Read The Cherry Tree Cafe for Free Online

and move in with him, that would be fine. I kissed him fondly on the cheek, told him he was a wonderful, kind man who deserved someone who loved him back and that I was
sorry but I wasn’t the girl for him because I was through with love and all its complications for the time being or possibly even forever.
    I swaggered into the bar having just ostentatiously cleared my desk as my colleagues watched on agog and shrugged their shoulders behind my back. I even had the audacity to throw a cheeky
‘
see ya
,’ over my shoulder as I strutted out.
    So much for a discreet departure, I giggled. I hadn’t realised going home would be such a pick-me-up but the thought of seeing Jemma and everyone at the end of the day had certainly put a
spring in my step.
    Then I saw him sitting at a table in the far corner at the back of the bar. Top button undone, tie loosened, glass in hand and looking like he’d just stepped straight off the pages of a
Hugo Boss advert.
    ‘Lizzie,’ he smiled, standing up as I approached.
    He kissed my cheek before I had a chance to duck out of the way and I can’t deny there was a flicker of arousal in my stomach as I drank in the familiar manly scent of him, but I had it
under control. This meeting was on my terms, not his. It had been agonising catching glimpses of him in the office every day because it was his territory, but the bar was no one’s bolt hole
– it was completely neutral and I was more than ready to gain a little ground for myself.
    ‘You look stunning,’ he said.
    The tone of surprise that accompanied his comment set my teeth on edge, but I let it pass.
    ‘Is that a new dress?’
    I ignored him again and sat at the other side of the table, banging down the bag of goodies I had meticulously prepared for the occasion.
    ‘Right,’ I said, brushing a wayward curl away from my face, ‘let’s get this over with.’
    ‘At least let me get you a drink,’ he insisted, raising a hand to an obliging barman who came rushing over. ‘I really want to tell you how much I admire the way you’ve
handled all this, Lizzie. I’ve been hoping to get a chance to say how sorry I am that I hurt you and how grateful we are that you haven’t made things well . . . difficult.’
    ‘What can I get you?’ The barman looked at me expectantly.
    ‘Oh nothing for me thanks,’ I said brightly, my tone suggesting Giles’s words hadn’t touched me at all, ‘I’m not staying, but this fella might need something
a little stronger before long.’
    The barman retreated, smirking as he took in Giles’s shocked, flushed expression and furtive glance at the other tables. I smiled as it dawned on him that everyone was whispering and
watching.
    ‘So what am I doing here?’ Giles hissed, now he’d worked out he wasn’t going to have it all his own way. ‘I thought you wanted to see me.’
    ‘I do want to see you,’ I said innocently as I began rummaging about in the colossal bag. ‘I have some stuff to give you.’
    ‘Lizzie, for heaven’s sake, stop messing about. Just tell me, why am I here?’
    ‘I have told you,’ I laughed, ‘I want to give you this stuff back. Now sit back, relax and have another drink for god’s sake, you look stressed out, Giles.’
    Awkwardly he leant back in his chair and I felt an added thrill, knowing I’d finally got him exactly where I wanted him.
    ‘OK, first this horrible cloying foundation.’
    I held it up and read the label, then thumped it down on the table.
    ‘I don’t want a flawless, matt finish, Giles. I’m not a feature wall. Believe it or not, I happen to be rather fond of my freckles.’
    Next was the Rolex watch he’d made a huge fuss about giving me in the office just a few weeks before. He’d sidled up to my desk, hidden behind a gargantuan floral arrangement then
made a great show of checking that it fit snugly on my wrist. The flowers had long gone but the diamond-studded watch was still ticking merrily away, completely unaware of