‘I very much like this.’ Mrs Huber, one of Amelie’s neighbours, spoke in stilted English and pointed to the tea plate she held in her plump hands.
‘TheGotthelftorte?’
‘Nein, der Teller.’ She chinked the plate between her finger and thumb.
‘Ah, the plate. Thank you, I brought them from England.’
‘Very good.’ She nodded approvingly and beckoned another older woman over. The two of them compared their plates and started a lively conversation in German, little of which Mina understood, despite her German improving over the last month. Now she’d decided to stay there was no excuse not to speak the language instead of relying on other people to translate all the time. Her eyes slid, yet again, to the doorway.
She noticed Johannes circulating topping up everyone’s glasses and steeled herself for the official bit coming up.
Ting. Ting.When Johannes tapped his glass everyone, with extreme politeness and notable deference, stopped talking.
‘Welcome everyone, and thank you all for coming to this wonderful occasion. Today we have two celebrations, and my fiancé and I…’ He paused as a ripple of laughter ran through the room. ‘We would especially like to thank Mina for allowing us to hijack her grand opening. Mina.’ He beckoned her forward.
She swallowed and checked the door once more. With an inward sigh, she wound her way through the gathered crowd to Johannes and Amelie’s side. She’d really hoped.
Schooling her face into a serene smile, which hid the wrenching disappointment inside, she turned and faced everyone, touched by the warmth of the smiling faces reflected towards her.
‘Thank you all for coming, and for being so welcoming. I’m looking forward to living here and getting to know all of you in the coming months. Starting up a small business in a small community is both daunting and exciting. You’ve all seen me setting up, I hope that you’ll all see me thrive. At the same time, I know how important it is for us to support each other, so I’m open to any ideas or ways that I can help your businesses, too.’ She beamed at everyone. ‘Now that’s the boring bit over, more important is the celebration. I’d like you all to join in with me and congratulate Amelie and Johannes on their engagement.’ She raised a glass. ‘To Amelie and Johannes.’
Everyone cheered and raised their glasses.
Johannes made an extremely, pink-faced, brief speech about how wonderful Amelie was and how happy he was, and then extorted everyone to leave five-star reviews on Tripadvisor, pointing to the laptop in the corner of the room.
The rest of the afternoon passed in a happy haze, and finally people drifted away, many of them leaving fulsome comments, until only Kristian, Jane, Mina, and the happy couple were left.
Mina gave the door one last forlorn look. She’d been so hopeful, so convinced, although she didn’t know why.
‘Well, that was a triumph,’ said Amelie starting to collect up plates.
‘It was great,’ said Jane, picking up glasses, and nudging Kristian to do the same. ‘I’m sure it’s going to be a huge success.’
‘Thank you.’ She heard the door and whirled around, her heart suddenly in her mouth.
Frau Huber poked her head around. ‘Still here. Good. I have something for you.’ She walked in with a slow, rolling gait, followed by her son carrying a large box. He placed it carefully on one of the tables. ‘Come. Come.’ The older woman pointed to the cardboard flaps. Puzzled, Mina opened the box. Inside were lots of paper-wrapped odd-shaped parcels. She unwrapped one of the parcels. Inside were six china tea plates with a delicate pale-blue design, edged with white.
‘This is beautiful.’
‘My grandmother’s china. And my aunt’s. And my sister’s mother-in-law.’
‘My goodness.’ Mina unwrapped another bundle of tea plates and a couple of cups with elegantly shaped china handles.
‘No good to me.’ She spoke in rapid German, with a few clucks of disparagement, and Mina only picked up a few words. She glanced towards Amelie for translation.
‘Frau Huber says you can have it. She has no use for it, and would rather it was being used.’ Amelie laughed. ‘She says there’s no point giving it to her son, Franz, he is too clumsy and his fingers don’t fit the cups.’
Frau Huber’s eyes gleamed with amusement and she patted her son on the arm. Mina smiled back.
‘That’s incredibly kind of you.Danke schön, Frau Huber. Would you like some money for it?’ Although she’d spent most of budget already, once her flat was let out more money was coming, and of course the money from her parents’ house would be coming soon.
‘Nein, nein.’ Frau Huber waved her hand. ‘I have another box for Franz to bring later.’
Mina laughed, unable to believe the other woman’s generosity. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Look at him,’ she said in her heavy accent.
Franz rolled his eyes. ‘I don’t want it. I’m too scared to even look at it.’
