Spring at the Café at the End of the Pier

by Helen Rolfe

Genres: Short Stories; Women's Fiction; Contemporary Romance; Romantic Comedy

Synopsis

Spring is coming to The Café at the End of the Pier... A feelgood novella and the start of a brilliant new series... Jo has settled into running her grandparents' little café at the end of the pier in Salthaven. She's given it a spring-clean and a spruce-up and she's getting to know the locals and starting to enjoy life by the sea. But when her Harry, her ex-boyfriend, turns out to be her new accountant, feelings from the past start to flood back. He's here to help sort out the café's finances, which Jo's grandparents left in a mess, but Harry seems to have a hidden agenda and Jo isn't entirely sure spending time with him is a good idea. Jo throws herself into her new plans for the café - turning it into a real café of love by arranging blind dates for some of the regulars. Her own love life might be non-existent, but it doesn't mean she can't bring a little bit of magic to the locals who have made her so welcome. This time she chooses single-dad Ben and doctor Jess. Will they find love at The Café at the End of the Pier? And will Jo manage to put aside her feelings for Harry in order to give the café the future she dreams of for it...? ******** Readers love The Café at the End of the Pier : 'Brings a smile to your face and a tear to your eye' - Goodreads reviewer 'Heartwarming and made me smile... I can't wait to read more' - Goodreads reviewer 'Perfectly charming and totally yummy' - Amazon reviewer

Release date: March 22, 2018

Publisher: Orion

Print pages: 83

Sample

Chapter One

The longer days had already put a spring in Jo’s step, and as she walked to The Café at the End of the Pier she breathed in the delicate scent of sweet violets and daffodils that had begun to appear in the flowerbeds separating the footpath on the hill from the cliff that sloped down towards the beach. An early morning breeze coming off the sea kept the temperature cool, but for now the bright mornings were a little taste of what to expect when the weather warmed up and the crowds descended.

It was almost the end of April – Jo had been back in Salthaven-on-Sea for nearly four months, and the time had passed in a whirlwind. She’d left her teaching job to return to the town she grew up in, she’d taken over her grandparents’ café full-time and she’d rented her own flat, a stone’s throw from the town’s quaint little shops and the characterful pub that welcomed locals and tourists alike. Gran and Gramps had never left this town and Jo could understand why. The community had always been a big part of their lives, with people stepping in over the years to help out when times were hard.

Casting her mind back to Valentine’s Day when she’d begun to plan something entirely different for The Café at the End of the Pier, Jo couldn’t wait to get going with her idea. Because what she really wanted to do now was give something back to these wonderful people who’d always been there for her grandparents, like an extended version of family with its arms wide open. Although Jo had been living away in Edinburgh, she’d heard so much from Molly and Arthur that it was almost as though she knew everyone already. When the café was broken into a couple of years ago, the whole town had rallied round, cleaning up and ensuring Molly and Arthur were safe. There’d been a rota apparently, people taking turns to check up on them at various points of the day. The break-in had made them nervous and it took a while, but eventually, thanks to the community here, they’d got their confidence back. The winter before last, when it snowed more heavily than ever before – which it rarely did on the South coast – Molly and Arthur had had to shut the café because they couldn’t even get down the hill. Little Toby Secombe, whose dad ran the local newsagent, had sledged all the way to their bungalow to take them groceries. He’d delivered bread, milk, a homemade cottage pie, and a box of teabags, just in case. According to Arthur, Toby had left very happy, rewarded not only with a big hug from Molly, but also a tin of her homemade chocolate brownies.

Jo’s trainers tapped their way along the wooden slats of the pier and she paused to take a photo of the scene – the sea in the distance, the café just about visible at the very end – making sure to get a good shot of the boards she’d padded along many a time. She sent the picture to her best friend, Tilly, in Edinburgh, and her friend didn’t take long to reply that she wished she was there too, and that it was summer so they could go for a dip.

Jo continued on down the pier, past the ice-creamery, the fish and chip shop, and the ‘bits and bobs’ shop that would soon be open all hours selling sunhats, brightly coloured inflatables, goggles for kids to see beneath the murky depths of the English Channel, and spades to dig sandcastles in the golden sands down below.

Living in a shared house in Edinburgh, Jo had rarely had much space – but at times she’d felt surprisingly lonely. When she first arrived in Salthaven she’d begun to wonder how many other people hid their solitude behind a friendly smile in the street, or a chat in the café. She’d started trying to read her customers as they came in: was the woman who ran every morning really happy when she got home at the end of a long day, the tiredness catching up with her? Was Angie, one of their regulars, really as jolly as she seemed? Could it be that the smile the assistant at the ice-creamery gave Jo every time their paths crossed hid the same loneliness that Jo often felt?

Apart from one solitary fisherman at the end of the wooden structure there wasn’t another soul in sight, and as she reached the café Jo had begun to think about who she could choose to put her plan into action. She had never thought of herself as a matchmaker, but she supposed that’s what she could end up being if her café of love became a success.

There were still a couple of hours before opening time, and Jo was ready to finish off the spring clean she’d started yesterday. She’d done the kitchen, wiping inside every single cupboard and under the cooker. With Steve the handyman’s help she’d even pulled out the fridge and cleaned up all the dust and debris that had sneaked beneath it over the winter months. Steve had repaired a couple of wobbly tables, while Jo had given the tiny bathroom a good going-over. It came up sparkling, thanks to it being relatively new – the bathroom in the house back in Edinburgh had been years old, and even after a good hour of scrubbing it had never really looked that clean.

As she delved into her bag for her keys to open up, Jo peered up at the frontage. She hadn’t given it much thought when she’d arrived back in January beneath the winter darkness and the cold that came with the season, but now they were into spring she’d really begun to notice that the outside of the café was looking very sorry for itself. It hadn’t had a facelift in years, so now that she was managing the place – with her grandparents’ help on occasion – she’d made a decision and instructed Steve on a new colour scheme.

She turned when she heard another set of footsteps tapping their way up the pier.

‘Good morning, Steve!’ Her voice was as bright as the shimmering surface of the sea. Since coming to Salthaven it was hard not to smile every time she caught a waft of the salty air, or heard the waves tumbling down against the sand.

‘Good morning.’ He was beaming as usual and Jo doubted the miserable gene ever affected him. ‘You do realise your grandparents never made me come here quite this early, don’t you?’

‘I’m sorry – I’m not a terrible boss, I promise.’

Steve grinned and set down his toolbox and a couple of tins of paint. A builder by trade and son of one of the locals, Steve had come recommended and was Molly and Arthur’s go-to person if ever they needed anything done in the café.

‘I’m just teasing you,’ he said, his smile only wavering when he squinted in the early morning sunshine. ‘This isn’t early. I’ve already been surfing, showered away the sea and I’m ready to go.’

‘I was never a morning person before,’ Jo said, ‘but the sea air certainly does something to you.’

‘It sure does. You hear the gulls, the sun creeps above the horizon, and you can’t ignore it.’

‘Spoken like a true Salthaven local.’ She’d always struggled to get up in the mornings when she lived in the city, but she didn’t know whether it was the environment or the career choice that had made the difference. Whatever it was, the sea change was already doing her the world of good, and being back in her home town was like being given a new lease of life.

‘You should try it sometime.’

‘Huh?’ She turned the key in the top lock now she’d undone the bottom. ‘You mean surfing? No chance of that, I’d swallow most of the sea.’

‘You never know until you give it a go.’

‘I think I’ll stick to dry land.’ She gave the door a shove with her shoulder, as she did every morning, and opened it into the café, letting the sunlight filter in across the eight tables inside, each with four chairs. Now the warmer months were approaching she could leave the door open for a while for the air to circulate and really fresh. . .