Isaac wanted to race after her but a glance at the clock told him it was nearly eleven already and he needed to have a shower and a shave and put on his shirt and tie. He took out his phone but neither a call nor a text seemed to him the right medium through which to continue their conversation.

As she’d said, they’d see each other next time she was on shift.

Chapter Nine

The last days of November were trudging by as if deliberately holding back the fun and sparkle expected in December. More than a week had passed since Lily suggested an ‘adventure’ to Isaac.

And had been turned down.

She felt like an idiot, even though she kept telling herself not to, to feel only regretful – though ‘regretful’ might not be the perfect term. ‘Put out’ or ‘annoyed’ might be more apposite. He’d initiated their kiss and seemed pretty damned enthusiastic about it, the heat of his mouth curling her toes, but he’d prioritised his personal relationships-at-work code above sleeping with her …

She was a woman who’d told a man what she wanted and been turned down. Deal with it, she told herself over a consolatory lemon meringue at the Angel Community Café. Her situation was not the same as Isaac’s. She was part-time bar staff, only a step up from a casual, and he was the full-time manager, bearing responsibility for the business, its premises and its staff while the owner was out of the country. Responsibility was something he appeared to take seriously. Also, it was perfectly true what she had told Isaac about Sergio. Female staff at Bar Barcelona had given him the come-on. Apart from making him feel awkward with his wife working alongside him he’d been wary of leaving himself open to trumped-up claims of harassment.

She hated to think Isaac might view Lily in the same light. Hated it.

Fortunately, she’d been able to avoid being alone with him on this week’s shifts. Tina had been on for much of the time and Lily had stayed in her vicinity as much as possible, brushing past Isaac with a sunny smile and pretending not to hear when he’d twice murmured, ‘Lily—’

Last Sunday, having had a conversation with everyone in the Middletones about having proper cold-weather kit because what they wore in a UK winter would probably be insufficient for Switzerland in December, she drove Neil, Eddie and Alfie to Mountain Warehouse because none of them had remembered to buy boots. Carola decided she, Charlotte and Emily needed thermal base layers and came along in another car. Charlotte and Emily bought their base layers in what Carola described as ‘screaming pink’ while Carola chose what Charlotte decried as ‘sensible black’.