The Chocolate Lovers’ Wedding Read Free Page B

didn’t agree?’
‘Weeeeeell.’
‘Lucy!’ More group gasping.
‘I got sacked today. Again.’ I sigh as the overwhelming knowledge that I’m once more unemployed hits me low in the stomach. I bite into my unlovely ham sandwich and it tastes like sawdust in my mouth. What comfort does that provide, for heaven’s sake? I could lie on the floor and weep.
‘What for this time?’
‘It was Marcus’s fault. I should have been doing important things in the finance department and he persuaded me to go out to lunch with him instead.’
They all look at me, aghast.
‘He offered me my job back.’
Shaking of heads.
‘I didn’t say I’d go back to Chocolate Heaven.’
They don’t look convinced.
‘I did say I’d think about it, though.’ And, if I’m honest, every fibre of my being is yearning to say yes.
‘Could you handle seeing Marcus every day?’ Chantal asks. ‘He’d be all over you like a rash. It wouldn’t stop at Chocolate Heaven, Lucy. You know what he’s like.’
‘I need the money.’ I gnaw my fingernails a bit. ‘This wedding is rushing up and Crush and I are trying to do it on a budget, but the bills are mounting already and we’ve hardly started. How will I manage without a salary coming in?’
They all exchange anxious looks, as well they might. They know I am a snowflake in a fan heater when it comes to Marcus.
‘There would be a plus side of me going back to Chocolate Heaven. We won’t have to try out any more rubbish cafés. We could re-stake our claim there, go back to the old faithful sofas.’
‘I can see the attraction,’ Nadia says. ‘I know you’re desperate to get back, but there will be a price to pay.’
I sigh. ‘I’ll have to chat to Crush about it. See what he thinks.’
‘Let’s hope he can talk some sense into you,’ says Chantal.
‘Go back to the agency,’ Nadia says. ‘Tell them to find you another job. Or I could ask if there are any vacancies at the call centre where I work. There’s a high turnover of staff.’
‘That’s because it’s hideous,’ I remind her. Nadia has only been there a short while and already she hates it.
‘Yes,’ Nadia agrees. ‘It is.’
‘Let’s not be too hasty,’ Autumn says. ‘Lucy loves Chocolate Heaven. We all do. Is there not a way that she could manage to make this work?’
‘That way danger lies,’ says Chantal. ‘You need to keep your distance, Lucy. Part of you will always be in love with Marcus.’
‘I’m not,’ I protest. ‘I’m over him. Truly.’
No one looks as if they believe me.
‘That might be so.’ The look she gives me is sceptical. ‘But Marcus can’t be trusted. We all know that. No one more than you, Lucy.’
And she’s right. He still knows exactly how to wind me round his little finger. There’s no way that I could ever consider working for him. Could I?

Chapter Four
    When I leave Unsuitable Café number nineteen, I jump onto the Tube and head off to meet Crush at the wedding venue I’ve got in my sights. We’ve made a preliminary appointment with the wedding organiser there to discuss our requirements. Even though I’m squashed and bashed on the Underground and people stand on my feet and poke their copy of Metro in my eye, I get a thrill of excitement as I think that, very soon, Crush and I will become husband and wife. I love him so much, I just hope I don’t do anything to mess it up.
    Oh. Momentarily forgot that I have yet to tell Crush that I’ve lost my job. Again. I just hope I don’t do anything else to mess it up.
    I skip off the Tube and, with wings on my feet, fly to the park entrance where I’m to meet Crush. Golders Hill Park is one of my favourite places in London. Its leafy green spaces offer a calm oasis away from the hurly burly of the metropolis. When we come here, it’s like being transported to another world. Our poky flat in Camden doesn’t have any outside space at all, so we try to come here as often as we can to enjoy watching it change with the