The Cherry Tree Cafe

by Heidi Swain

  ‘Doesn’t it always?’ I said with an understanding smile.

  If it hadn’t been for Dad’s timely generosity there was no way I could have even allowed myself the luxury of dreaming about crafting at the Cherry Tree.

  ‘If I could just lay my hands on enough to tide me over for a couple of months I’m sure I could make a go of it,’ Jay continued.

  ‘So folks, what can I get you?’ Evelyn asked. ‘I take it you are eating?’ she added, throwing me a quizzical gaze.

  Jay looked at me expectantly. He was wearing his glasses again and I had to admit they really did enhance his appeal considerably.

  ‘Oh go on then,’ I smiled, then quickly added, ‘a couple of hours won’t hurt. I can sort out what I was supposed to be doing tomorrow as easily as tonight.’

  ‘As long as you’re sure?’ Jay asked, his sparkling blue eyes searching my face. ‘Date back on?’

  ‘Date back on,’ I confirmed.

  We ordered quickly. I hadn’t realised just how hungry I was, but after Evelyn left us the thread of conversation was lost and we sat for a few moments in awkward silence.

  ‘So it’s all systems go with the crafting classes now then, is it,’ Jay asked eventually, ‘or do I still detect a glimmer of hesitation?’

  He looked at me intently, his observation too astute to be anything near comfortable and I turned again to my cider, my second cider. I gave myself a moment in which to consider whether I knew him well enough to confide in him. Did I trust him enough to share my current conundrum?

  In many ways, as he had suggested earlier, we were the same; both passionate about handcrafted and homemade and both about to embark upon the self-employment path with all its associated excitement and pitfalls. Surely it would be OK to talk to him about the City Crafting Café and Deborah’s proposals, wouldn’t it? In the absence of my best friend and faced with such inner turmoil I didn’t see that I had much choice if I didn’t want to go completely mad.

  ‘Something has come up,’ I began tentatively, ‘something that might mean a change of plan for me.’

  ‘Go on,’ Jay encouraged, taking off his glasses and cleaning them on his napkin.

  I explained about Deborah’s business, Heather’s health scare and the fact that I now had first option on the place if I wanted to buy it.

  ‘But what about the Cherry Tree?’ he asked as he picked up his knife and fork. ‘What about Jemma and Tom?’

  ‘I haven’t dared mention it to either of them yet,’ I cringed, colour flooding my face, ‘I don’t want to say anything until I’ve made a decision and if I do decide against it I probably won’t say anything at all to be honest.’

  ‘Why upset the apple cart,’ Jay nodded in agreement.

  ‘Exactly, but even if I do go ahead it won’t impact on the Cherry Tree financially. I wouldn’t dream of pulling out the money I’ve already invested.’

  ‘I didn’t know you had invested,’ Jay said, his eyebrows raised.

  I coloured an even deeper shade as I realised how indiscreet I had been to mention the Café’s financial arrangements.

  ‘Oh not much,’ I said casually, ‘I just wanted to help get the place going and of course if I do decide to stay then I’ve secured myself a share in the business as well as a roof over my head, haven’t I?’

  I shut up then. Playing back in my head what I had just said, my words sounded calculated and callous and that wasn’t how I felt about the Cherry Tree at all. I’d invested because I loved the place, like I loved Jemma and Tom and Ella. My interest in the Café was bound up with far deeper emotions, with family and friendship and you couldn’t and shouldn’t ever put a price on that.

  ‘So what’s the latest scandal at the paper?’ I asked, draining my glass and steering the conversation in to safer waters.

  By half ten I was yawning and soon discovered I was more than a little tipsy when I stood up to leave. My earlier plan to cancel our date had turned into dinner, dessert and a couple more drinks and I wasn’t entirely sure how it had happened.

  ‘No,’ Jay insisted as I pulled out my purse to go halves on the meal, ‘this one is on me. I asked you, remember?’

  I stuffed my purse away and leant across the table on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek as a thank you for what had turned out to be such a lovely evening. However, just at the crucial moment he turned his head and what should have been a light peck turned into a full on kiss, complete with eye contact, a quickened pulse and a definite flicker of desire that started in my toes and blazed a trail towards my stomach.

  ‘Now then, you two!’ Jim boomed as he came through with the bill. ‘Break it up, will you? It isn’t that kind of establishment!’

  As soon as I opened my eyes the next morning I knew something was wrong. I couldn’t see properly for a start, everything was fuzzy and out of focus.

  ‘Here, I thought you’d probably need this.’

  I pulled myself upright, far too quickly, according to the way my stomach complained, and took the mug Jay proffered with a sheepish grin.

  ‘Thanks,’ I croaked. Apparently my voice had come out in sympathy with my eyes.

  I sat back and breathed in the rejuvenating smell of the strong, black coffee he had made.

  ‘How’re you feeling?’

  ‘I’ve been better,’ I whispered, self-consciously pulling the duvet tighter around me.

  ‘You were pretty drunk last night!’ Jay laughed, his words hitting my tender head like a sledge hammer, ‘and you’d only had a few halves of cider!’

  ‘I don’t usually drink it any more,’ I said weakly. ‘I learnt the hard way what kind of effect it has on me.’

  Jay smirked and patted my leg sympathetically. I couldn’t remember getting home; in fact, I couldn’t remember anything much beyond the kiss in the pub.

  ‘Did you stay?’ I asked, fearing the worst.

  I gingerly moved my legs in the bed and was relieved the sense of touch hadn’t deserted me. I still had my jeans on and my top. It could have been worse.

  ‘Yes,’ Jay smiled. ‘I slept on the sofa. I didn’t like to leave you on your own. I hope that was OK?’

  I nodded my thanks and took a sip of the hot bitter coffee.

  ‘We talked for hours,’ Jay explained, beginning to fill in the gaps. ‘Can’t you remember anything?’

  Embarrassed by the state I must have been in, I shook my head.

  ‘Oh well, that’s a shame,’ Jay said, standing up.

  ‘You’ll have to help me out, I’m afraid.’

  ‘No, it doesn’t matter,’ he said, moving to the door.

  ‘No please,’ I insisted, ‘go on. I hope I didn’t embarrass myself,’ I cringed, ‘I didn’t suggest anything inappropriate, did I?’

  ‘You offered to put some money in towards the launch of my framing business actually, but if you can’t remember.’

  Had I? Had I really offered to do that? It certainly didn’t sound like the sort of thing I would do, but then I had been drunk, very drunk. I didn’t know what to say.

  ‘Don’t worry about it,’ Jay said with a shrug, ‘it doesn’t matter. I’ve got an appointment with the bank. I’m going to see if I can get a loan.’

  ‘But when we looked through your portfolio you told me you didn’t want to start the business beholden to the bank.’

  Now that I could remember; we had been talking about it early on in the evening. I wracked my brains but still couldn’t remember the part where I’d apparently jumped in to save the day.

  ‘Is there really no other way?’ I frowned, feeling increasingly guilty that I had dashed Jay’s hopes, especially now that I was beginning to find him so attractive. ‘Is there no one else you could ask, family perhaps?’

  ‘No, I’m afraid not. You really were my last hope, Lizzie.’

  ‘Well, in that case I feel even more sorry,’ I said.

  He came back into the room and sat next to me on the edge of the bed.

  ‘I should never have said I’d h
elp and being drunk was no excuse.’

  ‘Then you really can’t help?’ he asked, pushing my guilt level up another excruciating notch. ‘Not even a couple of thousand?’

  I couldn’t believe he’d asked. Surely he could see how bad I felt? If he was trying to guilt me into making another offer he was making a right hash of it. I didn’t say anything and he stood up again.

  ‘Sorry,’ he said, colour flooding his face, ‘I didn’t mean to ask you like that. It’s just that last night I really thought I was there, but it’s not your fault. I’ll go to the bank.’

  ‘I really am sorry, Jay,’ I said again, ‘I never meant to make you feel like this.’

  ‘I know,’ he said sadly. ‘I’ll see you later.’

  By mid-morning my head had stopped spinning so I went down to the Café. I didn’t really want to in my fragile state, but I was worried about Jemma. Yes, I was annoyed she had been talking so freely about my love life in front of Ella but she was still my best friend and I knew there was something bugging her besides cupcake orders. I wondered if she knew there was something bugging me too.

  ‘Help yourself to coffee,’ she smirked as soon as I appeared, ‘something tells me you need it this morning!’

  My concern was stamped out in a second. She looked far too smug for my liking and I didn’t think I could take one of her ‘I told you so’ lectures about my love life with such a gargantuan hangover in tow.

  ‘So,’ she said, drying her hands and joining me at the counter, ‘how was your evening?’

  Bloody Jim! That unfortunate kiss was probably the hottest gossip the pub had been a party to since I did a bunk with Giles. I really needed to kick this unfortunate habit of providing the town with their regular supply of tittle-tattle.

  ‘It was OK,’ I said tentatively, ‘but whatever Jim has been saying, you can guarantee . . .’

  ‘I haven’t spoken to Jim,’ Jemma interrupted, ‘although I know now I probably should if I want all the goss! I saw Jay leaving the flat this morning.’

  That was even worse. I could hardly tell Jemma the truth, could I? I couldn’t imagine that she would be thrilled to learn how I had blabbed about my investment in the Café and how I had then gone on to offer Jay, the guy I had only just met and shared one fleeting kiss with, the same level of financial commitment!

  ‘We met in the pub,’ I explained lamely, ‘and I had a bit too much to drink. Jay stayed at the flat to make sure I was OK. Nothing happened,’ I added feebly.

  Jemma held up her hands and laughed.

  ‘It’s nothing to do with me!’ she grinned. ‘I’m not your mother.’

  ‘I just didn’t want you to think—’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Oh I don’t know. I didn’t want you to think it meant anything. Yes, I admit I like him but I’m not about to jump into a relationship – let alone bed – with him.’

  I knew I was rambling and the more drivel I spouted the more it looked like I had something to hide. I waited for Jemma to continue teasing but the mention of relationships and beds seemed to have halted her in her tracks.

  ‘Can you come round to the house for dinner tonight?’ she asked seriously. ‘It’s important.’

  ‘Sure,’ I told her, my concern rushing back, ‘is everything all right?’

  ‘Everything’s fine,’ she smiled, ‘it just seems like ages since we had a chance to chat properly without Café business getting in the way. Talking of which, you haven’t got time to help me clear a couple of tables have you?’

  Chapter 24

  Later that day during a long, hot soak, I grabbed the opportunity to have a long, hard think about all the things that were happening in my life and try to marshal them into some sort of order. As I lay immersed in a Soap and Glory bubble bath complete with cup of tea and a slice of Jemma’s delectable red velvet cake, I realised it was high time I stopped floundering about. If I didn’t get my act together and make some decisions soon then I was in real danger of missing out. I’d come a long way in the months since my break-up with Giles, but I wasn’t home and dry yet; there were still hurdles to face and conquer.

  There could be no denying that I had fallen head over heels in love with my little flat, the Cherry Tree Café, and all its associated opportunities. I had not, however, fallen head over heels in love with Jay, because annoyingly my heart still belonged to Ben. As I turned from smooth goddess to prune and the water became more tepid than tempting, I had to admit that in spite of everything that had happened I was still as crazy about him as I had been when we were at school.

  I loved Ben, body and soul, and it didn’t matter that he wasn’t around or that our Skype session had been a disastrous fail; my heart had been touched and I still wasn’t over the boy I’d lusted after in the school canteen and beyond. My heart was apparently the one part of my anatomy that refused to toe the line.

  I leant forward, turned the hot tap and felt the wave of warm water wash over me. Last night I had been tempted, with the assistance of too much cider, to kiss Jay but I still wasn’t convinced that I had offered him any money. Dad had taught me to be careful with the little I had and I couldn’t imagine that I’d been so drunk that I’d been tempted to throw caution to the wind and offer to fritter away Granny’s life savings, but how could I be sure? Cider had always had a funny effect on both my body and my behaviour.

  And what about the City Crafting Café? Yes, I loved the place; it had healed and soothed me on one of my darkest post-Giles days, but did I want to buy it? Did I want it to be my future? Did I really want to move back to the bustle of the city or was I happier here in Wynbridge? Surely being close to family and friends was of more value than anything else, wasn’t it?

  As I pulled the plug and reached for my towel I knew I had finally made up my mind.

  Bottle of Prosecco in hand, I opened the gate and walked up the little path to Jemma and Tom’s front door. Ella banged on the bay window and waved, bouncing up and down excitedly. I could see her mouth opening and closing, her warm breath on the window and wondered why she was so thrilled by my arrival. Before I had a chance to raise the knocker, the door was snatched open.

  ‘Hello, Lizzie.’

  I stood open mouthed, the bottle slipping a little in my grasp as I took in the tanned vision before me. It was all I could do to stop myself from jumping up and throwing my arms around his neck. It was such a jolt to see him, a wholly pleasurable jolt according to my traitorous heart and it started in the soles of my feet and spread with alarming speed throughout my entire body. Over and over again a little voice in my head kept repeating ‘he loved you once, he loved you once’ whilst a more cautionary adversary fought back with ‘and he hated you too and he hated you too.’

  ‘Oh,’ I said, ignoring them both, ‘hello. Still no beard then.’

  ‘Still no beard,’ Ben smiled guardedly. ‘I couldn’t cope with the tan lines.’

  I craned my neck to look around him, fully expecting to see the Spanish bikini clad beauty who had been doing her utmost to get him dancing, but the hallway was empty.

  ‘I didn’t know you were coming back,’ I said.

  ‘About that,’ he began, ‘I know . . .’

  ‘But then if it was left to you,’ I cut in, ‘I still wouldn’t know that you’d gone, would I?’

  Ben nodded. His eyes fixed firmly on mine.

  ‘Yes, I’m sorry about that. I know I should have told you. I had planned to, but it was all such a rush. A spur of the moment thing really and then the Skype session was such a disaster.’

  ‘No matter,’ I interrupted with a shrug. I thrust the bottle into his hand and brushed past into the hall. ‘You’re a free agent. It’s nothing to do with me and like you’re so fond of saying, it’s all water under the bridge, isn’t it?’

  Less than an hour ago I had been lying in a bubble bath privately admitting that I was head over heels in love with this man, but now, faced with the reality of him, I was terrified of falling so obviously under h
is spell, especially as we shared such apparently cataclysmic ‘baggage’, the details of which I still knew very little about. I took a deep breath and warned my brain and my heart not to become befuddled by the tantalisingly tanned features and reassuring presence of the man who had vanished without giving me a second thought.

  ‘Lizzie!’ Ella suddenly shouted as she raced up the stairs. ‘Will you come and read me a bedtime story?’

  ‘Of course I will, poppet, hang on.’

  I trotted up the stairs after her and away from danger before I was completely ensnared.

  ‘Did you know he was coming back?’ I hissed at Jemma, when I finally joined her in the kitchen. ‘Is this why you asked me to come to dinner tonight?’

  ‘Yes,’ she answered shortly, ‘we did know.’

  ‘You panicked this morning when I mentioned Jay and bed in the same sentence, didn’t you?’ I whispered, not picking up on her frosty tone. ‘You thought I was going to fall for him and you wanted to give me one last chance with Ben?’

  ‘Maybe,’ she muttered, ‘but now something else has come up and it’s all gone rather sour. I’m going to check on Ella and after dinner we need to talk. Stir this, would you?’

  I stirred the risotto as instructed whilst Tom set the table and Ben opened the Prosecco. I tried to avoid looking at either of them and wondered what had happened to put Jemma in such a foul mood.

  ‘I’m only going to apologise so many times,’ Ben whispered as he leant past me to reach the glasses. ‘I’ve actually come back to tell you why I went in the first place and to explain my mother’s silly comments.’

  ‘Honestly, I’m not bothered,’ I lied, feeling secretly pleased that his clandestine exit had played on his mind. ‘You should have saved yourself the air fare. You could have sent me a text or set up another Skype session if you were that worried.’

  ‘I’m being serious,’ he snapped, ‘there are things I need to tell you.’

  ‘Like how you’ve fallen in love with the sarong-wearing dance partner?’ I said lightly.

  ‘The what?’

  ‘The girl in the club or wherever you were!’