Cosy Nights & Snowball Fights (Little Duck Pond Cafe #36)

CHAPTER TEN

I chuckled. ‘You had me at Bakewell tart, actually. So... Pudding Club next Thursday! But you do realise I’m now going to have to call at the village store for a slab of their chocolate cake. To satisfy my sudden craving for something sweet.’

Maddy grinned. ‘Good decision. So... see you at work tomorrow?’

‘Yep. And thanks, Maddy. I don’t know what I’d have done if you hadn’t rescued me today.’

‘Any time.’ She waved and dashed off to her own car.

I drove home, feeling my spirits lifted. Maddy seemed to have that effect on people. Well, most people. I smiled to myself. Some people found Maddy’s directness off-putting but I liked her very much. She was warm and friendly, and I got the feeling she’d be fiercely loyal to her closest friends. It was refreshing to be around a person who didn’t mince their words. You always knew where you were with people like Maddy. And apart from that, I felt that I might be on my way to making my first true friend here. Today was the first time I’d opened up to anyone here about my life before Sunnybrook...

As I got nearer home, though, memories of earlier – catching sight of Jo on Guildford High Street – started creeping in and puncturing my happy balloon.

It was so often like this. I’d imagine I was finally getting there... congratulating myself on managing a whole string of days without once thinking about that nightmare day. But then something would happen and I’d be thrown right back in time.

The problem was, Jo had been like family to me, long before I even met the people who would become my parents. She was the one I’d relied on to make me laugh through the dark times. She’d make me see the funny side of everything and she’d pick me up when I was on the floor. She was a shoulder to cry on... always there for me, no matter what. And I was there for her. I didn’t believe in violence solving problems – but when Jo was being mercilessly bullied at school (she had red hair which apparently marked her out as a target for those pathetic low-life bullies), I was so furious on her behalf, I ended up in a full-on scrap with the main culprit in the playground. She got the message. I think the fury in my eyes as I fought to defend my best friend must have scared her because she backed off completely after that.

Jo and I had been inseparable friends all our lives.

Until we weren’t.

There was no going back from what had happened. But that didn’t mean I didn’t miss her friendship. Jo had been my family when I had none. And no matter what had happened to turn everything sour, I’d always feel sad that she was no longer in my life...

*****

The following afternoon, there was great excitement in the café at closing time. The bridesmaids’ dresses Maddy had ordered online had been delivered to the café and we were having an impromptu fashion parade with Katja, Ellie and Fen – three of Maddy’s seven bridesmaids – trying on their dresses.

I was staying late to clear up, and I kept nipping through to the café, smiling at the chatter and laughter as the girls paraded up and down an invisible catwalk in their outfits and did little twirls, as if it was a wedding-themed event at London Fashion Week.

Sylvia, once the owner of the café, had been in enjoying tea and scones with her friends Bertha and Olga, and all three had stayed beyond closing time to watch the fashion parade, applauding the twirls and whooping encouragingly.

The dresses were stunning in their elegant simplicity: icy blue satin sweeping the floor, the only adornment a slim ribbon around the empire line waist. To complete the look – bearing in mind it was a winter wedding – the girls wore luxurious fake furs in a shade of silvery grey, covering their shoulders and crossing over at the bodice. They were rather too skimpy to keep any raw December weather completely at bay, but that wasn’t really the point. They looked absolutely fabulous.

‘I think my dress might be a bit too small,’ said Fen, examining herself in the large mirror on the wall behind the counter. She turned this way and that, and glanced anxiously at Maddy. ‘I really hate causing you more work, but you’ve flattered me tremendously thinking this size would fit me.’ She grinned. ‘After giving birth to twins, I doubt I’ll ever get back to my pre-pregnant weight.’

Maddy frowned and got Fen to do another twirl. ‘I think it looks great. But I want you to enjoy your day, so if you’d feel more comfortable, I could easily exchange it.’

Ellie, standing beside Fen, was also studying herself in the mirror. ‘If you’re changing Fen’s dress, could you get me the next size up as well? I’ve been eating far too many toasted teacakes lately. It always happens in autumn. As soon as there’s a nip in the air, I start reaching for comfort food.’

Fen groaned. ‘My latest obsession is a cheese and thyme scone loaded with butter, served with a hot cappuccino. I’ve had that for elevenses over at the Brambleberry Manor Café every day for the last week.’ Fen was the manager there. ‘Honestly, a café is the worst place to manage if you’re still trying to lose some baby weight.’

‘Too true,’ agreed Ellie. ‘But I mean, you can’t possibly eat loads of salad when the temperature starts to fall, can you?’

‘Speak for yourself,’ said Maddy cheerfully. ‘If I want to still fit into my dream wedding dress on Christmas Eve, I’ve actually got no option. Lettuce, lettuce and more lettuce.’

‘You were eating a double chocolate muffin earlier,’ pointed out Katja with a sly grin.

Maddy shrugged. ‘Well, obviously I can’t just eat lettuce. That would be ridiculous.’

I joined in with the laughter, then noticing Bertha spill her tea and look around for something to wipe it up, I took a cloth over to her table.

‘Oh, thanks, Laurel,’ said Bertha. ‘I’m so clumsy these days. I wonder if it’s a sign I’m getting older?’ She laughed, not looking at all bothered by the prospect, and I thought about Maddy and her worry over her dad. Maybe people were more prone to accidents when they got older?

‘Young girls these days, they need feeding up,’ Olga was saying, clearly disapproving of all the talk about fitting into bridesmaids’ dresses. ‘I tell Katja, “Katja, what you need is hearty helping of my dumpling stew but she always say stop fussing!”.’

Katja, standing nearby, overheard her and laughed. ‘Gran, you know I love your food. But if I ate as much as you keep urging me to, I’d be the size of a double-decker bus in no time.’

‘Ees not healthy to be skinny,’ protested Olga. ‘More meat on the bones!’

Sylvia, who’d been sitting listening in silence, rose to her feet with a little sigh. ‘I remember having a waist as small as Maddy’s when I was younger. But when you reach my ripe old age, you can hardly expect perfection, can you? Even “passable” can be hard won some days.’

‘What do you mean, Sylvia?’ asked Katja, surprised. ‘You always look great.’

Sylvia chuckled. ‘Thank you, my love. I appreciate that. But I think you forgot to add “for your age”. As a paid-up member of the dinosaur brigade, maybe I do look okay. I suppose it’s all relative.’

Before Katja could think of a rejoinder, Sylvia was heading for the door, calling, ‘Right, I’m off. Have fun!’

‘Is Sylvia okay?’ pondered Katja, watching her leave. ‘Where’s she gone?’

‘Home, I presume,’ said Bertha, looking equally puzzled and staring after her friend. She got up and went to the window.

‘Katja? Are you happy with your dress size?’ called Maddy, drawing her friend back to the business in hand.

As I finished wiping the table, Olga leaned closer and whispered to me in a conspiratorial fashion, ‘Ees Sylvia’s 80th birthday next month. I think she is feeling old and decrepit and – how you say it? – over the mountain?’

I smiled. ‘Over the hill. But Sylvia doesn’t look eighty at all! And she always seems to have so much energy.’

Olga nodded in agreement. ‘She is just little baby dinosaur. Me? I am eighty-two and proud of it. In life, you get to a point where you don’t lie about how old you are any more. You start bragging about it instead. But Sylvia... she has not reached that point yet.’

‘Oh, dear. Are there any plans to celebrate her birthday? That’s a big milestone. And it seems like she needs cheering up.’

Olga frowned. ‘She tell family: no party. She will celebrate quietly. With her lovely Mick.’

Bertha came back to the table. ‘What’s that? Sylvia’s big birthday? You see, I think a party would actually cheer her up.’ She looked at Olga. ‘Don’t you think? We could invite all the people who care about her, and there are lots of those in this village. And perhaps it would make her realise how valued she is.’

Olga nodded. ‘I think you are right. A party.’ She smiled, thinking about it. ‘Yes. We will throw her a party! A big surprise party to celebrate her big birthday.’

Bertha smiled. ‘It’s quite short notice to organise it, but it would be worth it. I think she’d love it.’

I nodded, although privately, I was thinking about Sylvia telling her family she didn’t want a party. But Olga and Bertha were Sylvia’s friends. They obviously knew her much better than I did.

‘Excellent.’ Olga beamed. ‘Then we had better get planning. But not a word to Sylvia, okay?’ Looking up at me, she pressed her finger to her lips.

I smiled and mirrored her action. ‘Not a word. I promise.’