‘I’m coming, I want to see her reaction!’
Cam placed two plates of the cooked breakfast down on the table and poured them each a glass of orange juice.
‘I feel a little guilty eating this with Bree out in the shop,’ Molly said between bites.
‘I already cooked her a breakfast before you woke up, so no guilt necessary.’ He smiled. ‘As I mentioned last night, I’ll walk over to the track after collecting George from Dixie’s. If we can clear the snow, hopefully it will be a smooth journey to the hospital tomorrow.’
‘How are you feeling about that?’ asked Molly. She was trying to be supportive and put on a brave face whilst inside there was a huge knot in her stomach every time she thought about it.
‘I’m trying to keep it from the forefront of my mind until tomorrow and then we will know more. But I’m not going to mention it in front of Dixie.’
Molly reached across and squeezed his hand. ‘It’ll be okay.’
‘I hope so,’ he replied, squeezing the brown sauce from the bottle, which erupted in a rude noise. ‘Nothing like a comedy sound to lighten the moment.’
Molly rolled her eyes and laughed. ‘I’ve contacted the tenants at my old house to let them know we will be calling in tomorrow. They are currently away, so getting the suitcase down from the loft will be easy enough.’
‘Tomorrow is going to be a bit of a day, isn’t it?’ Cam raised an eyebrow.
That very thought had just crossed Molly’s mind.
Twenty minutes later, when breakfast was finished, Molly quickly got washed and changed whilst Cam cleared up the dishes, then she wandered into the bakery to see Bree standing behind the counter chatting to Ash on the other side. Molly couldn’t help noticing how relaxed they seemed in each other’s company, as Bree threw back her head and laughed at something Ash had said.
‘Good morning! Thank you for holding down the fort whilst I was treated to breakfast. I was just going to ask if it would be okay if we popped next door to collect George from Dixie, but as Ash is in no hurry to get on with his rounds,’ Molly teased, ‘I’m sure he’ll keep you company.’
There was a crimson blush on Ash’s cheeks, and a huge beam on both his face and Bree’s.
Cam breezed in then, slipping his arms into his coat and hoisting it up onto his back. ‘We won’t be long as we’re just off next door; maybe twenty minutes or so.’ He looked towards Bree and Ash then paused. ‘You look a bit flushed in the cheeks there, Ash, are you coming down with something?’ he said, causing the crimson on Ash’s face to deepen.
Molly pushed Cam towards the door. ‘He is absolutely fine,’ she said. Cam looked bemused, not really understanding what was going on.
‘Why are you pushing me out of the door? What did I say?’
‘He’s lovestruck, not poorly.’
Cam looked back towards the door. ‘Really, those two?”
‘Possibly,’ replied Molly. ‘Is that the chocolate slab in the bag for Dixie to taste?’
‘It is. I can’t wait for her to try it. I have to say I thought it tasted divine.’
‘I second that,’ replied Molly.
‘If my grandmother thinks this is the way to go for the competition, then we are halfway there.’
‘As long as Bree is okay with you replicating her mother’s recipe.’
‘I’ve already asked that question and she said she would be honoured. I had a look through Great-Uncle Ted’s recipes this morning to get a proper idea of his winning entries and these chocolate slabs would be right up his street. I could even mix up the different fillings.’
Molly smiled as she opened the garden gate of Bumblebee Cottage. ‘It’s nice to see you so enthusiastic about it.’
The second they knocked on the door, Darling woofed and could be heard frantically sniffing on the other side.
‘Come in, it’s open,’ came Dixie’s voice from the living room.
Stepping inside they took off their boots and Molly scooped Darling up in her arms as she sniffed frantically at the bag in Cam’s hand. ‘That is definitely not for you,’ she said, tapping Darling lightly on her nose.
The log fire was roaring and Dixie was sitting with a blanket over her knee, reading a book, whilst George was on his knees, leaning against the coffee table, attempting to piece together a jigsaw.
