Summer at Rachel's Pudding Pantry

by Caroline Roberts

  Sarah blushed and busied herself with packing the shopping.

  ‘Come on, Sarah, you obviously know something.’

  ‘Now Rach, don’t think that I believe it – sure it’s just the rumour mill in overdrive – but there is a story doing the rounds. I’ve said it’ll be a load of nonsense. But you know what this place can be like when there’s a bit of gossip going about. Everyone leaps on it.’

  ‘And …?’ Rachel felt her cheeks burn.

  ‘I think it started with Vanessa.’

  ‘Well, there’s no surprise.’

  ‘She heard something on good authority, apparently, and told Susan Davenport, who told Melanie at the Cheviot Café, who told Rog at the post office, who—’

  ‘What did she say? What is it?’

  ‘Well. I’m sorry Rach – and again don’t think I’m buying into it – but Vanessa heard you’d been spotted kissing someone …’

  Well, Rachel mused, there had been that rather gorgeous moment in the hay field recently, but when had public kissing been banned between a future man and wife? What was wrong with everyone?

  ‘And it wasn’t Tom,’ Sarah clarified.

  Oh.

  ‘Well, who the hell was it? The bloody invisible man?’

  ‘Again, according to rumour, it was Jake.’

  ‘You what? Jake? Are you sure about that?’

  ‘Well obviously I don’t believe it, but that’s what’s being said … I suppose with him being around a few weeks ago …’

  ‘Well, that’s bloody ridiculous.’ There were two people behind her in the queue now, in fact two of the little group who’d been gossiping as she came in, but she didn’t mind ranting out loud, she might as well set a few records straight. ‘You can put paid to that rumour. Bloody hell, you couldn’t pay me to kiss Jake. He’s only been about to see Maisy, his daughter. So, you can all stop your gassing right now. Thank you, Sarah.’ Rachel picked up her shopping, and marched out of the store, head held high.

  The rumour wagon was well and truly trundling away down in Kirkton, and what a load of tosh it was. But Rachel was suddenly hit with a scary thought out on the street. What if Tom had heard any of this? How would he be feeling?

  What Vanessa had started with a simple, ‘Oh, you’ll never guess what I heard on the high street yesterday …’ had rolled on to become the talk of the town.

  Should she text him, warn him? But would that just stir up the hornets’ nest even more? No, she wouldn’t even give it airtime. It was a load of crap, and surely Tom would never believe it even if he did hear anything. Tom had enough on his plate right now, what with the impending court case.

  Even so, it left a queasy feeling in her stomach. Jake was always bad news as far as Tom was concerned – even if the latest was very much fake news.

  It was six thirty p.m., and Tom had just come out of a long and stressful meeting with his accountant. He decided to stop for a quick pint at the Black Bull on his way home to let off a bit of steam.

  The landlord, Mick, served him a frothy-headed pint of real ale that was delightfully cool and refreshing. Ah, bliss. But all too soon, Dennis Jones, who was already a few pints down the line, sidled up next to him.

  ‘All right, mate,’ he slapped him on the back.

  ‘Hey Dennis, all good thanks.’ He’d rather have had a quiet pint, but hey, that was always unlikely with the characters in the Bull.

  ‘Here drowning your sorrows, are you? Heard the news, sorry about that mate.’

  ‘What news?’

  The barflies’ heads lifted in unison, and Mick seemed to hold his breath.

  ‘About your missus, Rachel. Not the kind of thing you want to be hearing about just before your wedding day …’

  ‘What are you on about?’ Tom stood up tall beside him.

  Mick was wiping a glass rather furiously with a tea towel. The air in the pub felt static.

  ‘Well, they say first love never dies and all that …’ Dennis droned on, with a slight slur. ‘Yeah, your Rachel has been spotted having a sneaky kiss – down at the seaside – with old flame Jake, as rumour has it.’

  ‘That’s enough, Dennis,’ Mick intervened.

  ‘It’s all right Mick,’ Tom cut in. ‘Looks like Jonesy’s just had a few too many jars this evening.’

  Tom was irked, but he didn’t actually believe the story, no way. He was more annoyed about this stupid tosspot spreading ridiculous gossip.

  Tom downed the rest of his pint, needing to get out of there – the company was no longer appealing and the beer tasted sour.

  ‘Sorry, Tom.’ One of his farming mates stood up from his bar stool in support. But as Tom walked away, he couldn’t be sure if his friend was apologising for daft Dennis, or if he was sorry about the rumours …

  There was no way it could be true. Just no way, Rachel couldn’t stand Jake.

  But … as he got into his truck, the tiniest seed of doubt was trying to lodge itself in his mind. He’d already been hurt and let down by one woman; could it all be happening again? And Rachel and Jake had definitely been getting on better during his last visit. They’d been playing happy families, getting closer …

  No, he knew Rachel. He trusted her. After these precious months, and the wonderful evening they had spent together only last night, there was no way he could doubt her. He wouldn’t believe the village gossip; heaven knows it had caused enough troubles for them both in the past. Things got twisted and retold on the Kirkton grapevine, bearing no resemblance to the grain of truth. There was no way he was going to listen to a scumbag like Jonesy.

  He swatted the rumours away like flies. So why did they keep buzzing around his head?

  38

  Rachel stepped into her wedding dress. Each time she tried it on, she felt transformed. Eve had made such a beautiful job of it, and she’d now finished all the appliqué flowers which fell gently like a floral waterfall from her waist to the floor on the ivory tulle skirt. After a few busy days on the farm and a flurry of one-week-to-go wedding preparations, it was the final dress fitting.

  ‘Eve … this is so stunning. It’s beautiful. You must have spent hours.’

  Rachel looked in the full-length mirror. It just didn’t look like her … more like some fairy-tale princess from a storybook or film.

  ‘Just a few …’ Her best friend smiled, as though she’d been more than happy to do it.

  ‘Sorry if I’ve given you even more work to do, hun.’

  ‘It’s okay. I’ve needed to keep busy …’ Eve’s fingertips trembled ever so slightly as she held the material. She checked the fit on the shoulders and tweaked the waistline, popping a couple of pins in here and there. ‘I think you’ve lost a little bit of weight these past few weeks,’ she muttered, through a spare pin that she held between her teeth.

  ‘Well, I haven’t been trying. It’s probably all the dashing around I’ve been doing.’ And all the recent stresses and strains, pondered Rachel, remembering the latest developments in town.

  ‘Been pretty much all go, hasn’t it, for both of us?’

  ‘Yeah, you can say that again. Oh, and yesterday was pretty weird.’ Rachel decided to see what Eve thought of the latest village tittle-tattle. ‘I was out and about in the village and guess what’s doing the rounds …?’

  Eve looked up with a flash of fear in her eyes.

  ‘Yeah, there’s only some crappy rumour going around about me kissing Jake. I mean, that’s nuts. How do these things even start? Haven’t they got anything better to do than make up nonsense like that?’

  ‘That’s so crazy …’ Eve seemed distracted and managed to prick herself on the finger. A tiny drop of blood smeared on to the ivory dress. ‘Oh shit, hold fire. I’ll get a damp cloth on that … and I’ll find a plaster for me.’ She went dashing out to the bathroom.

  They had been upstairs in Eve’s bedroom. The house was quiet, Ben was out at a darts match and Amelia in bed asleep.

  When Eve came back in, she was ghastly pale.
‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to spoil your dress. I’m so sorry …’ Her eyes had misted. She dipped her head and quickly kneeled down to clean the stain.

  There was something wrong. Not just the marked dress. Eve had been out of sorts for days now. Finally, this was Rachel’s chance, ‘Eve, are you okay, hun?’

  Eve nodded, though her eyes began to fill with tears, which she tried to blink away.

  ‘Oh honey, you’re so not okay,’ Rachel placed a gentle hand on her friend’s shoulder. ‘I know you. I can see how tense you’ve been. You’ve been like a coiled spring since you went to that exhibition …’

  Eve looked like a rabbit caught in headlights. ‘What do you mean?’ she started defensively … and then she crumbled. Big, splodgy tears began to fall. ‘Oh shit, I’m getting your dress wet … and there might even be snot on the shoulder.’ Eve sniffed.

  They couldn’t help but laugh.

  ‘Come on, hun,’ Rachel soothed. ‘Let’s get this gorgeous dress off, before there’s snot and tears all over it, and then you can tell me what’s happened. All right?’

  Eve looked wary.

  ‘It’s me, Eve … Tell me, it’ll be in confidence.’

  Her friend nodded, took a slow breath. Then, as Rachel was pulling her jeans and T-shirt back on, it all spilled out. ‘Oh God, I didn’t mean for it to happen. And I know you warned me … We kissed. Me and Aiden. That night at the exhibition.’

  ‘Oh, Eve …’ Rachel paused to allow her friend to carry on.

  ‘It was just the once. And … I’d just got swept up in some daft romantic notion. But as soon as I’d done it, I felt dreadful … and I knew I should never have let it get that far.’

  Rachel placed a caring hand on her friend’s shoulder.

  ‘But these rumours … do you think they might be about me? And they’ve got all mixed up on the grapevine?’

  ‘I doubt it, Eve. It’ll just be coincidence. Your name hasn’t been mentioned in anything I’ve heard at all. And could anyone have seen you?’

  ‘I don’t think so; it was just me and Aiden at the gallery. Oh Rachel, please … you can’t say anything, to anyone. Especially now we’ve seen how vicious the rumour mill can be. You have to promise me.’ Eve glanced up, looking so scared.

  ‘Of course not.’

  ‘I-I’m sick with worry. Have been ever since. What if Ben finds out? I don’t think he’d ever forgive me. And I couldn’t bear that. I know it’s my own stupid fault … but I’d never do anything like it ever again. And there’s Amelia … our family.’ The big snotty tears were back in full force.

  ‘It’s all right, Eve, I promise I won’t tell a soul.’ Rachel gave her friend the biggest, heartfelt hug, stroking her back like an injured child, and soothing her with, ‘It’s okay, Eve. It’ll all be all right,’ until the sobbing ceased. ‘Come on, petal. I’ll go make us a cup of tea. We’ve got plenty of time before Ben’s due back. I don’t need to rush off.’ She passed her friend a tissue from a box that was on Eve’s dressing table.

  They went downstairs together. A bond like blood between them. The truth now told.

  Time to blow your nose, dry your eyes, put the mask back up. Time to try your best to carry on with life and love and marriage and messy relationships.

  All too soon, with only a few days until the wedding, it was the day of the court hearing, Wednesday 1 July. Rachel was at home at Primrose Farm and the hours – crikey, even the minutes, were dragging. Tom hadn’t called as yet, but she didn’t want to pester him, understanding that he might well have to have his phone switched off in the courtroom.

  Rachel threw herself into some stress baking, making a batch of bread rolls and some scones for the Pantry. She had the radio on loudly in the farmhouse kitchen, and was kneading the dough like there was no tomorrow, pounding it as if it was a Caitlin punchbag. Her fist was a little sore, but she did feel slightly better by the time the warm, yeasty smells of fresh baking were floating from the Aga.

  A short while later, Rachel was walking across the yard towards the barn with the tray of freshly baked cheese scones, the aromas making her tummy rumble, when she spotted a familiar grey van heading up the track. Surely not …

  And yes, as it slowed to a halt, there he was, stepping out with a grin on his face.

  ‘What the hell are you doing here?’

  ‘Lovely to see you too …’ answered Jake ironically.

  ‘But … you’re three days early. You do know the wedding’s not until Saturday.’ She felt herself getting flustered. All she needed was her ex hanging about in the run-up to her wedding day. Especially given all the vicious rumours that were circulating … Oh god.

  ‘Yeah, yeah, don’t get your knickers in a twist. I’ve got a job up this way. Thought it’d work out nicely. I can settle a bit early and see Maisy.’

  Nicely for him, perhaps. The court case was on today; she was hanging by a thread waiting for a call from Tom. She was just about holding it together … and now this. The wanderer returns, as usual without notice.

  ‘Maisy’s at school,’ she said bluntly.

  ‘Yeah, I guessed that. Thought it’d be a nice surprise if I was here for when she gets home.’

  ‘Okay, so why don’t you come back at – let’s say – four o’clock?’ Rachel was curt. She needed to go and help Mum in the Pudding Pantry anyway, and there was a list of people yet to call and chase up about all the final wedding arrangements.

  ‘Thought I’d grab a coffee here first, stop by and say hello. My B & B won’t let me in until after three, anyhow. My job doesn’t start until tomorrow, so I’ve got the rest of the day free.’

  Oh, boy. Bully for bloody you. ‘Okay. Well, Maisy has a few things on after school this week.’ Rachel wasn’t exactly sure what at this point, other than craft club tomorrow, but she didn’t want him to think he could stroll in unannounced and monopolise their time.

  ‘No worries. I’m sure I can work around that. I’ll bob on in, grab a latte, and you can fill me in.’

  Grrr, how did her ex always seem to manage to throw a spanner in the works, turning up at just the wrong time? Here he was now, waltzing his way into the Pudding Pantry.

  ‘Oh, hello Jake.’ Jill looked up from the counter where she was spooning out a dish of summer pudding for a customer. ‘This is a bit of a surprise.’ She managed to be polite, whilst raising her eyebrows at Rachel.

  ‘Yep, got some work lined up this way for the next week or so. Ties in great with popping by for the wedding and all that.’

  ‘Right …’ Jill nodded.

  ‘So, there’s no Chelsea or Kelvin coming with you to the wedding then?’ Rachel probed. They’d not come back on the RSVP, once Maisy had twisted her arm to send an invite, other than Jake saying he’d be there for ‘deffo’. With Maisy getting on well with Chelsea on their last visit and super keen for them to come along, Rachel had bitten the bullet and asked them all. They’d need to all be able to co-operate for Maisy’s sake going forwards, so it seemed the right thing to do.

  ‘Nah, they’ve got stuff on back home.’

  ‘Okay.’

  Who knew whether they were still an item even, but Rachel didn’t want to know any more about Jake’s messy private life than she had to. ‘Oh well, that’s a shame, Maisy was looking forward to seeing them.’

  ‘Yeah, well …’ he let it drift. ‘I’m here.’

  Oh, and didn’t she know it. Rachel sighed. It was definitely going to be one of those days, and little did she know how much …

  39

  Later that afternoon, Rachel pulled up haphazardly in the yard near the farmhouse. She was coming back from fixing the water trough in the cattle field, which she’d noticed had sprung a leak. She still hadn’t heard from Tom about the result of the hearing, and the suspense was killing her. Did no news mean good news? After the stress of these last few weeks, she really bloody hoped so.

  She scrambled down from the quad and nearly lost her footing. Eurgh, she could hardly see; her left ey
e was stinging after a fly had gone right into it at speed on her drive back. Jeez, was it sore! She prayed she wouldn’t have to wear some kind of eye patch for her wedding day – she was going more for country chic than pirate princess.

  ‘Hey, Rach.’

  Everything was a little blurry but it sounded like Jake approaching – so he was back hanging around then.

  ‘Hi … can’t really see … Bloody fly,’ Rachel explained as she rubbed her eye.

  ‘Ah, hold fire. Let me take a look.’

  With her eye half-closed, Rachel was standing still beside the quad. Jake approached, gently touching her face to open her streaming eye.

  ‘Oi, get off you!’ Rachel leaped back in surprise.

  ‘Hey, I’m only trying to help. Come on, hold still.’

  ‘Okay fine, go on,’ she sighed.

  ‘Okay, I can see the little bugger. Just blink a few times, and it might just move into the corner, where I’ll be able to dab it out with a fingertip or a tissue or something.’

  ‘Just go steady, I don’t want to be blinded for my wedding day or end up with a massive bloodshot eye or something.’

  ‘Well, if you don’t let me get on with it, you might well do … it looks pretty bloodshot already.’

  ‘Okay, okay.’ She stood stock still as Jake leaned in closer.

  Tom turned into the farm entrance; he couldn’t wait to tell Rachel the good news. He hadn’t let her know yet as he thought he’d do it in person, rather than on the phone. Finally, they could move on, and he could now allow himself to relax and look forward to their wedding day. He found himself grinning at the steering wheel. But as he drove up the track towards the Pantry barn, he spotted Rachel standing by her quad in the middle of the yard with what looked like … Jake. What the hell?

  Jake had his back to him … but it was obvious that he was too damned close to Tom’s fiancée. Tom slowed the vehicle, he was halfway up the track now, and refocused. He went cold. Their faces were just inches apart. Oh no. Jeez, Rachel, no, no. He couldn’t believe it at first. But it was there for him to see as plain as day. Not only were all those rumours likely to be true, but it looked as if Jake was back for another goddamned kiss.