Chapter 13
‘I knew I was missing something. The sauce! My apple and chilli sauce. It goes perfectly with this dish.’ Cath was muttering to herself as she sat in the kitchen, munching on hot buttered toast with blackcurrant jam. She’d used up all the apples from her garden tree on crumbles, too.
The pork joint was on the side, salted, spiced with a little cumin, garlic and a drizzle of honey, and was about to go into the oven for slow-roasting. The cabbage was chopped, and cauliflower segments ready to parboil in a large pan of water. Preparation was key.
‘I just need to pop to the shop, Adam. Anything you need?’ Cath called up the stairs; now that took her back to his teen years.
Adam was making the most of a lazy morning, and was only just out of the shower.
She was fine letting him lie in, to be fair, as she’d bustled about in the kitchen.
She was in her happy zone, back cooking for her family, well one of them.
As well as prepping the pork, she’d baked a lemon drizzle cake.
A slice each for them with morning coffee, and the rest of it to go back with Adam.
Her healthy eating very much on hold for today.
She had to admit, the fear of a ‘reveal’ had been a major driving force in her dieting and exercise plans.
Pilates hour was looming again, and her limbs and abs had only just recovered from last week’s class.
Though whether her body would ever see the light of day next to Will’s was looking more and more uncertain.
Other than a few friendly texts, he appeared to have backed off once again.
Their budding relationship felt like a game of dodgeball at times.
And though she tried hard not to let it hurt, wanting to protect her bruised and battered heart, it still did.
There was no response from her son’s spare-room den, so she followed up with: ‘See you in a few minutes, then.’
*
‘Good morning, gorgeous,’ Andreas greeted her with a warm smile.
‘Hello, handsome,’ Cath quipped back. ‘Love the window display. Oh, and look, all these festive cards and gifts, wrapping paper, and the extra fairy lights above the counter. Love it. Christmas is here in Tilldale. Hurrah.’
‘So glad you like it. I’ve put in so much time and effort with the Christmas ordering and the window, and Grinchy Dan’s still saying it’s too early.
Never too early for business, my love,’ he called out, Dan most likely being in the back of the store.
‘Just wait until I get my first bauble sale. These are divine – take a look.’
They were indeed. Beautiful frosted-glass baubles, a set of six, in teardrop shapes, globes and stars, with just a dusting of sparkle, like ice crystals in the Alps.
‘Ooh, they are. You might just have your first sale right here.’ They were so very pretty.
‘How much?’ She daren’t think. She was meant to be buying basic provisions, she reminded herself, but one small box of Christmas decorations to celebrate her new home.
And they’d look so lovely on the real-fir Christmas tree she was planning on getting for herself.
‘Only twelve pounds, the set.’
It wasn’t extortionate, and they’d last a good few years, so that’d be, what, a mere pound per year.
‘I’m in.’
Andreas grinned. ‘And what else do you fancy today?’
A middle-aged cyclist in Lycra came to mind, but that wasn’t going to be.
‘Ah yes, a fresh red chilli if you have one, and some cooking apples. For my apple sauce with a kick.’
‘That sounds great.’
‘Better have some more milk, too. With Adam home, I’m getting through it fast.’
‘Yes, nice to see him yesterday. How is he getting on?’ Andreas asked kindly. Cath had shared a little of his troubles with the supper group, after having to make her dash to Leeds a while ago.
‘Good thanks. He seems a lot brighter.’
‘Ah, that’s great to hear. He’s a really nice lad. When he was in the village a while back, he popped in a couple of times, and we had a good chat. We loved hearing about his travels. Took us back. We did a bit of travelling too, back in the day. Send him our best.’
‘Thanks, and I will.’
A thought was forming. She had more than enough roast dinner prepared for four people. ‘Umm, do you guys have any lunch plans?’ Cath asked.
‘Nothing special. A toastie perhaps.’
Well, that was it. She knew Sunday was a short day for the shop, with it closing late morning.
‘Well, why not come along and join me and Adam for our roast dinner? I got a huge joint of pork yesterday, and there’s only the two of us. The veggies are already prepped, so it’s not a bother. I bet Adam would enjoy your company, too.’
‘Oh my, that’d be amazing. If you’re sure?’ Andreas’s eyes had lit up.
‘I’m more than sure. It’d be lovely. Say one o’clock?’
‘Dan, we have a dinner date!’ he called out to his partner with delight.
An echoey ‘brilliant’ carried from the back of the stores.
‘Oh, and can Shirley come too?’ asked Andreas. ‘It’s just with us both working this morning, we’ll have left her virtually all day, otherwise.’
‘Of course, she can. Might even save her a bit of Sunday dinner for a treat. If she’s allowed, that is.’ Cath smiled.
‘Marvellous. You are a gem.’
*
Andreas and Dan, plus terrier Shirley who was sporting a pink-spotty neckerchief, arrived with a bottle of red wine and some gorgeous pink-and-white lilies for Cath.
‘Hell-oo. Come on through.’ Cath led them to the kitchen, where she poured out three glasses of chilled white wine, with Adam settling for a glass of fizzy water, as he needed to make the journey back to Leeds later on.
The slow-cooked pork was resting on the side, its mouth-watering honey-spiced aromas filling the kitchen, ready for Adam to do the honours with carving shortly.
The savoy cabbage was simmering on the hob, the cauli-cheese in the oven, with the roasties and Yorkshires on the side, ready to pop back in the oven for a final few minutes of crisping.
Shirley’s nose was twitching with the overload of salivating savoury smells.
Cath had had a bit of a moment earlier, deciding where to sit them all, her galley kitchen dining area being tiny.
In the end, she and Adam had pushed the living room sofa against the back wall, and they moved the bistro table set into the lounge, bringing a couple of extra chairs down from the summerhouse.
For four people it’d work fine, any more would have been too much of a squeeze, and with the log burner on and a candle aglow, it actually looked very country-cosy for her lunch. She was happy with her plan.
As they settled at the table, ten minutes later, Cath brought through the temptingly loaded serving dishes: crackling topped tender meat, golden-cheese-crusted cauliflower, buttered savoy, rosemary roasties and a giant stack of crisp Yorkshire puddings. Everyone looked eager to dive in.
Andreas then asked innocently, ‘Oh, I thought Will might have joined us?’
Oh Christ, Adam knew nothing at all about her and Will being an item – admittedly, a bit of a lost item at the moment.
It was all too early and uncertain to be involving her son.
She flashed Andreas a silencing glare across the table.
He caught the warning sign and nodded apologetically, with an ‘oops’ of a look.
Cath had actually thought about it too, mulling it over last night in bed.
Should or shouldn’t she ask Will along for dinner?
He’d probably love a home-cooked roast. But she’d decided that things felt too difficult between them just now, and it wouldn’t be the right way to introduce him to Adam, throwing poor Will into a family-style dinner.
And anyhow, how would she even begin to introduce him?
What were they to each other? They were hardly partners, after all.
Oh, Adam, meet my trial-relationship first-love buddy?
In the end, not wanting Will, her, Adam or the shop lads to feel awkward, putting them all on the spot, she’d bowed out.
They didn’t need to be face to face with her and Will’s latest hitch in the road to romance.
And her stomach certainly couldn’t have handled it.
They were soon tucking into the tasty roast, the chat and ambience just right.
Adam getting on well with Andreas and Dan, who were talking about their life running the village stores.
He asked what they used to do before moving up to Tilldale.
Dan surprised them with tales of being a sometime DJ, his chance to let off some steam apparently, weddings and parties being his forte, as well as his main career of marketing manager.
‘That sounds really cool,’ said Adam.
‘Oh yes, move over Fatboy Slim, welcome Slimboy Fat.’ Andreas chuckled. ‘Actually, he was pretty cool back in the day. That’s where I met him, when he was standing in, DJing at my local club. His beats were crazily cool.’
‘And did you have a stage name?’ Cath asked, full of curiosity.
Andreas and Dan raised their eyebrows. Dan stayed quiet, seemingly reticent.
‘Go on, tell them,’ Andreas egged his partner on.
‘Do I have to? Honestly, it was years ago.’ Dan appeared awkward.
‘You’ve gotta share this now, guys.’ Adam looked amused.
‘Okay, I was Dan D Groove,’ he said it quickly, wanting to get it over with.
Cath nearly spat out her wine. ‘Oh my God.’
‘R&B and hip-hop, that was my thing.’
‘He still has the decks, out in the back of the storeroom,’ added Andreas.
‘That is so cool.’ Adam was delighted with this revelation.
‘It was dope,’ said Andreas, making a peace V sign.
The things you learned, hey. These lads were such fun. Cath couldn’t stop grinning at the thought of DJ Dan … D Groove.