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Eloise Bridgerton hadn’t imagined herself still working in a coffee shop at the ripe old age of 26, but she found it didn’t bother her as much as she thought it might. She made coffee and served cakes and smiled at babies and went through life at her own pace. She was the manager of the cafe now, anyway, so she could work the hours she wanted. No more opening shifts for her.
She’d been working there for almost a decade, and had got a pretty good handle on the regulars. She was pretty good with their names too. There was Aimee, the student who was constantly in her pyjamas, and Douglas, the businessman who hardly said a word.
There was one customer, though, that had always intrigued her. He’d come in and order a cappuccino and sit with a sketchbook and a notebook in the corner, and occasionally she’d see him pull out a little envelope that seemed to contain leaves. She was fairly sure his name was Phillip, but she wasn’t certain. She hadn’t managed to work out much about him, despite the fact he’d been doing the same routine a few times a week for the last year or so.
The first surprise had come when he’d walked in one day with two small children.
“A cappuccino and two small hot chocolates please” He said, tapping his card on the reader when directed to.
“Of course,” Eloise replied, smiling down at the children, “would you two like marshmallows and whipped cream?”
The children looked up at their father for a moment, and then nodded enthusiastically. Eloise winked and got making the drinks, the eyes of the children never leaving her. She put them on a tray with his cappuccino, and a small slice of cake for each of the children.
“On the house, Phillip” she said, “it is Phillip, isn’t it?”
“It is. This is Oliver and Amanda”
Eloise quickly dipped around the counter to shake the children’s hands, before Phillip led them over to his usual table in the corner. As Eloise watched Phillip hand the children their drinks and cake, explaining that the nice lady at the counter had given them the cake, Eloise was sure she felt her heart melt.
This was new.
Eloise had never considered herself a melting heart sort of person. She’d been asked on a few dates, but had never been interested. She was perfectly happy on her own, sharing a flat with her friend Penelope.
Phillip, though, was doing strange things to her. She was standing there and trying not to stare at him, captivated by the quiet man with the sketchbook who was suddenly playing doting father to twins. She hardly knew Phillip, yet it wasn’t the sort of thing she’d expected from him. He wasn’t that much older than her, and the twins looked to be at least 7. If she were their mother, she’d have had to have had them when she was 19. That scared her, but she supposed if Phillip was 35 then he’d have had them at 28. She didn’t think he was 35 though. She didn’t even think he was 30. She wondered if he resented it, though she hadn’t bargained on some information she was soon to find out.
As the children put on their coats, draining the last of the hot chocolates, Phillip walked back over to the counter.
“Thank you for the cake,” He said to Eloise, “they haven’t smiled like that since-”
He stopped himself.
“Since?”
“Since their mother died, about a year ago, so thank you” Phillip explained.
Eloise smiled weakly, “there is always free cake and coffee for the three of you here”
Phillip smiled in return, and turned back to his children. As he left with them, one on either side holding his hands, Eloise realized that she had never wanted to know everything about a person in the way that she wanted to know everything about Phillip. He was an enigma to her. A tall, broad, charming enigma with two adorable children.
Eloise saw a lot of Phillip over the next few weeks. He came in for coffee as he always did, and Eloise tried to slip him a free piece of cake whenever she could, or she’d buy something for the children to give to him instead. He’d always smile shyly over at her, and she’d always smile shyly back. Since when had she been the sort of girl who smiled shyly at men? Since when had she been the sort of girl who got a crush?
Ah. A crush. That’s what it was.
It hit her like a landslide after a few weeks of this dancing around each other. He’d been in with the children again, Oliver and Amanda excited to see the nice lady who gave them cake again. He’d smiled at her across the cafe as Oliver and Amanda rabbited on about what they’d done at school, and her heart had skipped a beat.
It was ridiculous, she hardly knew the man, and yet she did. She knew his wife had died, she’d met his children, she knew he sketched and wrote and did something with plants. She probably knew more than any woman he dated did in the first few weeks. If he dated at all.
She’d assumed he was single. She’d never seen him bring a woman into the cafe with him, and he was a frequent visitor, so she’d have thought it probably would. Not that it mattered to her.
Except it did. She found it actually mattered quite a lot to her.
She decided that the best port of call was to just not think about it. If she didn’t think about it, it couldn’t consume her. Phillip couldn’t consume her. It was ridiculous anyway. He was clearly some kind of academic, with two adorable children, and she was the fifth of eight children who still worked in a coffee shop at 26.
It would never work, she decided.
And then the next day she decided that Phillip was probably the love of her life.
If she’d got to 26 without a single measly crush on anyone, and now suddenly here was Phillip filling up her senses, even when he wasn’t there, she thought it had to count for something.
Not even her best friend Penelope could believe it.
“You have a crush?!” Penelope asked, wondering if April Fool’s Day had moved to the middle of June.
“Yes, I know, shut up,” Eloise replied, “I realise it’s ridiculous”
“Not ridiculous, just unexpected. Who?”
Eloise sighed. This was the tricky bit to explain, the bit that would make her sound absolutely insane.
“He’s a regular. Comes in to work, and occasionally brings his children”
“Children?” Penelope replied.
“Twins. Oliver and Amanda, he’s widowed” Eloise explained. They sat and talked, Eloise telling Penelope all about the time she’d spent with Phillip, the looks they shared across the cafe, and the secret free bits of cake.
As far as Penelope was concerned, it sounded like something out of a romance novel.
“You could just ask him to have a drink with you?”
“Are you mad?” Eloise replied, “I can’t do that!”
“Why?”
“B-because I can’t” She replied, faltering as she tried to think of one good reason why she couldn’t ask him to go for a drink.
When she got back to her apartment, and thought about it for more than half a second, Eloise realised it was her only option. If she asked him, one of two things could happen.
One - He’d say yes. They’d go for a drink. They’d fall in love. They’d live happily ever after.
Two - He’d say no. He’d never come back again. Eloise would get over it. Eventually.
She decided she may as well give it a whirl. In for a penny, in for a pound.
The next time Phillip came in, the very next day, it was time to put her plan into action.
“Cappuccino, Phillip?” She asked as he walked up to the counter. She was glad the cafe was quiet. It made her a little less nervous.
“Please, and whatever you’re having” He replied. She looked up at him, and saw a face of complete fear.
“Phillip, are you asking me to have a coffee with you?”
He nodded nervously, “If you said yes to coffee, I was going to ask you to have dinner with me tonight”
“Yes to coffee, yes to dinner” Eloise replied quickly, handing Phillip his receipt, telling him to go and sit down at his table (now reserved for him by Eloise). Phillip stared at her for a moment, unable to comprehend that she’d said yes, and then went and sat down, taking his sketchbook from his satchel.
Eloise made the drinks and took them over, taking her apron off before she went and sat with him.
“I really didn’t think you’d say yes” Phillip said quietly, looking down into the foam of his cappuccino.
“Whyever not?” Eloise asked, genuinely curious as to why he thought she’d turn him down.
“W-well you’re, well…”
“There was no chance of me saying no, Phillip” Eloise said, taking a sip of her latte.
Phillip looked up at her and saw the smile on her face.
And then he fell in love.
They went for dinner that night.
And then the next night.
And then two months later Eloise moved in.
And six months after that, they got married.