The Oddest Little Chocolate Shop in London by Beth Good Page A

should move in with him after finishing her studies.
       But
later, once he had her installed in his flat, forced to stay with him
twenty-four seven, it had been tiny stuff that would set him off. Like her not
enjoying his favourite telly programmes as much as he wanted, or not making him
a cup of tea as soon as he snapped his fingers.
       'Do
you want to send me back into that dark place?' Simon used to rage at her whenever
she went out with Florrie or her other girlfriends for the evening, to the
cinema or a restaurant, and came back even fifteen minutes later than she had
agreed. 'Who were you with? Another man? If you leave me, I'll kill myself and
it will be all your fault!'
       No,
she could not cope with another man like Simon. It might seem mean, but she
rather wished he had gone back into that ‘dark place’ and stayed there. She
suspected Simon had secretly only been happy when he was miserable. If that
made sense.
       Passing Ravel’s Chocolaterie de Londres ,
Clementine saw that the door was open and a delivery van was parked in front of
the shop.
       Excitement
flooded her. So Dominic had taken her advice and really was reopening the shop
instead of returning to France.
       In
fact, much to her delight, Dominic was standing in the doorway. A black apron was
tied about his waist, his shirt sleeves rolled up, and he was signing the
driver’s handheld device.
       She
hesitated, suddenly a little shy. Which was not like her at all. If this was
what getting the sack did for her, she was not sure she liked it.
       But
she need not have worried. Looking up, the chocolatier smiled warmly when he
saw her. ‘Clementine,’ he said, crossing the pavement to greet her, then kissed
her on each cheek in the French way. She was taken aback, then managed to get
her reaction under control. It had been the tiniest of pecks on the cheek, that
was all. ‘I was just thinking of you. But why are you back so soon? Not at work
today?’
       ‘I
… erm … ’ she began, but he was already turning away to thank the driver. She
looked at the unmarked van; it was not obvious what he had been delivering.
When Dominic came back to the shop doorway, she smiled at him, not sure she
wanted to admit yet that she had been sacked. ‘Planning on making some
chocolates today?’
       He
shrugged. ‘Alors, that is what I do.’
       ‘Yes,
it is.’
       ‘So
after you had gone this morning, I said to myself, what are you waiting for?
You can pack up and go home to France like a defeated dog – or ring up
the suppliers and get some fresh deliveries as soon as possible, then get back
to mixing les chocolats.’
       She
followed him into the shop without asking permission as the van pulled away,
her mind already working at top speed.
       ‘And
Rachel? Has she come back to work?’
       ‘Ah,
I don’t need Rachel today. Besides, I think she is having … boyfriend
problems.’
       She
frowned. ‘I thought she was engaged?’
       He
looked vague. ‘The engagement is off, it would seem.’
       ‘Oh
no, poor Rachel!’
       ‘Well,
I could be wrong,’ he mused, looking distractedly at a clipboard. He flipped
over a page, scanning down the columns. ‘She sounded a little tearful on the
phone earlier, that’s all.’
       She
looked at the chocolatier and raised her eyebrows. ‘Sorry, I’m not sure I got
that properly. Rachel sounded tearful and you didn’t ask why?’
       He
shrugged. ‘I don’t like to interfere with my employees’ personal lives.’
       ‘Of
course,’ she said, staring.
       But
her heavy emphasis was lost on him.
       ‘Anyway,
tomorrow we will reopen the shop, probably late morning, with a limited range
of chocolates on sale. A selection of the old favourites, and some new recipes
I have been working on since you left. Luckily I had not sold all my old stock.
Some of it is still boxed up in the back.’ He tossed the clipboard into a box,
frowning slightly. ‘If