Page 7 of Snowflakes Over Micklewick Bay

The memory made Hannah smile whenever it popped into her mind.

And while she was delighted with how successful her business had become, a little niggle at the back of her mind was never far away, tainting it and preventing her from being able to fully enjoy it. What if someone from Micklewick Bay recognised her? What if word got back to Polly and Darryl? That thought always triggered a rash of goosebumps pinging up over her skin. If that happened, she knew it wouldn’t be long before they did something to sabotage it. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time they’d joined forces to scupper things for her. She often marvelled how four years had passed since the burger van had first opened and she’d seen neither hide nor hair of them, and there’d been no attempts at ruining her business. Her deep mistrust of the duo was part of the reason she and her aunt had decided to invest in a van rather than a separate, portable kiosk which would have given them the option of leaving it at the parking area overnight or the days it wasn’t open. Hannah and Colleen felt leaving a kiosk unattended on a dark country road would be tempting fate. Having a van meant Hannah could drive it home at the end of the day and park it in the large outbuilding at the back of Fern Cottage where it was tucked safely out of sight.

It was draining, having to constantly take such things into consideration.

‘Hannah, lovey, can you come here a minute?’ Her aunt’s voice spliced through her thoughts as she was carefully spooning a generous amount of relish onto the latest burger on her list of orders.

‘One tick, I’m just about finished.’ Adding a vibrant slice of juicy tomato, she sat the fluffy lid of the bread bun on top. Satisfied the burger reached the Bougie standards, she expertly wrapped the finished item in the company’s greaseproof paper. ‘What’s up?’ She turned to her aunt, burger in hand, her cheeks flushed from hours spent at the hotplate.

‘Can you take over here a minute for me, flower? I just need to wash my hands, I’ve got tomato ketchup all over them. Not sure how I’ve managed it when I haven’t even touched the bottle, but there you go. If you could take this young man’s order while I get myself cleaned up that would be a great help.’

A puzzled frown creased Hannah’s brow. ‘Oh, right.’ She was struggling to work out why her aunt couldn’t simply wash her hands and get on with serving customers like she usually did. It only took a couple of seconds and people were usually understanding. Hannah had a backlog of two Hot and Spicy Bougie Burgers and a Harissa Halloumi Bougie Special, each with a portion of fries and accompaniments. Her aunt’s request didn’t make sense, especially when she knew she had her hands full.

‘That burger you’ve got there is for Shazzy, no fries as usual. This is hers, too.’ Colleen nodded in the direction of a can of cloudy lemonade sitting on the countertop alongside a couple of paper napkins. ‘You just need to take payment, then serve the young man that’s next in the queue after Shazzy; it’ll give me the chance to get sorted then I’ll be ready to serve everyone else.’

Hannah’s eyebrows twitched in confusion. ‘Righto,’ she said, as she moved over to the serving hatch, her long, glossy plait swaying down her back. ‘Hi, Shazzy, good to see you again.’ She pushed up a smile for the Bougie Burger’s regular, serving her as quickly as she was able without appearing rude. Being ‘front of house’ pushed Hannah right out of her comfort zone.

‘Cheers, Hannah. Nice to see you, too,’ Shazzy said cheerfully, as she gathered up her order.

Hannah stole a quick glance in the direction of the sink to see her aunt making a show of giving her hands and arms a vigorous – and very soapy – wash. From the amount of effort she was putting in, anyone would be forgiven for thinking she was a surgeon scrubbing up to go into theatre to perform major surgery. It crossed Hannah’s mind her aunt must’ve really gone to town with the ketchup.

‘Have a good day, Shazzy,’ Hannah said distractedly, as she turned back, her gaze sliding from the young woman to the customer who’d been waiting quietly behind her. ‘Hi, what can I get y—’ Her heart flipped and stomach looped-the-loop, whipping the words right out of her mouth. Standing before her was the handsomest man she’d ever set eyes on. He was above average height with appealingly broad shoulders that made her want to reach over the counter and touch the muscles beneath the sage green shirt that was covering them. And his eyes! Oh! My! Days! They were the most amazing green flecked with burnished gold – not that she was staring, or anything, but she was finding it impossible to tear her blue ones away from him. Well, if she was being completely honest with herself, that wasn’t strictly true; it was more like her gaze was devouring every minute detail of this god before her. Her eyes dropped to his mouth which was full and just begging to be kissed. She found herself wondering what it would feel like to press her lips against them. Her first thoughts were that they would be warm and soft and… delicious. And don’t even get her onto the stubble that grazed his square jaw of perfect proportions. There was even a cute dimple to complete the look. She was so engrossed in gawping at him, she barely noticed the flurry of butterflies that had taken flight in her stomach and were now running amok. Even his hair was perfect, all thick, shiny dark auburn waves combed back off a strong brow and cut close at the back. She was suddenly aware that her mouth was hanging open in a way she could only imagine was making her look utterly gormless. The reaction was totally out of character for her. Oh, for goodness’ sake, what is wrong with you, woman? Anyone would think you’d never seen a man before! He’s going to think you’re a raging loony! Speak to him, for crying out loud, before he turns tail and runs for the hills!

Hannah clamped her mouth shut, taking a couple of seconds to regroup and engage her brain – which was proving to be way trickier than she’d anticipated. She inhaled deeply, slowly releasing her breath, then said, ‘I… er, I… um, mean, er… Sorry, momentary brain fog – been one of those days – what can I get you?’ Hoping he hadn’t noticed the high-pitched squeak in her voice, verging on a falsetto that would impress the most ardent of Bee Gees fans, she drew on all of her powers of concentration and fixed a polite smile to her face. It didn’t help that her knees had started to wobble alarmingly and required a chunk of her attention to keep them under control. This really wasn’t the sort of multitasking she appreciated. Give her prepping half a dozen burgers while making a new batch of coleslaw and keeping an eye on a panful of caramelising onions at the same time any day of the week. That was a doddle compared to this.

‘What do you offer?’ he asked.

Hannah’s wayward thoughts took off at a gallop. Not only was his voice deep and seductive but he spoke with a gentle Scottish burr that wasted no time in making mischief around her insides. The butterflies upped the ante. Ooh, how about a kiss on those perfect lips of yours? The thought made her already hot cheeks burn crimson. Where did that come from? A cough from behind the handsome stranger made her suddenly aware of the line of customers who were watching their interaction with interest. She hoped they hadn’t noticed her blushes. The same went for the handsome customer.

She remonstrated with herself and cleared her throat. ‘There’s a list of our burgers just here.’ She pointed to the printed menu in the window, relieved to hear she’d lost the high-pitched tone to her voice. ‘And we also have a couple of daily specials; one for the vegetarian option and another non-vegetarian: The Harissa Halloumi Bougie Special and The Spicy Bougie Burger, which is a new one we’re trying out with our customers and is proving popular. I’m thinking of making it a permanent feature and adding it to our regular menu.’

‘Okay, and what makes The Spicy Bougie Burger special?’ His eyes hadn’t left hers and Hannah found her knees weren’t just wobbling but were now in serious danger of buckling beneath her.

Time to calm your jets, Hannah! Landing in a heap on the floor would so not be a good look. ‘Um, that would be because it’s, er, spicy.’ Could she have sounded any dozier or made her burger sound any less ‘special’? she wondered. And how was it possible for her cheeks to glow even brighter. The way it was going, she’d be able to fry eggs on them.

He nodded, a smile dancing over his kissable lips. ‘Spicy? Right, okay.’

Hannah’s thoughts flashed to her aunt, wondering when she was going to get herself back to the hatch and rescue her. She threw a quick look over her shoulder, disappointed to see the frantic hand washing was still in progress. Jeez! Really? Desperate to redeem herself from such an uninspiring description of one of their best-selling specials, she said, ‘It comes with guacamole and salsa rather than our homemade relish, and is garnished with chopped jalapeños and fresh coriander, so it has a Mexican twist. Like I said, it’s very popular. You can have it in an ordinary bread bun or a brioche bun. Oh, and the guacamole and salsa are homemade, too.’

‘Sounds good.’ He nodded. ‘But what would you recommend to a new customer who’s never tried your burgers before?’

Oh my days! That voice! How was it possible that words could sound like a caress? She blinked, shaking her wayward thoughts from her head. ‘Um… that’s easy, I’d say everyone should start with the Regular Bougie. It comes with our own homemade relish made to a family recipe and is accompanied by a portion of our fries which are sprinkled with a dusting of our homemade in-house herb mix and accompanied by some freshly made coleslaw, which is also homemade. The burgers are, too – homemade, that is – and all our ingredients are premium quality.’ She was gabbling as she always did when she was nervous, which was probably why anyone would be forgiven for thinking she was attempting to break the record for the number of times you could use the word ‘homemade’ in a sentence. She was sure she was winning hands down. It was another thing she hoped he hadn’t noticed.

‘Sold,’ he said, giving a lopsided smile that sent an unfamiliar ripple of desire bolting up her spine. ‘A Regular – homemade – Bougie burger it is. With all the homemade accompaniments, please.’ His eyes twinkled at her in the most appealing way as he followed up with another smile.

Hannah felt she was in serious danger of internally combusting. She couldn’t help the gasp that escaped her lips. She had no idea what was happening to her, this reaction was so not like her. It had been forever since she’d felt even the tiniest hint of desire. In fact, if it had jumped up in front of her and said ‘Boo!’ she was pretty sure she wouldn’t have recognised it, and if on the off chance she did, it would no doubt be covered in dust and festooned with cobwebs. It was no exaggeration to say she’d never had such a powerful reaction to a man before, never mind a man she’d only just clapped eyes on. But the feeling seemed to have crept into every fibre of her body, taken over every nerve ending and was now making her tingle all over in the wickedest of ways. And it didn’t help that it suddenly felt as if she was having a hot flush that ran from the top of her head to the tip of her toes. Even her ears were burning, which was seriously embarrassing.

‘Good choice, mate,’ said Gav, a builder from Middleton-le-Moors, who was next in the queue. ‘They’re bloomin’ awesome; taste even better than they smell. I’ll tell you this for nowt, once you’ve tasted a Bougie burger, there’s no going back. All others are poor imitations.’

The handsome stranger turned to face Gav. ‘High praise indeed. And if that’s the case, I’m looking forward to giving them a try.’

‘You won’t be disappointed, lad. I can guarantee you’ll be back within the week,’ added Gav.

Hannah was so grateful for the respite from her blushes Gav’s interruption had created, she almost fainted with relief. She seriously needed to get herself under control before she made a total fool of herself. Her Auntie Coll sprang into her mind again. What the heck is she doing? Hannah glanced over to see her aunt had been watching events unfolding with interest as she dried her hands on a paper towel. Anyone would think she was on a go-slow.

‘Don’t suppose you can help out here while I get back to the burgers?’ Hannah asked, shooting her a baffled look.

‘Two ticks, lovey, I’ll just dry my hands and let you finish serving your customer; it’d be rude of me to interrupt.’ She flashed Hannah a grin that instantly aroused her suspicions. It took a few moments for realisation to dawn: her aunt had clocked the handsome stranger and instantly earmarked him for Hannah. She shook her head and treated her to a scowl which was returned with a wide smile and a pair of eyes that were dancing with mischief.