Once again Millie parked the Fiesta in front of The Lord of the Manor hotel. A slew of white Transits littered the carriage drive, so she imagined work was progressing on the refurb. She stifled a pang of jealousy. She’d hoped to refurbish Millie Vanilla’s. At one point she hoped to do so in partnership with Jed. It all seemed a lifetime ago.
‘This is the last time I’m going to allow myself to see him,’ she promised herself, as she balanced the pile of cake boxes on top of one another. ‘I can’t let myself do this any more. Not after he said there was no longer any future between us.’ Biting her lip to stop the sudden tears, she lifted the enormous lion’s head door knocker.
‘Ah, so it’s Millie, isn’t it?’ It was Coral. ‘Have you come to see the patient? Oh, he’ll be that delighted. Come on in.’ She led the way to the blue sitting room, chattering as she went. ‘Between you and me, I think our friend is getting a wee bit bored. I’m taking it as a sign he’s on the mend.’ She opened the door with a flourish. ‘He’s moping in here again this morning. Mind you, it’s the only room worth sitting in. I’ll leave you to it unless you’d like coffee, that is?’
Millie shook her head and forced a smile. ‘I’m fine thanks, but Coral, do you think you can do something with these? I’ve done a bit of baking for everyone.’
Coral’s eyes widened as she took the boxes off her. ‘Well now, I’d hoped that sugary smell was coming my way.’ She grinned, lifting her freckled cheeks. ‘Aren’t you just the gorgeous one? I’ll stow them in the kitchen. Are you sure I can’t get you anything, now?’
‘Coral, can you let Millie get a word in edgeways?’ Jed yelled from the furthest corner in the room.
Coral rolled her eyes. ‘See what I mean? I’ll leave you to him. Shout if you want anything, or if His Nibs gets any more testy.’
Jed was sitting in a winged armchair in front of a floor-length window. A tartan blanket was over his knees, but apart from that there was nothing of the invalid about him.
‘You look a lot better. More colour in your cheeks.’
He laughed without humour. ‘Fever’s gone. Forcing myself well before Ma gets here.’
Millie sank down on a neighbouring chair. ‘Oh. She’s coming after all, is she?’
‘Apparently joining us for Christmas. I don’t know who is worse. Ma and her Country Life ideas of what makes a perfect Christmas or Coral and her cod Oirishness.’
‘My, we are in a bad mood today. Coral seems lovely.’
Jed shook a reproving finger. ‘Don’t you start.’ He lay back against the chair, hands gripping with white knuckles. ‘It’s just bloody frustrating. I feel so much better as long as I’m sitting down, but it takes me an hour just to have a shower and a shave.’ He thumped the arm of the chair and then winced. ‘And I’ve got so much to do.’
‘Is this Blue Elephant stuff?’ Millie tried not to say it stiffly and failed.
Jed gave her a shifty glance. ‘You could say that.’
‘I see.’
‘Millie – .’
‘I’ve got some news, actually. I wasn’t sure if you’d be well enough to hear it but thought you might like to be the first to know. Actually, you might know already, I suppose, seeing as you work for them.’ Millie stopped, feeling Jed’s glare hot on her face and aware she was rambling.
‘Know what, Millie?’ Jed’s voice was dangerous.
‘As Clare’s parents have backed out of buying the café, I’ve accepted another offer.’ Millie took a deep breath. If she said it out loud it would make it true. ‘From Blue Elephant.’
‘Millie no!’
She folded her hands demurely in her lap. ‘It’s not nearly as good an offer, but I’ll be able to move away from Berecombe, maybe go travelling again. It’ll give me some time to think about what I want to do. Put some plans in place for the rest of my life.’
Jed scrubbed his hands over his face. He didn’t speak for a while, seeming to be struggling over a decision. ‘I don’t want you to do that,’ he said eventually. He leaned forward cautiously. ‘Stick it out a bit longer, please Millie.’
‘You don’t want me to do it?’ Millie pulled herself up. ‘It’s not your decision to make, Jed.’
‘Jeez, Mil. I’m fully aware it’s not up to me. But listen, if you can carry on without making a decision one way or the other for just a few more weeks, I think things could change in Berecombe. Drastically. Please don’t rush into anything.’ Jed’s voice was urgent.
Millie stared out at the landscaped grounds. A sea mist had come in with the tide and it was a depressing, drizzly day but, despite this, there was a team of gardeners working on the long-neglected lake. Once finished, the hotel was going to be spectacular. Tessa had been right after all. Alex had been talking through plans for a helipad. Millie couldn’t comprehend the finances involved in setting up the place. Eleri had mentioned she knew money wasn’t an issue. How wonderful. Millie tried not to be bitter or envious, but it was hard when she could see someone else’s dream becoming a reality when all she wanted was to keep her little café going. How could Alex, and more importantly, Jed, understand her problems when they lived in a world where multi-million-pound hotels were created without worry over finance?
Glancing at Jed, with his monied gloss evident even in illness, she realised she’d been right all along. They came from different worlds and the gulf was too vast to broach. This Cinderella was going to have to back off from her Prince Charming one final time. Taking in his blonde hair and broad shoulders, remembering his skilled hands in bed, his many kindnesses and his generous nature, she wished, with all her heart, that it could have been different.
She began to speak, but her voice cracked with emotion. She took a deep breath and launched in. ‘I’m not sure I have an option, Jed. I would have thought that was obvious. I’m running deeper and deeper into debt.’ She made direct eye contact and wasn’t surprised to see Jed look discomforted. ‘I have to sell up and Blue Elephant is my only viable option.’
‘You haven’t signed anything?’
‘Not that it’s anything to do with you, but no,’ Millie admitted. ‘I haven’t got that far yet.’
Jed slumped back in his chair. ‘Well, that’s one thing, at least.’ Once again, he scowled out at the gardens.
Millie could see him thinking hard and furiously. Or maybe he was simply fascinated by the digging that had begun at the lake’s edge. She couldn’t, for the life of her, understand why what she did with the café meant so much to him. Their relationship was over. He’d said as much the last time she’d seen him.
‘Jed,’ she began, hesitantly. ‘Can you give me one reason why I shouldn’t go ahead with the sale?’
Jed turned to her, a muscle beating in his cheek. He opened his mouth to speak, then shut it again. He shoved a frustrated hand through his hair. ‘I wish I could. You don’t know how much, Millie.’ He met her eyes, ‘But I can’t. Not at this precise moment.’
‘I see.’
‘No you don’t.’ He threw off his blanket. ‘I just wish I wasn’t so incapacitated. God, it’s frustrating. I’ve got so much to do.’ He reached forward and took her hands in one of his. ‘Just promise me you’ll hold off signing anything which commits you fully. Promise me, Millie!’
‘Yes, okay. I promise.’ Millie shook him off, wondering if he was still feverish. ‘Not long until Christmas now, anyway. Not a lot I can do until the New Year.’
‘Good.’ He sank back, looking relieved but pale. Their encounter seemed to have exhausted him.
There was another silence. An uncomfortable one, as if neither knew quite how to move forward. Both jumped as the door opened.
‘That’ll be Coral trying to force-feed me drugs again,’ Jed said, irritably.
It was Coral, but she wasn’t her usual cheerfully bustling self. She looked flushed and slightly dazed.
‘Millie. You’ve got a visitor, so you have.’
A stocky, dark-haired man bearing an enormous bouquet of lilies strode into the room.
‘Tesoro mio!’ he proclaimed and presented the flowers to Millie. ‘I find you!’