Read Online Stirred with Love by Marcie Steele - Free Book Online

the carrot. Working in a café seemed unlikely to stimulate her but, if she could get the woman interested in her business plan, who knows?
     
    The row of terraced properties that Kate was dropped in front of seemed passé but fitted well in their surroundings of mature blocks and factories nearby. Number eleven was the only one with double fronted access, two half-glass panelled doors at its middle, and set back from the pavement. Either side of the doors, there were two windows. To her left, the spacious bay window had a low wall beneath it. The wall on the right side a few bricks higher, almost level with the panel in the doors, had a straight pane of glass above it. The paved area in front of the cafe, although in need of a good wash down with a heavy-duty power hose, would be perfect, she thought, if they could get permission to put out a few tables.
    The properties either side had small enclosed courtyards, each surrounded by a three-foot high wall. There was a chiropodist next door, a dentist, and a firm of solicitors who had taken over three properties and knocked them through into one huge block. Kate noticed curtains at a couple of the remaining properties and wondered if they were residential.
    Once inside, the space captured her heart. It needed time and money spending on it to bring it up to date, but Kate could see it was well worth doing. And, as the meeting got under way, positive thoughts began to replace the doubts she’d had this morning with an image of a brighter future.
    ‘So,’ Lily finished Kate’s interview with the same question she had asked all the applicants. ‘Do you feel the same way now as you did when you first came through the door?’
    ‘Yes, but at the moment it’s like,’ Kate stopped until she found the right words, ‘time has stood still.’
    ‘It’s badly in need of something to lighten it up,’ Lily concurred. ‘Bring life back into it.’
    ‘Did you have anything in mind?’
    ‘I was rather hoping that you would have some suggestions.’
    ‘Well.’ Kate opened the folder she had brought with her and leaned forward. ‘I’ve put together a project plan with the information that you gave me over the phone. I did a bit of research on the internet about Somerley, scoping the competition, that type of thing. There seem to be a lot of factories and industrial estates near to. I think they’d be our target market. There are a couple of pubs, a chip-shop, plus a sandwich shop. But what I didn’t see was anything special in the line of coffees.’
    ‘Go on,’ said Lily, already intrigued.
    ‘My suggestion would be to open a coffee shop. Not just an ordinary run of the mill coffee and cake shop, but one that specialises in coffee. Different aromas and strengths to try, along with different cakes and fancies. We could also sell sandwiches and jacket potatoes to catch the lunchtime trade.
    ‘I think high-quality coffees would sell themselves. We’d only need to stock up on the regular ones and have the others in small doses so they’re always available. We could have coffee with whipped cream and flakes of chocolate. Coffee with a liqueur of your choice. Our own hand blended mixtures. Our own coffee shop special even.’
    ‘That seems a workable idea.’ Lily signalled for her to stop talking for the moment. ‘I see you’ve thought this through before you came.’
    ‘Yes, and that’s why I think it also needs a really good name. Something to ensure it stands out.’
    Lily didn’t try to hide her delight. Even though it had been a while since the advert had been put into the paper, she knew she’d been right to invite Kate for an interview as soon as she’d heard her talking on the telephone. She’d had a polite and charming manner about her then.
    ‘Well, I don’t know what you’ve sold the most,’ she beamed. ‘Yourself or your ideas. Would you be interested in the supervisory position I mentioned?’
    Kate’s stomach lurched forward and she tried to slow