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Llywelyn rubbed a small circle into my back and spoke as if he had read my mind. “People are going to love this place. They already love you. I l—”
He was interrupted by a knocking at the door. I smiled at Glyn the baker and hurried to open it for him. He had a bag full of pastries and cakes that I’d ordered.
“Thanks so much Glyn, come on in.” I headed to the bar to start putting them out for presentation. 9:15am, just quarter of an hour until opening time. Glyn stood awkwardly in the shop, eyes drifting between me and Llywelyn. “Everything alright?” I asked.
“Yes, yes, of course. It’s just nice to see Llyw looking so happy. He deserves it.”
“No special man in the picture for you then?” asked Llywelyn.
“God, you’re getting worse than Beca. No. No one for me. Just me and my bakery.”
“Maybe we need to find you an extra sexy butcher or grocer to hook you up with. Or both!” I grinned, but Glyn only looked mildly amused.
“I’m a one man kind of guy, but I’m married to my bakes. Not sure I’ll ever find anyone…better go.” Glyn rushed out of the bakery before we could even say goodbye.
“Think he’s OK?” I asked.
“Yeah, he’ll be fine,” replied Llywelyn. “Just lonely being gay in Hiraeth for most people.”
“It’s odd, isn’t it?” I said. “So many gay men in one tiny village but none of you seemed compatible with one another. You’ve got the guy from the garage..”
“Alun? He’s with my sister.”
“No, the other one. The one with tattoos.”
“Oh, Max! Yeah, bit scruffy for me.” Llywelyn smirked.
“Then you have Glyn, Tudor…am I missing anyone?”
“Gavin Jones, head of the school. You won’t have met him yet but he’s a bit older than the current crop. I think he said he’s bringing someone to the opening today.” Llywelyn was looking at the shelf above my head as I finished presenting the pastries. “Is that shelf level do you think?”
“Yes, yes,” I said idly, then looked up to double check it was. “If you did it, it’s bound to be perfect.”
“Are you trying to get into my pants?” he asked playfully.
“Yes, always. Now get a bloody brush and dust that corner. I can see the cobwebs from here.” I slapped his bum and he moved away to the cleaning cupboard to get the cleaning stuff as I walked to the door and stepped outside.
Hiraeth Community Cafe stood out in proud lettering above the window.
“Oh, open early are you?” said Beca. Before I could tell her that no, we weren’t, she had walked straight past me and into the cafe.
A couple of elderly people from the village who had been milling around in the early morning seemed to follow her lead and I rushed inside to make sure they were all seated.
By the time I’d served out their two tables with the coffee and tea requested, Nain had joined them — leaning in for a quick peck on he cheek before dropping into the seat reserved for her by Beca.
I noticed her touch Beca’s arm in a way that surprised me, almost intimately.
It wasn’t my place to ask so I took her order and brought back some complimentary muffins for the table too.
By that time the cafe was filling even more and I could see the normally unflappable and rocksteady Llywelyn panicking as he tried to guide people to seats and take their orders.
“You grab some pastries and bring them over here, cariad . I’ll do the customer service bit.” I kissed him on the cheek and kept an eye on him as I helped Tudor find his place at a table. Glyn had reappeared and muttered something about closing the bakery for the morning as he took a seat by Tudor.
“Two lattes, please,” said Tudor. Glyn nodded the affirmative and I wondered why the two of them had never ended up together.
“Oh, good news for both your businesses,” said Tudor in a conspiratorial whisper that made us both lean in.
“I’ve been speaking with a big production company who want to film some fantasy series up on the cliffs and in some of the local villages.
They want to rent out most of the hotel for months ! ”
“What, so big actors, lots of mouths to feed?” I asked.
“Yup, and it’s being adapted from a really popular book so the nerd tourism will be off the charts! I’ll need to talk to Llywelyn about getting some of the rooms renovated if you can spare him for a minute. He’s obviously done a fantastic job here.”
I nodded and grinned. That was some of my worries about business assuaged so long as I could get a good first impression with the crew. “I’ll get my lovely boyfriend to bring you over the lattes so you can chat about it.”
“All going well?” asked Llywelyn as I got to the counter. I nodded the affirmative and got to making the coffees, and sent him over to Tudor and Glyn with yet more pastries. It felt cheeky sending one of Glyn’s pastries back to him but I was sure he could enjoy it as a customer.
Over the next hours the cafe filled up to capacity and beyond and I did my best to keep up with a trade even better than expected.
Alaw had dropped in with her boyfriend and with Dinky, who she had kidnapped more and more over recent weeks as Llywelyn did his best to balance his newly blooming career, courses and helping me with the cafe.
Midway through the day I had to send Llywelyn over to Glyn’s to pick up more cakes and pastries. He returned with even more than we had in the morning.
“He’s not happy,” Llywelyn muttered as we placed them onto plates to be taken out to the tables.
“No? Should we stop ordering from him? Have I done something wrong?”
“No. Not with us. With this bloody TV production company deal. He’s struggling with too much trade at the moment, let alone once more people are coming into the village every single day.”
“And he can’t find the staff?”
“Could you?” Llywelyn asked. He had a point. Nain had offered to volunteer a few hours a day but otherwise I was running this venture on my own.
“Right. Well, I’ll do a bit more baking in house then if it comes to it.” I was no wonder with puff pastries but I could make the odd cake, and practice made perfect.
The door opened once more, but before I could rush to get it Llywelyn grabbed my arm. “Is that…?”
“Tom Brown, the substitute teacher? I think so. Who’s he with?” Tom had walked in with an older man, bearded with salt and pepper hair in a leather jacket. “What a daddy, ” I said without thinking.
“Down, boy. That’s the headmaster at the school. Let me talk to them both.” Llywelyn crossed over to them and came back with their order a few minutes later. “Well that’s a story for another time…”
The rest of the day went by in a flash. A steady stream of customers flowed through the shop and a quick glance at the till exceeded my expectations.
Nain, who had sat dutifully at her table for almost 8 hours and surviving on a steady stream of tea and cake, stood up to give me a hug after the last customer had left.
“I’m so proud of you, cariad ,” she said.
“I wish you all the joy in the world. And I’m so glad you’ve chosen to make Hiraeth your home. ”
Once she had left and I’d locked the front door Llywelyn pulled me into a bone-crunching hug.
“So proud,” he whispered as he kissed the top of my head. “So, so proud.”
“Thank you, cariad .” I extricated myself from the hug to wipe over the last table.
“So, am I dropping you into work in the morning?” he asked.
“Staying at yours, am I?”
“Yes. And unless you agree to live with me, I’m never letting you leave.” Llywelyn’s eyes challenged me to disagree.
“I don’t know…”
“No, you do know. And you want to. But you’re scared and I get that. I really do. But you’re here in Hiraeth, running your own business. You took a risk, you made a massive jump. And you’ve landed on your feet. I want you to do the same again.”
Llywelyn had never been this assertive when we’d first met, but he seemed to have taken my lessons on negotiating a price to heart. “I’ve created a monster, haven’t I?” I said.
“You have. But I love you. That and my cottage still doesn’t have central heating so it’s a very cold morning waking up alone.”
“ Fine, ” I said as if it were a chore. “You’ve convinced me.”
Llywelyn pulled me in for a kiss and I knew despite our exhaustion we would be up for a wild night.
“I’ll get locked up and then we’ll go…go home.”
Llywelyn grinned at me and stood by the door, foot tapping like he couldn’t wait a second longer. “I’ll just go and get the van started,” he said.
Just as he stepped outside I called his name and he stooped with his hand on the door. “I need you to know,” I said. “I love you too.”
And I would. Forever.
The End
* * *
A message from Matt…
If you enjoyed this book, the first in the West Wales Romance series, please head over to my website at www.mattpetersauthor.com .
If you sign up to my newsletter you’ll get a free, sweet and sexy epilogue to Handy Man in your inbox, as well as future short stories set in the town of Hiraeth.
If you enjoyed please leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads.
I’m a little guy just starting out and the more reviews there are the better visibility I get!
So what next for the little village of Hiraeth? Well, Tudor has a whole troupe of actors and crew coming to town. Surely someone will catch his eye, even if he doesn’t particularly like them at first.
And with the flat above the garage now empty due to Alun and Alaw finding a place in the village proper, there’s space for a mysterious and brooding stranger to move in. One who doesn’t like to talk about the past…
Thanks again for reading. I hope you’ll stick around for the ride.
Also, a little thank you to my partner for giving me a kick up the arse to get this book done. Thank you to my two lovely dogs for endless cuddles on the sofa as I write. Read on to the next page for a sneak peek of the next book in the series!
Books in This Series
Handy Man - 10 March 2022
Hollywood Crush - 31 July 2022
Full Service - 1 December 2022
WELSH LANGUAGE GLOSSARY
Nain - Grandmother
Cariad - Love