Page 44 of Christmas at Rachel’s Pudding Pantry

‘It’s a farm,’ Rachel answered coolly, trying to keep the smirk off her lips. ‘We keep animals here.’

‘Oh, and they smell horrible.’ With that, one pooped right on the previously clean white toe of Chelsea’s right shoe. She tried to scuff the creature away. ‘Jakey! Help me.’

Jake moved in, rather ineffectually, making them flap and squawk momentarily, and then the birds resettled just a metre away from Chelsea’s feet again, their beady eyes trained back on her trainers.

Maisy let out a giggle, and Rachel gave her a little nudge in the ribs. Even though she found it all highly amusing herself, she didn’t want them to set off on the wrong foot today.

‘Come on then, Maisy, let’s get away from here. Are you ready for your day out?’ Jake said, already shifting towards the car. ‘Do you like the film Frozen? We’re going to watch the sequel at the cinema.’

‘Yesss!’ Maisy clapped her hands with glee. ‘I love Anna, and Olaf is so cute. I can’t wait till we get some real snow so we can make a snowman.’

Rachel frowned. Hah, really? That was the film she’d planned on taking Maisy to as a pre-Christmas treat. So, that was their special afternoon out scuppered. Grrrr.

‘And I bet you like popcorn and ice cream too.’ Chelsea had recomposed herself somewhat, despite the chicken shit on her shoe, and reached out a well-manicured hand towards Maisy, showing perfect pink nail varnish. Rachel was sure her own nails probably had some baking dough or mud or possibly animal excrement under them, and certainly hadn’t seen any varnish since she was about eighteen.

Maisy was nodding away happily now. ‘I love ice cream.’ Her little girl walked across and took Chelsea’s hand, which felt weirdly like a betrayal, but Rachel quashed the thought. Of course she wanted Maisy to feel comfortable with them, yet she couldn’t help feeling all gnarled up inside. You couldn’t buy love on one day out with sweets and popcorn. You had to be there for your kids, coping with all the tough stuff, as well as dishing out treats.

‘Right, well, we’ll be heading off,’ Jake said.

‘Oh, hang on, you’ll need her car seat.’ Rachel started to make her way to the Land Rover.

‘No need, we’ve already got one in,’ Jake called out. ‘It’s for Kelvin, Chelsea’s lad. He’s seven, so we can easily adjust the straps. It’ll be fine.’

Rachel stood there, gobsmacked. So, Jake struggles to make one phone call a week to his own daughter and all the while he’s playing happy families with someone else’s kid? Rachel fumed. Jake had the power to rile her within seconds at the best of times, but he was excelling himself today.

‘Are you serious? So, you can play dad to another child and you hardly remember to ring up your own daughter? That sucks, Jake.’ She stopped herself before she really started shouting, spotting Maisy looking across at her with confusion all over her face.

At least it meant that Chelsea might have a bit of experience and would know how to look after a child of five, she supposed. Chelsea herself was wisely keeping quiet at this point – and covertly looking over her shoulder for any more roaming chickens.

‘Well, have a nice day, petal. Be a good girl, now,’ Rachel rallied.

‘I will, Mummy. Bye.’

Maisy was smiling once more, and that was how it should be, but boy, was this hard. Rachel’s daughter was holding a stranger’s hand. She knew she had to let her little girl go; she needed to get to know her daddy and spend time with him.

Rachel looked on as they put Maisy into the car and strapped her in. She had to smile and wave as she watched them drive away, yet all the while her heart was aching.

‘All right, love? I know this must hard for you.’ Jill was standing at the Pantry door, waiting to see her back in. She placed a caring hand on Rachel’s shoulder. ‘So, he’s turned up with a new girlfriend in tow.’

‘Yeah, and it stinks, Mum. She has a little boy that Jake must be helping to look after and yet he’s never had time for his own child.’

‘Oh, pet … Look, why don’t you go back over to the house for a little while? I’m fine here, it’s not that busy.’

‘I think I might, if that’s okay.’ A little time out was what Rachel needed.

This called for some serious baking. If her head was pounding and her heart was sore, then she needed some baking therapy. In times like this, her go-to was chocolate brownies, comforting to bake and comforting to eat.

She put her country music on – she’d got the country bug from years of listening along with her dad. His favourite was Kenny Rogers’ ‘Islands in the Stream’ and she could picture the two of them now, singing out loud and dancing in this very kitchen. She gave a sigh. Fathers could certainly vary, but she had to concede that at least Maisy was beginning to get to know hers, even with his many flaws and foibles.

Rachel began weighing out ingredients, mixing and stirring. The dark chocolate aroma soon filled the kitchen. She mixed up a double batch, one lot for the Pantry and one to keep for themselves. Brownies would be a lovely treat for Maisy to come home to, she thought. Once they were baked and cooling on the side, Rachel went back over to check on Jill. The Pantry wasn’t very full and still didn’t need two of them working. Rachel’s head started drifting to what Maisy would be doing now. Would she be getting too high on sweets? Would they be patient with her? Listen to her chatter kindly? Know the wriggly, crossed-leg signs when she needed the loo?

Rachel was in need of a friendly ear and took out her mobile. A fellow mother would understand.

‘Eve, I’m going nuts here. Maisy’s out for the day with her dad and I can’t stop worrying about her. She’s probably fine and happy somewhere, eating ice cream and goodness knows what, but all I can do is think about her.’

‘Oh, hun, that must be so hard. Especially when he hardly knows her, really.’

‘Argh, don’t remind me.’