“Thanks, Sarah,” I replied as she handed me a mug of steaming coffee, my hands tightening around it in an attempt to thaw my freezing fingers.
Sarah had owned the bakery in the village square for as long as I could remember, she was a friend of my Mums and had offered me a job after seeing how worried my Mum was about me. Since the accident, I hadn’t been out much, so my time at work was really the only time I spoke to people outside of my family. My friends from university had tried to stay in touch, but when I wasn’t returning their calls and texts, they soon gave up.
I’d just finished my coffee and thawed out slightly when the first customer came through the door. A lot of the customers were regulars, and I was getting used to what they would order each day. “Morning Mrs Rogers, the usual?” I asked her, smiling.
“Yes, please dear, and can I also get a victoria sponge? I’ve got my sister and her husband coming over for lunch.” She replied, frowning at me slightly. “You look so tired Libby dear, are you sleeping okay? It must be so hard for you, losing your friend the way you did, and for you to be in the accident as well, so terrible.”
She cocked her head waiting for me to reply. Thankfully Sarah had heard the whole conversation and came to my rescue. “Libby, Leo could do with some help out the back if you don’t mind? I can finish off serving Mrs Rogers.”
I smiled at her gratefully and hurried out the back. People commenting about the accident and Mia happened a lot. Living your whole life in a small village, everyone knew your business, and most seemed to have an opinion on it. Leo looked up as I burst through the door.
“You okay, Libby?” He asked looking concerned. Leo was Sarah’s son, and he ran things behind the scenes at the bakery.
“I’m fine, just escaping the village gossip. Your Mum has just saved me from Mrs Rogers,” I told him rolling my eyes.
He nodded his head in understanding. Like myself, Leo had grown up in the village, he was the same age as my brother, although they hadn’t been friends at school. He had asked me out before I went off to university, but I’d turned him down. It had made the first few days working at the bakery a little awkward, but we were both past that now and had become friends. I was just hoping that he wouldn’t ask me out again. I wasn’t at all interested, it wasn’t that Leo was ugly, quite the opposite, in fact, he was tall with short blonde hair and bright blue eyes, but he just didn’t give me that fluttery butterfly feeling I had read so much about in the romance books that I loved.
Mia had never understood my passion for reading, she had told me that the men in those books didn’t exist, and that I would never find anyone if I was holding out for Mr Perfect. She thought that I should live in reality and not between the pages of some book. I wasn’t holding out for Mr Perfect, but I was waiting to feel that connection with someone. I hadn’t felt the need to sleep with lots of boys at university, unlike most of my friends. I’d been on the odd date, but it had never led to anything. This meant, however, that I was still a virgin at the age of nineteen, something else that Mia never understood. She was fifteen when she’d lost her virginity to an older boy in the back of his car since then she had never been without a boyfriend, even if they didn’t stick around for long.
I heard Sarah shout that Mrs Rogers had left, and that it was safe to come out. I smiled at Leo and headed back to the counter. “Thanks,” I told her, gratefully.
“Anytime sweetie. How are you doing?” She asked me, turning to wipe down the counter. “I know your Mum’s worried about you.” She paused and looked over at me. I dropped my eyes to the ground. I hated the ‘how are you?’ question.
“I’m okay I guess, just taking each day as it comes,” I mumbled.
“I’m always here if you need to talk Libby, anything I can do to help, just ask.”
“Thank you,” I told her, giving her a small smile. It wasn’t that I wasn’t grateful, I just couldn’t understand why everyone was so keen on getting me to talk about my problems. Talking about things made me remember, and right now remembering hurt. I was thankful when I heard the bell chime on the door, announcing the arrival of a customer and I greeted them eagerly, making myself busy to avoid any further personal chats.
The rest of the day passed by quickly, thankfully without any more awkward conversations. Before I knew it, it was closing time, and I was heading home to face what felt like the firing squad.