A round of applause broke out behind me and I turned to see Doreen, Juliet, Lia and even a few customers clapping and cheering enthusiastically.
‘You are amazing!’ Lia squealed, darting towards me, arms wide. ‘A media star in the making!’
‘I don’t want to tempt fate,’ I said, unable to get the huge grin off my face, ‘but this is going even better than I imagined.’
‘That’ll put us on the map, hen, right enough,’ said Juliet.
‘We had every faith, didn’t we, Ju?’ Doreen nudged Juliet.
‘We did, Dor, we did.’
I raised an eyebrow; when did these two get so pally? Not that I was complaining.
‘Group hug!’ Lia extended her arm to include Doreen and Juliet and to my surprise they both dived in to be hugged.
‘Come on, girls,’ said Doreen, nodding towards the counter where a cluster of people was queuing up and glancing our way. ‘We’ve got customers. What’s Italian for let’s get a wiggle on?’
I left Doreen to serve the queue, Juliet to stretch dough into rounds and Lia to load the oven with a fresh batch of Caprese pizzas, while I cleared some tables and handed out some hastily printed new menus to customers.
We’d been blessed with a lovely day today. The spring sun was out in full force, bringing people out of their homes in droves after such a chilly weekend. Everywhere looked fresh and new; from the bluebells nodding gently along the edge of the stream opposite the café right up to the tops of the distant hills, which now glimmered in a hundred shades of green.
Inside, the café looked dressed for spring too. I’d splashed out and ordered posies of freesias for every table from Nina, which smelled heavenly. Mum had washed all the cushion covers and plumped up every cushion on every chair. I’d bought a few new toys from Lucas’s shop – heavy-duty wooden ones that even Alfie Sargent would struggle to break – and of course along the wall next to the old dresser was the row of photographs that Paolo had kindly emailed to me and I’d had blown up and framed.
But it was the sheer number of customers that was the biggest difference. There was someone at each table both inside and out on the pavement and while the pizzas were no doubt a big hit (Lia and Juliet, who’d been taking it in turns to shovel pizzas into the oven were both looking pink from the heat), we were selling everything else on the menu too. This level of business was unlikely to continue, but for now I felt incredibly grateful and more than a little proud.
At lunchtime, Ed came in with Arlo. The way my brother-in-law had the baby casually tucked under his arm made me smile; no pushchair, no changing bag, just him and his boy.
I sent him into the back yard to see Lia and he came back five minutes later munching a slice of garlic mushroom pizza, which Arlo was desperate to get his hands on. Ed pulled a piece of the crust off for him and placed a shy kiss on my cheek.
‘I just wanted to say thanks for giving Lia some responsibility,’ he said, scuffing his toe against the corner of the counter. ‘It means the world to her, you asking her to come up with this pizza menu.’
‘Some paid responsibility,’ I reassured him. ‘I do realize that I should have done that earlier, but we’re not exactly awash with cash.’
‘It’s not about the money,’ said Ed, meeting my eye finally. ‘It’s about self-esteem. She idolizes you, you know. She gauges her achievements by how she measures up to you and she constantly finds herself wanting.’
That made me feel very sad. My sister had always followed a different path to me, but it wasn’t better or worse. In some respects, I thought, looking at Arlo giving the piece of crust a good sucking, hers was a lot richer.
But if working at the café would help give Lia the self-esteem she lacked, I could sort that out right now. It probably wasn’t viable straight away. But what the hell? I was learning that taking risks and letting your heart rule your head was sometimes worth it and I felt that this might be one of those times.
‘I haven’t mentioned it yet,’ I whispered, checking no one was in earshot, ‘but I’m going to offer her a job. I know that’ll help out at home too.’
‘She’d like that.’ Ed laughed softly under his breath. ‘But I’ll let you into a secret. If I had my way, I’d like her not to work at all. Coming home to her and Arlo is the best bit of my day. And the food she’s been making …’ He looked down at his stomach. ‘I’m going to have to watch my figure. I know it’s an old-fashioned view, and I wouldn’t dream of holding her back, but there you have it.’
He hefted Arlo on to his shoulders. Arlo looked very precarious but he was beaming with gummy delight.
I looked at him quizzically. ‘I thought things were tight?’
He shook his head. ‘Cash flow was under pressure due to the office move, but the company is expanding. We don’t need her to work. But that’s not the point, she needs to feel valued.’
‘Understood.’ I tapped my nose. ‘And believe me, she is completely valued. It has just taken me a while to realize how much.’
Customers and friends continued to pop in all afternoon and I was thrilled to see Gina at three o’clock, just before the after-school rush, with the two little boys she’d been looking after last week.
After settling the boys at a table with the new wooden toys and a slice of pizza cut up into finger-sized morsels and a glass of water each, she joined me at the counter.
‘So,’ she said, pushing her pink hair out of her eyes, ‘tell me all about your Friday night.’
I finished slicing a fruit scone, set it on a plate with butter and jam and passed it to Doreen before answering and smiled at my old school friend.
‘It was like coming home,’ I said simply.
‘Ah, I’m so pleased,’ said Gina, her smile going all melty.
‘It was my first time, and some things were hard to hear. But I can’t wait to go again. Probably the best weekend of my life.’
‘Wow.’ Her eyes popped out on stalks. ‘Weekend?’
I nodded, happy to float off in a reverie of Italian memories for a moment. ‘There’s something about being so close to the ocean,’ I sighed, ‘the sky seems bigger and there’s more room to breathe.’
‘You are funny.’ She giggled and shoved my arm. ‘I think ocean is stretching it a bit, and I can’t imagine there’s much room on Gabe’s boat, but anyway … What?’
I was staring at her. Clearly we’d been talking at cross purposes. My stomach plummeted.
‘I wasn’t with Gabe; I took Nonna to Italy for the weekend.’
‘Whoopsie.’ She pressed a hand to her mouth, appalled by her own blunder. ‘I babysat Noah at my house on Friday. Gabe didn’t say who he was meeting, but he was all dressed up and smelled divine … Sorry.’ She cleared her throat and shrugged sheepishly. ‘I just assumed it was you. I wonder who it was, then.’
Hmm, I wondered that too, and I couldn’t help feeling a bit miffed. I’d seen him on Friday morning before my Italy trip to let him know I’d be away. He had told me he planned to work on the dresser on Saturday but hadn’t mentioned anything about ‘a date’. And of course, while it was none of my business, I thought he knew me well enough to confide in me, that was all. Especially after he’d literally been my shoulder to cry on the other day.
‘It’s fine, really,’ I said brightly, pasting on a smile. ‘I told you, Gabe and I are just friends. That’s all. He’s his own man, entitled to his secrets.’
‘Right.’ Gina didn’t look convinced.
I felt a sudden urge to extract myself from this conversation.
‘Here.’ I passed her a cup of tea. ‘On the house. And er … I think the boys are trying to attract your attention.’
Gina looked down to see two faces smeared in tomato sauce. One was in tears and the other had a piece of pizza wedged up his nose.
‘Oh joy,’ she groaned. ‘I’d better go and …’ She pressed her lips together. ‘Sorry about the Gabe thing.’
I smiled bravely and waved her apology away.
Good for Gabe, I told myself resolutely, dipping his toe back into romantic waters. This was an excellent thing. So why did I suddenly feel like crying?
Chapter 30
The café continued to be busy all day and I wasn’t at all surprised when a larger than usual after-school crowd began to arrive.
‘Good grief, it’s an invasion!’ Lia pointed out of the window at a sea of small people dressed in the grey and red uniform of Barnaby Primary School which was advancing across the green towards the café.
‘Battle stations, everyone,’ I said. ‘I think we are about to be bombarded by some very hungry children.’
‘Four Napoletana pizzas going in the oven now,’ said Juliet, rubbing a floury arm across her face. There was flour in her red hair too and on her black apron, and the back of her jeans had two white handprints on it where she’d had her hands on her hips.
‘We need more cheese.’ Lia started to panic, grabbing the cheese grater and raiding the fridge for anything vaguely cheese-like. ‘We’re running out of mozzarella.’
‘Spread it thinly,’ Doreen suggested, reloading the cake stand with the last of the fairy cakes. ‘Like the workers in this place.’
That comment may have been aimed at me because as the rest of the team scampered into action, I stood perfectly still, scanning the oncoming crowd of parents and children for a man with a thatch of sandy-coloured hair and a matching small boy …
And then moments later, I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding as there he was in front of me, his grey eyes smiling as he pulled his hoody off to reveal a faded T-shirt that clung to his broad chest and showed off his biceps.
I felt something twang at my insides and my heart gave a little flutter and it was all I could do not to throw my arms round his neck and give him a hug, as I’d done a week ago in my cottage when I’d opened my heart to him. I’d missed him.
‘Hi!’ I beamed.
‘How are you?’ he said gently. ‘How’s Maria?’
‘Good. Well. Happy,’ I burbled. ‘I’ll have to tell you all about it sometime when we’re not quite so snowed under.’
He took in the packed café and shook his head. ‘You’ve done an amazing job. I called into Garden Warehouse earlier and it was like a morgue.’
I folded my arms triumphantly. ‘Ha ha, my dastardly plan is working. It’s cost us a fortune in giveaway pizza, but it’s going down a storm and it’s worth it just to ruin the Cabin Café’s first day.’
‘That’s a bit harsh.’ Gabe looked uncomfortable. ‘It doesn’t have to be that way, you know. They’re appealing to a very different consumer to you – to all the Barnaby businesses, as a matter of fact.’
‘Oh really? Well, they started it,’ I retorted, sounding childish even to my own ears. I unfolded my arms. ‘Anyway, how about you? Good weekend?’
‘Um, yes.’ He nodded. ‘Interesting—’
He broke off as Noah skipped over, dripping melted cheese on to the floor from the slice of pizza he was waving about. He said a cursory hello to me and asked his dad if he could go to Robbie’s for tea and then stay late to play in his garden because they’d got baby rabbits and could they keep one because they were free.
Gabe laughed and ruffled his son’s hair, waving across at Robbie’s mum and agreeing to the play date but not the rabbit. Noah stuck his bottom lip out until Gabe told him about the baby owls he’d spotted in a tree this morning which made him gasp.
‘Owls sick up their own poo,’ Noah informed me gleefully and ran off to tell Robbie the news.
‘I do love that boy,’ I said with a giggle.
I looked up at Gabe to find him staring at me as if I was a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
‘What?’ I laughed.
‘Nothing, nothing.’ Gabe cleared his throat. ‘So, I was saying … Yes. It was an interesting weekend. I’ve got something to tell you, I’ve—’
Suddenly I didn’t want to hear about it. I didn’t want to know about his date on Friday night and how well it went and who she was and when he’d be seeing her again.
Because I wanted it to be me.
There. I’d admitted it to myself. Gabe was the loveliest man I’d met in aeons and if I hadn’t been so wrapped up in my own issues I might have stood a chance with him and now it was too late.
‘Gabe.’
I placed a hand firmly on his chest to shut him up. But instead of looking surprised as I’d expected, his eyes lit up and a wide smile spread across his face. Then he covered my hand with his, and squeezed it.
For a moment I was so taken aback I forgot what I was going to say. He stepped closer until the toes of his dusty boots touched the tips of my flat red pumps.
‘This is important, Rosie.’ He ran the tip of his tongue over his top lip.
The sounds of the café faded away until all I could hear was the whooshing of my blood in my ears. I didn’t know what was coming, but it was clearly significant enough to make him nervous. A feeling of dread gripped at my insides.
‘OK,’ I whispered croakily. ‘I’m listening.’
‘I’ve got a new job. I start in three weeks once I’ve fulfilled all my French polishing projects.’
I blinked at him slowly, totally speechless. I hadn’t seen that coming. New girlfriend, yes, but not that. I nodded for him to go on.
‘I saw an advert for a job using my law background and it was local enough to fit in around Noah and I thought, Why not?’
I was nodding away to his story like one of those toy dogs you see in the back of cars, but still my mouth couldn’t seem to remember how to speak.
‘I got through the first round of interviews and then the managing director came down from York on Friday night and interviewed me over dinner. Gina looked after Noah and I could tell she was dying to ask where I was going but I didn’t want to tempt fate in case I didn’t get offered the job. Same reason I didn’t tell you. But I did get it. And I feel … great! I feel like it’s time. Time to get my life back on track. Time to …’ he peered at me from under long golden lashes, ‘maybe invite a beautiful woman out on a date? That’s you, by the way. In case I’m not being clear.’
He grinned sheepishly and my heart started doing the fandango.
He hadn’t been on a date with anyone else. It was an interview. And on top of all that he thought I was a beautiful woman.
He brushed his hand across my face as a tiny tear of joy slipped down my cheek.
‘I’m sorry, I’ve made you cry.’
I launched myself at him, throwing my arms round his neck.
‘You haven’t, you’ve made me happy!’
I pulled back laughing and kissed him lightly on the mouth. ‘Really happy. I am so proud of you. And RELIEVED.’
His brow crinkled at that. I laughed again, deciding not to elaborate.
‘Thanks. After what you just said, I was a bit nervous—’
‘We’ll have to celebrate.’ I grinned. ‘Perhaps Gina could babysit again this Friday.’
He nodded and then slapped his hand on his forehead. ‘It’s a new moon again that night. I’ve already promised Noah we’ll stargaze. I don’t suppose you fancy a repeat performance? Singed sausages and cremated marshmallows?’
A new moon …
‘You’ve been here nearly a month already,’ I said, shaking my head in disbelief.
The new moon was coming round again and Clementine’s old myth came flooding back to me: if you can peel a lemon in one single strip, you’ll attract a new love before the next new moon. And even though everyone had agreed it was a load of mumbo-jumbo, I’d taken the last lemon home with me. I’d sat at my kitchen table and focused all my concentration on it. I’d peeled it painfully slowly, keeping an even pressure on the knife, making sure the strip of peel didn’t get too narrow or too wide, and afterwards I’d sat there with one bald lemon and one long strip of yellow peel and laughed at myself for being so silly.
He smiled at me and I smiled back. Maybe I wasn�
��t being silly after all. Maybe he could be my new love …
‘I’d love to,’ I murmured. ‘Thank you.’
‘Great, great.’ He gave me another brief hug and I breathed in the delicious scent of him – Gina was right, he did smell divine. ‘And I want to hear all about your trip.’
I nodded excitedly; I couldn’t wait to tell him all about Sorrento and the story of Nonna’s marriage and Paolo – he’d love Paolo, they had so much in common.
I heard a sharp cough.
‘Oh there’s someone behind you.’ Gabe stepped away as I felt a tap on my back.
I turned to see a woman in her forties with brown hair so straight it looked like it had been ironed. Blue eyes blinked rapidly behind chunky glasses beneath a long, even fringe. Two dark-haired children with freckled cheeks clung to her sides.
‘Excuse me,’ she said in a staccato voice, ‘can you tell me where the owner of this café is?’
‘I’m the manager. Can I help?’
I smiled at her two children. There were tell-tale signs of recent pizza demolishment around their mouths. I passed them a napkin each from a pile on the counter and pointed out the toys to them and, after asking their mum’s permission, they scooted off.
‘The manager?’ She looked from me to Gabe pointedly and we instantly shuffled apart. ‘No. It’s an old lady I’m after. Is Maria here?’
‘My grandmother?’ I shook my head. ‘She’s spending the day with a friend. In fact, she rarely comes in these days.’
Nonna had sent her apologies for not coming in to lend us a hand today but she was intent on getting back into Stanley’s good books and wasn’t going to rest until it was mission accomplished. Now that she was officially a widow, she wanted to make up with him and explain why she had lied in the first place. I’d told her that I was sure Stanley would come round once he knew the full story. She was probably there now camping out on his doorstep, singing Italian folk songs until he caved in and opened the door.
The woman huffed and a flicker of recognition lodged in my brain. Something about this woman looked familiar and yet I was sure she hadn’t been in the café before.
The Lemon Tree Café Page 29
