Page 58 of Catching Trouble

She hadn’t told me about any social media account, but with the excess of customers, the club had stayed open later than usual. We’d sent a lot of them home with caffeine roaring through their veins and smiles on their faces.

I took Fifi’s phone and scrolled through the pictures. There were the usual shots of the sunset and the beach. But there were more photos of me posing next to the images I created in the customer’scoffees. One of them had almost a hundred likes.

I enlarged the most viral picture and chuckled. It was me grinning alongside a cup, with the chef’s hat wedged onto my head. I’d taken a little persuading before I donned it again. But the customers loved it. I squinted at the caption. I recognised my name. “What does that say?” I asked Fifi.

She took the phone back. “Chloe Au Lait.” She turned back to me. “Chloe with milk. It’s clever, non?”

Itwasclever. I grinned. Yes—I liked the name. Maybe I should start my own account. If I wanted to work in restaurants or cafes in London, a social media presence was a selling point.

My belly shifted at the thought, though. I’d be heading back in a couple of weeks. Back to reality. Away from the beach. Away from Maxime.

I swallowed the lump in my chest.

“Earth to Chloe. Are you still with me?” Fifi lassoed my thoughts off my stormy boss and brought them back to the club. “I spoke to the chef yesterday about the birthday party this coming weekend. Maxime’s on pins and needles about it.”

I smiled. “Pins and needles” wasn’t quite the right expression, but it wasn’t a terrible fit. It matched Maxime’s intensity.

“He thinks Luc’s coming to check up on him,” I said.

I traced my fingertips over the knots in the wooden bar. I had a voicemail from Iris this morning. Apparently, Luc had contacted Maxime to lock in the details. I hadn’t seen him today, but I figured he’d be on edge. Fifi already told me he was nervous about the club. And he’d mentioned it yesterday, on the cliffs. With Luc on his way, the pressure would hit hard.

“I’ll make sure I’m primed to paint the coffees at the end of the night. It might attract more customers.” Not that there was anything wrong with the club or the food as it was. Quite the opposite. My coffee art just created the “sparkle” orextra buzz I’d mentioned to Maxime.

She shook her head. “Maxi already told me you aren’t working that night. He wants you to enjoy time with your friends.”

A little sparrow fluttered in my tummy. He’d already considered me?

“Meaning, unless he hires a new barista in the next few days, I’m in the line of fire.”

The sparrow came to a dead stop in my belly. “He’s hiring someone new?” Of course, he had to. I wouldn’t always be here. But the idea of not watching him return from his daily fishing trips or getting irritated by the seagulls sat poorly in my stomach.

“I don’t know how Maxime expects me to conjure up someone who can paint pictures in coffee.”

“It takes a while to learn. Plus, a lot of milk and patience.”

“How did you do it?”

I grinned, leaning into her. “Let’s just say I had an outstanding teacher. An Australian barista I met in Greece. He worked on a private yacht, looked like Chris Hemsworth, andmade a mean cafe latte. There was nothing he didn’t know about hot milk.” I wiggled my eyebrows.

She laughed, her eyes shining. “It sounds like you’ve had lots of fun on your travels.”

I had. And though I’d spent time with a lot of men, none of them hooked into my brain like our boss.

I turned my face into the gentle breeze coming off the sea. “Can I ask you a question? And tell me if I’m overstepping, but how do you know Maxime? You’re so glamorous and he’s so… so… different.”

Fifi huffed. “We’ve known each other a long time.”

A slow burn crept up my chest. Maybe my question had been too subtle for the language gap. “No, sorry, I mean, how do youknowhim?” I paused. “Do you have history?” Her blank look made me curse the sea gods. Maybe I needed to wave a red flag—or get “Are you just good friends?”tattooed on my forehead.

She scowled at me, not like she was cross. More like she was trying to figure out my meaning. “Do you mean, have we slept together?”

I pushed a strand of hair behind my ear. Of course I did, but there was no way I’d ever say it out loud. “It’s just the two of you are so close.”

She grinned. “And you think I couldn’t resist his cuddly demeanour?”

I chuckled. I’d only known Fifi a short time, but I adored her already. “No. I can just see how much you care for each other.”

Her gaze snagged on my face. “We know each other well, but not in the way you think. He’s like a brother. We grew up in the same little village. Neither of us had much of a family life to speak of. We ran in the same circles.” She put a red-nailed hand on my arm. “Let’s just say they weren’t the best of circles.Maxime got me out of a tight situation more than a few times. Then he met Valerie, Sophie’s mother.”

---