Page 39 of The Sugar and Spice Bookshop Bakery

‘Me neither.’

‘Jack seemed in a hurry.’

‘I just sacked him.’

‘You sacked him?’

Louise nods. ‘I feel bad about it, but it wouldn’t have worked with him as my architect. He didn’t get my vision at all.’

‘No?’

‘No, his ideas were just awful, Maddie. I suspect he didn’t want the job anyway.’

‘Yeah, he did seem a bit awkward about it. What were his ideas?’

‘So instead of a lovely big glass extension in the garden, he said we could put up a few sheds.’

‘Sheds?’

‘Yeah, and possibly a rusty old shipping container. And when I asked if he could do me a sketch, show me what it would look like, he basically refused.’

‘How odd,’ Maddie says. ‘Not the sort of thing you’d expect an architect to come up with for a bakery extension in a little village in Yorkshire. But shipping containers are very on trend. There are some fabulous restaurants in shipping containers in London. Didn’t we go to one once? With Dad?’

‘Oh yeah, I remember that.’ They’d had Mexican, hadn’t they? Tacos? Or was it bao buns? ‘Anyway, that’s London. This is Applethwaite. Shipping containers are all very well in a city or a town.’

‘Exactly. Aren’t big glass extensions more of a town/city thing too?’

Louise shrugs. ‘I suppose. You’re not really suggesting I go with the sheds?’

‘What did he say exactly? About the sheds?’

Louise tries to remember his exact words. ‘He said they’d be quirky and bohemian. Each one a unique little space.’

‘That sounds amazing!’

‘Does it?’ Louise is doubtful. ‘I mean, sheds, Maddie. Garden sheds.’

‘But not ordinary garden sheds though, are they? If they’re themed and decorated. They’re more like… book nooks? Reading pods? Oh my god, I’d love that! Cosy little spaces with bookshelves and armchairs. Fluffy cushions. Soft throws.’

‘Well, when you put it like that…’

‘And the garden backs on to the river,’ Maddie continues, warming to her theme. ‘You could have fairy lights. And bunting. It would be a magical book garden. Way more interesting than just a glass extension where everyone’s sitting in one big space.’

‘He did mention something about tables by the river,’ Louise says reluctantly.

‘See! It’s a gorgeous idea. Kind of romantic. I know!’ She makes her lightbulb moment gesture again. ‘You could theme them. A crime one. A romance one – that could be the “Love Shack” or the “Sugar and Spice book nook” – one half for the sweet romances, and another for the spicy ones. A children’s one. I mean, that could look so cute.’

Louise is silent. When Maddie describes it like that, it does sound delightful. No, more than that – it sounds incredible. People would drive miles to visit somewhere like this.

‘Make me a coffee,’ Maddie says, ‘and give me an hour.’

‘What are you going to do?’

‘You’ll see, darling stepmother. You’ll see.’

*

It’s after four o’clock when Maddie reappears. Louise is in the kitchen, baking cakes and scones for the following day. Single-handed, it’s no mean feat to produce enough for the voracious appetites of the villagers, and she wonders how she’ll manage it all when the business is officially open, and she has to look after the book side of things, as well. She’ll have to employ someone, she presumes, but she knows as much about employment law and tax and national insurance, and all of that rigmarole, as she does about the legalities of running a food business. Another thing she’ll have to talk to Elizabeth about.