Page 51 of Love in Tune

‘I don’t think so. Hal doesn’t want anyone to know he’s here.’ He bit his lip. ‘You won’t tell anyone, will you?’

The reporter drew lines over her heart with her shell-pink nails.

‘Cross my heart.’

She reached inside her shirt and pulled a business card out of her bra, then reached out and tucked it into Steve’s apron pocket.

‘In case you think of anything else to tell me,’ she said, and then tripped away on her high heels.

Skinny Steve breathed a sigh of relief and headed inside for more coffee.

As dusk fell just before six o’clock, the candles turned the pavement into a flickering carpet of light and Honey returned to her sweet spot between Lucille and Mimi.

‘Ernie’s gone then?’

Lucille nodded with a little smile. ‘He stayed for ten minutes or so, but he was worn out. He’s promised to come and see us again soon though.’

Mimi’s expression was inscrutable, and Honey decided not to push her on the matter.

‘Still no sign of Billy?’

‘He appeared a while back with a plate of sausage rolls,’ Lucille said. ‘Odd, really.’

‘Nothing surprises me where that man’s concerned,’ Mimi said. ‘He’s a loose cannon.’

Honey laughed softly. ‘He is that.’

‘How’s that handsome friend of yours doing in the kitchen?’ Lucille asked, her blue eyes keen and wise.

Honey shrugged. ‘Well everyone’s eaten, so I guess he’s doing fine.’

‘Haven’t you been inside to check on him?’ Mimi asked sharply, and Honey suddenly felt as if she were caught in the centre of a ‘good cop bad cop’ routine.

‘Not this afternoon, no. I’ve been busy out here, there hasn’t been time.’

‘There’s time now,’ Lucille said reasonably. ‘Take five minutes.’

Honey picked at a loose thread on her sleeve. ‘Maybe later.’

‘I used to say things like that,’ Mimi said. ‘And then you get old and there isn’t a later, and you wish you’d done it sooner.’

‘You didn’t say that about meeting Ernie,’ Lucille said, her tone laced with hurt.

Mimi shot Lucille a look for going badly off script and ignored the barb.

‘I’m just giving Honey the benefit of my wisdom. If there’s something that needs to be said, don’t let your pride stop you from saying it.’

Lucille nodded and laid her hand on Honey’s arm.

‘She’s right, dear. We both think that you’ve fallen for him. You should tell him.’

Honey let her head drop back and gazed at the stars.

‘It’s more complicated than that.’

She didn’t bother denying the truth. Mimi and Lucille knew her inside out and backwards, and besides, it was a relief to talk about it out loud.

‘It’s only as complicated as you make it,’ Lucille said.

Honey sighed heavily. ‘They aren’t my complications, Lucille. They’re his. He’s got to make some choices, and I’ve got to wait and see which way the chips fall.’

‘That doesn’t sound fair to me,’ Mimi said. ‘Never give a man all the power, Honeysuckle. They don’t know what to do with it and will more than likely blow their own hands off before they’ve even got started.’

‘His ex-fiancée wants him to go back to London. She sent him a letter asking him to step back to his old life.’ Honey folded her arms over her chest and kept her eyes on the dark sky. ‘They’re supposed to be getting married next year.’

Mimi and Lucille fell silent while they mulled Honey’s revelation over.

‘People change,’ Lucille said, eventually. ‘Going back isn’t always possible.’

‘Get yourself in there this minute and tell him to choose you,’ Mimi said, suddenly fierce. ‘Or do you want me to do it for you?’

Honey laughed softly and rubbed Mimi’s arm. She was pretty sure that however fierce Hal could be, Mimi could be fiercer.

‘I think this is one battle I need to fight on my own,’ she said, knowing that Mimi and Lucille were both right in their own ways.

She needed to pull up her big girl pants and be honest with Hal about how she felt before he made his decision, or else she might never get the chance to.

It would be better to cope with rejection and get over him than to spend the rest of her life wondering what if.

‘I’ll tell him. As soon as today’s over, I’ll tell him.’

Skinny Steve heaped piles of warm sausage rolls onto plates and prepared to go out on yet another food run.

‘Try not to get paparazzied this time, Stevie-boy,’ Billy warned.

Hal grinned. ‘Are you becoming a celebrity out there too, Steve?’

‘It’s not funny,’ Steve muttered. ‘I almost blew your cover earlier.’

Hal paused, hating the fear that prickled the hairs on his arms. ‘Only almost though, right?’

‘Yeah, I only said Hal, not your whole name, before I remembered.’ Steve put the sausage rolls down by the door and rustled in his apron pocket for the reporter’s business card.

‘Alicia Caughton-Black. What kind of a name is that?’ he laughed, picking up the plate again and shaking his head as he headed outside.

‘Fuck.’

Hal scrubbed his hand over his mouth hard.

He knew exactly what kind of a name Alicia Caughton-Black was, because he’d met Alicia Caughton-Black on several occasions.

A reporter who loved to court the celebrity circuit, she’d eaten in his restaurant; he remembered her well because she’d made a fuss about being vegan every time and asked to see him personally to discuss her choice of dish.

He’d known at the time that she was trying to draw gossip from him rather than food facts, but he’d paid little attention because no publicity was bad publicity for the restaurant.

Skinny Steve would have been like Bambi in her lioness paws; the kid wouldn’t have stood a chance of outwitting her.

‘What’s the matter, son?’

Billy.

‘I need to get out of here, Billy,’ Hal said, aware that his voice wasn’t as even as he’d like it to be.

‘You mean you need a breath of fresh air? A ciggie?’ Billy said, sounding doubtful.

‘No. I mean I need you to call me a cab and not tell a soul.’

‘You can’t walk out of here now, son. We need you.’

Savage fury ripped through Hal’s chest, and he kicked the cupboard beside him. ‘Why now?’ he said. ‘Why the fuck right now?’

‘Tell me what’s going on, Hal. I might be able to help you.’

Hal shook his head. ‘The only thing you can do now is call me that cab, Billy. I’ll tell you exactly what you and Steve need to do to keep things going tonight, but I can’t stay here. I’m sorry. I just can’t.’