The evening passed in a whirl. Her landlord, the Eel, turned up late and had one quick drink as he cast a greedy eye over the new improvements, no doubt scheming the next rent hike. Then it seemed that, no sooner had people had arrived, than they started to drift away again. In reality, it had been over two hours since the start of the event. Her guests left with lots of thanks and kisses and hugs, until there was only Bev, Pete, and Max left. Emma suddenly found herself feeling shattered. She stifled a yawn.

‘Well, that seemed to go off fabulously,’ Bev announced.

‘Yes.’ Em glanced at her watch. ‘Wow, I can’t believe it’s gone nine.’

‘Let’s help you get shipshape here.’ Bev started clearing the mostly empty platters of chocolate away, swooping two salted caramels into her mouth at once. ‘Just tidying up,’ she grinned after they had melted enough for her to talk. ‘Waste not, want not.’

Emma had to smile, and Max and Pete started on the washing-up.

Emma was busy wiping over the shop surfaces when Bev and Pete came through from the kitchen.

‘Right, well that’s us done,’ Bev stated.

Max came back through too and stood near the counter at that point. ‘Well, I’ll just help Emma with the last of the tidying,’ he said coolly, obviously intending to be the last one there.

‘Night then,’ Bev said.

Emma felt a little nudge in her ribs as her friend put down the box of flutes she was holding and gave her a goodnight kiss on the cheek, whispering, ‘You little minx, you. What exactly is going on?’

Emma declined to answer, so Bev added loudly and pointedly, ‘Well, I’ll be ringing you tomorrow! It’s been a great launch. Well done, Em. You should be proud of yourself.’

Emma grinned. ‘Woo-hoo to The Chocolate Shop Café! And thanks so much for everything.’

‘Always welcome, my lovely friend. Take care.’ With that, Bev gave Max a sharp look, as if to say look after her, or else.

‘Night guys.’

‘Night,’ Max answered, as the men shook hands.

‘Have a good night,’ Bev said as she was half out the door. It was so obvious that she was gossiping with Pete as they passed the window that Emma and Max turned to each other and laughed out loud.

‘Well done, Em. It went really well. It looked wonderful in here, and the chocolates were just stunning. I kept hearing loads of positive comments from everyone as I was passing them round.’

‘Aw, thanks. I’m happy. Tired but happy.’

There was a tension notching up through the room, as they both knew the time had probably come to take the next step – but who was going to make the first move?