The Lonely Widow (Completed) (Editing)

Chapter 12

        When Daisy and Lee arrived at the café, Daisy wondered how she hadn’t noticed the place before. It was a small, old yellow cottage-like building with huge windows and a yellow door to match. Outside there were several people sat at rows of tables chatting away with their afternoon coffees and cakes. Daisy looked to the big sign and read that it said ‘Mal’s Caff’. She couldn’t believe how warm and welcoming it looked from the outside and she was sure that she’d never seen anything like it before.

        “How come I’ve never seen this place before? It’s beautiful” she asked Lee, who had been watching her reactions from a few feet away.

        “We’ve just decorated the exterior. You probably have seen it before, it just looks different now.”

        Daisy nodded her head thoughtfully as she pondered for a moment about what he’d said. We’ve just decorated the exterior.

        She turned her head to look at him and furrowed her brows. “Do you own this place?” she asked after a few more seconds of silence.

        Lee chuckled and shook his head. “No, it’s my parents’ place. There are a few of Mal’s businesses around town. She’s like the Ian Beale of Portsmouth.” He grinned and laughed at his own comment.

        Daisy shook her head with a smile and a chuckle and brought her hand up to her head. “Ian Beale…” she murmured incredulously to herself.

        Lee watched her smile. He loved that smile of hers. He’d only seen her a few times since they had bumped into each other the other week, but he’d already noticed that when she smiled, her whole face lit up and shone like the sun. He didn’t know what was going to happen between them, but he did know he definitely wanted to see more of that smile.

        “Are you okay?” he heard her ask and he came to his senses to see her watching him with a worried look on her face. Was I really staring for that long? He thought.

        “Absolutely fine.” He told her honestly as he reached out his hand to take hold of hers and pulled her through the café door.

        She was hesitant to follow him as he pulled her through the crowds of people sat at tables. It was obviously a popular place around here. But hadn’t he just told her that this place was run by his parents? Did that mean she was going to meet them? What if they thought that she was his girlfriend? All these thoughts ran through her head as she reluctantly followed him through the crowd towards the back of the café where the counter was situated.

        As they reached the counter, Daisy noticed a tall, dark haired woman stood behind the counter making coffees and she looked up as she caught sight of Lee walking in. A smile spread across her face and her whole demeanour changed. Daisy thought she went from comfortable and friendly to flirty and trashy within seconds.

        She just rolled her eyes. She hadn’t even spoken yet and she could tell that this woman had a major crush on Lee. It was so obvious; it had pretty much smacked her in the face as soon as she saw her.

        “Lee.” She waved at him a tad over excitedly; knocking over a tub of sugar at the same time and Daisy stifled a laugh and turned her head away from view so as not to be seen.

        “Hey Mandy. Are my parents in today?” he asked her, blatantly oblivious to her attempted flirtiness.

        “Oh. Uh, no, your mum said that she’d be popping in later though.” She replied. It was then that Mandy noticed the girl holding Lee’s hand. Convinced that she knew her from somewhere, Mandy leant over to the side to look past Lee’s shoulder and took in her profile. Blonde hair pulled up into a bun, no make-up, jeans and a tee. How dull she thought, sneering at her. “Who’s that?”