Free The Chocolate Lovers’ Wedding by Carole Matthews

night with Florence. They were already thinking of moving in together but, understandably, Miles wanted to take it slowly and let Flo get used to the idea. Not to mention letting his ex-wife get used to the idea, too. She suddenly seemed to be feeling a little strange about Miles having someone permanent in his life. Autumn just hoped that she didn’t cause any trouble.
Miles kissed her deeply. ‘Call me as soon as you can. Let me know how it went.’
Putting her hands in her pockets, Autumn was surprised to find something already there. She pulled out a bar of chocolate.
Grinning, Miles said, ‘Emergency supplies.’
‘That’s very thoughtful.’ She pecked him on the cheek. ‘Wish me luck.’
‘You won’t need it,’ he said.
    They were meeting at a café near Blackfriars Tube – somewhere that Miles had previously used for business meetings and had recommended. How she missed Chocolate Heaven. She would have been more at ease there, in familiar surroundings and with Lucy’s smiling face behind the counter. Meetings as critical as this needed the perfect backdrop. Damn Marcus and his manipulation, although part of her wished that Lucy could go back there. It had been Lucy’s ideal job and Autumn hated to see her friend rudderless without it. It was a shame that she hadn’t been able to buy it instead of Marcus. Perhaps if it wasn’t going well he would consider selling, but it was a huge financial commitment for anyone. Property prices around here weren’t conducive to setting up a small business.
    The Literary Café was small and decorated to look like a bookshop. The walls were lined with shelves of battered paperback books; each coffee table had a library desk lamp and was flanked by blood-red Chesterfield sofas. There was a table of the latest bestsellers for sale in the middle. It was as nice and cosy as Miles had said. A good choice. If it wasn’t quite so out of their way, it might have made a good replacement for Chocolate Heaven. Perhaps she would bring the ladies of the Chocolate Lovers’ Club back here for a trial run. Though, no doubt, Lucy would find some reason to dislike it.
    There was no sign of Willow and Mary yet and Autumn checked her watch. Ten minutes to go. She ordered a coffee and perused the counter display. Ah. Weakness spotted. Lucy would certainly pour scorn on their poor choice of chocolatey cakes. Autumn chose a breakfast muffin covered in seeds and sat by the window. She sipped at her coffee and nibbled the muffin, even though she wasn’t in the slightest bit hungry, and leafed through the couple of paperbacks she’d picked from the stack on the table without really seeing them.
    Her stomach was steadily tightening with anxiety when, at last, a woman came in and looked around nervously. She was obviously searching for someone and Autumn wondered if it was her. This lady was alone, though, and Autumn’s heart sank. If this was Mary then, for some reason, Willow hadn’t come with her.
    The woman scanned the tables, her face creased with concern. She looked kind, a little harried and was in her late forties or possibly a little older. She was well-groomed, her clothes expensive, classic. Autumn was glad that she’d made a little more effort with her appearance this morning, but she still felt very young in comparison. This woman was probably much the same age as Autumn’s own mother and that was something she hadn’t really considered before.
    It was now or never. Autumn stood up and spoke out. ‘Mary?’ Her head swivelled in Autumn’s direction. ‘Yes.’ ‘I’m Autumn.’ She held out her hand.
‘Oh,’ the woman said, taken aback. ‘I was looking for
    someone older.’
Autumn smiled. ‘I was very young when I had Willow.’ ‘Oh. Yes, yes. I did know that.’ Mary took her hand and
    covered it with her own. ‘It’s just that, well. Well . . . ’ She seemed lost for words.
‘This is all terribly difficult, isn’t it?’
‘Yes. Dreadful.’
‘Thank you for