Emma pulled out her phone to check her calendar. ‘I’m not needed at Orla’s tonight, but I’ve got tons of catching up to do. Ideally, I should be copying you and pulling an all-nighter.’ She looked up then, and the realisation dropped that the question was more than idle chit-chat. ‘What time will you be home?’
‘Six.’
‘Then I’ll be here at six.’
‘Or…’ Cooper put his spoon down, ‘… I could come to the Cakery. See the magic happen.’
Emma smiled. ‘That would work. Are you any good at washing-up?’
‘I am excellent at weighing and measuring accurate quantities. Usually to the nearest microgram. Don’t they say baking is a science?’
‘Okay, but what about washing-up?’
Cooper smiled back. This was still unbelievable. Sitting across the breakfast table from a woman like this. ‘Whatever you need.’
‘I’ll message you the address.’
‘Great. I’ll bring dinner.’
Emma’s eyebrows jumped in surprise. ‘It’s a date.’
19
Emma
This was one of those evenings straight out of a romcom. I’d been working flat out all day making base layers for some of the wedding orders that were stacking up, followed by one hundred heart-shaped cookies that Nita needed to ice by Thursday. Covered in smears of cake batter, my hair full-on straggles, I had burnt my thumb and was rinsing it under the cold tap when Cooper came through the kitchen door carrying a large brown paper bag that smelt so delicious I could have kissed him.
Only he kissed me first. A peck, but it was on the lips, and it felt only a little weird.
‘What have you done?’ He took hold of my hand, gently inspecting it.
‘Just caught it on the oven. Occupational hazard. Especially when I’m about two weeks behind at the start of wedding season.’ I showed him some of the faint scars on my hands and wrists before drying my hand on a clean cloth.
‘Good day apart from the burn?’
‘I got loads done. So, yes, a good day.’ I leant back against the counter. ‘How about you?’
‘I got nothing much done apart from repeating the same fifteen-minute demonstration to twelve different groups of people who understood virtually none of it.’
‘Oh, dear. Should you have gone with an easier demonstration?’
Cooper shook his head. ‘No. Prof Cole wants them to be baffled by something seemingly so complicated that only scientific geniuses can hope to understand it. He thinks that will impress them, so they keep giving us money for this highly technical, deeply complex, cutting-edge research.’
‘So, you didn’t tell them about the compatibility project, then?’ I couldn’t help grinning.
‘I’m no longer responsible for that project, remember? I left it to your sister to decide whether to do a presentation explaining how one of their funded postdoc positions had spent their time trying to matchmake random strangers, or instead to discuss how her highly acclaimed collaboration with a Chinese university was leading to incredible new breakthroughs in our understanding of ME, as detailed in her recent paper inThe Lancet. Anyway, I’ve really done enough talking about work for one day. Are you ready to eat, or do you want to show me around first?’
‘My lunch consisted of licking leftover batter off a spoon, plus a handful of raisins meant to go in a carrot cake. I’m beyond ready for a proper meal.’
He started unpacking the food while I got plates, forks and glasses.
‘I presume Nita let you in?’
‘She said she was signing out for the night, and if you’re heading to the wholesalers in the morning could you look for black and gold edible glitter?’
I made a note on the whiteboard. ‘She’s designing a Nottingham Panthers fan’s fiftieth birthday cake. I’ve so far vetoed life-size chocolate hockey sticks and anything involving a stuffed panther.’
‘Ambitious.’
