in here, isn’t it? I mean, when we were a couple, we could barely afford it, could we? Do you remember that time we shared a hazelnut mocha over by the duck pond, taking it in turns to take a sip, and then I got that last bit of cream on my lip, and you….’ He chuckled. ‘Remember that?’
Madeline’s cheeks burned, and it was as though the last eight years had never happened. ‘I kissed you to steal it back,’ she said.
Rory smiled. ‘Good days.’
‘Yes.’
Madeline looked down at her coffee. Part of her wished she’d never left, that she had forfeited the last eight years of adventures to stay here in Brentwell and observe the evolution of this man firsthand.
‘Then there was that time we went halves on a piece of almond fudge cake. I let you have the top with all the icing, which I had the dry bit at the bottom.’
‘And you made me feel so guilty.’
‘I had to dip it in the coffee.’
‘Yes, that’s right.’
The air blowing through the café, so warm and nostalgic, briefly paused as a slightly different version of the memory raised its head, of Rory moaning about how she hadn’t saved him any of the icing, but Madeline shrugged it off. The rest was great. The rest of that day had warmed her heart.
‘That was when we sat under the theatre’s eaves and told each other our dreams, wasn’t it?’ Rory said. ‘You told me you wanted to travel the world, and I said I wanted to be a scientist.’
Madeline looked down again. She had done what she had promised that night. But what about him?
‘And here we both are, right back at the start,’ she said.
Rory nodded. ‘That’s true. Isn’t it amazing how things like that can happen? We were a million miles apart, and now we’re sitting beside each other again.’
He was close enough that he could have leaned in and kissed her. Madeline waited, but the moment passed as Rory looked away.
‘Has the café changed since we were teenagers?’ he asked.
‘Ah, I think so. It looks like they expanded the seating area a little.’
‘How many can you get in here now?’
‘We get bus tours of up to fifty. It’s a real squeeze, but we just about manage. There’s a stack of spare chairs out in the kitchen. I think thirty is about our safe maximum, although ten to twenty is plenty.’
‘And you just serve drinks, or do you do food?’
‘It’s mostly drinks and cakes, but we do a few meal options. There are Ploughmans, and seasonal salads, pies with garnish. The café is technically vegetarian, so we don’t do any meat dishes. Lots of quiches, things like that.’
‘And do you do bookings?’
‘Yes, of course. We don’t get many, though.’
‘Right.’
Rory was nodding thoughtfully, as though sizing something up. Madeline leaned forward, catching his eyes.
