The Waffle House on the Pier - Tilly Tennant Page 0,79
worry about keeping it open until we get a sale, because with that solution I should imagine you’d be bankrupt inside a week,’ Henny said acerbically.
‘Well,’ Sadie shot back, ‘that’s what you want anyway so there’s no harm in me trying it, is there?’
‘Your mum’s trying to help,’ Graham said gently.
Sadie glanced at the clock. She couldn’t help but feel that they were going round in circles. Just when they were on the brink of a solution, someone would shoot it down and they’d be right back where they’d started again. She didn’t have time for a discussion that would go on like this the whole night and end with them going to bed with nothing decided at all. And she still had to get ready to meet Luke – about the only good and certain thing she had to look forward to right now.
But then, it occurred to her that she might just have the answer after all, from a most unexpected place.
‘I might know someone who can help,’ she said. ‘I’m almost certain he’s free tomorrow – at least, I don’t know of any solid commitments he’s got right now and I’m sure he’d be willing to lend me a few hours.’
‘Who?’ Ewan asked. But then he grimaced. ‘No way!’
Sadie pouted. ‘But you don’t even know who it is.’
Her brother folded his arms. ‘Luke Goldman, by any chance?’
‘Who?’ Henny asked.
‘The new owner of the Old Chapel,’ Ewan said. He looked at Sadie. ‘Did you think I wouldn’t find out about your night out with him?’
‘You went out with him?’ Henny asked, looking from Sadie to Ewan and then back again. ‘This is the same man who—’
‘Yes,’ Ewan said. ‘The nutter who nearly killed her in his boat.’
Sadie slapped her hands on the table. ‘For the last time, it was an accident! And if you don’t like it, have you got a better idea for staffing the waffle house?’
Ewan looked as if he would argue. But then he let out an impatient sigh. ‘You’re really this determined?’
Sadie nodded.
‘Right.’ Ewan glanced at his parents in turn and, when nobody stopped him, he looked back to Sadie and continued. ‘I don’t want Goldman anywhere near the place, but I’ll talk to Kat and we’ll see if we can work out a way to help you. It wouldn’t be ideal and it wouldn’t be a permanent solution, but…’
Sadie broke into a broad smile. ‘Sometimes you’re not so bad, you know. As stinky brothers go.’
‘I’m not making any promises,’ he warned. ‘And, like I said, it’s a short-term solution. You do need to make some other arrangements as soon as you can – and it had better not involve Boaty McBoatface.’
Sadie’s smile grew. For the time being she wasn’t about to challenge Ewan’s disapproval of Luke, thankful that she’d finally got his support with the waffle house. It was a small victory but she’d take it. If she was totally honest, she wasn’t sure Luke was the answer and even if he’d agreed to help she didn’t know how much use he would have been. She’d really been clutching at straws there because Luke knew next to nothing about catering – as far as she was aware – though she could hardly deny that it might have been fun having him around.
She glanced up at the clock again.
‘Is there somewhere you need to be?’ her mother asked haughtily. ‘Because you seem to be very interested in the time.’
‘Well… I do have to be somewhere, actually, a little later on…’
‘Could you postpone or cancel it?’ Henny asked.
‘Actually, no,’ Sadie said, not daring to look at Ewan because she was certain her face would give the game away. Ordinarily she wasn’t one for secrecy, particularly where her family were concerned, and she had no issues with them knowing who she was dating. But this was different. Even setting aside their intense dislike of Luke, there was still a lot going on here. Sadie wasn’t stupid – she knew it looked bad that she was planning to be elsewhere while so much still needed to be discussed. But in the end, what would hours’ more discussion achieve that hadn’t already been agreed?
‘Jesus Christ,’ Ewan muttered. ‘Let me guess…’
‘You’ll have to cancel whatever it is,’ Henny said, apparently not catching on quite as fast as Ewan and confirming what Sadie had been afraid she’d say. ‘There’s far too much going on here and we need you.’
‘Haven’t we already sorted it?’ Sadie’s shoulders slumped.