The Sunflower Cottage Breakfast Club

by Lynsey James

  My thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.

  ‘Come in,’ I said.

  My voice was thick and laden with unshed tears. I did a cursory swipe of my face, checking I didn’t look like Gwyneth Paltrow after her Oscars speech.

  Noah’s head popped round the door and his face immediately took on a look of concern.

  ‘Are you OK?’ He took cautious steps into the room, glancing at me then at the pile of envelopes surrounding me. ‘I was just coming up to ask if you wanted a cup of tea and a bite to eat.’

  I shook my head and sniffed. ‘No, thanks, I’m fine.’

  He raised his eyebrows and looked at me as though I’d just told him I was really Jennifer Aniston in disguise.

  ‘If this is you when you’re fine, I dread to think what “not fine” looks like. I can go into the garage a bit later if you like; why don’t we head into the village for something to eat? It’s been a pretty awful morning and I think we could both do with a treat.’

  I stared at him, mouth hanging open with shock. ‘Um… I… I shouldn’t really. I’ve got a ton of work to do…’

  I haphazardly gestured to my laptop and ended up looking like a gabbling idiot. Noah shook his head and rolled his eyes, a broad smile crossing his face.

  ‘Emily, have you ever heard of a thing called “relaxing”? It’s something people do sometimes instead of working or ruining breakfasts. Come on, I’ve got some making up to do for being a complete dick to you. We could even discuss some ideas for the breakfast club too, if you want?’

  I tapped my chin and pretended to consider his offer. ‘Well, when you put it like that,’ I said, ‘how can I refuse?’

  *

  As the sun shone brightly over Luna Bay, bathing everything in a summery glow, Noah and I walked side by side in search of something to eat.

  ‘How about the Moonlight Café?’ he suggested, pointing to it. ‘Diane’s cakes are second to none round here.’

  My chest tightened and my mouth became dry. I’d managed to avoid going in so far, and I planned to keep it that way for as long as I could.

  ‘Um…’ I frantically scrabbled round my mind for an excuse. ‘I… I don’t like cake.’

  What? Who DOESN’T like cake? Good lie, Emily.

  Noah frowned. ‘OK, I know you’re a health freak but that’s taking it way too far. Cake’s a way of life round here, and if you taste Diane’s you’ll see why. In fact, I insist on it. Come on, we’re going in; I’m not letting you miss this.’

  He charged over to the café, leaving me trailing in his wake. The closer I got, the more terrified I became. This was it, I thought; this was when she was going to find out. I’d step into the café, she’d see me and she’d know. Something inside her would click and she’d realise I was Derek’s secret daughter. Then, of course, all hell would break loose.

  ‘Noah, you don’t understand,’ I babbled when we reached the door. ‘I really, really don’t like cake! It’s evil, it really is. Never liked it, not even a slice of Victoria sponge; there’s nothing you can do to change my mind.’

  Judging by the look on his face, my last-ditch efforts to convince him hadn’t worked. Bollocks.

  ‘Trust me, when you taste this cake you’ll be converted,’ he replied with a smile. He pushed the door open and held it for me so I could step inside. Only I didn’t. I stood frozen to the spot just outside.

  ‘After you.’ He extended his arm wide, inviting me in.

  I gulped as sweat began to bead on my forehead. I so badly wanted to go inside and cast my fears aside, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t face being in the same room as Diane, knowing what I knew about her husband. Talking to her when I hadn’t known who she was had been fine, but this was completely different.

  ‘Emily?’ Noah eyed me with concern. ‘Are you coming in?’

  ‘Yeah, erm, just give me a minute…’

  One foot in front of the other, you can do it…

  I took a deep breath, braced myself and put a foot over the threshold. To my utter amazement, all hell didn’t break loose. Instead, I was enveloped by the bewitching aromas of freshly baked cakes and coffee.

  ‘Wow,’ I breathed, ‘this place is beautiful.’

  Beautiful was an understatement. It radiated vintage charm and had a warmth I’d never experienced before. Strangely, it felt like I’d come home simply by walking through the door.

  ‘What do you fancy?’ Noah’s voice interrupted my reverie. ‘I’d recommend the chocolate fudge cake myself; it’s my favourite.’

  ‘Then that’s what I’ll have,’ I replied with an uneasy smile. ‘I… I’ll go and get a table…’

  Before I could, Diane’s voice boomed out across the café. ‘Hello again! I was wondering when you’d come in for your free cake and cuppa!’

  I spun round and saw her smiling as she beckoned me towards the counter. Every step felt heavy as I approached. Fear and guilt began to grip me; all I wanted to do was run out the door and get as far away as I could.

  ‘Nice to see you again.’ Her smile was warm and friendly; it was easy to see how her customers took to her so quickly.

  ‘Nice to see you too.’ The words came out as a strangled squeak.

  ‘You two know each other?’ said Noah.

  ‘Yeah, we met in the Purple Partridge the other day,’ Diane explained. ‘Now, what’ll it be? It’s on me today, so choose anything you like.’

  My stomach did a belly-flop into my shoes. Here she was, being nice to me, and I was carrying round a secret that would rock her world.

  Luckily, Noah didn’t have any problem placing our order. ‘Two slices of your amazing chocolate fudge cake, please, and a massive pot of tea.’

  ‘Coming right up!’ Diane shot me another smile as she went to prepare our order.

  We selected a table in the middle of the room and took our seats. My eyes darted round the room, never settling for more than a couple of seconds. Some very dangerous words were on the tip of my tongue and I was hoping against hope that they didn’t come spilling out.

  ‘What’s up?’

  I jumped as Noah’s hand brushed against mine, snapping me out of my thoughts. ‘Oh, um, nothing… Just a bit… you know…’

  He cocked his head to one side and looked at me through slightly narrowed eyes. ‘I’ve never seen you like this before; usually you seem like you’ve got everything together, but now it’s like you’re frightened of your own shadow. Is there anything I can do?’

  ‘No, let’s just eat our cake, OK? I’m fine, really.’

  Before Noah could reply, Diane came across with our order, balancing it on a large silver tray.

  ‘Here we are,’ she said cheerfully, ‘two slices of chocolate fudge cake and a pot of tea.’

  She put the contents on the table and wiped her hands on her floral apron. ‘Anything else I can do for you?’

  Her gaze fell on me and she waited for me to answer. ‘No… this is amazing. Thanks, Diane, I can’t wait to try your cake.’

  ‘Actually,’ Noah said before she could go back behind the counter, ‘we need your help with something. We’re thinking of starting a breakfast club at Sunflower Cottage, but our attempts at breakfast haven’t gone too well so far. Since you do the best breakfast in the village, do you think you could give us a hand? We wouldn’t want to tread on your toes, obviously. It’s just an idea we had for the B&B.’

  She didn’t answer for a moment and looked at us, her expression unreadable. It was impossible to tell if Noah’s suggestion had offended or intrigued her.

  ‘You know what,’ I babbled, pre-empting a bad reaction, ‘forget we said anything! It was a stupid idea. We can work it out ourselves!’

  Noah looked at me like I’d grown another head from somewhere. I didn’t blame him; I was normally so calm under pressure, but being in the presence of Derek’s wife had completely thrown me off. It was as though I expected my secret to spill out at any moment. Diane opened her mouth to speak, but a customer cal
led her over.

  ‘We’ll talk about this another time!’ she called over her shoulder.

  As I watched her go, I thanked my lucky stars I hadn’t announced myself as Derek’s long-lost daughter. That would’ve put a serious dampener on the café’s convivial atmosphere.

  I broke off a small forkful of cake and shoved it into my mouth. The taste of chocolate hit my taste buds like a ten-ton truck and brought an instant smile to my face.

  ‘Wow,’ I said, clearing my throat. ‘You were right; this is delicious!’

  ‘Told you! Now, how about we make a deal? I’ll tell you what my nasty shock was yesterday, if you tell me what’s bothering you today. You were acting really weird with Diane there. What’s wrong?’

  I shovelled more cake into my mouth so I didn’t have to answer right away. ‘Can’t, I’m afraid. If I told you, I’d have to kill you.’

  He rolled his eyes and grinned. ‘I’ll get it out of you one way or another, you know. You’d be as well telling me right now.’

  Sunshine flooded the room from the large windows at the front of the café. It brought out the amber flecks in his large dark eyes.

  ‘Sorry, I like to maintain a little bit of mystery. You don’t have that problem, though, so feel free to tell me what your nasty shock was.’

  Noah leaned over, his full lips set into a devilish smile. ‘Didn’t anyone ever tell you that mystery’s overrated?’

  I shook my head. ‘I find it’s better to leave people wondering about you. Now, you’d better eat that cake of yours before I steal it.’

  *

  Cake and tea at the Moonlight Café turned into drinks at the Purple Partridge. As luck would have it, Noah wasn’t needed at the garage that day, so we spent the day getting stupidly drunk on the pub’s outside terrace.

  The sun had been almost completely swallowed up by the jagged black cliffs by the time we made it back to Sunflower Cottage. The place was completely empty; all the guests were still out exploring the delights the village had to offer.

  It seemed, however, that I’d found a delight of my own: one that wasn’t listed in any of the guidebooks.

  I wasn’t sure if it was the vast amount of white wine I’d consumed that day, but Noah had started to look very attractive. Everything about him seemed to be in sharp focus: his large, chocolate-brown eyes, that naughty smile of his, the fresh, clean smell that clung to his clothes…

  ‘You know,’ he slurred, ‘I haven’t forgotten about that secret of yours. I’ll get it out of you one way or another.’

  He drew closer to me and, as I took a step backwards, I banged into the little end table in the hall. As I stumbled, he put his hands on my waist to steady me.

  ‘And how do you plan on doing that?’ I whispered. ‘Got any special techniques you’re going to use on me?’

  The air crackled and fizzed with sexual tension. I wanted nothing more than to rip his clothes off and drag him to bed with me. To hell with all the bickering we’d done; I’d never been so attracted to anyone before.

  ‘That’s a surprise.’ He leaned in to me, his lips just inches from mine. ‘But I’m going to unwrap all your secrets, Emily Reed. Just you wait and see.’

  I tilted my head to the side, ready to kiss him. I allowed the moment to swallow me whole; logic and sense went completely out of the window and I was ready to make some questionable decisions.

  Breeeeeeeeep!

  Noah let out a low growl and snatched his phone out of his pocket, stepping away to take the call.

  ‘Hospital,’ he whispered, moving further away. The magic in the air dissolved and I was left with could’ve-beens and should’ve-beens that danced around the room like fireflies.

  So Noah wanted to unwrap my secrets. No big deal. It wasn’t as though I was actually attracted to him, was it? No, no it was definitely the wine impairing my judgement.

  Wasn’t it?

  Chapter 12

  As far as hospital patients went, Rose wasn’t the best. Hospital was nobody’s favourite place to be, but she hated it with a passion I’d never seen before. Noah and I went to see her the day after she’d had her operation. She was pretty groggy from all the pain relief she’d been given, but still managed to make her discomfort known.

  ‘Can’t fault the nurses,’ she said, ‘they’re absolute gems. It’s the bloody doctors; they treat you as though you’re an idiot! “Oh, Mrs White, you do know you’re going to have to be more careful when you go back home!” As if I’m really going to throw myself down another flight of stairs! And don’t get me started on the food. It looks like something that’s been swept out of a birdcage. Tastes like it too. Oh, talking of food, how are you managing the breakfasts?’

  She looked at us expectantly, while we shot each other worried looks. I opened my mouth to tell her the truth, but Noah took the lead.

  ‘We’re doing great,’ he said with a bright smile. ‘Everyone’s really happy and some of them are even asking for seconds. Aren’t they, Emily?’

  He stared hard at me, silently imploring me to stick with his version of events. I swallowed hard and nodded, trying hard to look as happy as he did.

  ‘Yup, we’re knocking it right out of the park!’ Why had I picked now to sound like an American baseball commentator? ‘Things couldn’t be better. In fact, we’re even thinking of starting a breakfast club!’

  Rose stuck her chin in the air, narrowing her eyes but saying nothing. It was obvious she knew we weren’t telling her the whole truth, but hopefully she also knew we were doing it for the right reasons.

  ‘A breakfast club, eh?’ Her voice was laced with suspicion. ‘What’s that going to involve?’

  ‘Well, we want to invite people who live in the village to come for breakfast at the B&B, to make it more a part of the community,’ Noah explained. ‘It was just a daft idea I came up with ages ago, but Emily reckons it could really work.’

  I nodded, feeling a rush of excitement at the mention of the breakfast club. Mentioning it to Rose made it seem more real, instead of a sketchy idea scribbled down in a notepad.

  ‘That sounds like a great idea,’ she said, ‘as long as Sunflower Cottage is in one piece when I get back!’

  When visiting time was over, Noah and I stepped outside.

  ‘Knocking it right out of the park, eh? That was very convincing!’ He chuckled softly and shook his head.

  ‘Hey, I’m hungover,’ I said, rubbing my throbbing head. ‘I’m not exactly firing on all cylinders! And at least she liked the breakfast club idea.’ I paused for a second, gathering up the words I wanted to say. ‘Listen, about last night…’

  He shook his head and held up a hand. ‘Say no more; we were drunk and we got a bit too close for comfort. Anyway, it’s not like anything actually happened, is it? God knows where we’d be if it had!’

  ‘Oh, thanks,’ I grumbled as we walked over to Cilla the Clio. ‘Nice to know the prospect of sleeping with me is so horrible for you.’

  ‘Don’t be so bloody stupid,’ I heard him mutter as we drove off.

  *

  There’s nothing quite like a full-on emotional crisis to make a bad hangover even worse. Mine came courtesy of none other than my parents. I made the colossal mistake of answering my phone when I got back to Sunflower Cottage and was immediately treated to my mother’s hysterics.

  ‘Oh, good – you’re not dead!’ I heard her breathe a sigh of relief then shout to someone in the background. ‘Simon, it’s fine, she’s not dead!’

  ‘You know, some people like to say hello when they phone someone,’ I said with as much sarcasm as my hungover voice could muster. I had trouble dealing with her at the best of times, let alone when I felt fragile.

  ‘You’ve got no idea what I’ve been going through!’ Her voice was more of a wail than anything else. ‘You haven’t called for days, sweetheart; I’ve been imagining all sorts of terrible things happening to you!’

  I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. ‘Luna Bay’s in th
e middle of nowhere, Mum; the signal isn’t exactly great! I don’t even know how I’m talking to you now, if I’m honest!’

  There was a pause before she continued. ‘I just wanted to know if you’d seen him yet. And if you have, how he… How he was.’

  ‘I haven’t quite got that far yet,’ I replied. ‘I’ve been into the café he and his wife run, but he wasn’t there. I don’t even know what he looks like; I could’ve walked past him a hundred times and not even known it.’

  ‘Darling, do you really have to be in that village? Can’t you come home so we can discuss this properly? I feel terrible that you’re so far away.’

  I gritted my teeth as my blood began to boil. Throughout the whole Derek situation, the focus had very much been on what Mum wanted and how she felt. It was as though my feelings didn’t come into the equation.

  ‘I’m not just here to find Derek. I’m here to close a deal that’ll land me a promotion, Mum; you know that. I can’t just abandon that to come home. Anyway, you’ll only avoid the issue if I do.’

  ‘Look, I know you must be angry—’

  ‘Angry?! Angry doesn’t even scratch the surface!’ The touch paper had been lit inside me; there was no holding back now. ‘I know biology doesn’t change who brought me up, Mum, or who was there for all the big moments in my life. Dad will always be my dad and nothing will change that. But this is a whole part of my life I never knew about, thanks to you! And do you know something? I think I know why you kept it from me. You wanted to give everyone the impression you had this perfect family because all you care about is what other people think or how you appear to them! You’re always finding fault with me and telling me what I’m doing wrong or could do better because you want me to be a carbon copy of how people see you! Well, I’ve had enough. I make mistakes just like everybody else and you’re not so perfect yourself, as it turns out. I’m staying in Luna Bay; I have a job to do.’

  I hung up and threw my phone across the room, taking deep breaths as I tried not to burst into tears. This wasn’t like me; I never got upset or showed how I was feeling. I kept everything bubbling just below the surface while I got on with things. And if it was the last thing I did, that was the way it was going to stay.