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He just stared at her. “Stay away from my family,” he said again, voice loaded with meanness.

Then he revved the engine and left, and Tilly watched him go.

Chapter Fifteen

“Now I’m really confused,” Jules said.

They were sitting at a small table close to the counter of the cafe owned by Jules’s sister Amelia and her partner Cass.

“What’s to be confused about?” Cass asked from behind the counter. “Your girl’s got a crush and got it bad. Not that I blame her, that policewoman’s a looker alright. And she’s all strict and in a uniform.” She gave a little shiver of delight.

“Enough from you,” Amelia said, putting coffees on a tray and carrying them to the table. “I think the question is, if Soph’s got a crush and the constable is so pretty, why didn’t that smooch happen?”

“Easy,” Cass said. “Because Gio drove by in that banger of his.” She rolled her eyes at Sophie. “Forgive Am, she’s not always on the ball. Here, get one of these down you.” She pulled a plate out and then got something out of a machine that looked like it might be used for medieval torture.

“What is it?” asked Jules.

“A Paganini,” Cass said proudly.

“She means a Panini,” said Amelia. “We just got the machine. Rented for now, of course, but we thought we’d give it a go.”

“This one’s ham and pineapple,” Cass said, putting the plate in front of Jules. “What do you want, Soph?”

“Not ham and pineapple,” she said quickly. “What about, um, cheese and…”

“Salmon?” Cass filled in.

“God no, cheese and ham will be fine.”

“Boring,” said Cass, but got to work anyway.

“So you didn’t kiss the constable because of Gio?” Jules asked her, getting back to the point.

“Her name’s Tilly,” Sophie said. “Kiss the Constable sounds like a dirty film.”

“Not a bad one either,” Cass said from behind the counter. “What do you think, Am? We could shoot it in the cafe when we’re closed.”

“I’m not being in a dirty film,” Amelia said immediately.

“Did I ask you to? We’d get professionals for that.”

“Where from?” asked Jules, honestly curious. “Do you know many professional adult actors in the area?”

“There must be some,” said Cass, looking thoughtful. “I mean, you might not know just by looking. Like spies. Probably there’s loads.”

“We don’t have filming equipment,” Amelia said. “So it’s a no on that for the time being. I like the idea of the cafe being used at night, though.”

“If you open at night, you’ll be treading on the pub’s toes. Josh’ll go mad,” Jules said.

Amelia and Cass were always looking for get rich quick schemes, though they’d calmed down slightly since getting the cafe. Sophie tuned them out as she drank her coffee.

They’d almost kissed. She knew that, could almost feel it now, the brush of Tilly’s lips. For a moment there, the whole world had distilled down to those lips and nothing could have pulled her away from them.

Then Gio had driven by in his decrepit old car. So she hadn’t done it. She’d lost her nerve, lost her focus, and then Tilly had been gone.

“So was it because of Gio, then?” Jules said, tapping on the table to get Sophie’s attention as Cass and Amelia argued over plans to turn the cafe into a club at night.

“Sort of,” Sophie said. She swirled her coffee in her cup miserably. “I mean, it’s kind of complicated.”