Epilogue
'That's the last of them, loves.' Elsie passed another box of pasties across the stainless-steel table in the kitchen towards Merri and Felix.
'Thanks, Elsie.' Merri grinned. 'You'll come tonight, won't you?'
'To an old school Valentine’s disco? you bet I will. You watch, me and Ian will be the last ones on that dance floor.' Elsie chuckled as she turned to Ian who had just walked in through the back door after carrying boxes of pasties, cakes and heart shaped biscuits out to the bakery van.
'The last ones doing what?' Ian rubbed his forehead.
'The last ones dancing, love. That'll be us, won't it?' Walking across to him, Elsie pecked him on the lips.
'You bet it will.' Taking Elsie’s hands in hers, Ian led her around the kitchen, dancing to a tune only he could hear.
'Stop it.' taking the tea towel from her shoulder, Elsie batted at him playfully. 'Save it for the disco. You don’t want to be going away all our secrets now.'
'Haha, so you'll definitely be coming?' Merri grinned.
When she'd suggested the idea of a Valentine's Day disco to Nick, both he and Gabby had jumped at the idea and preparations had begun at once.
Now they were only a few hours away and she just hoped they could pull it off.
Nick had hired a large marquee, bigger that the one which now housed the cafe, for the disco and Elsie had provided the catering.
All that was left to do was to finish decorating the marquee and welcome their guests.
The tickets had sold quicker than any of them had imagined too which was helpfully a good sign.
'We wouldn’t miss it for the world. We have our tickets and we’ll be there.' Elsie pulled the pastel pink tickets from the pocket of her apron before replacing them again. 'Now, you two get off and finish the preparations and we'll see you later.'
'Okay, thanks again for all of this.' Picking up the stack of boxes in front of her, Merri waited until Felix had done the same before she led the way out of the kitchen and through the courtyard towards the van.
Pausing by the gate, she frowned as she watched a woman with a nest of dark hair biting into a cupcake.
As soon as she realised she was being watched, the woman lowered the cupcake as a blush swept across her cheeks.
'I'm so sorry. I just...' The woman muttered.