Page 24 of A Recipe for Romance in Brambleton

‘Bye, Mrs Saint!’ the boys chorused, after they’d put the puzzle carefully back in its designated spot in the column of coloured drawers.

‘I hope you’ll learn to be as tidy at home,’ Marc joked, relieved to be off trickier subjects.

‘I wish I could say that they’ll learn, but my two are still as messy as ever,’ Thea sighed. ‘Maybe yours will be different.’

‘Here’s hoping!’

Marc said goodbye to Thea and swiftly got the boys in the car. During the short journey back to the house, they were both full of enthusiasm for the things they’d done that day, including painting a giraffe rather alarming colours. That’s one for the fridge, Marc thought with pride.

As they passed Hope’s Café, Marc recalled his interaction with Lauren. Travelling slowly down the main street, he glanced briefly through the café window. He swore his heart sped faster than his engine as he caught sight of Lauren chatting to an elderly couple at their table. She looked so pretty, and that pink and blue striped jumper really suited her, and looked soft enough to stroke…

He gave himself a mental shake and fixed his eyes back on the road ahead. He’d better put Lauren out of his mind and focus on dinner. That evening, as he settled the boys in bed, his phone pinged. Smiling, he saw it was a hand-drawn sketch from Lauren.

I was thinking about something like this – with a little cake bridge between the two. Would that be okay?

She’d obviously spent some time on the designs for the birthday cakes – and even captured the friendly white face and blue nose of Captain Barnacles, the seafaring bear from Octonauts. He had to laugh when, on closer examination, she’d drawn him shaking hands with Minecraft Steve! That bit of cake architecture felt ambitious, but he was touched by her vision. Still smiling, he texted her back, telling her it all looked great.

I can deliver it on the day, if you’ve somewhere to keep it.

Marc smiled but felt guilty that Lauren would be coming out of her way to bring him the cake. However, he wasn’t sure if he could smuggle a cake past the eagle eyes of the boys if he had to go and pick it up – they’d be on Christmas holidays from the end of the week, and then the party was on Saturday.

That would be great, if it’s not too much trouble – thank you :)

Leaving it at that, he headed back to the kitchen and flipped on the kettle to make a cuppa. He realised he was still smiling, a minute later. Odd, he thought. I didn’t think the cake mattered so much!

That night, he slept like a log.

22

The next few days were busy, as they always were in the run-up to Christmas. Paddy from the pub popped in to get Myriam’s constellations painting and was over the moon with it. Lauren sent Myriam a text to tell her, and she could tell that her mother was both pleased and relieved.

On Friday morning, Lauren was happy to closet herself in her own kitchen while Cathy ran the café. She wanted to make sure the cake for the twins was perfectly baked, and, importantly, cool enough for her to decorate ready to deliver to Marc on Saturday morning. She was trying to go light on the baking for the café, too, since Christmas Day was fast approaching and she’d be closed for the duration of the holiday.

While watching the oven like a hawk, she heard Cathy’s voice emanating from the front of the building. Glancing briefly at the oven timer, she hurried out to the café.

‘Is everything all right?’

Cathy turned apologetically to her. ‘I’m really sorry, Lauren – Rob’s just rung me. The other regular driver’s gone sick and he’s been called in to courier something to bloody Birmingham. He’s got to leave sharpish. His mum’s out last-minute Christmas shopping and there’s no-one else who can look after Jake. I’m going to have to go.’

Lauren nodded sympathetically. ‘That’s fine, lovely. Don’t worry. I can take over here. I just need to grab the cake out of the oven, if you can give me five more minutes.’

‘I’m pissed off, actually,’ Cathy confided. ‘I was hoping to get out and do some shopping myself after I finished here, but I don’t fancy taking Jake with me. He’s feral in shops at the moment, and I don’t want to get barred from the shopping centre this close to Christmas!’

Cathy looked so fed up and crestfallen that before she could second-guess herself, Lauren offered to watch Jake for her.

‘Honestly, I don’t mind. Bring him over – we’ll go for a walk, and pop in and see Mollie at the charity shop. It’ll be nice to get out and about.’

‘Oh, I can’t ask you to do that!’ Cathy shook her head, but there was a grateful look in her eyes that Lauren didn’t miss. ‘He’s a right handful at the best of times, and letting him loose in Purrfect Paws… well, I can’t guarantee he’ll behave himself.’

Lauren reached out and put a hand on Cathy’s shoulder. ‘It’ll be fun. I can even run some of my Octonauts designs past him for this cake!’

‘I wouldn’t… he’s likely to eat the lot!’ Cathy laughed and then accepted Lauren’s offer. ‘I’ll only be a couple of hours. I just need to nip into Taunton and grab a couple of things.’

‘Take your time.’

The two women hugged, and then Lauren hurried back to the kitchen. She pulled out the sponge cake from the oven and set it to cool on a wire rack, then, on her way back to the café, grabbed her apron from the peg. On Fridays, she tended to close the café after lunch, as trade was always quieter then, so she told Cathy to bring Jake over as soon as she was ready. Trade was trickling to a halt, anyway, as people were in bigger towns than Lower Brambleton finishing their shopping. If she decided to close sooner, today, it wouldn’t cost her much.

By two o’clock, Cathy had returned, the adorable Jake in tow. Chubby, freckled, with a shock of bright orange hair and innocent-looking brown eyes, he looked the picture of innocence when Cathy handed over a bag, and then parked his buggy to the side of the counter.