‘We’d better look at a menu,’ said Susanna, reaching for one.
Addie looked at her menu, and the third item down caught her eye, the past coming at her in a rush. She couldn’t believe after all these years the baked cheesecake with fresh raspberries was still listed for customers to enjoy.
After Susanna left for the mainland and it had just been Aunt Gayle and Addie, they’d often talk recipes back at the cottage or when Addie was here in the café. For a while, Addie had been desperate to make a baked cheesecake. She wasn’t sure why, it was just that baked cheesecake didn’t feature on the menu and she had a real hankering to try a recipe out. And so, one day, dressed in her little apron and in the kitchen at the café, Addie had given it a go. She’d made a perfectly buttery crumbly biscuit base, she’d topped it with her cheesecake mixture and baked it in one of the professional ovens. As she sat on a stool beside the oven, making sure nothing went wrong, she’d daydreamed that this place was where she worked, with Aunt Gayle, that she would walk to work every morning and when inspiration struck, she’d make something new altogether. She’d topped the baked cheesecake with fresh raspberries and nervous as anything, had taken it out to one of the booths and told Nancy and Gayle to sample it. But all the while she’d been serving customers, she’d had one eye on her aunt and her friend, watching their reactions, giddy when they both put their thumbs up and Gayle called over, ‘It’s on the menu!’
‘The special today is the butterscotch brownie,’ Nancy informed them both now, pointing up to the board.
Addie closed the menu, her emotions running high. ‘I’ll take one of those,’ she said.
Susanna smiled. ‘And I’ll have the same.’
They took a seat in the familiar booth they’d sat in as girls, Addie keeping her memory to herself, and when she noticed Susanna frowning, she followed her sister’s gaze.
‘There’s Louisa again,’ said Susanna.
‘Aunt Gayle’s Airbnb-er?’ She looked outside to see the young woman with the crazy blonde curls climbing into the driver’s seat of the café’s pink delivery van.
‘It’s a little odd, don’t you think? Visiting an island on your own, staying at an Airbnb and grabbing a job while you’re at it.’
Addie shrugged. ‘I wonder how many of Gayle’s former guests have done the same. I suppose it’s still relatively busy here, even though summer is behind us.’
Their desserts arrived in no time and didn’t disappoint. They were heavenly.
Addie scooped up another piece of the butterscotch brownie, still warm, with the vanilla ice-cream on the side starting to melt enough that it was even creamier with the pudding.
‘I can’t disagree with you there.’ Susanna was close to finishing hers.
‘Are you going for seconds?’
‘What? No way. This is good, but it’s enough. Any more and I’ll risk being hyper with too much sugar.’
‘Isaac would love this. He has a sweet tooth like me.’
‘I know. He chose treacle sponge at the supermarket when I took you both there the last time you visited.’
‘Well, you did tell him to choose whatever he liked.’ Addie grinned.
Susanna sat up a little straighter as she put her spoon down and nodded towards the doorway. ‘Aunt Gayle’s back.’
Addie paused, and when Gayle’s gaze met hers, waved over at their aunt, who looked as shocked as expected to see her nieces inside her café after all these years. She pointed to the kitchen, which presumably meant she was going to take off her cardigan and put her bag away. Or more than likely to catch a breath at the enormity of the moment.
‘Do you think she’s slowing down?’ Addie asked after Susanna picked up her spoon and ate the last mouthful of her pudding.
‘Because she went home for a break?’ Susanna put down the spoon into the empty bowl. ‘Maybe.’
Their aunt was in her seventies, so perhaps she was starting to taper off with work. Addie had always thought she’d be well and truly retired come her sixties never mind seventies, although maybe she wouldn’t have much choice in the matter as a single parent who didn’t own her own home yet.
‘What do you think will really happen at the living funeral?’ Susanna asked. ‘Do you think it’ll be exactly as Nancy said, just a gathering, a party, with food and laughter and chatter?’
‘I’m not sure. Hey, I wonder if there will be a speech, or speeches, I mean, in lieu of any eulogy?’
Susanna pulled a face. ‘Hadn’t thought of that. Maybe.’
‘I guess we’ll find out soon enough.’
Gayle eventually emerged back into the dining area, and as she came their way she tied on a half apron around her waist. ‘I’m glad you came in. It’s good to see you both.’ She sounded formal, most likely rehearsing the best greeting for them both. They were used to each other in the cottage, although far from relaxed, but in here it felt totally different.
‘Nancy said you’d gone home,’ said Addie. ‘We must’ve just missed you.’
