Starry Skies Over the Chocolate Pot Cafe

by Jessica Redland

  ‘Where?’ I joined her by the window and looked out. Jed was in the middle of the cobbles talking to someone I didn’t recognise, and laughing. ‘Yes, that’s him. Before I created The Chocolate Pot, this was his family’s café.’

  ‘And you really think he’s opening a café over the road?’

  ‘Certainly seems that way.’

  ‘He’s brave. There’s no way he can compete with The Chocolate Pot. Anastasia’s right about him, though. He is lush.’

  I narrowed my eyes, but I couldn’t see it. Although I had to concede that he wasn’t altogether unpleasant-looking when he was laughing – proper laughter rather than nasty vindictive laughter directed at me. But looks weren’t everything and I knew that, on the inside, he was a very ugly man. And, yes, I suppose I had thought he was attractive when I’d first seen him, but I’d thought the same of Garth. I rest my case.

  Ellen poked her head round the kitchen door later that afternoon. ‘Joyce and Peter wondered if you had five minutes to spare.’

  ‘For them, always. I’ll be two minutes.’

  Joyce and Peter were a couple in their mid-seventies who came into town every Thursday afternoon for a mooch round the shops, no matter what the weather, then stopped by for afternoon tea and a chat with the staff. Everyone loved them, and not just because they were good tippers. Peter was usually fairly quiet, but Joyce was the sort of woman who you warmed to instantly. She always had something positive to say about the food, the décor, or compliments about a team member’s hairstyle or make-up.

  ‘Good afternoon, you two,’ I said, making my way over to their favourite table and sitting down – something I wouldn’t normally dream of doing, but they’d always insisted on me joining them if I had time. ‘How was your afternoon tea?’

  ‘Delicious, as always,’ Peter said.

  ‘We loved the Malteser cake,’ Joyce gushed. ‘Although Peter stole a Malteser off mine.’

  ‘I did not. You had two on your piece and one happened to fall onto my plate.’

  ‘Rubbish,’ Joyce said. ‘You stole it. Anyway, Tara, we wanted to speak to you about your Christmas decorations. They are so beautiful.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  ‘We were looking at those penguins and snowmen on the tree and we’d love to get some for our grandchildren. Would you do me a huge favour? If I give you the money, do you think you could order me five penguins and five snowmen from the person who makes them?’

  ‘I can do you one better than that,’ I said. ‘I ordered too many. I’m pretty certain I’ve got at least five of each upstairs if you want them now. It would save you on postage.’

  ‘That would be wonderful, if you don’t mind. Actually, if you have six of each, I wouldn’t mind one of each for my own tree.’

  ‘Haven’t we got enough decorations already?’ Peter protested.

  ‘You can never have enough decorations,’ she said, shutting him up.

  I checked she was happy with the price, throwing in a little discount for a bulk purchase, then told Ellen where I was going before running upstairs. I wouldn’t have done it for everyone, but they were such good customers. As I packed the decorations into a small gift box, though, I wondered if I’d done the right thing. What if word got round and other people started asking me for them? I don’t know why I was so reluctant to let people know that I was The Cobbly Crafter, especially after all the progress I’d made in letting people in, but I still couldn’t bring myself to do the reveal. Despite everything positive that had happened since I’d started opening up, I still couldn’t fully smash down that wall. I’d have to emphasise again to Joyce that they were surplus and nip it in the bud immediately.

  ‘Here you go.’ I handed over the box when I returned to their table. ‘You were in luck because that was exactly the number I had left. This is the business card from the woman I buy them from, in case you or anyone else want to check out her other items.’ The cards only included a Cobbly Crafter email address and my Etsy site – no phone number – so had zero link back to me.

  ‘Thank you.’ Joyce popped the card into her purse. ‘I really appreciate this. I’d better let you get on.’

  I was about to move away when Joyce said, ‘Oh, by the way, I see you have a new neighbour.’

  My shoulders slumped, but I tried my best to sound cheerful. ‘It looks like it. It was a shame about the gallery. It’s always sad when a business fails.’

  ‘It was hardly surprising, though,’ Peter said. ‘Those cityscapes were depressing and the poor animals looked like they needed a good feed.’

  I laughed. ‘To be fair, they probably weren’t to everyone’s taste.’

  ‘At least Jed has better taste,’ Joyce said.

  ‘You know him?’ I drew out a chair and sat down again.

  ‘Oh yes. We’re good friends with his parents. They live in Great Sandby, round the corner from us. Such a shame what happened to him in Australia.’

  ‘Oh yeah…?’

  ‘Joyce! I don’t think it’s up to us to—’

  ‘Janice and Richie didn’t say it was confidential.’ Joyce flashed him a look that clearly said, ‘butt out’. She leaned in conspiratorially. ‘It was his wife. Nasty piece of work, she was.’

  Despite my loathing of gossip, I found myself moving closer, intrigued. ‘What did she do?’

  ‘What didn’t she do? Going to Australia was Ingrid’s idea. Jed never wanted to go, but she went on and on at him about emigrating. The café wasn’t doing too well so Jed finally agreed as long as they did it well before their little ones started school. Turns out the real reason she wanted to emigrate was that her ex-boyfriend was in Australia and they’d been emailing each other a lot. As soon as she got out there, they started an affair and then she—’

  ‘Enough,’ Peter interjected. ‘If Jed wants everyone to know his business, he’ll tell them. I insist this stops now.’

  I’d never heard him speak so sternly and wondered whether Joyce would ignore him and continue, but she nodded. ‘You’re right. Anyway, Tara, his parents are thrilled to have him back with his two girls, but it’s such a shame that—’

  ‘Sorry to interrupt,’ Ellen said, lightly touching my arm. ‘But Malcolm Dring’s on the phone and I know you wanted to speak to him.’

  ‘Oh, yes, I do. Can you ask him to hang on for a couple of minutes?’ I turned back to Joyce. ‘Sorry. What were you saying?’

  I noticed Peter giving her a hard stare, clearly trying to silence her again.

  ‘Nothing. I was just going to say that it’s such a shame that bad things happen to good people. Jed’s such a nice young man and that woman knew it and took advantage.’ Joyce sighed. ‘You’d better get to your call. Thanks for sorting out these.’ She pointed to the box of tree decorations.

  ‘No problem. See you next week.’

  I took my call from Malcolm from Whitsborough Bay TEC but, afterwards, all I could think about was Joyce’s tale, or the part of it that Peter had allowed her to tell. I couldn’t stand the man, but nobody deserved to be dragged to the other side of the world so their wife could have an affair with her ex, away from friends and family and the natural support group that would rally round at times like that. I knew how hard it could be with nobody to turn to. Still didn’t make him a nice bloke, though, no matter how much Joyce gushed about him.

  22

  A loud bang on the door shortly before 7.30 a.m. on Saturday morning made me jump and drop my spatula on the floor, splattering buttercream everywhere.

  I opened the door to Carly who was wearing the biggest smile I’d ever seen. ‘Liam proposed last night,’ she squealed.

  ‘Oh my goodness. Congratulations.’ I hugged her tightly. ‘I’m so thrilled for you both.’

  ‘Let’s see the ring, then,’ I said when we pulled apart.

  Carly held her hand out and I smiled at the platinum band with a large diamond and two smaller ones set either side of it.

  ‘It’s gorgeous. The boy has taste, b
ut I already knew that because he picked you.’

  ‘Aw, thank you. I’m so excited.’ I could tell. She could barely stand still and it gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside.

  ‘Have you got time for a celebratory hot chocolate?’

  ‘Only if I’m not disturbing you.’

  ‘If you don’t mind drinking it in the kitchen while I do some baking…’

  She made her way into the kitchen while I made us both drinks.

  ‘I didn’t see it coming,’ she said, taking her drink from me. ‘Obviously, I knew he was going to ask me at some point, but I thought he might do it at Christmas or New Year. He knew that’s what I’d be expecting and he wanted it to be a surprise so that’s why he went for last night.’

  ‘How did he propose?’ I asked as I sieved flour into a mixing bowl.

  ‘We’d been invited for dinner at his parents’ house and it was such a mild evening that he suggested we go early and have a walk. His parents, like mine, still live in the houses we were both brought up in and, as kids, we used to spend hours wandering round the streets and across the fields, chatting about anything and everything. Neither of us have been on a walk round there since leaving home so it was a lovely trip down memory lane. We passed Farmer Duggan’s field. Do you remember me telling you that we made snow angels in there when we were fifteen and it was then that I realised I saw him as more than a friend?’

  ‘I remember. Aw, was that where he proposed?’

  She nodded. ‘The field was boggy so we didn’t go in and obviously it’s not the time of year for snow angels but we leaned on the wall just past the stile and reminisced about that day and how it was the moment we both fell in love. We turned to walk back towards his parents’ house and he said, “What’s that on the stile?” I could see something catching the streetlight and, when I stepped closer, it was the ring. He’d planted it there as we passed and I turned round to see him on bended knee. When we got back to his parents’ house, it turned out they were all in on it. My parents were there too with Bethany and Joshua and they had champagne, balloons and happy engagement banners. It was a special moment.’

  ‘When do you think you’ll get married? Next year?’

  She shook her head. ‘The year after. We’re a couple of weeks into the shop’s busiest season so I don’t have time to look round venues at the moment. We’ll look at the start of next year ready for the following year. We’re thinking maybe September. But, because we’re waiting for a couple of years, we would like to celebrate getting engaged. I know you have Maria’s wedding on Monday, but I wondered how you’d feel about an engagement party here two weeks tonight.’

  The buzzer went on the oven so I bent down to retrieve a tray of caramel and banana blondies. Placing the tray on a cooling rack, I turned back to Carly. ‘Sorry about that. Two weeks tonight, you say? So that would be…?’

  ‘The twenty-fourth. It’s the Saturday between the Best of The Bay Awards and the Christmas tree lights switch-on. Liam and I would sort out the decorations and we can help with the catering, but we understand if it’s too much happening at once. We were only thinking of that date because Liam’s sister and her family are coming up from Exeter that weekend. She’ll be up again at some point next year, though.’

  I smiled. ‘No, it’s all good. Yes, you can book The Chocolate Pot for that night.’

  Carly squealed. ‘Yes! Thank you so much.’

  ‘Pleasure. I’m so excited for you both.’

  ‘Me too. I can’t believe I’m finally marrying my best friend after lusting after him for so many years.’

  ‘The best things come to those who wait,’ I said.

  ‘They certainly do.’

  I put a tray of sticky toffee brownies into the oven. ‘Do you think I should start promoting The Chocolate Pot for functions from next year? Assuming Jed doesn’t beat me to it and nab the business.’

  ‘Have you seen any more of him?’

  ‘No. There were workmen in yesterday, as you’ll have seen, but I didn’t spot him. You know Joyce and Peter? They told me why he’s back from Australia.’ I cringed. ‘If I tell you, I’ll sound like I’m gossiping.’

  ‘Not if you only tell me because I won’t tell anyone else, so it’s not like we’re spreading it.’

  Reassured, I told her about my conversation with Joyce.

  ‘Is it making you see him in a different light?’ Carly asked.

  ‘I’ll admit that there’s a teeny-weeny fragment of sympathy for him, but Joyce seems to think the sun shines out of his arse, whereas I just think he is an arse. Therefore, I can’t help wondering if there’s more to it than Joyce said.’

  ‘You think he was up to no good too?’

  ‘I don’t know. Maybe. When I met Jed, he looked me up and down and acted all flirty. What’s to say he wasn’t a saint?’

  Carly shrugged. ‘I’ve never met him so I can’t comment. I usually find there are two sides to every story and, somewhere in the midst of it, is the truth.’ She gulped down the last of her hot chocolate. ‘I’d better go. I need to put the finishing touches to a birthday cake for collection at nine. You’re sure about the party, though?’

  ‘I’m very sure. Why don’t you both come round after we close tomorrow and we can do some planning?’

  ‘That would be perfect. Thank you again. And yes to you running functions next year, by the way. You’d do brilliantly.’

  I saw Carly to the door, then stood in the fresh air for a couple of minutes.

  ‘You can stare at it as much as you like, but it’s not going to go away.’

  I turned to face my nemesis. ‘For your information, Jed, I wasn’t even looking at your stupid café. I was thinking.’

  ‘About me?’

  I wrinkled my nose and frowned at him. ‘As if. Get over yourself.’ I stepped inside and moved to close the door, but Jed put his foot out to stop it.

  ‘Any chance of a coffee?’

  ‘None whatsoever.’

  ‘But I’m thirsty and I haven’t got a kettle yet.’

  ‘Have you got a tap?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Then have some water.’

  ‘I haven’t got any mugs or glasses either. And I’d really like a coffee. Please.’

  ‘Oh, for God’s sake. Wait here.’ I strode across to the counter and grabbed one of our paper takeaway cups then strode back and thrust it at him.

  ‘What’s this?’

  ‘A cup. So you can have some water. Don’t forget to recycle it. Goodbye.’ With a shove, I closed and locked the door then returned to the kitchen where I released a deep breath. That had been mean of me. I was never mean. Why did he make me behave like a little kid?

  Moments later, a key turned in the door and I heard Maria’s voice saying, ‘No, it’s not a problem. We’re not officially open for another ten minutes, but I’m sure I can sort you out a coffee. The machine will be on already.’

  ‘Thank you. Very kind of you.’

  I poked my head out of the kitchen and Jed gave me a satisfied smirk. Horrible man. I wasn’t sorry I’d been mean to him after all.

  23

  On Monday morning, I placed the final collection of balloons in the corner of the first floor then stepped back and smiled at Sheila. ‘What do you think?’

  ‘It looks beautiful,’ she said. ‘I knew it would look good, but this is something else.’

  ‘It’s pretty impressive, isn’t it?’ I dug my phone out my pocket. ‘I need to take some photos while it all looks immaculate.’

  Maria and Marc had chosen a grey, pink and ivory colour scheme for their wedding. I’d hired in some silver chairs with ivory seat pads and ivory voile bows fastened to the backs. Sarah from Seaside Blooms had already been in with the flowers. She’d made large pink and white arrangements on plinths for upstairs and downstairs, a table arrangement for the register signing table upstairs, a matching one for the café counter downstairs, a collection of small arrangements in sparkly silver vases for th
e tables, and some swathes of ivy and gypsophila for the staircase and round the windows.

  ‘Anything else need doing?’ Sheila asked when I’d finished taking photos.

  Whipping my list out of my pocket, I scanned down it. ‘No. I think that’s all done so get yourself home and changed and I’ll see you back here at one.’

  The 2 p.m. ceremony would be attended by a small, select gathering of roughly twenty guests. More guests were invited from 4 p.m. including several of the Castle Street traders, although they’d mainly be joining us from six onwards once they’d closed for the day and had the opportunity to freshen up and change.

  Back downstairs, I let Sheila out then checked on Nathan and Molly in the kitchen who’d both skipped lectures for the day.

  ‘We need about another half an hour in here,’ Molly said, while Nathan removed a couple of quiches from the oven.

  ‘Okay. I’m going to get changed so can you make sure the door is on the latch when you leave?’

  ‘Will do,’ Molly said. ‘I can’t wait to see Maria in her dress. I bet she looks stunning.’

  ‘I bet she does too. See you both later and thanks for this morning. You’ve been amazing.’

  ‘We’ve enjoyed it,’ Nathan said, smiling. I was pretty certain that part of the enjoyment came from working together. They were such a cute couple, yet they made sure that their relationship remained professional at work.

  All the staff were invited to the ceremony and had been told that partners were welcome to join them afterwards. Maria wanted it to be informal and for everyone to enjoy themselves. There was still work to be done, though, so I decided to pay everyone a bonus on the assumption that they would enjoy themselves and be guests, but they would all help out where needed, stocking up the food, preparing more hot food during the evening, clearing away plates and glasses. We weren’t licensed so Maria and Marc had provided several bottles of wine, cans of lager, and soft drinks.

  I was showered, changed and back downstairs at 12.30 p.m., wearing a dress. When I lived in London, I wore dresses all the time, but couldn’t actually remember the last time I’d worn one in Whitsborough Bay. I’d chosen a dark blue wrap-around dress with a large floral print. It fell to just under knee-length at the front but was shaped to almost floor-length at the back. The style seemed to fit with the informal wedding vibe that Maria was keen to have – smart and classy without being too formal. I wasn’t convinced I’d make it through the entire evening in the strappy blue heels so I placed a pair of ballet pumps at the bottom of the internal stairs just in case.