The Christmas Spirit by Susan Buchanan Read Free Book Online

newspaper, Jacob
whilst bustling around preparing her latte and cake, couldn’t take his eyes off
her. He knew he had a queue of customers to deal with, but somehow he needed to
find out if this girl came in regularly, or if this was his one chance. Did he
look presentable? Would it be bad business practice for him to ask for her
number? All this ran through his head as he added the swirl to her latte and
the cream to her cake.
    ‘Be with you in just a second,’ he said to the next person
in line.
    ‘I’ll get it,’ Natalie said, materialising behind him.
    Phew , thought Jacob. That would
give him some breathing space. He weaved his way around the tables, smiled at
Sophie, who happened to glance up from her book just then, and set Rebecca’s
order in front of her.
    ‘There you go. Can I get you anything else? Sugar, perhaps?’
    ‘No, I’m fine, thanks.’
    She’s sweet enough , thought Jacob,
catching himself just in time from voicing that.
    Going for the brave approach, he dived in. ‘I haven’t seen
you in here before.’
    Clearly thinking he would have already been halfway back to
the counter, Rebecca looked up from the property ads, frowned slightly and
said, ‘That’s because today’s my first visit.’
    ‘Ah...’ Jacob was stuck for what to say next, but managed to
stammer out, ‘Well, don’t make it your last,’ and gave her what he hoped was
his least scary, non-stalkerish smile.
    ‘I won’t,’ she smiled at him, then returned her attention to
her newspaper.
    What a beautiful girl, well spoken, too,
but such sad eyes . Jacob wondered what was going on in her life that was
making her so sad.
    Sophie, at the next table, had observed this exchange with interest. When she left ten minutes later, she said, ‘Bye, Jacob. See you tomorrow.’
    ‘Bye, Sophie, say hi to Cruella for me.’
    They both laughed and the door chimed as Sophie left.
    Once the lunchtime rush had died down, Jacob cleared
tables and stacked the dishwasher. The girl was still there. As he cleared away
Sophie’s things, he lingered more than was necessary near the back of the
girl’s chair. He saw she was reading the property section of the newspaper; probably checking for houses to buy with her boyfriend , he
thought despondently.
    Natalie, looking on, saw the change of expression on Jacob’s
face and allowed herself a slight smile. All was progressing nicely.
    Rebecca had soon figured out, once she had started totting up
the outgoings on her and Ethan’s flat: mortgage, house insurance, council tax,
utilities, as well as food and travel, that there was no way she could afford
it on her own. Even if she lived the life of a nun and became teetotal, she
would never manage it. And that wasn’t including things like holidays or buying
people presents, parking, haircuts, and all the other things that made up her
budget. Ethan, having a more highly paid job than her, she knew, would buy her
out and although she wasn’t best pleased with him at the moment - the
understatement of the century - she knew he’d give her a fair deal. But she
knew she couldn’t stay in the flat indefinitely, although he hadn’t pressed her
yet. She didn’t know where he was staying, as their rare communication was
either by text or e-mail. At some point they would have to sit down and talk to
each other about the flat. She was dreading dividing up the items they had
bought together. She remembered that, unfairly, Ethan had made her sell some of
her furniture when they had moved in together as he preferred his; his fridge
freezer, his sofa, his king-size bed. Now she would have the added cost of
having to replace those items. The sums she had received for her stuff had been
paltry compared with what she had paid for them and what they would cost to buy
again. At least renting she wouldn’t have that outlay for a while. If things
weren’t so bad at work, she would have brazened it out and asked for a raise.
It’s not as if she wasn’t due one;