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“I just wanted to see how things were going, that’s all. How’s he been?”

“Kent? Oh, he’s been lovely. Really, really nice. And the food, oh my God.”

“What do you mean, the food?” Gemma’s stomach tightened. “He shouldn’t have changed anything about the food. The menu should be exactly the same as it was.”

“Oh, it is, it is. It’s just like, little things. He’s put this homemade pesto on the poached eggs, and it’s so good. Honestly, every customer has said they are the best thing ever.”

“I bet they have,” Gemma muttered.

Well, pesto poached eggs on the first Saturday was one thing, but she could bet it would be a whole different kettle of fish when he’d had to be up at 4:30 every morning for a fortnight. Something told her he didn’t have to do that in his fancy Michelin-starred restaurant.

“So he hasn’t been... a problem?” Gemma said, hoping that she picked the words correctly.

“No, honestly, you two just got off on the wrong foot, that’s all. I think you’d really like him when you get to know him better and...” Sophie’s eyes glinted in a way that made Gemma feel uneasy.

“And what?”

“And he’s single, thirty-six, and hasn’t had a serious relationship for the last three years.”

Gemma didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“Why are you telling me? And how have you got all that out of him already? All he does is scowl and pout.”

“I just asked,” Sophie said with a roll of her eyes. “Honestly, if you talk to him, you’ll find him really nice. Promise me you’ll try, right? I think we’d all get on really well working together.”

Gemma chose not to reply, but Sophie wouldn’t let it go. “Please promise me you’ll try,” she pressed again.

“Fine,” Gemma said, sounding remarkably like a petulant teenager. “I promise I will try.”

It was only when Sophie was back in the cafe that Gemma scoffed to herself.

“Like hell, I will,” she said.

Kent might have won Sophie over, but Gemma had seen through it all. His days at the cafe were numbered, and she was doing the countdown.

CHAPTER 20

“Idon’t know what he said to her, but she thinks the sun shines out of his overly tight backside,” Gemma said as she sat in the pub.

After the encounter with Sophie, she needed a drink and a distraction. All she could do was think about how Monday morning would be her first shift with Kent, and she would have to face him again, her new executive manager.

“Sophie is a pretty good judge of character, though,” Nina said. “Perhaps he is quite nice.”

“Are you serious?” Gemma made no attempt to hide her disbelief. “Sophie is a terrible judge of character. Do you not remember her previous list of boyfriends before Graham? I mean, Jay snogged her sister, and I’m pretty sure she might still have forgiven him.”

“Okay, Sophie is a terrible judge of men when it comes to dating,” Nina relented. “But that doesn’t mean she’s a terrible judge of character. Perhaps it won’t be as bad as you think. You’ve just got to give it some time.”

“Eight weeks,” Sophie said. “That’s how long I’ve got to give it. Fifty-six days, well, fifty-five days because he’s already had his first day of work.”

A slight sense of calm filtered through her at the thought. Sunday, they didn’t have anyone in the kitchen. It would just be her and one of the part-timers. This meant when she did finally start working with Kent, there would only be fifty-four days to go. Almost three per cent of her time with Kent would be over before she actually had to work with him. Thinking of it that way made it all feel a little more bearable.

She opened her mouth, ready to say as much, when her phone started ringing. Fleur’s name flashed up on the screen.

Like all the members of the book club, Fleur and Gemma got along really well, although they didn’t do many things, just the two of them. Fleur had fallen into a relationship with Henry not long after moving to Maldon, although she had always tried to stay involved with everything the book club did. Even when she was the only one of them who had a partner.

“Do you mind if I get this?” Gemma said to Nina, gesturing at the phone.

“Of course not, go for it.”