come in the night? Elves?’
He narrows his eyes at me. ‘I don’t suppose you’d know anything about it?’
‘Me?’ My voice goes up several pitches. I now sound like a dolphin going through puberty. ‘Of course not. What a completely absurd suggestion. I can’t draw a stickman. Why on earth would you think I’d know anything about that?’
‘Hmm.’ He doesn’t look convinced by my denial. ‘I don’t know. It’s just that you were talking about the gingerbread house yesterday. I thought … I don’t know. You were the first person I thought of when I saw it.’
I should probably be insulted, or maybe impressed by his powers of deduction, but honestly, being the first person Leo thinks of in any situation sends a little sizzle of excitement through me.
‘Bloody vandals graffiti-ing my shop,’ he continues. ‘I’m going to have to waste half the morning washing it off now.’
I gasp in horror. ‘Oh, don’t do that! That’s not graffiti, it’s artwork. Look at the way it incorporates the gingerbread house. Someone’s gone to a lot of effort to do that. Look at the snowflakes and the way the actual frost outside has clung to the paint and made it sparkle. It looks fantastic in the daylight. Don’t wash it off, please. It looks all festive and lovely.’
His blue eyes narrow again.
‘I mean, do whatever you want, obviously. I don’t care if you wash it off. If you don’t like it, that’s up to you.’ I clear my throat and look away.
‘So, what can I get you today, Georgia Bailey from the Oakbarrow branch of the Building and Loan?’ There’s such a fondness in his voice as he says it that it makes me smile involuntarily.
‘I think I’ll try your chestnut praline this morning, if –’
‘Just one, right? Because I’m not accepting another coffee from you. It’s not right.’
It’s my turn to narrow my eyes at him. ‘Fine. Just one.’
‘So did you have a good night?’ he asks as he turns to make my drink. ‘You’re early again this morning. Couldn’t sleep?’
‘Yeah, something like that,’ I say, touched that he knows my work schedule so well.
‘I thought so. No offence but you look like you were up half the night.’
‘Oh, thanks,’ I snort, knowing he doesn’t mean it in a nasty way. He’s just wheedling for more information about the window because he definitely suspects me.
‘Sorry, my lovely.’ He puts the coffee down on the counter and pushes it towards me. ‘On the house to make up for the insult.’
I slap my £3.50 down on the counter and push it towards him in return. ‘It’s not to make up for the insult, it’s to make up for me buying you one yesterday, and I’m not having that. It’s just a coffee, Leo. Accept it.’
His eyes flick between me and the coins on the counter. ‘Fine. But it’s not happening again.’
‘Okay.’
‘Okay.’ The bell rings as he opens the till and puts the money in.
‘And now I’ll have another one. Same again, please.’
He folds his arms and gives me a stern look. ‘I’ve told you I’m not letting you buy me another coffee. What are you up to?’
‘It’s for me. To go. For later.’ I take a sip of the coffee currently in my hand as if this somehow proves it.
He looks like he’d be more inclined to believe Pinocchio.
‘I’m a paying customer. You can’t turn me away.’
‘No, I guess not.’ He looks like he wants to argue but he knows I’m right.
‘I bet Bernard will know something about that window,’ he says over his shoulder as he turns around and fires up the coffee machine again. ‘I’ll have to ask him if he saw who did it.’
‘I wouldn’t bet on it,’ I mumble under my breath.
‘Pardon?’
‘I said I’m sure he did. Bernard knows everything around here.’
The look in his eyes as he fits the white plastic lid onto the coffee cup says he knows that isn’t what I said the first time, but he doesn’t pursue it.
‘To go. For later.’ He puts the cup on the counter with a resolute thud and pushes it towards me.
‘Exactly.’ I give him the money, trying to ignore the little thrill as my gloved fingertips brush against his hand.
I wait until the till’s dinged and he’s torn the receipt off and handed it to me before I push the cup back across the counter towards him. ‘For you.’
He bursts out laughing. ‘I knew you were up to something.’
‘I knew you wouldn’t do it if I asked for two at once.’ I grin at him and he looks like he’s trying to be annoyed but he can’t stop himself grinning back and it makes butterflies start zooming around inside me. ‘And you have to take it. If you don’t, I’m going to go to the soulless retail park and get a Starbucks and bring it back here for you, and I know you wouldn’t be happy about that. By refusing it, you’re actively giving your custom to the competition.’
There’s a flash of recognition in his eyes. Soulless retail park is what we called it on the phone. I have to be more careful, although in all fairness, everyone around here who’s lost business to the shiny new shopping centre calls it the same. It’s not a reason for him to suspect anything. I’m just seeing things that aren’t there because I know and he doesn’t.
‘What’s this sudden obsession with making me drink coffee? I could be watching my caffeine intake for all you know.’
‘You work in a coffee shop. I don’t think caffeine intake really applies to you, does it?’
He laughs and then rolls his eyes. ‘Well, maybe not, but … why? Why this sudden desire to buy me a coffee?’
‘Because I don’t know what else you like. I nearly bought you an aubergine and put it in a sexy bra but I didn’t know where to find one around here.’
‘An aubergine or a sexy bra?’
‘Either,’ I say, thinking it’s probably a bit early in the day to be talking about bras with Leo. Casey would tell me off for not making that into some kind of suggestive joke about my own collection of sexy bras, which is zero. It’s been a while since I made any effort in the bra department.
‘Why should you get me anything? You’re a customer. I get you things and you give me money in exchange. That’s how shops operate in general.’
‘Ha ha,’ I mutter at his sarcasm. I’m going to have to come up with a viable explanation and fast because he’s looking at me expectantly, long dark eyelashes blinking over
