Summer at The Cosy Cottage Cafe: A feel good second-chance romance by Rachel Griffiths

Author:Rachel Griffiths [Griffiths, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-05-29T05:00:00+00:00

***

Allie ladled batter from the mixing bowl then carefully poured it into the frying pan. As the surface bubbled, she got two plates out of the cupboard then located the thicker maple syrup that she preferred. Chris had asked her what she wanted him to do to help, so she’d asked him to make some drinks.

When the pancake was browned on one side, Allie flipped it. She continued the process until all the batter had been used and each plate was heaped with thick fluffy pancakes, then she poured maple syrup over each pile.

She went through to the café and found Chris sitting on the leather sofa reading a magazine that he must have found on one of the bookshelves. On the table were two steaming mugs of hot chocolate, their surfaces were brimming with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

“Very nice! You know how to use the machine then?”

“I’ve watched enough times in enough cafés to master it, yes.”

“The hot chocolates look delicious.”

“And so do those pancakes.”

Allie handed him a plate and watched as he lifted a heaped fork to his mouth. As he chewed, he widened his eyes and moaned.

“Sooooo good, Allie.”

“Thank you. And so easy to make.”

“You’d make someone a good wife…” He winced. “What a stupid thing to say. God, I’m so sorry.”

Allie shook her head.

“Don’t be. I was a good wife, I tried really hard to be what Roger wanted.”

She pushed a piece of pancake around her plate.

“What do you mean?” He put his fork down and covered her hand with his.

“Oh nothing.”

“It’s not nothing, Allie. I know you, remember. We were best friends for a long time. You seemed happy with Roger though, and I assumed it would always be that way for you guys.”

Allie sipped her hot chocolate, enjoying the silky feel of the sweet drink in her mouth. It was comforting, like a hug in a mug.

“It was good between us for a while. Even after we had the two children, it was still okay. We enjoyed a lot of things together but I don’t know… somewhere along the way, something changed. He…” Was she really going to tell someone the truth? If it was going to be anyone, she guessed it should be Chris. “Roger liked things done a certain way. I think it might have had something to do with losing his parents when he did. He had no control over that and it emerged in other ways. The house had to be spotless, the garden had to be tidy, the children had to be well behaved and I had to be… perfect. He had a gardener in twice a week, so the roses were gorgeous and the lawn was up to bowling-green standard, and I did my best to keep the house the way he liked it. But I wasn’t perfect and neither were the children. He never let on to them how he felt about their so called imperfections, but he never failed to tell me.” She smiled to try to lighten the impact of what she’d just confessed.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.