Daisy Does it Herself by Gracie Player

Author:Gracie Player
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781916283619
Publisher: TRM Publishing
Published: 2020-03-27T04:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Two

Leaving the counter bell as my able deputy, I went to give the key to Alex. I figured he’d be in the kitchen, chained to its hot stove, while Joe did the job of a dozen waiters out front in the café. Instead it was Joe I came across first, sitting at the table, looking absolutely shattered.

‘Tough morning?’ I said.

He lifted his head wearily. ‘Absolutely brutal.’

‘The Ladies’ Guild put you through the wringer then?’

‘You can say that again. Talk about exacting customers. Everything needed to be just so.’

‘And was it just so?’

Joe nodded, although he was clearly too tired to take much satisfaction in the achievement. ‘The food went down a storm. They praised it to the rafters.’

‘And where’s the chef? Is he out front milking the applause?’

Joe shook his head then nodded towards the kitchen door. ‘No. He’s out back in the garden.’

Following Joe’s cue, I opened the back door and looked around, but I couldn’t see Alex. I hadn’t appreciated how big the back garden was, or how it had separate tiers leading downwards, but I guessed he must have been somewhere near the bottom end. Still holding the key in my hand, I drifted past mulchy beds overflowing with pretty, colourful flowers and spiky buds of lavender that filled the air with perfume. Neat rows of vegetables that would be picked fresh to go straight into the kitchen.

The chickens were out of the coop running free and I gave Rodney the side-eye as I passed. Lord of his domain, he seemed supremely unconcerned. Something of that lordly expression reminded me of Tina and Trevor and that unpleasant conversation drifted back to me. A stray, was I? “A girl like you!” What the hell was that supposed to mean? The more I dwelt on it, the angrier I got. They were the type of people who instinctively found a person’s personal pain-point and pressed down on it hard with all the cruelty they could muster.

Finally, I spied Alex, shading his eyes against the sun as he put something to his lips and dragged on it furiously. Wolf was by his side, panting. Alex looked up as I approached.

In honour of my first solo day of work, I was wearing a cute yellow sundress—the pride of my charity shop picks. He shot a sly glance at my legs when he thought I wasn’t looking. Little tip, we always notice.

‘Liam asked me to bring you your keys,’ I said, swirling my dress a little. I knew what I’d decided about me and Alex just being friends, but he looked so damned cute that I couldn’t help myself. It was also a fuck you to Tina.

Alex cleared his throat.

‘Thanks, Daisy,’ he said, pocketing them. The way he said my name sent a shiver lightly across my skin. I immediately went crimson. Well, that served me right.

‘You’re a smoker then?’ I said, trying to distract him from my flaming cheeks.

Alex stared down at the roll-up in his hand. ‘Not normally. I still classify myself as an ex-one.

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.