The tinkle of the bell introduced her arrival to Katherine, who appeared from the kitchen just out of sight of the counter. Pippa watched as she secretly tried to dab away tears, before lifting up the corners of her mouth to form the cheery smile she usually greeted customers with.
‘Hello Pippa my dear. What can I get you?’
‘Do you have any homemade cake by any chance, Katherine?’
Katherine closed her eyes as if trying to recall. She shook her head and opened her eyes. Pippa noticed the quick motion had helped her regain her composure again. She shook her head. ‘No sorry love, I’ve always had more breakfast trade than anything past midday so cakes are not something I’ve put much effort into.’
Pippa nodded with a smile. ‘No worries, thank you anyway.’ She began to turn away, but stopped herself. ‘Are you alright Katherine?’
Pippa didn’t know if it was the soft tone of her voice but Katherine’s bottom lip began to quiver. ‘I have to move away back to Portsmouth to take care of my elderly mother. She’s ninety-four and has been fiercely independent all her life, bless her, but she had the flu recently and it developed into pneumonia. Since then, she’s never really recovered. I’m going to have to leave Seagull Bay and move back to care for her. Trouble is, I can’t afford not to earn a wage from here. I don’t need anything huge, just enough to pay the bills. I’ll no doubt have to claim carer’s allowance to make up the loss in wages, but you know how this government is. They’ll put it in one hand and take it out of the other, one way or another...I’ll probably be worse off.’
‘I am sorry to hear that, Katherine. You’ll be greatly missed. Everyone I speak to has nothing but good praises for you.’ Pippa chewed her bottom lip as she thought. ‘What if you rent this place? The new tenant can pay their own bills and rent money, but all profit will obviously be their own.’
‘I did contemplate something similar, Pippa, but I haven’t had a chance to do anything about it yet. Do you think anyone would be interested, though? I only have a week or so to sort everything out before I need to go.’
Pippa held the palms of her hands up. ‘What is there to sort out other than a rental agreement? The kitchen is prepped to go. You have all the furniture and utensils in place. The rental can be for a fully furnished café. Why don’t you ring up the local estate agents now and explain the sort of contract you need? I’m sure they’ll either be able to do it for you or point you in the right direction of someone in the know?’
Katherine’s demeanour instantly brightened. ‘You are a treasure, Pippa. Thank you.’
Pippa smiled, her low mood now lifted. She’d push Oliver Oney and Ava out of her mind and go back, eat cake and drink tea with her dad and aunt and think of it as the flesh and blood of Christ.
To her it would symbolise rebirth and be the catalyst to reinstall the values she was raised with. She’d put jealousy out of her mind and she’d concentrate on channelling her love into her remaining family to ensure their happiness in the next stage of their life.
She’d work alongside Oliver with a smile on her face for as long as it took. Maybe it was time for her to realisehe wasthe one who got away because he wasn’t meant for her. He was meant for Ava.
Chapter fourteen
It had been four dayssince the competition. Pippa had tried her best to push all signs of jealousy out of her heart, but she had found it more difficult than she had realised. Ava had sat at the end of the bar every night, claiming one seat in particular as her own.
Pippa had done her best to chat amicably with her but she had gravitated to helping Declan out more and more in the kitchen, even though she suspected she was getting under his feet, yet Declan was always too polite to say so. But she’d needed to get away from the sickly sweet rapport sizzling between Oliver and Ava.
She’d avoided walking on the beach with Ginger at the same time as Oliver and Jess and had taken to exploring and reacquainting herself with more of the town’s steep streets lined with the colourful houses of Seagull Bay, the streets she’d grown up playing tag in with Mina and Hayley.
This morning she was going with Declan to view the little flat above Katherine’s café. A chance conversation after calling in on her to enquire about how things were going letting her shop and brought up the flat above it. According to Katherine, the estate agents said they would be able to rent it too, but it needed substantial work to renovate it first, something she had no time to do as she was a week away from moving back to Portsmouth to care for her mother. In fact, Katherine had stated she’d see how things were, but she might even be forced to rent out her house at a later stage too.
Pippa bounced down the steps leading from the living quarters and headed for the side door, where she said she’d meet Declan. He was still sitting on his motorbike with his crash helmet on. Pippa couldn’t deny he looked an impressive sight in his leather jacket with the sun gleaming off the chrome exhaust pipe and reflective black paintwork. He waved to her when he spotted her.
