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“Sorry?” Gemma turned around to look at her colleague, who was standing with her hands on her hips.

“You’re not the only person who works here. It’ll be fine for Chloe and Dawn. They’re part-time. And the Saturday girls, too. But I’m here full time with you and Kent, and if this is what the working environment will be like, then I might have to look for a new job.”

“What?” Gemma felt the blood draining from her face. “Sophie, you can’t think…you can’t…”

Sophie shrugged and cracked a small smile.

“Okay, I’m probably not going to find a new job. Not yet, at least, but seriously, think of it from his side. He was very polite. All he did was come to speak to his future boss and say he wanted to talk about a few things before he started the job, and you went off at him.”

“I didn’t go off at him.”

“Yes, you did. And you know you did. I get it. He was rude when you first met him, but you haven’t actually spoken to him. George seems to think he’s really nice. And apparently, he’s an amazing chef. Not that you’ve bothered to discuss anything about his previous employment with him.”

A flood of embarrassment rushed through Gemma. It was true. She hadn’t even thought about what his cookery skills were like. In her stubborn desire not to talk to him at all, she didn’t even know anything about his work history. He was a similar age to her, early thirties, and she didn’t even know if he had always worked in kitchens or whether it had been a recent career. These were all things she should definitely have known as the manager of the cafe.

Now she was annoyed at herself; possibly even more than she was at Kent. Letting out a sigh, she looked at Sophie.

“You’re right,” she said.

Sophie grinned. “I know. It’s quite fun, actually. I seem to be right a lot more, now that I’m with Graham.”

Gemma’s heart warmed a little. Sophie hadn’t really changed at all since she and Graham had got together, apart from having significantly more confidence in herself, which meant also having the confidence to speak up to Gemma in moments like this. But at that precise moment, the reason Sophie had gained the courage to speak up didn’t matter. What mattered was that she was right. Gemma needed to speak to Kent.

So, with a weight in her stomach, she headed outside, hoping he hadn’t got too far.

Thankfully, Kent had sat on a bench only a few metres away. Still, she didn’t know how she was going to start. Her throat was growing tighter and tighter with every step. She was just debating whether she should call his name, cough to alert him to her presence, or walk around to face him when he turned around and looked straight at her.

“Gemma?” he said.

“I can do half an hour this evening after George’s party,” she said.

“Oh, right.”

Deep down, she hoped Kent would say he couldn’t see her then. After all, it was a Friday night, and he probably had a family, or at least a girlfriend, to go home to. But instead, he was immediately on his feet.

“Great,” he said. “After the party. Name the place. Anywhere you fancy. Though it would be great if it serves beer.”

CHAPTER 13

Gemma had lost count of the number of times she had broken down since George had handed in his notice. He’d spoken about doing it for years. At the peak of the summer every year, he said it would be his last. That he couldn’t deal with the chaos for another year. But then the days grew cooler, the pace slowed, and he forgot about his desire to leave. Only this year had been different. Just after Easter, his wife had had a health scare. Thankfully, it had all been okay, but it had shaken George. He hadn’t wanted to spend another summer toiling away over a gas hob, waking up at the crack of dawn when other people his age were already retired and spending their mornings pottering around in the garden and with the family.

Even when he handed in his eight weeks’ notice—to make sure they had time to find someone good—Gemma hadn’t actually believed he would leave. She’d assumed that at some point, the thought of retirement and the lack of structure to his days and weeks would scare him back into rescinding his resignation. Even as they got closer and closer to his leaving date and George started telling people the news, a small part of her still refused to accept it. Now, though, with every member ofstaff, not to mention a few old ones who had moved on, gathered together in the Swan, she knew it was happening.

“I’m not sure how I’m going to cope without you,” Gemma said, struggling to hold back the tears as she hugged George tightly. “It means I’ve been here the longest now. I never felt bad for working in the same place for so long because you’d been here forever, but that’s changed now.”

“You’re going to be just fine,” George said. “You know Oscar rang me to wish me luck with my retirement.”

“He did?” Gemma said in surprise. She spoke to Oscar occasionally, normally when she wanted to make a big purchase like a cake fridge or a freezer, but she couldn’t remember the last time he had rung her. Obviously, she needed to retire for that to happen.

“Yup, he wanted to make sure that nephew of his settles in okay.”

“Nephew?” Gemma said.

“Aye, Kent. He’s Oscar’s nephew, surely you knew that?”

Gemma felt her head nodding in response. Now it all made sense. That was why Kent had been employed. Why she hadn’t seen so much as a CV before Oscar had said that he was coming on board. She shook her head, annoyed by both the nepotism and the fact she hadn’t seen it. She was about to say as much when Dawn, one of the part-time wait staff, called from the other end of the bar.

“George! Do you remember the time you ordered four dozen trout on the cheap from the fishmonger and we had to get it all sold before it went off?” George’s attention shifted from Gemma as he joined in the conversation.