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‘Oh, love, I’m so sorry. We just popped out to drop something off at the restaurant. I’m Elsie and this is my husband, Ian.’ The woman hurried towards her before giving her a quick hug around the shoulders.
‘Hi, lovely to meet you.’ Holly could feel her muscles instantly relax. She hadn’t realised quite how apprehensive she’d felt about coming here, but now meeting Elsie, the owner of the bakery, and her husband, she could feel her confidence returning.
‘I’ll take that.’ Ian smiled as he picked up her suitcase before chuckling. ‘What have you got in there? An entire library of books or a bunch of bricks?’
‘Let’s get you in, love. You must be freezing standing out here in this weather.’ Elsie pulled a bunch of keys from her handbag and unlocked the door, letting Holly step through first. ‘Have you been waiting here long?’
‘No, not long at all.’ Holly stepped inside, the warmth of the bakery immediately enveloping her. She looked around and counted three counters dotted around the room. ‘I ran into Tammy and Josh at the train station, who kindly offered to give me a lift here. Tammy said she used to volunteer for you? And she asked me to apologise for her not being able to pop in and say hello.’
‘That’s lovely that you’ve already met one of us then.’ Elsie grinned as she waited for Ian to lift Holly’s suitcase up the step and through the door before closing it and shutting out the cold. Pulling her gloves off, Elsie laid them on the counter before turning to Holly. ‘How about a tour of the bakery and then Ian and I can order us all a nice takeaway whilst you settle yourself in?’
Holly nodded. A takeaway sounded good. In fact, any food sounded good. She’d only managed to buy a bottle of water and a bag of crisps when swapping trains in London. She didn’t travel on the train often, so she hadn’t wanted to risk missing her connecting train.
‘I’ll pop this upstairs and put the kettle on whilst you do that.’ Ian smiled and headed towards a door behind the biggest of the three counters.
‘Thanks, love.’ Elsie nodded before turning back to Holly. ‘Right, Holly, we have the bakery counter here where Diane and Brooke work and over at the back the small counter is where Teresa sells coffee and cakes to some of our customers who like to have a cuppa and a bite to eat inside.’
‘That’s a lovely idea.’ Holly smiled.
‘And here,’ Elsie led the way between the tables and chairs positioned in the middle of the bakery towards the third counter on the opposite side of the shop floor. ‘We have our wedding counter.’
Holly peered through the glass at an array of wedding cakes and small cupcake favours. The detailing of the decoration was exquisite. Someone with an abundance of talent had obviously spent a lot of time decorating them. ‘Wow, these cakes are stunning.’
‘They are, aren’t they, love? They’re all Wendy’s talented work.’ Elsie pushed open a door behind the counter to reveal a small office. Photos of weddings adorned the walls, and a large mood board displaying an array of carefully selected photographs was laid out on the desk. ‘Molly and Wendy run our wedding service from here where they help our clients with everything from forming initial ideas of how they would like their big day to be to organising it and making sure everything runs smoothly on the day.’
Holly nodded slowly. ‘It’s a bit more than a bakery here then.’
Elsie chuckled as she closed the office door again. ‘The business has certainly grown and adapted over the years, yes.’
Holly followed her back through the bakery towards a door along the back wall.
‘And last but not least, here is the kitchen.’ Elsie held the door open for her.
Holly stepped through before pausing. Stainless-steel cupboards and counters encircled a large stainless-steel table in the middle of the vast kitchen. ‘Wow.’
Elsie grinned. ‘We seem to get that reaction a lot from our volunteers.’
‘When I applied to volunteer here, I hadn’t realised how big it would be.’ Holly turned to Elsie. ‘I don’t mean that in a bad way, not at all. This all looks amazing.’
‘Thanks, love. We have a great team working here. In fact, we’re more like family than colleagues.’
Holly nodded. If the rest of the staff were as lovely as Tammy had been then she knew she wouldn’t have anything to worry about, and judging by the way Elsie was at the moment, it would be completely different working for her than it was for Mrs Hatton. She grimaced as she remembered the key in her pocket.
‘Is everything okay, love?’ Elsie frowned.
‘Yes, sorry. I just remembered that I accidentally brought the key to the craft shop I work at. I need to send it back.’
‘Oh, I’ve got envelopes and stamps if you need one? And there’s a post box at the bottom of the hill.’
‘That would be great if you don’t mind, please? I think the sooner I send it back, the better. It’s her only one and I don’t think she’s going to be very happy.’
‘These things happen, love. I’m sure she’ll understand. The post won’t be collected now until first thing in the morning, so why don’t I show you your room and then you can pop and post it while we’re waiting for our food to be delivered?’
‘Okay, that sounds like a good idea.’ Holly nodded as she followed Elsie back out into the bakery and through the same door Ian had taken her suitcase. ‘What will I be doing here?’
‘That’s up to you, love.’ Elsie glanced back at Holly before leading the way up the stairs. ‘What do you fancy? You could help serve behind the bakery or if you want to do some baking, you’re welcome to help me out in the kitchen.’
Holly ran her forefinger along the brightly coloured wallpaper as she walked up the stairs. Large parrots peeked out from behind even bigger green palm leaves. ‘I think I might put you out of business if I offer to bake.’
