Page 37 of The Seaside Cocktail Campervan

As Lucy returned shortly afterwards with a tray of tea and biscuits, Nonna asked, ‘Well then, how’s the new pizza business going? Are you keeping up to Papa’s standards? Come and sit down, pet, and tell me all about it.’ She was always interested in her family’s lives, keen to know what the young ones were up to. Obviously, she had an extra interest in this particular venture of Lucy’s, with it being so close to all their hearts.

Lucy sat on an ageing, yet comfortable, green floral-patterned sofa, with Nonna propped in her high-backed chair beside her. Papa was there with them both; his dark, kind eyes looking on from his pride-of-place photo on the mantlepiece.

‘Yes, of course. Only the best ingredients as always, I insist on making all my own dough … and it has to be Papa’s tomato sauce with tons of garlic.’

They both smiled. Papa loved to use plenty of garlic. They’d all have garlic breath for days after eating his pizzas and pastas. His ‘Sunday Sauce’ was the stuff of family legend. Long after he’d stopped working in the restaurant and even after a busy week on the buses, he’d still be keen to make it – with rich, tomato-garlic aromas flooding the house.

‘Well then,’ Lucy continued, ‘the pizza horsebox has started off pretty good. I’ve been finding my feet these past couple of weeks and I’ve got a few new bookings in now.’ She kept a positive spin on it, happy with her new booking, and not wanting to give Nonna anything to be concerned about.

‘Oh, I’m so proud of you, pet. And it’s wonderful that you’re using Papa’s recipe. Ah, how I wish he could be here to see this happen.’ She glanced at his photo on the side with a sigh. ‘Mind you, you know your Papa, he’d be wanting to pitch in and help. Butting in with how to make the best tomato sauce.’

‘Hah, yes, wouldn’t he, and I wouldn’t have minded one bit.’

They both gave a nostalgic smile.

‘In fact,’ Lucy moved on to her pressing dilemma, ‘it’s a recipe idea that I’m after, Nonna. You’ve always made the best cakes. And well, I’ve been asked to cater for pizza and puddings at my next event …’

‘Oh, that sounds lovely.’

‘Yes, but I haven’t got a clue where to start with the puddings! I thought some cakes might work, and I remembered your special chocolate cake. The one you used to make for our birthday parties sometimes. Remember that one for my eleventh birthday in your garden?’

Her mind cast back to that happy day with Papa working away at the outside pizza oven he’d made, and Nonna bustling about with cakes and ice-creams in her red-checked apron.

‘All my friends came over for pizza and ice cream. It was brilliant, and I could tell Papa loved doing it. Stoking up the wood-fire and feeding the oven with pizza after pizza, whilst singing away to “O Sole Mio”. He used to love that song.’

Nonna’s smile lifted as Lucy chatted away. ‘Oh yes, I haven’t made one of those cakes for a while now, pet. I think you mean the one made with chocolate sponge and a chocolate mousse topping.’

‘That’s it. When I was little you used to load it with chocolate sprinkles too. All my friends used to love it. Is it hard to do? And more importantly, can it be made it for a crowd?’

‘Yes, of course. And it’s not that tricky at all. For a bigger cake, just multiply up the ingredients, and you could use a big square tin to bake it in. The mousse is fairly straightforward, then you could just cut it into individual squares.’

‘Scrummy. Do you still have the recipe?’

‘Oh absolutely. That recipe is so special; it was handed down from Papa’s mother.’

‘Was it really? Wow, I didn’t know that. That’s even better. So, it’s Italian-inspired too?’

‘Yes, my lovely.’

‘Brilliant. You don’t happen to have another easy pudding tucked up your sleeve, do you?’ Lucy ventured. She’d need at least one more dessert option.

‘Hmm, let me have a little think, while we have our cup of tea.’

So, after a happy chat about life in Lucy’s cottage, Daisy’s latest antics (who was now sat at their feet, on the lookout for custard cream crumbs), and Nonna’s gin club – oh yes, apparently the common room turned into a gin parlour every Thursday evening, along with a bingo session – Lucy left with two recipes to try: Nonna’s chocolate extravaganza and a Clementine and Limoncello Cake. Nonna had even donated a half-full bottle of Limoncello from her sideboard for Lucy to take with her.

With a host of things to do to prepare for this unexpected booking, Lucy soon had to make her goodbyes.

‘Ciao, Nonna.’

‘Ciao, pet.’

They’d said this on parting ever since Lucy had been a little girl.

Lucy left after a heartfelt hug on the threshold to Nonna’s flat, with a promise to return very soon with a slice or two of both cakes by way of thanks. She had a smile on her face and a lift in her heart as she waved up at Nonna’s first-floor window from the little car park below, grateful to have such wonderful support in her life. La famiglia was everything, and today she was particularly thankful to have a keen baker for a grandmother. Her nonna.

Chapter 19

Driving down the A1 on his way to the drinks supplier, and stuck behind a tediously slow tractor, Jack found himself thinking about Lucy. He was looking forward to seeing her once again at the function at the end of the week. He was glad he’d been able to help her out and get her the gig. It was good to give someone a step up on the ladder. He’d certainly needed a few pointers when he’d started out with Ruby and his campervan cocktail bar.