The Seafront Tea Rooms Read Online Free PDF Page A

chinos and a blue shirt – and raised an eyebrow. ‘What are you saying?’
    ‘No offence, but they’d eat you for breakfast.’ She laughed. ‘You’d be better off sticking to the foodies.’ She nodded across the room. ‘That’s the Savour publicity and marketing team; they’re pretty friendly… And Indulge are the best of the lot. The only downside is, there’s no such thing as a quick lunch break: every dish has to be dissected and discussed in minute detail.’
    ‘God. Pass,’ he said. ‘I know hardly anything about food – apart from that I enjoy it.’
    ‘How did you end up working here, then?’
    ‘Shameless nepotism. My brother happens to be married to the sales manager. That and I’ve got a sales background. I’ve never worked for a food magazine before though.’
    ‘OK, well, seeing as you can’t hold your own yet, I’ll ease you in gently. We can sit next to the girls at Brides magazine – they’re usually too wrapped up in flower concepts to give anyone the third degree.’
    ‘Not bad-looking either,’ he commented, glancing over.
    A stab of jealousy surprised her, and she narrowed her eyes.
    ‘I’m joking,’ he said.
    ‘Hmmm. Now, be nice to Carol-Anne,’ Charlie said, indicating the eldest of the women serving, ‘and she’ll sort you out with the biggest portions for your whole time here.’
    ‘Note taken. Let’s get in line, I’m starving.’
    They’d chatted easily that day, and before long they were exchanging emails and IMs across the crowded office floor. Ben’s warm humour made even the days leading up to a deadline pleasurable, punctuating her day with laughter and a delicious frisson.
    At the office summer party, they’d ended up kissing in the middle of the dance floor, only to be shamed the following day by an Instagrammed shot of the event circulating around the office. But soon they’d become the darlings of the Indulge office, as close as the magazine got to a power couple. When Ben proposed, Charlie said yes, as everyone expected her to.
    In the weeks that followed, Ben had looked over at the pages of Say I Do magazine as she showed them to him, but always with a non-committal ‘hmm’ or ‘yeah, nice’. She should have realised earlier that his heart wasn’t in getting married. But they were Charlie and Ben – the couple everyone wanted to invite to their dinner parties – they were meant to be together. Until one day, they weren’t. And it still stung.
    She had thought she’d be getting married next spring. Now, with the wedding off, she needed to move on in a different way. To prove to herself she was better alone. And of course it wouldn’t hurt if Ben – still working in the same office as her – realised it too.
    ‘Tea or coffee?’ The stewardess’s voice cut into her thoughts.
    She opened her mouth to order the coffee she’d been craving, then – recalling what Sarah had said – changed her mind. ‘A tea, please.’
    She remembered the Sunday afternoons she and Sarah had spent at the Rosebud, catching up over cups of English breakfast and carrot cake. Everyone treasured a unique café, didn’t they? Somewhere special they could call their own.
    Getting out her notebook, she jotted down some ideas.
    Teacups… history… chat… afternoon tea… tea rooms.  
    An edition of the magazine that readers could cosy up with, just right for November, when the nights were drawing in. She chewed on her pen, mulling the idea over. Perhaps there was something in it.
     
    ‘Sorry, miss, you’re going to have to raise your tray table. We’re coming in to land.’
    ‘Sure,’ Charlie said, closing her laptop.
    She put her computer away and watched as the clouds thinned, allowing glimpses of land as they approached London.
    ‘We will shortly be arriving at London Heathrow. It’s a pretty grey day down there, a chilly fourteen degrees…’  
    Charlie looked down at her denim skirt and flip-flops. Back to British summertime, then, she thought