CHAPTER TWELVE
‘Shall we give up on Risley Common, then?’ Ellie looked around her. ‘Oh, maybe not. Here come two likely customers.’
‘Great! I reckon that other lemon drizzle loaf cake will be next to go.’ We scrambled out of the van and I opened the doors with a feeling of pride in Ellie’s little venture, just as the two women reached us.
‘Good morning.’ I greeted them cheerfully. ‘Lovely day for a muffin. And we have no less than three different flavours on board today.’
The women seemed quite taken aback by my hearty greeting. Smiling as if they thought I might be a touch deranged, they hurried on, right past the van, clearly having no idea who we were and why we were there.
‘I guess they didn’t get a leaflet, then,’ I murmured, feeling quite ridiculous now.
I looked at Ellie and her initial expression of surprise had turned into a broad grin. It was all so comical and Ellie was clearly trying hard not to laugh, which was very infectious. My shoulders started to shake as I tried to suppress my own amusement. But then Ellie suddenly let out a really loud snort, and we both had to duck behind the van as we dissolved into laughter.
‘We haven’t made a terribly good impression so far in Risley Common,’ grinned Ellie, as we got back in the van and prepared to drive on to the dreaded Lockley Meadow (where I was convinced Bulldozer Man would be just waiting to get his revenge on me).
‘It was only our first visit.’ I shrugged. ‘Maybe it’ll take a week or two for the word to get around.’
‘Ooh, wait a minute.’ Ellie was looking in her wing mirror. ‘Is this a customer?’
We turned to see a young woman hurrying along the pavement in our direction. She was holding the hand of a blonde, curly-haired little girl who was clutching what looked like a cuddly rabbit.
After our last experience, I was inclined to hold back this time. ‘They could just be running for a bus. Or training for a marathon. Or maybe a lion’s escaped from the local zoo.’
Ellie chuckled. ‘We’d better hang fire rather than embarrassing ourselves again.’
But then the woman waved at us, clearly worried we were about to drive away.
‘Sorry we’re late,’ she panted, when we got out to say hello. ‘Amelie spilled juice all down her dress just as we were leaving. But it’s her birthday today and I’d already promised her a cake from your van.’
I smiled at the little girl. ‘Happy birthday, Amelie. How old are you?’
‘Four,’ said the little girl with a shy smile, holding up some fingers. ‘Have you got birthday cake with a dinosaur on it?’
‘Ooh, I don’t think so.’ I glanced at Ellie.
She smiled and said, ‘I’m afraid not. But we do have the most amazing Frozen cake.’
Her eyes lit up. ‘ Frozen ? A cake with Elsa on it?’
Ellie nodded. ‘Back in a minute.’
She returned with a small figure of the Frozen heroine and presented it along with one of Fen’s ‘cake van’ cupcakes to the little girl, who looked amazed.
‘Oh, my goodness, aren’t you lucky, Amelie?’ The mum’s eyes were shining suspiciously as she turned to us. ‘Thank you ever so much. What do I owe you?’
Ellie shook her head. ‘Not a thing. It’s a present for the birthday girl.’
‘Gosh, I don’t know what to say.’ She looked quite overwhelmed. ‘Except that your cakes look lovely and I’ll be spreading the word all around the village. I’m Rosie, by the way. And you already know Amelie.’ She smiled fondly at her daughter, who was now leaning against the van looking quite enchanted by her new Elsa toy. She held her up to her mum with a cute, gap-toothed smile, and Rosie smiled and nodded.
‘I’ll take that delicious-looking lemon drizzle cake, please,’ she said. ‘Where are you off to next?’
‘Lockley Meadow?’
‘Ah, yes. You should do well there. It’s farmers’ market day.’
We said goodbye and as we drove away, I turned to Ellie. ‘You just made a little girl and her mum very happy. That was inspired.’
She chuckled. ‘Maisie adored Frozen when she was little and she had all the little figures. Including that one. Goodness knows why it was still in my handbag.’ She raked through the bag in question. ‘Along with a screwdriver, a bag of sugared almonds from a wedding about a year ago, and... the top from a washing-up liquid bottle?’ She held it up in bewilderment and we both started to laugh.
*****
Ten minutes later, we drove into the village of Lockley Meadow to find it a great deal busier – because of the weekly farmers’ market on the green – than it was during our previous frantic stop-off at the village when we were delivering cakes to little Bella’s party.
My eyes immediately swung towards the building site on the far side of the green, hoping that by some miracle, the small cluster of new houses would be finished and the builders gone.
Spotting the distinctive raised arm of a yellow crane in the distance, my heart sank.
No such luck, then.
Ellie must have seen my gloomy expression. ‘They’re still here, then.’
‘Apparently.’
She grinned. ‘Try to stay calm.’
I grunted. ‘I will. Just as long as that ignorant thug of a bulldozer driver stays out of my way.’
‘He might just have been having a bad day.’
‘Oh, he was. Apparently, his wife forgot to do the lottery and their numbers came up.’
‘Really?’ She looked appalled. ‘Oh, that’s awful, Katja. I’d be feeling pretty grumpy myself if that had happened to me.’
I glared at her. ‘Hey, whose side are you on?’
‘Yours, of course.’
‘Yes, well, just because he missed out on millions doesn’t mean he has to take it out on us !’ I muttered.
‘No, you’re absolutely right. He should have just shrugged his shoulders, shelved his plans to buy that country estate he’d always dreamed of, and carried on smiling.’
‘Oh, ha ha. Stop feeling sorry for him.’ I was about to add: He almost cost me my trip to New York. But I stopped myself in time. He’d have done me an enormous favour if he had!
‘I’m not feeling sorry for him,’ said Ellie, as she parked the van in our allotted space on the green. ‘Well, maybe a bit. He could have been driving a Bentley by now instead of a bulldozer.’
‘It’s not funny.’ My mouth lifted in grudging amusement at one corner. To be honest, I was feeling rather foolish now about getting out of the car and charging over to challenge him that day. It was so unlike me to make such an exhibition of myself. If I remembered rightly, I’d poured scorn on the entire male population, so he and that equally irritating site foreman probably had me down as a fanatical man-hater! Was that why I was feeling so ridiculously nervous at the thought of bumping into them again?
I groaned. ‘It’s really not funny, Ellie,’ I repeated.
‘I’m not laughing.’ Ellie attempted a very serious expression, but that just made us both smile. Then she glanced over my shoulder, out of the passenger window. ‘Oh, no, don’t look now.’
‘What?’
‘It’s him. He’s coming over.’
‘ What? ’ I squeaked and spun round, but of course there was no one in sight.
Ellie was chuckling away, and as we got out of the van and opened the back doors, preparing to receive customers, I joined her in her amusement. She was right. Bulldozer Man had probably just been a bit grumpy after his very bad lottery experience. Let’s face it, even if I did have the misfortune of bumping into them again, they probably wouldn’t even recognise me. I should just forget the whole embarrassing incident...
‘I saw the building site foreman on the local news last night,’ said Ellie. ‘Actually, he’s not just the foreman. He’s the actual builder. He scrubs up quite well, I have to say.’
‘Really?’
‘Oh, yes. Out of his scruffy jeans, big boots and hard hat he’s surprisingly cute.’
‘No. I meant “really” as in why was he on the news?’
‘Well, he was talking about this housing project.’ She nodded over at the building site. ‘Apparently he’s building a development of twelve eco houses.’
‘Oh. Right. What exactly does that mean, then?’
‘Insulation is key, apparently, and they’re powered by renewable energy.’
I nodded. ‘Very worthy.’
‘You sound a bit scathing.’
‘No, I’m sure there are lots of advantages for the future of the planet. It’s just I was reading somewhere about the rebound effect that can kind of cancel out some of the benefits.’
‘The rebound effect?’
I nodded. ‘Human behaviour can interfere with the promised advantages of things like solar power. Apparently when people are warm in their houses, they’re more likely to just wear less clothing than turn down the heating. So they’re not always saving the levels of energy that would technically be possible.’
Ellie nodded. ‘Interesting. Maybe you should put that question to our TV celebrity builder over there.’ She grinned in the direction of the building site.
‘Er, I don’t think so.’ I grimaced. ‘I’d rather have no communication whatsoever with either him or that club-wielding caveman side-kick of his.’
She chuckled. ‘Well, let’s hope they’ve brought their packed lunches to work, so they don’t end up prowling around the market with their clubs, hunting down fresh meat!’
I laughed at the idea of that, although the thought of running into either of them again made me feel oddly uneasy.
The number of market visitors milling around the twenty or thirty stalls was very promising, although our plot wasn’t the best situated. It was at the far end of a row of stalls, selling groceries, pet food and accessories, candles, antiques, and right next to us, a flower-seller. People were tending to wander all the way to the flowers, stand and admire them for a while, and then turn and walk away. I supposed it was because we didn’t have a stall with all the bakery goods laid out for them to see. Plus, neither Ellie nor I felt comfortable calling out to people and drawing their attention to our fabulous cakes.
After half an hour of slow business, however, things picked up a little.
I was chatting to a lovely woman about her recipe for ginger cake when a voice behind me said, ‘Er... could you move your van, please? You’re blocking the way.’