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

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

I gazed worriedly at my reflection in the bedroom mirror.

It was over a week since the charity day at Radio Daydream and I’d told Maddy I’d be at the Sunnybrook Pudding Club tonight. But I was having second thoughts.

I was all right at work, chatting to the customers. But that was just small talk. What if, in a social setting, over a glass of wine, people started asking probing questions about my life before Sunnybrook? I really wasn’t prepared for that...

Then I thought about what Mum had said about not letting what had happened with Gavin prevent me from forging a happy future. She was right. I had to be brave otherwise I’d be stuck in limbo forever. So, taking a deep breath, I stood up and fetched my coat. Grabbing my keys before I could change my mind again, I ran down the stairs and out to the car, then I drove the short distance to the café.

It was a Thursday in October, dark already at six-thirty, and the pavements were glittering with frost. The temperature had plunged alarmingly in recent days, and the forecasters were even warning about the possibility of snow.

After parking on the high street, I joined Pudding Club members hurrying over the green towards the café, all huddled against the icy air in winter coats fresh out of hibernation. Ellie had dressed the outside of the building with strings of fairy lights for the occasion and against the darkness, the place looked like something out of a fairy-tale. I was surprised she hadn’t put up her new Christmas tree as well! Well, it was October...

‘Annalise is doing “pastry” tonight,’ Maddy had reminded me earlier that day. She was to be helping Ellie out, along with Katja and Fen. ‘Are you going to come along?’

I’d been about to do my usual thing of saying I couldn’t make it. But I had a feeling that Maddy would see right through any excuse I invented.

‘Sounds like it’ll be a good night,’ I said truthfully. ‘Okay, Pudding Club it is!’

‘Great.’ Maddy gave me a thumbs-up. ‘I’ve persuaded Mum and Dad to come along tonight. I think it would be good for them to get out and do something different.’

‘Is he okay? Your dad?’

‘Yes, he seems fine. I think I was just worrying too much.’ She pursed her lips. ‘Families!’

‘Yes, indeed. You never stop worrying about your parents.’

‘I guess it’ll be like that with kids as well. You never stop worrying about them, either, and so the torture goes on.’ She grinned. ‘I only hope the joys of having children will outweigh everything else.’

‘Oh, so will we be hearing the patter of tiny feet any time soon, then?’

‘Well, Jack’s desperate for kids. He’d have a dozen if I would only agree to it!’

I laughed. ‘So you won’t be having twelve, then. What’s your ideal number?’

‘I think three’s a nice number, although that could be because there’s three of us – my twin sisters and me.’

I nodded. ‘One kid and they might be lonely. Two and there might be too much fierce competition between them. But three... there’s safety in numbers with three, I think.’ I chuckled. ‘Whatever that means.’

‘And crazy chaos for eighteen years until you pack them off to college.’

‘Absolutely.’

Maddy stopped wiping the table and stared into the distance, a little smile on her lips. ‘Jack is going to be the most amazing dad.’

Snapping out of her dreamy trance, she smiled. ‘I’ll definitely draw the line at three, though. We do not need a football team.’

Now, as I crossed the green, heading for the café, I smiled to myself at the conversation we’d had about how many children Maddy wanted. It was something I’d thought about myself when I was with Gavin, although we hadn’t decided on an actual number. My smile slipped. Now, just the thought of having kids with that man made my stomach churn.

Imagine if the scales had never fallen from my eyes and I’d actually married him!

I’d definitely had a lucky escape that day – if you could call it lucky...

I entered the café to a lovely buzz of conversation and laughter, and thankfully Ellie was at the door welcoming people so I wasn’t walking in there alone, wondering if anyone would talk to me.

‘Laurel! Glad you could come. I hope you’re hungry.’

‘Oh, yes. I’m always hungry for pudding.’

She leaned closer and whispered, ‘Have I got paint in my hair? I tried to get it out but I couldn’t see the back properly.’

I chuckled and inspected. ‘Nope. You’re fine.’

‘Good. That’s a relief. We’ve been painting the upstairs all day, Zak and I, and I didn’t leave myself enough time to get ready for tonight.’ She glanced around anxiously. ‘I think we’re all set, though. Annalise is just setting up in the function room, ready to do the demo.’

‘Can’t wait! So you’re decorating in time for Christmas, then?’

‘Yes.’ Her eyes sparkled. ‘We moved there last year but we’ve been too busy to decorate. But now it’s time for “out with the old and in with the new”!’

‘Lovely.’ I smiled. ‘So do I just take a seat anywhere?’

‘Yes. Anywhere you like.’ She looked around. ‘Why don’t you join Primrose and her partner Sam on that table over there? They’re sitting with Maddy’s parents, Barry and Val.’

‘Okay.’ I really liked Primrose. She sometimes helped Ellie out at the café if we were short-staffed, although being a relatively new mum, her toddler George tended to keep her very busy indeed.

The wine and the food – a delicious chicken tagine, served with pomegranate couscous – turned out to be excellent, and so was the company. Maddy’s mum and dad, Barry and Val, were really good company, and Primrose and Sam made us all laugh with tales of their little boy’s first few weeks at nursery.

‘I was all set for tantrums and clinginess the first time I left George,’ said Primrose. ‘But then he just took one look at the toys on offer, his eyes grew as big as saucers and he ran in without even a backward glance.’ She grinned. ‘Turned out it was me who needed the therapy, not him.’

Sam chuckled. ‘When I went to collect him the other day, he’d completely vanished. The staff were panicking because he’d been there the minute before – then we found him hiding in the Wendy house under a blanket because he wanted to stay longer and wasn’t ready to go home yet!’

‘He gets grumpy if we arrive too early,’ said Primrose. ‘And I eventually worked out it’s because he doesn’t want to miss the end-of-the-day snack.’

‘They’re so funny, aren’t they?’ smiled Maddy’s mum. ‘I remember Maddy’s first sports day, she was all excited, jumping up and down, and proudly telling everyone she came first in the race at the back! In other words, she was last.’

‘Aw, that’s so cute,’ I laughed.

‘Don’t tell her I told you. She hates me telling that story!’

At that moment, Ellie clapped her hands, stilling the chatter. ‘Right. I hope you’re all enjoying your evening? When you’re ready, if you’d like to move next door where Annalise is waiting to welcome you to the part of the evening I know you’ve all been waiting for – her pudding demonstration! I hope you like the puddings on the menu tonight as much as I do, and Annalise will also be showing you how to make a truly spectacular dessert that’s guaranteed to completely ‘wow’ your guests – maybe one to try over the approaching festive season? Anyway, enjoy!’

Murmurs of interest followed this announcement and we all began moving through for the hotly anticipated demonstration.

The delights on offer turned out to be a delicious-looking Bakewell tart made with buttery shortcrust pastry, and Mille Feuille , delicate layers of puff pastry sandwiched together with raspberries and whipped cream, and iced on top.

‘And now for the star of the night,’ announced Annalise with a smile. ‘Has anyone ever made a croquembouche ?’ From the murmurs and head shakes, it appeared no one had. ‘Otherwise known as a profiterole tower, a croquembouche is a French dessert made of choux pastry puffs piled into a cone shape and bound with threads of caramel. It’s often served at weddings in France and you might have seen one in a photograph and wondered how difficult it would be to construct.’ She smiled. ‘Actually, it’s not hard at all... and well worth the patience involved when you see the final result adorning your dinner table.’

She demonstrated how to make the choux pastry puffs and the limoncello cream filling, then she brought out a large box of them which she’d filled earlier and showed us how to carefully construct the tall tower using melted chocolate to secure the pastry puffs in place. As a final flourish, she drizzled caramel sauce and spun sugar all over the magnificent dessert, and everyone burst into spontaneous applause. Annalise looked relieved and quite pink in the face with delight that it had all gone according to plan.

Everyone started getting up then, eager to move into the café so they could sample the desserts they’d just seen being made so skilfully. I stood up with everyone else and started moving towards the door with Val on one side of me and Barry on the other.

People were pausing beside the table that held the croquembouche to have a closer look, and I saw that Val was moving in that direction so I followed her. But Barry, who’d nipped ahead of us, turned to indicate to Val that he was going straight through to the café.

But as he turned around, he somehow lost his footing and stumbled, bumping into the table.

Several people gasped as the beautiful, glittery, caramel choux bun tower swayed to one side, before collapsing into a gooey mess on the floor...