Page 68 of The Seaside Cocktail Campervan

Tombola, Raffle

Bouncy Castle, Face Painting and Fun for the Kids!

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Chapter 36

It was a blue-sky Saturday in early August, and the day of the Haltingham village fete. Lucy had driven through the winding country lanes of the Tyne Valley, passing several hikers and a scenic section of the historic Hadrian’s Wall en route. The Wall, built hundreds of years ago, stretched from coast to coast – ancient armies had marched there, Romans set up camp, built fortresses, lived, loved and battled there, and now ramblers trailed. The Northumberland hills rolled, and the horsebox meandered; Lucy had given herself plenty of time.

She was soon pulling into the pretty rural village of honey-coloured stone-built houses and cottages, where All Fired Up was booked in at the Summer Festival.

Troughs and baskets were filled with bold summer blooms; pinks, purples, and vivid yellows in abundance. Each cottage and house taking pride in adding their own floral tribute to the event. The village was strung with colourful bunting, which flapped gently and prettily on the breeze. There were at least twenty stalls and eateries there setting up – cakes, bakes, an ice cream van, tombola and more.

Oh blimey, Lucy’s heart gave a lurch when she looked up and spotted who was also about to park on the village green. Yep, the vintage red colours of campervan Ruby glinted in the summer sunshine. At least Jack wasn’t able to pull up next to her, as those spaces had already been taken by Kate’s Coffee and a fish and chip van. Lucy let out a small sigh, realising she’d been holding her breath for a few seconds – it was inevitable that she and Jack would meet at the same event sooner or later.

It had been twelve days now, and all her fears after that seemingly special night had proved to be right. Jack had never bothered to answer the next three messages Lucy had since sent, nor the two phone calls she’d tried to make. Jack Anderson had well and truly ducked out. Used her for a one-night stand. He must have set up all that so-called romantic cocktails and canapés stuff on the beach just to get his leg over. And Lucy had gone and fallen for it, hook line and sinker. She felt so bloody annoyed with herself for being such a pushover. Her blood was boiling again at the thought of it. Well, no more.

An hour later, and the pizza horsebox was ready, with the oven lit, the counter top all set up and a strand of Lucy’s colourful Italian-flag bunting stretched out along the hatch. It should, hopefully, be a busy and profitable day, being a pay-as-you-go event. She was on her own today and just had to focus and keep herself occupied; with head down and sense of pride up.

Thankfully, there was a steady queue for her pizzas as soon as the festival kicked into gear at noon. The margherita and new topping flavour, spicy nduja – a gorgeous Italian spicy sausage – were going down really well. It was a hot summer’s day, and Lucy had a bit of a sweat on, bustling about multi-tasking and making up orders, then standing by the oven turning pizzas with her paddle. But that wasn’t the only reason she was feeling uncomfortable. Every now and again, she’d take a sidelong glance across at Jack, who was over the other side of the green, shaking cocktails, serving and chatting to many a girl, with his trademark cocky smile in place. God, how she’d like to slam a hot tomato-sauced pizza right into that charming face of his. That would wipe the grin off of it for once.

‘A pesto chicken pizza please, love, when you’re ready.’

‘Oh right, yes, of course.’ She hadn’t noticed the chap in the baseball cap arrive at the counter. ‘Coming right up.’ She forced a smile.

Jack glanced over to the pizza horsebox. His heart still felt raw. He’d half thought of ducking out of today’s event, but that was no good, that was the coward’s way, and he knew they’d have to face each other at some point.

Every message from her had twisted his gut. The beach night … he’d loved surprising her, thinking of things to make her evening special, to make her smile, but he hadn’t expected it all to move so quickly. And he certainly hadn’t planned that it would all feel so damn intense. The morning after, his instinct had been to run, call a halt to it all.

But now, looking at Lucy, instead of that making him feel better, he felt downright rotten. The guilt had been gnawing at him ever since he’d left her cottage. He’d told himself over and over, since then, that keeping his distance was best for the both of them. If he couldn’t commit, then he could at least try not to hurt her anymore. He just had to see it through, then things might get easier … in time.

Much to his relief, Jack’s work was cut out for him throughout the afternoon, with him mixing summer cocktails galore: gin fizzes, Pimm’s, chilled prosecco, along with draught lagers and bottled ales. He was also making fancy fresh juices, and his elderflower fizz and ‘No-jito’ mocktails aplenty to cool the thirsty gathering.

Concentrating on the job in hand, it was a bolt from the blue when, at around 2 p.m., he looked up to see … that the next people in the queue were his parents. He was astounded. They’d never been to any of his events before. To be fair, most bookings were at private houses or party venues, but today’s fete, well, he’d mentioned it to them in passing, but hadn’t ever imagined they’d turn up. They’d never seemed overly keen to see him in action with Ruby, his Cocktail Campervan, in the past.

‘Hey, hi, Mum, Dad. What are you doing here?’ He still wondered if they were there by chance, or perhaps and most likely en route to some other occasion or outing.

‘We’ve come to see you.’ His mum smiled.

‘Yeah,’ his dad Simon took up, ‘we wanted to see Ruby up and running. See how this cocktail thing works when you are out and about.’

It had been years he’d been working with Ruby … they could easily have come before, but he didn’t want to mess up this historic moment with a cheeky remark. ‘Well, great. Good! Can I get you anything while you’re here? Mix you a summery cocktail, Mum? A cold beer for you, Dad?’

‘A beer would be fantastic.’

‘Mum?’

‘Oh, I’m not sure. I don’t want to risk a headache, drinking in the day.’

‘No worries, I do mocktails and juices. What about a refreshing pineapple and lime soda?’

‘Go on then, yes, that sounds delightful.’

While he was fixing their drinks, unable to suppress his surprised smile, his dad was checking out Ruby. ‘She looks good son, the campervan, all very professional.’

‘It’s so pretty, Jack, I never imagined it all set out like this.’

Jack felt a surge of joy. His parents were actually here … and praising his business.