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“You can’t drive down here to work every day,” she protested.

“Why not? It’s just like a commute.”

“What about Saturdays?”

“What about them? I sometimes work Saturdays as well — one of the many joys of being self-employed.”

“And I imagine you’ll be doing more of that from now on.”

“Possibly.”

“I can’t concentrate if you’re sitting there in the corner all the time,” she protested.

“Why? I’ll be focused on my laptop. Not causing any trouble, but available if you need a hand or to take a break for a little while.”

“Why would you want to do that?”

“To help you.”

“You don’t know how to run a coffee shop,” Lucy pointed out.

“You can teach me tomorrow. I’ll do full staff training.”

The bell tinkled and three customers came in. Lucy threw him a glare before heading over to serve them.

She figured her best strategy was to ignore Dylan until he got bored and went home. He’d soon see that he wasn’t needed and was just in the way. Even if he was a partner in the business.

The problem was that Dylan also seemed to be doing a good job of ignoring her. She was sure she could feel him watching her as she moved around, but every time she glanced over, his eyes were firmly on his laptop screen as he diligently typed away.

The weather was cold but sunny which brought an unusual number of visitors to Castle Cove, Lucy found as the day wore on. It was lovely to see the coffee shop busier than usual, but it meant there was no time to get Jo to do any baking as they were both too busy serving customers. It was getting to be a problem and Lucy wasn’t sure what the solution was, other than continuing to hope that her energy levels would soon improve so she could get back to doing her usual amount of baking in the evenings.

Lucy’s phone rang just after two, the number for the health centre flashing up. “I need to take this, Jo, I’ll only be a minute,” she said.

She went out of the coffee shop’s back door and into the garden, where she answered the call. The lovely midwife was just phoning to confirm that her iron levels were low and to suggest she get some supplements. Lucy thanked her and they ended the call with Lucy torn between being glad there might be something that would make her feel a bit better, and the fact that Dylan had been right about what she needed. She gave a sigh before she headed back into the coffee shop to tell him.

Dylan was behind the counter, sweet-talking a couple of women. She joined him behind there. “Thank you, Dylan, I can take over here,” she said, giving him a little shove away. He returned to his table and she finished serving the customers.

When things quietened down again, she made Dylan an orange blossom tea and took it over to him.

He looked up as she came over and placed the drink in front of him.

“Thank you,” he said, looking mildly surprised.

“No problem,” Lucy said. “That was the midwife calling. Apparently my iron levels are low and they’re recommending I take a supplement.”

“Spatone?” Dylan suggested.

“Yes, how did you know?”

“Research, of course. It’s easily absorbable and gentler than the tablets. I’ll go out to the chemist and pick you up some now.”

“I can go later,” said Lucy, automatically.

Dylan ignored her and stood up. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. Make sure no one runs off with my laptop.”

Lucy nodded and watched him leave, a funny feeling in her stomach. Had any man ever just dropped everything like that to do something for her — apart from her father, of course? And the fact she didn’t ask, he just took it upon himself to do it for her . . . He was doing it for the baby, of course, he wanted his baby to be healthy, but still . . .

Lucy closed up the coffee shop at four. Dylan shut the lid of his laptop and got up. He gave a stretch and asked, “What can I do to help?”