She fixed the orange juice and dropped in a couple of ice cubes from the bucket on the bar. ‘There’s a guy staying here with his daughter and he said pretty much the same thing to me earlier when he was waiting here for her to get ready.’ She handed Amelia the drink. ‘Cleo told me your nephew has had a few problems; I hope this trip works in the way you want it to.’
‘Me too.’
They moved over to the sofa nearer the fireplace as Cleo finished up on the phone and put her order in for a diet cola.
‘You’re not drinking either?’ Amelia commented.
‘I’ve been at the market stall most of this afternoon – Kaisha has taken over now but I’ll be back to it after this. Darcy kindly lets me take breaks at the Inglenook Inn and it’s way better than shivering my behind off at some coffee cart.’
‘Everything all right at home?’ Darcy asked Cleo, noting her frown when she handed her her drink. She bent down by the fireside to add another log as the flames bathed the Christmas tree by the window in a soft glow.
‘My call was from Ruby, reminding me there’s a bake sale at school the day after tomorrow and I need to make cupcakes.’
‘I’d buy some if I were you,’ said Darcy.
‘Apparently it’s frowned upon. The other mums make them from scratch, all pretty with swirly icing and little decorations.’
‘Other mums probably don’t run their own business, have two market stalls, four kids with two of them under the age of five either,’ said Amelia, Darcy adding her agreement too. ‘I honestly don’t know how you do it.’
‘I have got four kids,’ Cleo replied, ‘but I’ve got a Dylan too.’
‘So that’s where I’m going wrong,’ Amelia grinned. ‘I’ve only met him briefly when you brought him over to the UK but you do seem to have hit the jackpot.’
‘He’s a good husband and a wonderful father.’
‘Amelia is right though,’ Darcy put in, ‘you have a lot going on – making cupcakes is the least of your worries.’
‘I’ll manage it. I’ll just have to remember to get the ingredients in the morning. I can make them in the apartment kitchen above the Little Knitting Box, that way I’m still at work and multitasking.’
‘I’m telling you, this is why God invented places like the Magnolia Bakery,’ said Darcy, eyeing the box of cupcakes. ‘Because not everyone has time for all that competing crap.’ When Cleo opened her mouth to say something she said, ‘You know I’m talking the truth, don’t you?’
‘It’s true,’ Cleo told Amelia. ‘But things with Ruby are delicate enough as it is, I don’t want to do anything to upset her.’
‘She’s trying to push your buttons,’ said Darcy and when Amelia’s look begged the question, Cleo explained what had been going on at home.
‘It sounds like she’s reached the age where she’s testing you, trying to work out her place in all of this. You’d know what it was like, I remember you telling me about your stepmum Teresa.’ It dawned on Amelia that that might be the problem. ‘Is that what’s behind all this worry?’
‘I was a little cow. I made Teresa’s life far harder than it ever needed to be and, looking back, it probably made it more difficult for my dad too. But I thought Ruby and I were friends. She was always happy for me to be around, it’s only lately she’s changed and pushes the boundaries whenever she can.’
‘What does Dylan make of it all?’ Amelia asked.
‘He’s brushing it off like she’s just going through a stage, which she is, I know that, but from my own experience I know that stage, with all the resentment, can last well into your twenties. He’s offered to talk to her but I don’t want things to become more difficult, I don’t want her to think I’m trying to turn him against her.’
‘Why don’t you try talking to her yourself, ask her why she’s feeling differently?’ Amelia suggested. ‘It could all stem from one small thing she’s blown out of proportion.’
‘Maybe. I appreciate any suggestions from you, you’ve got the experience after all.’
Amelia began to laugh. ‘I wouldn’t say that, and you might change your mind depending on how I handle Kyle during this trip away.’ She watched as Darcy mixed business with pleasure, interacting with another customer who came through the door, answered a phone call as well as liaising with a man called Rupert, the chef at the inn, multitasking almost like second nature to her. ‘Darcy’s lovely, so professional, so relaxed. I’ve never been able to carry that off in my own job.’
‘She thrives on being busy and she pretty much runs this place when the owner isn’t around.’
‘Where’s the owner?’
Cleo explained Sofia’s situation: her daughter in Switzerland, the toing and froing to see her grandchildren. ‘Darcy told me earlier that Sofia is thinking of selling up and I think Darcy would love to buy this place. Myles has been working long hours again; I’m a bit worried they’re pushing themselves too hard.’
‘It’s prime real estate here in the city, that’s for sure. And such a gorgeous inn.’
‘Darcy has worked hard so she’s emotionally attached. I just hope she and Myles make the right decision.’
