Page 87 of The Sugar and Spice Bookshop Bakery

Miss Anderson frowns at the noise and Louise half expects her to tell Maddie to sit down and be quiet.

‘You’ve heard from Theo?’ Louise says as Maddie practically skips over to the counter. Yesterday’s upset has, as she predicted, blown over.

‘Yes, I have, but even better than that!’

In the split second before Maddie blurts out her news, Louise knows exactly what she’s going to say.

‘I got the job!’ Maddie says loudly, twirling around in a circle with her arms outstretched. ‘The person they offered it to changed their mind so I. Got. The. Job.’

‘Well, really!’ Miss Anderson says, shaking her head.

‘Oh, Mads! That’s wonderful!’ Louise says, pulling her stepdaughter in for a hug. ‘I’m so pleased for you.’

So pleased for you. But so sad for me, she thinks. We started this bookshop bakery adventure together. You, me and Jack. But now you’re going and he’s going and I’m going to be left alone.

‘Oh, and I made this,’ Maddie opens her bag and pulls out a rolled-up sheet of paper. She slips off the elastic band and hands it to Louise.

Louise unrolls it, revealing a beautiful, hand-painted poster in Maddie’s unmistakable style, announcing the time and date of the grand opening of the Sugar and Spice Bookshop Bakery.

‘Oh wow, Maddie!’

‘Can I put it up? I’ve got enough old newspapers now, so I can put it in place of that one.’ She indicates the notice in the window.

‘Sure.’

Maddie pulls the A4 sheet of paper off the window and peels the Blu Tack off it, before starting to put up the new poster.

‘Have you told Theo?’ Louise says.

Maddie rolls a piece of Blu Tack between her thumb and forefinger. ‘Of course! He’s over the moon! When I get back to London, he’s taking me out to celebrate. I think my “treat ’em mean” strategy must have worked.’

‘I’m so pleased.’ Louise genuinely hopes it works out for Maddie, but strongly suspects that once he senses he’s won her over, he’ll distance himself again. But this time, she says nothing. She’s learnt her lesson. She won’t interfere again.

‘And when do you start? You’ll still be here for the grand opening, won’t you?’

Maddie turns around, a concerned look on her face. ‘Yeah, that’s the thing. I have to start in three days’ time because it’s not long till their grand opening. I’m so sorry. I feel like I’m leaving you in the lurch, but don’t worry, Lou. We’ll come up for our grand opening, I promise. We wouldn’t miss it!’

‘We?’

‘Yeah, I’ve invited Theo. That is okay, isn’t it?’

‘Of course.’

‘Right. Now I must dash. There’s something really important I have to finish before I leave.’

Louise stands rooted to the spot, watching Maddie go. She can tell by the bounce in her stepdaughter’s stride that she’s excited about whatever it is she’s gone off to do. No doubt she’s creating something beautiful. Something, she suspects, that involves chicken wire, old newspaper, fake fur coats and one enormous wardrobe.

Twenty-Nine

‘You could have bought some champagne glasses,’ Elizabeth hisses to Louise, who is pouring Sainsbury’s finest fizz into mugs.

‘Why? It’ll taste the same.’

‘It’s not very classy.’

‘Come on, it’s just a little gathering. Who are you trying to impress?’ Louise pauses, and glances round the bakery. It’s actually nothing like the little gathering she’d envisaged when she suggested they celebrate Maddie’s new job with a small leaving party – her mother seems to have invited half the village and Louise is running herself ragged trying to serve them all. Her eyes light upon Jack’s father. ‘Ah, I see. I’ll just pop up to the flat, should I, and see if I can find a wine glass for Richard. In case he’s not a drinking-wine-out-of-mugs kind of guy.’

‘He’s sophisticated,’ Elizabeth says. ‘He’s spent most of his life in Italy. So if you could get a glass, darling…’