no stranger to hard work. And now he was taking off his jacket to put it on the back of his chair.
‘I’m used to the heat,’ she smiled, ‘I forget not everyone is. It tends to hit you a bit when you come in here.’
He flapped at the neck of his jumper. ‘I’ll be taking this off next.’
‘I can open the door again if you need me to.’
But in one move he pulled his jumper off, for a second revealing a glimpse of his chest.
‘The Little Waffle Shack,’ she repeated, hoping she could use the heat as an excuse for flushed cheeks. ‘I can work with that.’
She took down another ring binder from the shelf above, passing it to him to look through. ‘These are some of the signs I’ve done previously. Have a look, see if there’s anything that appeals.’
‘I’ve left it late, I know. I just…well, I didn’t want to be wandering around the Cove. I didn’t want anyone knowing about the business and coming to snoop before I was ready.’
‘You’re calling it “the Cove”,’ she smiled. ‘That suggests you’re not new to this area.’
‘No, I most definitely am not.’
‘What did you say your name was?’ With an eye roll at his reaction that suggested she had a memory like a sieve, she added, ‘I know it’s Daniel; what’s your surname?’ Pen poised, she readied herself to fill in more of his contact details.
‘Luddington.’
‘Luddington.’ She began to write but stopped after the second ‘d’. Any relation to –’
‘Yup, I’m Harvey’s little brother.’
Except he wasn’t so little. And he wasn’t so enthralled at sharing the information either. Should she skim over it, not go down that road, or acknowledge she’d already heard enough about him to know he was going to face a fair bit of conflict when Harvey found out he was here?
‘Judging by your silence,’ he said, pausing his flip through the images of signs she’d worked on and taking the decision out of her hands, ‘you know more about me than I know about you.’
Good looks sure ran in the Luddington family. ‘I don’t know you,’ she assured him. ‘So, how about we just start from here? I’m Lucy, you’re Daniel, and I’m going to do some work for you. Everything else is your business.’
‘I like your approach.’ When he smiled she wondered, had those lips and sparkling eyes got him into plenty of trouble before? She sensed the answer would be yes.
‘I don’t want to get you offside,’ she told him, ‘not when waffles are concerned. Because whenever opening day is, I’ll be there.’
‘Happy to hear I have one fan, at least. What’s your favourite topping?’
‘Don’t make me choose only one,’ she groaned.
‘The menu should have enough variety for you to come in every day from day one until New Year’s Eve without getting bored, put it that way.’
She smiled at him before he turned his attention back to the photographs of her previous work. She talked him through some of them, including those that were so intricate they’d take a while. On her pad she sketched something that was similar to a sign she’d made before – simple enough that she’d have no problem getting it done in the next week or so, professional enough that he’d be happy. ‘I can add some decorative scrollwork,’ she said, pointing to a photograph to show what she meant. ‘It’ll complement the hand-cut lettering.’
‘And you’re sure you can do it by opening night on December 18th? It’s a big ask, but I’d really appreciate it.’
‘I could do something a lot fancier if we had time, but what we’ve come up with is doable.’
‘I don’t need fancy. Your design is sophisticated, exactly what I’m after.’ He looked around him again, noticing other works propped up nearby, a handful of photographs on a pinboard showing off thank-you notes from clients alongside the items she’d made. ‘Did you really make all of those?’ He moved closer to the pinboard and pointed to one picture in particular. ‘This?’
‘That was a commission piece. The family sent me a photograph of the old man and his dog; I traced the image and cut it from the metal.’ He was clearly impressed and Lucy didn’t mind admitting that the thought pleased her greatly. ‘I made a tortoise for the same family – for the son, I think, who was crazy about the animal.’
He’d turned to look at her as though he had something to say but, seeming to remember where he was and who