The Game

by Amanda Prowse

  Pru held her breath and pulled the blind. She watched a white transit van pull up on to the curb with its hazard lights flashing, delivering to Guy all that they might need for a day of baking and trading. On the opposite side of the street, two young men in dinner jackets, with ties loose about their necks and a wobble to their saunter, walked arm in arm. No doubt homeward bound at this early hour. She smiled; there it was, Curzon Street, just as she had left it.

  She worried that one day she might pull the blind and see the traffic of the Kenway Road a few miles across town in Earls’ Court, as if she had dreamt her success, her home in Mayfair, her Italian marble flooring, espresso machine and walk-in closet and was still there, living that life. Back then, although her surroundings had been drab, she had herself been full of life: a young girl with a defiant stare and a gut full of determination.

  The day that she and Milly had arrived at the six-storey terrace in Kenway Road, they had thought they were invincible, immune to the regret and recrimination that came with old age. It was the last of a long line of places that she and Milly had painstakingly ringed in the small ads, and from the moment they arrived, they knew it was the place for them. A statuesque, elegant woman opened the door wearing a silk kimono and smoking a thin cigar in an ivory cigarette holder. She introduced herself as Trudy; she lived in a flat on the top floor. Pru walked to one of two deep-set sash windows on the landing that gave her the most incredible view across the London skyline, all the way out to Fulham and beyond. She let her eyes skim the horizon and red brick chimney pots. This would be the start of their journey, here among the west London rooftops, living with this elegant worldly woman. Pru followed Trudy down a narrow hallway, noting the way she swept along on her high heels, which made her look refined and sophisticated, sexy. She was going to practise that walk and when she had enough money, buy herself a pair of high heeled, red patent leather shoes, just like Trudy’s.

  ‘Who’s David Parkes?’ Milly asked. She had stopped at a framed certificate that hung on the wall and pointed to it.

  ‘David was my brother.’ Trudy sighed, ‘He died a couple of years ago.’

  ‘I’m sorry.’ Pru offered as she rolled her eyes at Milly who was always jumping in feet first.

  Pru and Milly told Trudy how they wanted to open their own bakery with a shop and a café, where they would make the most delicious cakes and bread that London has ever tasted. Trudy didn’t laugh or mock the way others had when she shared this, instead she nodded and blew large O’s of cigar smoke, before pressing her full, carmine painted lips together.

  ‘I think people without dreams are only living half a life and that’s a life I wouldn’t want to live.’

  Pru had been impressed, Trudy sounded like a poet.

  ‘But it’s no good dreaming unless you are prepared to work really hard. You have to dream it and set yourself a path to make it happen. A dream won’t put food on the table or money in your purse.’ Pru subconsciously patted the purse in her pocket, which contained their first weeks rent, bus fair and a lucky coin with a hole drilled in it. It was the sum total of their combined wealth. Pru nodded, wondering what they would need to do to clear their path – the one that led straight to the shiny, glass window of Plum’s Patisserie.

  ‘What’s your dream then?’ Milly asked over Pru’s shoulder.

  Trudy gave the younger girl her full attention, and drew on her cigar, ‘To have a little love in my life,’ she offered as she turned her back and walked forward, ‘I think that’s everyone’s dream, really.’ Dear, dear Trudy.

  Pru closed her bedroom door and popped her head into the kitchen where she spied Milly, clad in a tiger onesie.

  ‘What are you wearing?’ Pru shook her head.

  ‘It’s new and quite possibly the cosiest thing I have ever owned. I might never take it off.’

  ‘That’ll be nice in the front of house.’

  Milly dipped a large croissant into her coffee before lowering the soggy mess into her mouth.

  ‘Gross.’ Pru commented.

  ‘It’s what they do in France!’ Milly spoke with her mouthful.

  ‘Maybe, but you’re not French, Mills.’

  ‘What? You are kidding me! Mon Dieu! I had no idea. I thought I’d imagined growing up in Bow and I was actually from a fashionable little suburb of Paris!’ She winked at her cousin.

  Pru grinned as she left the flat and trotted down the stairs, taking a deep breath she opened the door of the café. She and Milly took it in turns to do the early check on the bakery and it was her turn this week. In truth, after two decades in these premises, and with the celebrated, Guy Baudin at the helm of a trusted team, it was more a cursory nod to all that she was around, a reminder of who was boss and the chance to monitor quality rather than get her hands stuck in.

  The cleaners in their blue nylon tabards and with their hair scraped up into untidy knots were hard at it, buffing the brass fixtures with yellow dusters and mopping the pale, waxed wooden floor. The sun had started its creep through the large window that displayed the Plum Patisserie logo, working its way up like the revelation of a dancers fan until the whole room was awash with light. Tiny white bud-roses had been placed in slender, finger-sized vases on every table. The glass display unit, which they had re-created to mimic those found in the Parisian coffee houses of the eighteen hundreds, gleamed. The tiered, glass cake stands and fancy china plates with hand-painted flowers and swirls, delicately kissing their fluted edges, sat shining, awaiting the scones packed with jam and cream, soft iced buns, frosted sponges and flaky pastry masterpieces, stuffed with marzipan and dotted with an almond, which those with a sweet tooth would devour with a cup of hand blended French roast coffee.

  She particularly loved this time of the morning, before the customers arrived, before the problems arose, before tiredness crept over her aging joints.

  ‘Good morning all!’ Pru offered with a singsong note, many of these girls spoke little English, but could glean enough from her tone to reciprocate with a nod and a smile.

  ‘This looks lovely, thank you.’

  The girls smiled and nodded in return.

  Making her way down the twist of staircase, she placed her foot on the last step, the wood creaked unexpectedly beneath her weight and she gasped, placing one hand at her breast and the other against the wall, trying to steady her heart rate. She exhaled and leant on the wall, using her index finger and thumb to wipe away the tiny dots of perspiration that had gathered on her top lip. She placed her flattened palm against her chest, trying to calm her flustered pulse.

  ‘Come on you silly moo.’

  It still had the power to do that to her, the flash of a memory, an image, a sound. It could transport her back to a time she would rather forget.

  She waited a second and dug deep to find a smile before taking one final step and pushing on the wide double fire door with its brass edged porthole glass window. Immediately, she was engulfed by the smell of fresh bread, baking in the oven. She never tired of the warm scent; it cocooned her in a blanket of well-being and was evocative of full tummies, log fires, cosy rooms and all that was homely.

  ‘Good morning, Guy.’

  ‘Is it? I’m not so sure!’ He slammed his clipboard with its checklist on the stainless steel counter top.

  This was entirely expected; Guy lived his life with his fingers, tense against his flustered, plucked brow and a sigh hovering in his throat. Whippet thin and groomed to within an inch of his perma-tan, Guy lived off caffeine and on his nerves.

  ‘What’s up?’ Pru refrained from adding, now. Guy was undoubtedly a worrier, a panicker and a drama queen, but all that was forgiven when she considered his insistence on the inflexible standards both in and out of the kitchen. His attention to detail and design ideas kept them at the forefront of global cake design. He was the jewel in her crown, an analogy that he particularly loved.

  ‘I specifically ordered extra lemons for our dessert du jour, lemon posset with almond crust
ed shortbread, and they have sent me my standard order. These people drive me crazy! Are they trying to ruin my day? How can I deliver what I promise with this?’ He poked at a large net of sorry-looking yellow fruit and turned down his mouth as though he had been presented with road kill rather than inadequate waxed citrus.

  ‘I expect they haven’t set out to ruin your day intentionally, they probably just forgot or got muddled, you know how it is when an order deviates from the norm, it often gets confused somewhere along the line. We could always send someone up to the supermarket to grab you some more lemons?’

  Guy placed his hands on his hips, ‘well, I suppose we will have to.’

  Pru as ever, noted the slight flicker of disappointment that crossed his face when a solution was easily and quickly found.

  ‘Also, Guy, can we get someone to fix the bottom stair that comes down from the café. It’s got a creak.’ She gave a small cough.

  ‘Oh, Pru! You and your creaks! I could have a man here every day, fixing one creak or another. This building is over two hundred years old, it’s going to creak!’ He raised his hands up to the sky with flattened palms.

  ‘And as I’ve said before, I don’t mind if a man or a woman for that matter, has to come every day or indeed, every hour of every day and I don’t care it what it costs. I can’t have the stairs making that noise. Any of them, at any time, I can’t. Okay?’

  ‘Okay.’ He shrugged, before muttering something inaudible in his native French.

  ‘How’s the window display coming along?’ Pru knew she could easily distract him and if she were being honest was keen to change the subject. In between the double-fronted café and the front door that lead to their apartments, sat a tall bow window, emblazoned with the Plum Patisserie logo, the window was all that was left of the Victorian pharmacy that had been knocked through and subsumed into their current corner premises. The space behind it was a little over five foot in depth and with no particular purpose other than decoration; it was the ideal space in which Guy could showcase the latest Plum creations. The little gallery had become one of the most photographed spots in Mayfair. This pleased Pru no end, whether for a magazine or as one of a tourists haul of snaps, the fact that her logo and cakes of such breath-taking magnitude were being ogled, meant great advertising.

  He clapped his hands under his chin, instantly diverted from his lemon crisis, and lack of empathy when it came to stair repair, ‘Oh, Pru, oh my! It is beyond exquisite, its divine. No, its beyond divine, it’s epic, it’s… words fail me.’ Guy placed his middle three fingers over his pursed lips and blinked away tears that threatened.

  ‘That good huh?’

  He slowly nodded, unable to fully articulate. ‘Mais oui and more!’ He was quite breathless.

  Pru smiled, she was used to this, each of his creations was always similarly lauded and the funny thing was, it was always entirely justified.

  ‘I can’t wait to see it. Any luck with the new trainee?’

  ‘Don’t. Even. Go. There!’ He held up a palm in front of her face. ‘Every single person they have sent has been completely useless. I have the same conversation with the agency after every sorry interview. I tell them repeatedly, I don’t need bakers! Bakers are ten a penny, no offence intended, Pru,’

  ‘None taken.’ She was a baker and proud.

  ‘But I don’t need a baker, I need an artiste! Someone who has the eye, the touch and the imagination, someone who can turn sugar paste into pure fantasy, someone who can make the dreams of others into reality! Is it too much to ask?’ For the second time in as many minutes he looked close to tears.

  Pru stared at him in silence, fishing for a suitable response and wondering if this was the job description he had given the agency, before giving up and abandoning the topic altogether. ‘I’m nipping out this morning. Bobby has a dress fitting in Spitalfields, but Milly is around if you need anything.’

  ‘Oh, a dress fitting? How exciting! I saw the lovely couple yesterday afternoon, strolling hand in hand like love’s young dream. Oh my goodness, so beautiful together! Can you imagine what les enfants will look like? They are a couple that heaven blessed for sure.’

  ‘I know, Bobby’s a lucky girl. She certainly doesn’t take after me; she takes after her mum, Astrid. She was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen.’

  It wasn’t a topic she normally discussed. Bobby’s mum had disappeared when she was three months old, leaving her in the care of her drug-addled boyfriend to pursue a life in India. Ironically, it probably saved her life. Astrid too was fond of the recreational drugs that formed the backdrop to Alfie’s life, but left before he progressed to heroin and the habit that would eventually kill him. She told Alfie she needed space and enlightenment, which he thought was a bloody shame, as what their little girl needed was a mummy who wasn’t over six thousand miles away needing space and enlightenment.

  ‘Oh Pru, she most certainly does take after you. You are beautiful inside and out. I can see you now,’ he raised he hand as if shielding his eyes, ‘you could model for denture cream or stair lifts!’

  Pru threw a napkin at him and turned on her heel, smiling as she did so.

  Available from 19th December 2013

  About this Book

  It’s every mother’s worst nightmare...

  Gemma Peters has everything a sixteen year old could want. Two loving parents, a good school, and close friends. Maybe sometimes her parents are a little overbearing, a little too adoring. But that’s the same for all teenagers, right?

  Then, on the night of the school play, happy-go-lucky Gemma disappears without a trace. Where has she gone? Why has she been lying to her family? And, most importantly, will she ever come home?

  A short story exclusive from bestselling author Amanda Prowse.

  Reviews

  What Have I Done?

  ‘A cracking page-turner’

  The Bookseller

  ‘This story of a woman’s fight to rebuild her shattered life is captivating, heartbreaking and superbly written’

  Closer

  ‘An absolutely gripping read… the characterisation is done superbly’

  Iain Dale, LBC Radio

  Poppy Day

  ‘Great novel – let’s get it to number 1!’

  Gok Wan

  ‘Poppy Day is a brilliant book, I couldn’t put it down’

  Carol Vorderman

  ‘A rattling good book to curl up on the sofa with, I thoroughly recommend Poppy Day by army wife Amanda Prowse. She has turned her own fear and anxiety into a page-turning novel of loss and courage’

  Lorraine Kelly, The Sun

  ‘A modern day love story’

  Daily Mail

  ‘A deeply emotional story of a woman who will stop at nothing to save the man she loves… A fast, unputdownable read, Amanda Prowse adeptly fuses a tale of love and courage with the stark realities of war, both on the field and at home’

  Red

  ‘This romantic story of courage and determination is simply captivating’

  Closer

  ‘Army wife turns fear into fiction’

  Sunday Mirror

  ‘Set to become a bestseller’

  RAF News

  About the Author

  AMANDA PROWSE was a management consultant for ten years before deciding to pursue her ambition to write. Her husband, Simeon, is a soldier, and they live in the West Country with their two teenage sons.

  You can contact Amanda via twitter, @mrsamandaprowse or via her website, www.amandaprowse.org

  About No Greater Love

  Amanda Prowse’s No Greater Love sequence is a series of contemporary stories with love at their core. They feature characters whose histories interweave through the generations: ordinary men and women who do extraordinary things for love. They are stories to keep you from switching off the bedside lamp at night, stories to remember long after the final page is turned...

  1. Poppy Day

  Ever since hairdresser P
oppy Day married her childhood sweetheart, Mart, she’s been deliriously happy. Now Mart is fighting in Afghanistan, and Poppy is counting the days until he returns.

  It takes one knock at the door to rip Poppy’s world apart. Mart has been taken hostage, and it’s too dangerous for the army to rescue him.

  Poppy is determined to bring him home herself. But her journey will lead her to a heartbreaking dilemma. What price will she pay to save the man she loves?

  This is a gripping story of loss and courage from an author who knows what it is like to be the one left behind.

  Poppy Day is available here.

  Jump to free preview here.

  2. What Have I Done?

  Kathryn Brooker is the headmaster’s wife. While her husband spends his days disciplining unruly teenagers in the grand halls of Mountbriers Academy, Kathryn spends hers baking scones for her son’s cricket match in a beautiful cottage in the manicured school grounds.

  In the evenings, when her husband strides home to compliment her cooking and kiss her hello – ignoring jokes from their children about grown-up lovebirds – Kathryn Brooker is the very picture of a fulfilled wife and mother. Anyone who peered through the downstairs sash window at the four figures sat easily around their scrubbed-pine kitchen table would see a happy family without a care in the world. They would envy Kathryn her perfect life.

  But they would be wrong. Kathryn is trapped in a nightmare. And she is about to do something to change it. Something only a truly desperate woman would do...