Page 8 of Love in the Air at The Cornish Bakery

‘Oh yes. You should have seen it during the school holidays!’ Brooke laughed as she passed a cake box across the counter. ‘We’ll soon get the queue down, anyway.’

‘Hopefully.’ Frowning, Nina turned as someone tapped against the window. It was Rowan. Standing there in a grey coat and woollen navy hat, he waved at her. Great. She held up the bag of shortbread and turned back to Edna. What was Rowan doing here? Had she somehow messed the pies up while walking to the pub? Or was he just here for his lunch? So much for trying to avoid him for the rest of her holiday down here.

‘Ooh, you had some?’ Edna clicked another couple of coins onto the glass countertop.

‘Yes.’ Smiling, Nina placed the bag of shortbread next to the iced buns. ‘And I got you the biggest piece.’

‘Thank you. I’ve not treated myself to shortbread for ages.’

‘You’re welcome. I hope you all have a great rest of your day.’ Nina picked up the coins and waved to Justin and Freddie. ‘Nice to have met you all.’

‘You too, Nina. And thank you again.’

Clicking the till drawer open, Nina dropped the coins into the drawer. Stepping back as Brooke sidled up the till. ‘That customer, Edna, is so lovely.’

‘Edna? Yes, she’s great. She comes in every so often with her two grandchildren.’ Brooke held out the card reader to her customer before lowering her voice. ‘That guy over there, Rowan, I think his name is. He’s asking for you. Didn’t want to be served by me, said he needed to speak to you. Do you know him? He’s new here, has only just been working at the pub for a couple of weeks.’

‘Ah.’ Nina glanced quickly in Rowan’s direction. He was standing at the end of the counter, looking at his phone. She rolled her eyes. This is what she hadn’t wanted. She’d hoped he’d just been there to pick something up for his lunch. Obviously not. ‘He’s an ex of mine.’

‘Oh, really?’

‘Unfortunately, yes.’ Sighing, Nina turned and made her way towards him.

Quickly slipping his phone into his pocket, Rowan looked across at her. ‘Nina, I hope you don’t mind me popping by.’

‘Was there something wrong with the pies?’

‘The pies?’

‘Yes, the ones I brought to the pub?’ She frowned.

‘No, the pies are perfect. Or I assume they are. They normally are anyway. It’s you I wanted to see. You left quite abruptly.’

Looking down at her trainers, Nina resisted the urge to roll her eyes and tell him what he thought of him. It wasn’t the time or the place. Besides, if he didn’t know what she thought of him by now, then he never would. ‘I wasn’t expecting to see you here.’

‘I know! How crazy is it that we’ve both ended up in the bay? Of all places!’

Nodding, Nina watched as his smile illuminated his eyes, almost changing the colour of his irises entirely. It had always intrigued her, the way his eyes told the world how he was feeling. She’d never met anyone whose eyes did that before. True windows to the soul, as people would say.

‘So, did you want to grab a drink sometime? Catch up?’ He looked her in the eye.

Glancing back at the counter, Nina signalled the queue. ‘I should go.’

‘Right. Yes, of course.’ Looking down at the floor, Rowan nodded. ‘Hopefully, I’ll see you later then.’

‘Bye.’ Turning her back on him, she stepped back behind the counter.

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