Page 32 of Love By Sunset

Looking pleased with themselves, the three ladies beamed at her.

‘We’ve an idea,’ Annie said. ‘We realised dinner on Sunday won’t be happening now, but I don’t want you thinking you’re not welcome just because the two of you have had a little falling-out. We thought we could all meet for a coffee tomorrow, instead.’

‘I couldn’t go to the café!’ Emily’s eyes were wide with suppressed distress. ‘Jake doesn’t want to see me. Ever again, he said. It’s not a little falling out, Annie. It’s over.’

Annie’s eyes were kind, and she laid her soft hand over Emily’s. ‘Jake’s rung, told me you’d quarrelled, and he wanted to be by himself for a while. Might realise he’s not seeing straight, if we’re lucky. I can understand it must have been a shock for him, cariad. Maybe if you’d told him sooner, so he didn’t hear it from someone else?’ She shook her head. ‘Never mind, it’s done. So, no, not Silver Sands. We could meet at Harbour View café instead, at around three? I have to say they aren’t as good with their cakes as Jake, but we’ll just have to make do, won’t we?’

Emily buried her face in her hands and started to cry.

‘Oh, Emily!’ Jenny exclaimed. ‘We thought you’d like the idea?’

‘I do,’ Emily wailed. ‘I do, you’re so kind. But Jake’s going to feel so miserable and alone.’

Annie shook her head and sighed. ‘He won’t know what to do, will he? Stubborn, that boy is. You’ll have to try talking to him again, say sorry and explain things. But for now, why don’t you come for that coffee with us? Come on, lass. Say you’ll come, then we’ll leave you to go to bed. You look tired.’

Tactful way of saying she probably looked like hell, Emily decided as she gave the three kind ladies a shaky smile. ‘Okay, I’ll come. But if Jake changes his mind and decides he wants to talk things over with you, then text me, okay? Here, let me give you my number.’

Numbers exchanged, they all hugged, and Emily trailed miserably up to bed. Sleep was elusive. Annie was right. She had to see Jake and hope he’d calmed down enough to listen. She needed to explain her attraction had preceded knowing he owned the café. To tell him she’d fought his corner, and had looked for, and found the will, when everyone else had decided it didn’t exist.

And she especially wanted to let him know she’d fallen irrevocably in love with him.

CHAPTER16

Jake was stillin the café when a knock on the kitchen door startled him. He’d no idea what time it was, but he had a vague recollection of closing and locking all doors soon after Emily had left. He’d done little since then but pace the kitchen floor in fury at how he’d allowed himself to be sucked in by her. He shut his mind to the frantic protests by Gerry Hansard and later, the agonised ones of Emily, when he’d refused to listen to either of them. He’d rung his mother to cancel the dinner, told her he wasn’t good company to bother coming on his own, and cut her off harshly when she’d tried to protest he might have misunderstood Emily, telling her to mind her own business. Fragments of words floated into his mind—from Gerry Hansard, from Emily, but he couldn’t pin them down. His heart ached, and all the thoughts pounding in his head had beaten him into utter exhaustion.

Okay, Emily should have told him, but maybe, just maybe, she’d been on his side? He should have let her explain, but even then, how could he be certain she was telling him the full truth? It might have started as a plot to oust him, then she’d changed her mind?

He turned when the knock came a second time.

‘Let me in, Jake. Robbie Jones here, and I’ve got some good news for you.’

Jake trailed over to the door and unlocked it to allow Robbie entry.

‘What news?’ His voice was lacklustre.

The solicitor put a laptop case down on the preparation table before pulling out a chair and seating himself, unzipping the case and pulling out his laptop, some papers, and an envelope.

‘Any chance of coffee?’ he asked hopefully.

With a grunt of acquiescence, Jake prepared a cafetière and brought mugs and some milk to the table before sitting down opposite Robbie.

Robbie sat back in his chair, his eyes gleaming. ‘Okay, Jake. News. Good news. This really couldn’t wait, hence my visit. I tried round the front, but you must have closed early?’

‘Yeah, I did. What’s this news? Is it true Approach have withdrawn? It’d give me a breathing space for now, and if anyone else bought it, they might not want the café.’

Sitting back, Robbie’s brows flew up. ‘The offer was actually withdrawn some time ago. I’m sorry you weren’t informed. Their offer was tentative, subject to planning queries, which seemed very favourable, but then…’ Robbie fired up the laptop and tapped his keyboard. ‘Yes. Here it is. We received an email, followed by a letter, a week ago yesterday.’

Jake sat silently. This was odd. If Approach had withdrawn a week ago, why had Emily stuck around? And why had they withdrawn the offer? Hansard had seemed keen enough to get rid of him when he’d come flashing his money around. ‘Did they give a reason?’

‘The letter said “irreconcilable differences regarding parts of the property.”’

Jake felt dazed. ‘What the fuck does that mean? Irreconcilable differences?’ Memories began floating to the surface—Emily, standing there saying something about vetoing the sale and breaking away from the company.

An icy wave of realisation hit him and his breath caught in his throat. She’d been telling the truth.

Robbie explained. ‘The company has a reputation for ethical practice whereby anything that might impede what they want to do has to be considered and accommodated. Obviously in this case, there was a problem, which was you. And now the company has been dissolved anyway, which is most interesting, don’t you think?’

‘Di-dissolved?’ More memories hammered at him. Hansard denying Emily had betrayed him. Emily with runnels of tears tracking down her face as she choked out the words he thought were simply more lies, or excuses. Words he’d thrown back at her and refused to listen to. Vetoing the purchase. Breaking away from the company.She’d been telling the truth!

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