Page 48 of Love from Pretty Beach
A fter a morning shift at work, Darby had decided to pop into a little café, Maisie’s on the laneway in Pretty Beach.
It had been busy at work and she’d wanted to get herself something to eat, maybe vlog some of the gorgeous café and let herself decompress.
After deliberating for a while at the counter, she’d been shown the Locals Only and had decided that would work very well to fill a hole.
Homemade scones with clotted cream and jam worked for her.
Finding a seat in the far side of the café, she said hello to Holly from the bakery and smiled at a woman from work who was sitting chatting with a couple of friends.
After settling in and whilst waiting for her food, Daisy from the bookshop, with one of her sister’s Annabelle, came in, ordered some food and sat at the table beside her.
‘Hi, how are you?’ Darby asked.
Daisy smiled. ‘Good, thanks. You?’
‘Good.’
Annabelle smiled. ‘You’re looking well.’
‘Thanks.’ Darby gestured to the counter. ‘I’ve treated myself to the LO.’
Daisy laughed. ‘We did, too. Who can resist fresh scones and clotted cream?’
‘No one.’ Annabelle chuckled.
‘How did you enjoy the Night Markets? I saw you in the beer tent, but I never made it over to say hello.’ Daisy asked.
‘It was lovely, yes, I enjoyed it.’
‘How are things going with you know who?’ Daisy made a silly face.
Darby brushed it off. ‘Yes, fine, thanks.’
Just then, Darby’s scones came and she was saved from having to continue the chat about Archie as Daisy and Annabelle settled into their conversation.
Whipping out her phone, Darby took a quick video of the scone and its presentation, which she knew her subscribers would love.
The scone had arrived on a white plate with a pretty blue pattern, the jam spooned into a little glass vessel and the clotted cream piled into a shallow Cornishware dish.
The whole thing was peak Pretty Beach. Popping her phone on cinematic mode, she filmed, focusing in on the jam and cream and then her cup of tea.
On a bit of a roll, she panned outside the window to capture the hanging baskets and bistro chairs and the ferry wharf in the distance.
As she was zooming in on the ferry and wondering if its horn honk would be picked up by the microphone, Archie suddenly appeared in her scene.
Nearly dropping her phone in the jam, she hastily put it down, shifted in her chair, tried to make herself invisible and spied him as he walked into the café.
Tucking into her scone, she pretended she wasn’t looking in Archie’s direction and watched as he stood in the queue chatting.
Wondering if she should do something, she pondered going over to speak to him, but instead sat like a lemon watching.
Deciding she couldn’t take the knock-back if he was rude to her, and that tucked in the corner hadn’t seen her anyway, she concluded that she wanted it to stay that way.
Taking another bite of her scone, her legs felt welded to the chair as her brain performed gymnastics.
Maybe dangling an olive branch would be a good idea.
What would she even say? “Hello, Archie, fancy seeing you here,” as if Pretty Beach was some vast metropolis.
Or perhaps she could say something about the scones, safe conversational territory.
Or something along the lines of the last time I saw you before the laneway, I spent the night in your bed.
She glanced at Daisy and Annabelle, who were deep in conversation.
They hadn't noticed Archie walk in, or if they had, they were too polite to point him out after Darby's obvious reluctance to discuss him. Small mercies.
Archie reached the front of the queue. Her mind flip-flopped.
She should definitely go over. They were adults, for goodness' sake.
They'd shared meals, beds, coffees, conversations, bathrooms, T-shirts. Surely she could manage a greeting in a public café even if the whole thing had gone wrong. Even if she’d let herself dream about that thing called “love”.
Suddenly, a thought dawned on her that he might be meeting someone. What if he’d already moved on to someone else? She was more than sure he wouldn't be short of takers. What if she were going to witness some sort of romantic rendezvous right in front of her eyes?
That didn’t happen at all and Archie collected his order and turned towards the tables.
For a heart-stopping moment, Darby thought he might spot her, but he headed straight for the door that led to the outside seating area outside the front windows.
Through the window, she watched him settle at one of the small bistro tables, positioning himself so he could see both the ferry wharf and the comings and goings along the laneway.
If she went out, it would be the perfect time to hold out the olive branch.
She could finish her scone, gather her things, and happen to walk past his table on her way out.
Natural, casual, no awkwardness. It would be easy enough.
Thinking about what Penny had said, she tried to muster up the courage, but instead stayed put.
Something paralysed her. She changed her mind again.
What sort of person ghosted someone like that?
He obviously wasn’t really that nice. He’d bailed out very quickly.
She’d clearly been played. Nodding, she decided there would be no olives, or branches or even any trees.
She’d had enough of that game. There’d been too many of them in the past. The only person Darby Lovell was interested in playing games with was herself. That way, she knew who would win.