Yet here she was. Living without him.
Chapter Twenty Two
The next day Paul once again collected the children. They were all having Sunday lunch with Rita who had in fairness invited Sarah to come too. She’d begged her in fact to join them, saying it was unthinkable that she’d be on her own. Rita was still struggling to get her head around all the changes. But Sarah was happy to decline. Even Rita’s wonderful roast potatoes couldn’t entice her to join them. She needed to get used to the fact that they were no longer the family they used to be and that every second weekend the children would be with their father. The children had been having a great time thankfully. Each day they had gotten more and more excited and animated about having their Daddy back. And this morning, they were both sitting at the window waiting for his car to arrive. They practically knocked Sarah down as they ran to meet him at the door.
Paul was chuffed with the reaction and even got a big smile from Ella when he walked in. Traitor! Sarah thought quickly, but, in all honesty, she was happy that the children were excited. Plus to make things even better, it had snowed heavily during the night and they had already been out building snowmen. They couldn’t wait to show off their handiwork to their Daddy. Paul had always been the snowman expert for previous snowfalls, so they were very beside themselves at the thought of building more at Rita’s house with his help.
The conditions were driveable, but it was to get worse, so Sarah asked Paul to have the children home by four o’clock. She didn’t want to take any chances.
She made a cup of coffee and decided to have one of her cupcakes. She was thinner than she’d ever been in her whole life, so she could afford the calories for once. The phone rang and Sarah jumped to answer it.
‘Hi, sis. Thought I’d call in for a coffee later on if that’s ok.’
‘Course it is. Since when did you ring in advance to let me know you’re on your way?’ Sarah asked him curiously. Normally he’d just arrive at the door; they’d never stood on ceremony ever.
‘Em, well I just thought I’d let you know because I’m going to bring someone with me.’ he declared.
‘What kind of somebody?’ Sarah asked.
‘A date kind of somebody.’ Sarah could hear the smile in his voice.
‘Oh lordy, must be serious,’ she replied. ‘Who’s the lucky lady?’
‘You’ll see when we call around.’ He said mysteriously. ‘Three suit you?’
‘I can’t wait!’ It was about time her brother settled down and maybe this mystery woman was the one to do it with him. She picked up her cupcake again but the phone rang for a second time. She was never going to eat that cake the way things were going!
But it wasn’t James this time, it was Bridie.
‘You’ll never believe it, but I’ve just had a delivery from Centra! I rang them like you said and they took my order no problem and arrived out here a few minutes ago. Colm even brought the coal into the house for me and put the groceries into the kitchen. I can’t believe it. And they didn’t even charge me for delivery. Can you believe that?’
Sarah laughed at how incredulous Bridie sounded. ‘That’s great. ’Course I can believe it. You’re a good customer to them, why wouldn’t they look after you?! You warm enough over there?’
‘Oh it’s lovely here. The snow looks so pretty. But I’ve not been outside at all. I was watching the news last night and there was a woman on who died from the cold. Awful shock it was when I saw it. Made me think of you and how you made me promise not to go out. I’ll not forget it.’
‘It was nothing. I’m just happy that you’re ok. Stay inside and don’t even attempt to go out until this all thaws.’
‘I won’t.’ Bridie promised. ‘Oh by the way where did you buy those cupcakes from? I asked Colm and they didn’t know which ones I was talking about. I was going to order another box.’
‘I didn’t buy them. I made them myself.’
‘Well they are the nicest cakes I’ve ever had. You should sell them. I’d buy them.’
‘Are you serious? I hadn’t thought anyone else would buy them!’ Rita too had always said she should sell them but she always thought her mother-in-law was simply biased.
‘Of course they would.’ Bridie responded. ‘Why don’t you give Centra a call and see if they’ll sell some for you. They’ve a customer already with me for sure!’
‘I might just do that!’ Sarah said laughing. She put down the phone and thought to herself maybe it’s not such a bad idea. Everyone said that they loved her cupcakes. And she loved making them. She needed to find a way to earn some extra revenue without incurring huge childcare costs. This could be the answer. She could work from home with the children here.
Feeling bold, she decided to strike while the iron was hot! She picked up the phone. A bit of market research wouldn’t hurt at all.
With luck on her side it was the manager Colm who answered the phone.
‘Hi Colm, its Sarah Lawler here.’
‘Hi Sarah. You looking for a delivery of groceries?’
‘I’m grand, thanks.’ Sarah replied. ‘I hear you’ve been out and about though to Bridie’s. She’s delighted.’
‘It was a great idea of yours. We put a message up on Facebook saying we’d do deliveries for the cold spell and we’ve been inundated with requests. My sales are up actually on last year despite the bad weather!’
‘I’m delighted for you.’ Sarah said smiling. ‘It’s nice to hear of a good news story these days.’
‘I should get you to come work for me!’ Colm said laughing. ‘Best marketing campaign I’ve ever done, doing free deliveries.’
‘Well funny you should say that, I am calling with a proposition for you. I make cupcakes as a hobby and I’m thinking about starting a small business selling them. I wondered if I could put up an advert in your shop? Or maybe you’d sell them for me in the shop?’
‘Are they the ones Bridie had me driven demented about? I brought her some tea cakes we stock and she sent them back to me, saying that they weren’t the ones she’d gotten from you!’ Colm declared.
‘Yes, they’re the one and the same.’ Sarah replied, chuffed that Bridie had really loved them that much.
‘Well, one good turn deserves another, so I’d be happy to give them a go for you. Why don’t you drop down about two dozen of them tomorrow morning and I’ll see how many we can shift? Can you email me your pricing later?’
Sarah was gobsmacked. She thought she’d have had to talk Colm into it. But he seemed happy to give her a try. ‘I’ll get working on my pricing straight away, Colm, and I’ll email it on to you. Thanks a million.’ Sarah replied before hanging up.
She jumped up and danced around her kitchen! Yes! At last something that might just bring in some money. She ran to the computer to do some market research on how much cupcakes were selling for these days. Very quickly she found out that they sold individually for anything from €1.50 to €2.00 each. She decided that in the current climate she needed them to go on the market for €1.50 each. She quickly opened up a spread sheet and started working out how much each item would cost to make. She listed out all the ingredients she’d need to make a dozen cakes and then worked out a single unit cost price. Even factoring in electricity, she figured she could make them and sell them to Colm giving them both a healthy margin.
She quickly started looking through her recipes she had collated over the years. What flavours should she try? Tommy and Katie’s faces popped into her mind immediately and she knew that her Rocky Road cupcakes were definitely a must for Centra. Her kids just loved them and she hoped that children would see them in the shop and beg their parents to buy them. And in fairness they had always been a hit with the adults too as James loved them too. Now for the second flavour; Sarah wondered what she should do. She had so many ideas of different flavours she could try to sell, but in the end she figured her Pistachio, vanilla and raspberry cupcakes would be an ideal contrast to the Rocky Road ones. Maybe she
’d start with twelve of each initially and see how they sold and then she could start introducing some of her other flavours. Her head was bursting with ideas.
She opened up her cupboard and started pulling ingredients out. Flour, sugar, icing sugar, colourings, pale pink paper roses, tiny marshmallows, chocolate chips and vanilla essence. She also pulled out some of the pretty cupcake paper cases that she had in the store cupboard. She’d a habit of picking them up whenever she was out and about and had managed to amass hundreds of different styles. She found just the ones for her inaugural batch as they had a vintage feel to them, with a chintzy flower print on them in duck egg blues and pinks. She walked to the fridge and pulled out eggs, milk and some butter. Now to get baking she thought. These had to be just perfect!
Soon the kitchen was filled with the wonderful aroma of vanilla and chocolate as the cakes were baking in the oven. Her tummy started to rumble loudly and she realised that she had never actually drank that coffee earlier, or finished her cupcake. She was ravenous all of a sudden, when had she last eaten? The stress of everything going on had meant her appetite had all but disappeared. She made herself some beans on toast quickly and sat down to eat. Not quite a Sunday roast, but it was the best tasting meal she’d had in weeks. She licked her lips and ate every morsel on the plate. She felt alive again and for the first time in a long time the feeling of helplessness that had plagued her seemed to have vanished.
She put the cupcakes on a wire rack to cool while she went about making the icing for them.
She started with the Pistachio, vanilla and raspberry cupcakes. She wanted a pale green icing for these. She added a few drops of her green colouring to the icing and mixed until it was exactly the right colour. Soon it was the perfect Pistachio colour. She iced each of the cakes very carefully and then gently placed the pale pink paper rose on each. They looked beautiful, she thought proudly.
She then moved onto the Rocky road cakes. She broke her chocolate up into small pieces and placed it in a bowl. It was 70% cocoa solids and absolutely delicious in icing. She then heated her cream and when it was almost boiling she poured it over the chocolate, allowing it to melt and let them blend into each other. She left it to cool for about thirty minutes until it was smooth and glossy. She then spread the chocolate mixture over the cakes and sprinkled her marshmallows, and chocolate chips on top of that in a little pile. They looked fantastic, the best she’d ever made in fact and she knew exactly how she wanted to display them in the shop. A few months ago she’d bought a large white cupcake stand, and it had several layers to it, that you could use or not use, depending on how many cakes you wanted to display. She had used it for Ella’s christening, having sixty cupcakes sitting proudly on the five layers of the stand, with a large cupcake on the top. It was a wonderful christening cake and a big hit with all of the kids. She was going to ask Colm if she could display her cakes on the stand. She knew it would make them stand out so much more than if they were just placed beside each other on the shelf.
Sarah had never run her own business before but she did know how to sell. Having worked in the boutique for years she knew how to make the merchandise stand out. Thinking about the christening cake she’d done, gave her a further idea. Maybe she should think about advertising her cupcake business, start looking for birthdays or christenings to supply. She wondered if Colm would mind her putting an advert up in his store.
She sat down and started listing all her ideas as they came thick and fast into her head. Dinner parties, children’s parties, Christmas cupcakes, she was on a roll with all her ideas. Her heart was racing with excitement.
‘I haven’t seen you looking so happy in a long time.’ A voice interrupted her thoughts. It was Edward, now sitting opposite her smiling.
‘You here long?’ Sarah asked him with a smile.
‘I’m always here.’ He pointed to the cakes standing proudly in a row on the counter top. ‘Those look good. Makes me wish I could eat one,’ he finished with regret in his voice.
‘Why can’t you?’ Sarah asked. ‘You look like a human, you sound like one, seems unfair you can’t have a few treats the odd time too!’
Edward smiled at Sarah. ‘That would be nice wouldn’t it? But it doesn’t work quite like that. God created us so that we don’t grow or age like you do. We take on human form because that’s easier for you. If I stood here ten foot tall, floating, with wings, it might send you running!’
‘Are you ten feet tall?’ Sarah asked in awe.
‘I’m actually closer to eleven feet.’ Edward replied with a grin. ‘Despite our human form, angels don’t have internal organs and cavities like you. So that’s why we don’t eat or drink – we never feel thirst or hunger, so it’s ok. I’ve watched you making cupcakes for years mind you and the pleasure they give the people who eat them too. It made me want to try one.’
Sarah laughed at him. He sounded like one of her children just then. ‘I wish you could try one too. Do you think that they’ll sell?’
What if nobody bought one? She started to panic, thinking that maybe she’d be left with the embarrassing task of having to take them all back unsold.
‘Have faith.’ Edward said to Sarah. ‘Good things happen to good people. Look at how you unselfishly helped Bridie and that act has now brought you to this!’ He indicated the sumptuous cakes lined up.
The doorbell rang and Sarah realised that it was after 3pm, it had to be James and his new girlfriend she realised. And she must look a right mess, she thought. Not to mention that the kitchen was in disarray. She’d completely forgotten the time. Oh well, she hoped James’ girlfriend was the type to just take them as she found them.
She quickly smoothed her hair down and wiped the icing sugar from her cheek. It would have to do. She opened the door and, to her utter surprise, standing beside her twin brother, was Ruby. They were both looking at her with big beaming smiles, holding each other’s hand.
‘Ruby!’ Sarah exclaimed.
‘Can we come in?’ James said with a laugh. ‘I have to tell you, your face is a picture!’
‘You’ve taken me by surprise that’s all. Come in, come in.’ Sarah said beaming.
They all sat down in the living room.
‘How you doing with the kids with Paul gone?’ Ruby asked with concern.
‘Enough about me and my marriage Rubes, that’s enough to put anyone in a bad mood and I’m determined to hold onto my good one today! I’d much rather talk about this new romance. When did you two get together?’
James had Sarah in stitches as he regaled her with the story of his fitness assessment.
‘And all along, she knew I was only after a date, but she still put me through all of that!’ James said with a laugh, playfully pushing Ruby’s shoulder with his hand.
‘I couldn’t help myself.’ Ruby said bubbling with laughter. ‘I kept expecting him to fess up that he wasn’t there for an assessment, especially when I brought him out the cycling shorts!’
‘I’m so happy for you both.’ Sarah said to them. ‘I never saw this coming! But now I see you sitting beside each other, it makes total sense! You make a gorgeous couple.’
‘Thanks, sis.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me earlier?’ Sarah asked him puzzled. They’d been dating for a few weeks now and James had been over a few times during that period.
‘Ah you were having a rough time, sis.’ He said. ‘It wasn’t the right time to be talking about romance when you were going through so much over here, what with Paul and everything.’
Sarah felt terrible that her unhappiness had stopped her brother and best friend feeling free to celebrate the fact that they’d fallen in love. And she reckoned by their faces that’s exactly what had happened. James was smitten she was sure of it. She’d never seen him like this before. And Ruby too.
‘Well I’m glad you’ve told me now. I couldn’t think of anyone more perfect for you James, than Ruby. And you needn’t worry about me anymore; I’ve had a very good day
!’
She quickly filled them in on her activities, her sales on eBay and her new enterprise. They were both extremely enthusiastic about it all.
‘You’ve been busy.’ James said laughing. ‘Alan Sugar better watch out, there’s a new apprentice in town!’ He finished jokingly.
They all laughed at this.
‘You need a name.’ Ruby said to her. ‘Have you thought of one yet?’
‘No I hadn’t thought about that. But you’re right, I suppose I do.’
‘Right, brainstorming session needed pronto.’ James declared. ‘Go make us a cuppa and we’ll try some of the cupcakes out, it will help get the brain cells flowing for inspiration! Wait till you try the Rocky Road ones, Ruby. They’re the business!’
‘Coming right up!’ Sarah said with a mock salute to her brother.
A few minutes later they were all munching away.
‘They look amazing and taste even better.’ Ruby declared. ‘Remember Mary described your cupcakes as little pieces of heaven. Nail.On.The.Head!’
‘There’s a name so.’ James declared. ‘Sarah’s little pieces of heaven cupcakes.’
‘It’s a bit of a mouthful.’ Sarah said looking a bit worried.
‘Ok. Let’s think again.’ James replied. ‘How about just Heavenly Cupcakes.’
‘Better.’ Ruby said. ‘You need to add your name to them though. Heavenly Cupcakes by Sarah Lawler.’
‘Doesn’t sound right yet for me.’ Sarah said. ‘It’s nearly there but not quite.’ She glanced up and saw Edward standing in the corner.
The Life You Left Page 19
