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‘Ha-ha, you’ll soon get used to everything.’ Teresa passed a mug to Diane.
‘Oh, you sure will.’ Diane took a sip of her coffee. ‘You’ve come at a good time of the year, too. Summers here are good fun, and we’ve got the summer fete this weekend, which is held in the school grounds too. That’s always a good day.’
‘I love the summer fete.’ Brooke waved her customer off before taking a coffee. ‘Thanks, Teresa.’
‘How much was that guy buying?’ Diane nodded towards the customer, who had paused outside the bakery to swap two large bags into one hand.
‘Loads. Twenty rolls, twenty cupcakes and some flapjacks and doughnuts. His daughter is having a party later, and he’d promised her that he’d buy Elsie’s food for it. Her words.’ Brooke smiled.
‘Aw, that’s cute. You’ll have to tell Elsie that.’ Teresa glanced across at the occupied table as a roar of laughter filtered through the air.
‘I will. She’ll love that.’ Brooke grinned. ‘Has anyone heard from Wendy or Molly today? I’ve not seen them since this morning.’
‘Molly rang Elsie earlier. They’re busy helping Daisy prep the restaurant for a wedding this afternoon.’ Teresa shrugged.
‘Ooh lovely.’ Brooke turned to Carmen. ‘Molly and Wendy work here on the wedding planning side of the business.’
Carmen glanced across to the counter opposite, her eyes falling on a beautiful three-tiered cream and pink wedding cake displayed behind the glass.
‘Is Daisy off maternity leave then?’ Diane looked across at Carmen. ‘Daisy came as a volunteer here before moving down here and working on the wedding planning. Actually, it was Daisy who started the whole wedding planning idea, wasn’t it?’
‘Yes, it was. Wendy has made wedding cakes since she began working here, but it was only when Daisy volunteered and ended up helping Ollie plan his sister’s wedding that Elsie had the idea of expanding into wedding planning.’ Teresa took a sip of coffee.
‘Oh, that was so sweet, wasn’t it? Daisy and Ollie fell in love whilst planning his sister’s wedding and now they own Baywater Delights, a restaurant by the beach and have just had a baby girl, Bonnie, too.’ Diane grinned.
‘That’s lovely.’ Carmen smiled. She’d always loved that name, Bonnie. That had been the name which she and her ex, Rob, had decided upon. Not that they’d ever got so far as to plan to have children. It had just been a conversation over a gin and tonic in the pub garden one day, but she’d remembered. ‘Do you get much business for the wedding planning?’
‘Yes, Wendy and Molly are always pretty busy, what with visiting venues, planning and setting up for the big days, aren’t they?’ Brooke looked across at Teresa, who nodded.
‘I can imagine anywhere down here being a lovely place to get married.’ Carmen glanced out of the window. The sun was glistening on the ocean opposite the bakery, people meandering across the beach or along the cobbles carrying takeaway cups of coffee, bags or holding dog leads. Even without having been down onto the beach herself, she could see from here how idyllic it looked. Turning back, she took a long gulp of coffee. The lack of sleep was slowly but surely beginning to catch up with her.
‘Yes, we get a lot of tourists too. You wait until the end of the week when the schools break up. Our afternoon lulls will be a distant memory.’ Diane laughed and nodded towards the window. ‘Talking of which, I think this one’s over already.’
‘Ah, it looks like a coach trip.’ Teresa began piling the empty mugs back onto the tray.
‘A coach trip?’
‘Yep, look.’
Downing the dregs of her coffee, Carmen looked back out of the window, a large group of people were walking across the cobbles, smaller groups splitting off, some heading down to the beach, some presumably to a different shop along the row and a good number coming towards them. Stepping forward, she waited for the first of the customers to enter. ‘Hi, what can I get you today?’
