Page 77 of Summer at Rachel’s Pudding Pantry

That wasn’t the end of her worries. As she walked into the Pantry fifteen minutes later, ready to help Jill serve the morning customers, trying to put on her best sunny smile with a heart that was shredded, Jill approached with a worried look on her face. ‘Oh, Rachel, there’s been a problem.’

Oh God, had Tom gone and called it off for good? Rachel felt a bit wobbly and had to hold onto the nearest chair.

Whatever it was she had to face it full on. ‘What is it, Mum?’

‘There’s been an accident on the A1 …’ Jill started.

Rachel’s mind flashed, where was Maisy? Safely at school … Not Tom, please not Tom … driving off with a head full of hurt and false scenarios.

Her throat was in such a knot, she couldn’t speak. Her knees wobbled.

‘It’s Jenn, the cake lady. She’s had an accident on the way here.’

‘Oh no, is she all right?’

‘I think so, just a minor scrape, she was able to call me. She’s going to pop to the doctors’ to get checked out, might be a bit of whiplash. Her car’s a bit of a mess, I think.’

‘Oh, bless her, how awful.’

‘But it’s the cake, darling … Someone’s gone into the back of her estate, and well … it’s trashed.’

‘Oh, right. Blimey.’ Her wedding cake, crushed. Just a metaphor for the times, right? But there were more important things in life right now. ‘Poor Jenn. She’ll be devastated.’ At least Jenn seemed to be okay.

‘She said she’ll not charge us for it,’ Jill continued. ‘But the thing is, she hasn’t got time to make another … and, to be honest, I don’t think she should pressure herself to even try. She did sound rather shaken up.’

‘No, of course, she mustn’t. I’ll text her and see how she is, say we’ll be fine. It’s not the end of the world.’

‘I must say you’re taking it awfully well, love.’

Frank had been sipping his morning coffee and listening in. ‘Oh ladies, I’m sorry to hear that,’ he chipped in. ‘I wish I could bake. I’d be going home and making you something right now. But I really don’t think you’d be impressed with my meagre efforts.’

‘No worries, Frank, we’ll manage. Look, why don’t we create something simple out of cupcakes … maybe set them out on a three-tiered cake stand? They’d be easy enough to whip up in a hurry.’ Rachel was being resourceful.

‘Good thinking,’ Jill was on the case, ‘I was going to be making some vanilla cupcakes with a pretty edible rosebud on top for the reception anyhow, so why don’t I make a few extra and keep them back for that.’

‘That sounds a great idea, Mum … and maybe Wendy will add a few floral strands to the cake stand for effect.’

They gave each other a high five.

Rachel could cope with a missing wedding cake, but what she couldn’t cope with was a missing groom.

She tried calling Tom’s mobile again, sending love and hope down the airwaves. Still no answer.

As she went to put her phone away, a message pinged in. Oh … her fingertips fumbled as she rushed to check it. But it wasn’t Tom. It was just a notification for a private message on the Pudding Pantry Facebook page. But Rachel’s eyes widened in shock as she started to read.

‘Rachel, where do I begin … I’m so sorry. What started as a small, impulsive comment online, which I have to admit came out of jealousy, just got all out of hand. It wasn’t easy for me thinking of Tom getting married again, I’ve been in quite a dark place. It’s no excuse, I know that. And well, I realise now how damaging those nasty comments I made on the Pantry pages could be. I’m not proud of what I’ve done, and I wanted to come clean. You deserve the truth. Please accept my sincere apologies, which I know might seem too little too late. But I hope, in time, you can think about starting to forgive me. It’s now time for us all to move on and I do wish you and Tom all the best – I really do. Sincerely, Caitlin.’

Oh my god. Rachel felt a bit winded, she stood clutching her phone to her chest. It really was Caitlin. She had strongly suspected she was behind it all, but it was another thing to be faced with the reality.

Phew, she had to admit it felt a relief to have that issue resolved. And it felt like the threat of Caitlin was fading into the distance. It couldn’t have been easy for her to write that, Rachel acknowledged. That took courage, at least. She resolved to reply when she’d had a chance to absorb it all. For now, though, she had a wedding to get back on track.

Just like old times, Rachel and Eve, bride-to-be and maid of honour, were sitting on the bed in Rachel’s bedroom later that day. It was the eve of the wedding.

They’d had a frenetic couple of hours with all hands on deck at the newly set-up tipi, with electric cables being rolled out, and men from the village-hall committee up on a cherry picker stringing up lights. Extra tables and chairs, borrowed from the hall, were now all in place along with the Pantry’s furniture, leaving the tearoom area free and about to be turned into a standing area for a fabulous drinks reception. For which Granny Ruth had insisted she make the perfect ‘naughty nibbles’, to accompany the lemon gin fizz welcome cocktails. It was all coming together perfectly on the outside, but on the inside Rachel’s heart was still in tatters. All this help, and community effort, would it all be for nothing? After helping out, Ben had taken Amelia back home and Jill was now downstairs with Maisy, baking extra ‘wedding cake’ cupcakes. The girls had a token glass of prosecco each, and chocolates to hand, and were meant to be chilling out and pampering themselves with manicures and pedicures, ready for the big day tomorrow. But there was far too much going on for either of them to feel in any way relaxed.

Rachel had to do something, and now. Her relationship with Tom was far too precious to wreck. She hadn’t disclosed the truth about ‘the kiss’ to protect Eve, but look where that had got her. She took her friend’s hand. ‘Eve, look, I have something to ask you.’

‘Of course, what is it chick?’