The Waffle House on the Pier - Tilly Tennant Page 0,81

food business. If I’m honest I don’t know all that much but at least I have Gammy to guide me. Nobody else I know who might have time on their hands would know their way around the business either. I suppose they could work front of house and I could be in the kitchen, but then I’m afraid that my cooking would be so much worse than Gammy’s that everyone would be able to tell and we’d lose customers.’

‘I’m sure you couldn’t be that bad. Couldn’t your grandmother show you how to make things as well as she does?’

‘She has shown me a little over the years, but she just has a special talent, you know? And you can’t learn that, no matter how hard you try.’

‘Maybe you’re being a little hard on yourself there? It’s tempting to compare yourself unfavourably with someone who’s very, very good at something, but just because you may not be quite in their league doesn’t mean you’re necessarily bad at it.’

‘Trust me; I’m nowhere near Gammy’s league.’

‘And you couldn’t afford to employ someone on a temporary basis until you’ve got a better solution?’

‘There’s very little in the kitty to pay a decent wage. And anyway, I don’t really have a clue how long I’d need them for. Not many people would agree to work on those terms.’

He nodded thoughtfully and Sadie let out a long sigh. ‘My mum is right about one thing: I’m so stubborn about this stuff. I stand my ground and refuse to listen to reason and I wind up with egg on my face because my family turn out to be right. I guess it’s happened again, hasn’t it? If I can’t have Gammy working with me and I’ve got nobody else then it looks as if I won’t be able to open for business tomorrow after all. Or for the foreseeable future until I can sort something out. And if I can’t…’

‘It seems like a crying shame to me and a sure way to lose a lot of valuable custom.’

‘I know.’ Sadie’s gaze went to the bar of the Listing Ship. Vivien was on duty again, and though she’d given them a knowing look as they’d walked in, Sadie didn’t see the point in indulging her by addressing the fact that her gossiping had caused trouble between Sadie and Ewan. She wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of knowing she cared and, when it came down to it, that was what people in Sea Salt Bay did. Someone did something and by the next day pretty much everyone knew about it. Vivien was never going to be any different and she certainly wasn’t ever going to keep her juicy tittle-tattle to herself. Crows crowed and sheep baaed, and the residents of Sea Salt Bay talked about all the other residents of Sea Salt Bay. It was just the way things were.

‘It seems to be the story of my life… watching good things slip away from me and being far too useless to do anything about it. Grand schemes that come to nothing…’

She probably sounded a bit whiny and a bit too sorry for herself, and so she stopped.

‘I don’t think you should write it off so quickly,’ Luke said.

‘I’m not; I’m just being realistic. There’s a long way to go for a solution and will there be any point in the end? If everyone is determined that the waffle house ought to be sold then what am I doing this for?’

‘You might have to delay your opening but I wouldn’t abandon the whole thing. You’re right about one aspect – it’s a far more attractive prospect as a going concern, especially with the reputation it has in the area and the volume of trade it could attract in a town like this. Someone would take your hand off for the chance to buy a business like that, something that’s already up and running with so much potential. In the right hands it could be a little goldmine.’

‘But those hands aren’t mine?’

‘I didn’t say that. They could be, but right now you don’t even seem certain of that yourself.’

‘You can see why that might be – I haven’t been very good at it so far.’

‘You’ve been dealt bad cards. You weren’t to know your grandma’s health would deteriorate in the way it has.’

‘That’s just it – I should have spotted it sooner. I guess I did really – we all did – but none of us wanted to admit