Page 52 of A Recipe for Romance in Brambleton

‘Wow, boys, these look amazing!’ Marc said, when they’d iced the cakes. He reached out to grab one, but Liam pushed his hand away. ‘Not yet, Dad. We’re not finished.’

‘Really?’ Marc raised an eyebrow and grinned in Lauren’s direction. ‘Seems to me, if you put any more icing on them, they’ll be more sugar than sponge!’

Lauren, who’d pinched a couple of the boys’ cupcakes to decorate herself, more for something to do with her hands to calm the butterflies in her stomach, had cut out the centres and filled hers with icing, putting the cut-out bits of cake back on top to make butterfly wings. She sprinkled a few multi-coloured sugar strands on top, and left it at that, not wanting to steal the boys’ limelight.

‘Are we ready to put them on the cake stand?’ she asked, when she spotted that both Liam and Luca were spooning their leftover icing not onto the cakes, but into their mouths.

Both boys grinned and nodded. Icing finished, they presented their creations on the pretty cupcake stand Lauren had brought over with her. She’d found a method online using second-hand china plates, sourced mainly from Purrfect Paws charity shop, struts and a tile drill bit that meant she could create as many stands for Hope’s Café as she wanted. The cakes, decorated to the max with dinosaurs, stars, multi-coloured sugar strands, silver and gold fondant balls and some rather garish butter icing in blue, green, black and a last-minute yellow that the boys had mixed in separate bowls, looked quite something on top of the delicate flower-patterned china.

‘You’ve done brilliantly,’ Lauren turned to both boys and gave them a broad smile. ‘I’d love one or two of these with a nice cup of tea.’

The boys sat down obediently at the table, and Lauren went fill the kettle, but Marc caught her arm as she passed him. ‘Oh no you don’t. You’ve been doing the hard yards with the cake decorating this afternoon. Let me serve you your tea.’

The warmth of his hand on the sensitive skin beneath her elbow sent a shiver down Lauren’s spine. He looked deeply into her eyes, and his thumb, as if it had a mind of its own, began to stroke the inside of her elbow gently. Lauren’s breath shortened, and her lips parted as Marc’s gaze lingered, first on her eyes, and then flickering down to her mouth. ‘All right,’ she said softly. ‘If you say so.’

‘I do.’

They were so close, so achingly close to something. Marc’s hand began to slide upwards, bringing Lauren nearer to him, and she almost forgot that they were in the company of two very eager six-year-olds, who wanted to get stuck into some cake.

‘Dad! Hurry up and make the tea!’ Liam’s voice, with a trace of imperiousness, commanded. ‘I want some hot Ribena, though. Tea’s gross!’

‘Me too,’ Luca echoed.

With a jolt that Lauren felt, Marc seemed to come back to the here and now. ‘Right away, Boss!’ Recovering himself, he dropped his hand from Lauren’s arm and gave her a wink. ‘Your wishes are my command.’

This gave Lauren a minute or two to catch her breath and regain her equilibrium. She walked to the table and sat swiftly down to still her shaky knees.

She tried to centre herself by looking out across the lake. Today, it was shrouded in a heavy mist, which rolled, ghost-like across the calm, grey water. The muted colours were no less beautiful, but it gave the lake house an even more remote, cut-off air. She grinned as, when she turned back to the twins, still sitting at the island, she saw they were already pinching the toppings they’d placed so carefully on their cakes, and sticking them in their mouths.

‘Can we eat them now?’ Liam demanded.

Lauren laughed. ‘Do you want to bring the cake stand to the table, and then Dad can choose the ones he wants to eat, first?’ Glancing at the two boys, she added, ‘We made sure that Luca’s were on the top level of the stand, as he made one less, and Liam’s were on the bottom.’ That should prevent any accusations of favouritism, if Marc knew to take a cake from each part of the stand, she thought.

‘Surely it’s only fair that I get to try your creations as well?’

Lauren grinned. ‘Three helpings of cake? You’ll be bouncing off the walls by bedtime!’ Nevertheless, she brought her cakes over and popped the pair of them on the smallest level of the cake stand. ‘There you go.’

The boys were excited and talking about taking one of their cakes into school each for Mrs Saint.

‘Which one do you think I should give her?’ Liam asked. ‘The one with the spider on?’ He pointed to a mainly green iced cake with a black blob and eight spindly legs, and silver balls for eyes.

‘That one would be lovely,’ Lauren said. She didn’t dare to look behind her, where she could hear Marc pouring the water into the teapot. Suddenly too nervous to even contemplate munching on a cupcake, she willed her pulse to slow.

‘Here we are.’ Marc brought the teapot to the table and then hurried back to get two steaming mugs of Ribena. ‘Dig in, but be careful, boys. I’ve put a bit of cold water in your mugs but they’re still very warm.’

‘Have this one first, Dad.’ Liam pulled one of his cakes from the stand and plopped it onto Marc’s plate.

‘And this one,’ Luca added, doing the same. Marc glanced down at the riot of colours and patterns on his plate, then looked back up at Lauren. ‘Wow… I don’t know where to start. These look… incredible.’ There was a teasing twinkle in his eye, and despite their ‘moment’ over brewing the tea, Lauren began to relax again.

‘Shall I pour?’ He briskly filled her cup first with milk and then tea.

‘Thanks.’ She felt in need of a cuppa, and she nodded in approval. ‘Not bad. If you ever decide you want a change of career, you could always come and work for me in the café!’

Marc laughed. ‘I’m back at my own job in January, but I daresay, after slogging my way through yet another interminable AI-related debacle, that will sound like living the dream!’

‘Well, it suits me.’

Marc sat down and, to try to forestall any arguments, he took swift bites of both cupcakes in quick succession. ‘Wow, lads, these are great!’ he mumbled through a mouthful.