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

CHAPTER TWELVE

I was getting ready to leave at four, at the end of my shift, when I happened to look out of the kitchen window – and my heart leaped with surprise to see a familiar car pulling up and parking alongside mine in the little car park.

Mum and Dad were here already!

I explained to Ellie that they’d arrived and she smiled and said why didn’t I invite them in for coffee and cake on the house?

‘Really? You don’t have to do that!’

‘Oh, but I do. In fact, I insist.’ She gave a mischievous smile. ‘I’ve got an ulterior motive, of course. I’d like to meet them and see if they’re as lovely as you’ve told me they are.’

I beamed at her. ‘Well, in that case, I’ll bring them in. Mum was keen to see where I worked this time so I guess that’s why they’ve arrived early.’

Ellie was true to her word and after watching our reunion with an indulgent smile, she took our order herself, brought over cappuccinos with three (larger than usual) wedges of coffee and walnut cake, then left us to catch up, which we did, talking and laughing non-stop.

After a while, Sylvia and Bertha came into the café, and I could tell Bertha was trying to cheer her friend up, asking if she and Mick were planning to do anything nice for her birthday. I knew she was fishing, trying to work out when the surprise party she and Olga were planning could take place. But Sylvia seemed thoroughly down and very vague about any plans. I could see she was trying to make an effort to answer Bertha’s questions, but her heart really wasn’t in it and she was silent for the most part, while Bertha chattered away, filling in the pauses in conversation.

Bertha went off to the counter to get some hot water to top up their teapot, leaving Sylvia sitting alone. She was facing us, so I smiled across and introduced Mum and Dad.

‘This is Sylvia. She used to own the café before Ellie started running it.’

‘Oh, how lovely!’ Mum smiled. ‘I’ve always thought it would be so nice to have a little café somewhere. Hard work as well, though, I’d imagine?’

Sylvia nodded. ‘It was. But I loved it. Although I have to say, Ellie’s doing a much better job than I ever did. I’m so proud of what she’s done here.’

Mum nodded, glancing around. ‘It’s such a lovely place. And with the bakery next door as well. We must pop in there, Keith, before we go.’ She smiled at Sylvia. ‘And it’s your birthday soon? Sorry, I wasn’t being nosy. I just heard your friend say that...’

‘Yes. Yes, it is. It’s a bit of a scary milestone.’ Sylvia grimaced.

‘We’re organising a seventieth birthday party ourselves,’ said Dad. ‘For my aunt.’ He looked suddenly uncomfortable. ‘Sorry, it is your seventieth?’

Sylvia shook her head. ‘I wish. No. Add on a decade.’

‘ You’re eighty ? Oh, my goodness!’ Mum smiled. ‘I honestly thought like Keith that you meant your seventieth birthday.’

‘Even more reason to celebrate,’ agreed Dad. ‘I hope you’re having a party?’

Sylvia shuddered. ‘Ugh, no. Definitely not. The very last thing I want is a party. Who wants to draw attention to themselves on the day they turn very old indeed !’ She laughed but it sounded forced, and my heart went out to her.

Bertha came back with a pot of hot water and we left them to their tea and slices of fruitcake.

‘So... what do you fancy doing while we’re here?’ Mum turned to me with a smile. ‘I must admit, I’d quite like to go into Guildford at some point and have a look around the shops. Maybe have lunch? It’s such a lovely town and it’s ages since we were there.’

My insides shifted uncomfortably. Having seen Jo in Guildford, I’d wondered if she might be living and working there now. She’d been training to be a nurse, like her mum, and she would have graduated in the summer. Guildford was the very last place I wanted to go.

I swallowed. ‘I... weren’t you saying on the phone the other day that you’d never been to Farnham? It’s so pretty and full of the most amazing shops and cafés.’ I smiled brightly, feeling awkward colour flooding into my cheeks. ‘In fact, Farnham’s just been named as the best place to live in Surrey – and that’s in the Sunday Times Best Places to Live guide, which you can’t really argue with, can you? I mean, I’d definitely take their word for it.’

Mum looked a bit surprised. ‘Right. Gosh. Well, Farnham does indeed sound lovely. I don’t know why we’ve never been.’

Dad grinned. ‘You make it sound so great, Laurel, I’m even tempted to visit the place myself, and you know how much I love trailing around shops!’

We all laughed and the subject of Guildford was dropped.

‘Your dad was saying he fancies a stroll across the green and around the village after this, which would be lovely,’ said Mum with a mischievous smile at him. ‘But of course, what he really means is he wants to –’

‘Check out a route for his early morning run?’

‘Bingo!’

Mum and I chuckled while Dad looked suitably sheepish. ‘No reason being on holiday should stop my daily routine, is there?’

‘None at all,’ said Mum. ‘And actually, I’m all for it.’

‘You mean you want to join me?’ he joked, and I gave a belly laugh, knowing this would never happen.

‘Erm, I’ll stick to my yoga and Pilates classes, if you don’t mind,’ said Mum pertly. ‘No, I just meant I love getting the bed to myself for an hour or so every morning.’ She sighed. ‘There’s nothing more relaxing than watching someone force themselves out of a cosy nest before hopping around the room in the semi-dark getting into running gear and cursing under their breath when they collide with the wardrobe. And oh, the golden silence when the front door finally shuts and I can drift off into a blissful snooze for an hour or so.’

‘Nothing’s changed, then, since I left.’ I grinned at Dad. ‘You know, when I was a grumpy teenager, it used to really annoy me, being woken at silly o’clock by your feet thundering down the stairs and the front door clicking shut.’

‘Oh, really? It’s all coming out now!’

‘I used to wonder why on earth you bothered to do it, day after day after day. But now I understand and I’m grateful. It means I’ve probably got the healthiest dad ever.’ I thought about Maddy and her worries about her dad. ‘So please keep doing what you’re doing.’

‘Don’t worry, Kiddo.’ His look was full of affection. ‘I plan to be running until I fall off my perch. Mind you, I sometimes feel truly ancient when I’m hobbling around trying to find my shorts in the dark.’

‘Well, you definitely don’t look your age.’ Mum patted his hand and they exchanged a smile that made my heart glad. Their feelings for each other were as strong as ever, and I’d been wrapped in that wonderful, nurturing, all-enveloping love ever since the day they’d brought me – a scared and confused eleven-year-old little girl – home to live with them...

They were getting up, ready to amble over the green, and I smiled and walked them to the door and said I’d see them back at the cottage. I watched them go, thinking how lucky I was that they’d been happy to adopt an older child. Lots of people, I knew, preferred to hold out for a baby. A while after they adopted me, they asked me if I’d like to call them ‘Mum’ and ‘Dad’ and of course I said yes. After that, I spoke about my biological mother as ‘Jackie’ because otherwise, it was confusing for people. She was still ‘Jackie’ to me...

Later, as I was heading out to my car, I remembered Sylvia’s horrified reaction to Dad’s suggestion that she should celebrate her eightieth.

The very last thing I want is a party!

My heart sank, remembering Olga and Bertha’s determination to give her exactly that: a big surprise birthday party. What should I do? Warn them that a party might not be welcomed by Sylvia?

I barely knew them, though.

They obviously wanted to show Sylvia how much they valued her as a friend. And Sylvia was a popular member of the Sunnybrook community. There were lots of people here who would want to attend a party to mark her fabulous milestone birthday.

Was it really my place to spoil Bertha’s and Olga’s plans?

Maybe I should be warning Sylvia what to expect instead?