Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
VANESSA
“I’m fine,” said Joey. Vanessa heaved a small, and as it turned out, premature sigh of relief. “I mean, well, perhaps not fine.”
Vanessa’s brow furrowed. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kissed you.” She felt sad and cross with herself all at once. Had she pushed Joey to do something she didn’t want to do?
“I’m sorry,” said Joey, holding up a hand.
“This isn’t coming out right.” She started fiddling with a loose thread at the edge of her apron, and Vanessa bit her lip.
“I hope you don’t regret kissing me.” She closed her eyes and then opened them again.
“I was there, too, and I kissed you back. Don’t forget that. ” She gave a sheepish smile.
Vanessa gave a small smile back, although she could sense that there was a ‘but’ coming.
“It’s just, I don’t really do this. And I don’t know what we’re doing.
It’s like you’ve just arrived here and changed everything, and then you’ll leave.
You’ll go back to England and forget all about me.
” Joey looked down at her shoes. “And that’s fine.
You don’t owe me anything. But I guess I’m just not ready for that. ”
Vanessa felt her stomach flip. She wanted to step forward and take Joey in her arms. Her face was so serious, and she’d clearly been thinking about this so much.
Instead she smiled and smoothed her hair.
“I could never forget you,” she said, simply.
“I am going back to England, that’s true.
And, honestly, I don’t know what the future holds.
But I kissed you because you matter. Because I wanted to.
” She took a risk. “And because you wanted to as well.”
Joey huffed a laugh, her cheeks reddening. “I did.”
A timer started to ping, and Joey turned her attention to the task at hand. They paused their discussion and worked silently together, side by side. Every now and again the backs of their hands would graze each other, sending a spark of electricity up Vanessa’s arm.
Once the coc de mel was ready to come out of the oven Joey presented Vanessa with the oven gloves in a serious, faux-ceremonial fashion. Vanessa giggled. She hadn’t seen Joey be silly before, and she liked it.
“Ok, does this look good?” Vanessa peered into the tin. The sponge had risen evenly and looked golden brown.
“Looks pretty good from where I’m standing, but of course it’s not complete until we’ve done the honey pouring.” Joey turned to grab a large jar of the sweet substance from the shelf while Vanessa gently took the cake out of its tin.
Vanessa breathed in the aroma. “It smells amazing already, which is pretty impressive given it doesn’t really have much in the way of flavouring yet.”
“Even when they’re quite plain, good quality ingredients treated with love can be delicious.” Joey looked intently at the cake. Vanessa turned her head towards the baker, surprised by her use of the word ‘love’. “I think you should do the honours.” Joey passed the honey jar to Vanessa.
She picked it up in both hands. “This is huge!”
Joey giggled. “Come on, use those muscles.”
“I don’t have as muscles like yours, Joey,” said Vanessa, recalling Joey’s arms around her, and unable to look at the other woman while she spoke . “Ok, here goes.” She began to drizzle the honey slowly from the jar.
“You can put more on than that,” said Joey. She lifted a hand to the jar, resting it on both of Vanessa’s, and increased the pouring angle.
Vanessa shivered inside, and grinned, delighting in the sight of the golden liquid pouring down over the sides of the cake. Delighting in the feeling of Joey’s hand on hers.
“There,” said Joey, taking her hand away. “That’s about right.”
Vanessa placed the jar on the surface. “Oh, I’m all sticky.” She wrinkled her nose.
“My hands are fine,” chuckled Joey.
“You weren’t doing all the work!” said Vanessa, a bubble of laughter surging up from her stomach. “And just for that…” She stepped into Joey’s space and placed her sugary palms on her fellow baker’s cheeks.
“Wow!” said Joey, her face reddening.
“Sorry,” said Vanessa, “but I’m stuck like this now.” She gazed at Joey, enjoying the warmth of her face through her fingers.
Joey brought her hands up to Vanessa’s wrists and gently took hold.
She pulled them away, and stepped closer to the novice baker.
She looked right at Vanessa as she kept hold of her wrists, putting them behind Vanessa’s back.
Their noses were close enough to touch, and Vanessa could feel Joey’s breath on her lips.
She shut her eyes, and Joey closed the gap.
Joey kissed her, so softly the kiss was barely there.
Vanessa felt her blood pressure skyrocket.
Joey relaxed her grip on Vanessa’s wrists. “That time it was definitely me, so you can assure yourself that both of us want to be doing the kissing,” she breathed.
Vanessa stood, rooted to the spot, desperate to kiss Joey again, but they could both hear Carmen chatting on the other side of the door.
“To be continued,” said Vanessa, regaining the power of speech.
“Agreed,” said Joey, her smile shy despite of her moment of boldness. “Let’s take the coc de mel into Carmen so she can put it in the display.”
The honey glaze shone under the glass.
“Now this,” said Carmen, “is a thing of beauty.”
The bell on the cafe door sounded. Dani came in, looking happy but tired.
“Hey,” said Joey, making a beeline for her friend and putting an arm around her shoulders. “How are things?”
“Yeah, much better thanks,” said Dani. She took a seat at a small table and Joey joined her.
“Glad to hear it.” Joey looked over at Carmen behind the counter. “I’m going to take a quick break.”
“Of course, you take it,” said Carmen. “You, too, Vanessa. Slices of your new cake all round?”
Vanessa took a seat with Joey and Dani while Carmen busied herself with serving them strong espresso coffee and honey cake.
“This was the lesson I learnt today,” Vanessa told Dani.
“Ooh yes, coc de mel,” said Dani. “Have you tried ron miel?”
“Ok, you’ve lost me there,” Vanessa held her hands up.
Joey smiled. “Honey rum. It’s a sweet liqueur. You’ll have to have some, some time.”
Vanessa wiggled her shoulders in pleasure at hearing Joey making plans for her.
She didn’t want to make any assumptions, but she couldn’t help sensing that Joey was gaining in confidence about a possible relationship after all.
She took a forkful of the sponge. It was light and airy, and while the glaze was sweet, the cake itself wasn’t overly so. It went perfectly with the coffee.