by Lynsey James
Chapter 13
The next morning, I decided to put plans for the Sunflower Cottage Breakfast Club into full swing. First of all, we needed to find someone to help us come up with some tasty dishes to put on the menu.
Being the owner of the local café, which by all accounts was excellent, Diane was the obvious choice to help Noah and I get our breakfast club started. She was also the wife of my secret biological father but, although I had a million unanswered questions about him, I put that to the back of my mind. The next morning, while Noah made a start on cleaning the bedrooms, I volunteered to go to her café and ask her.
I felt the same familiar nerves as I approached the café and almost considered not going in. Then the memory of the exploding eggs popped into my mind and I realised there was no avoiding it. We needed help, fast.
Diane looked up from the counter and smiled in recognition. ‘Hiya, Emily! Nice to see you again! Back for some more cake and tea, are you?’
When I looked at her, taking in her kind smile and large, cocoa-brown eyes, everything I wanted to know about Derek came flooding back to me. I wanted to know what football team he supported, how many sugars he took in his tea, whether he liked summer or winter better. Most of all, I wanted to know why he’d never included me in his life.
‘You OK, love? You look like you’re in a daydream there!’ Diane chuckled uncertainly.
‘Oh, sorry – yeah, I’m fine. Some tea and cake would be lovely, thanks; do you have any of that amazing chocolate cake of yours?’
‘Coming right up, my love! How do you take your tea again?’
I had to wrack my brains for the answer; I hadn’t drunk tea that wasn’t green for years. Luckily, I was able to pull up some vague memory about milk and two sugars, so I used that. Diane told me to take a seat and she’d bring it over to me.
I found an empty table and watched her interact with her customers. Everything from her soft blonde curls to her floral pinny made her look friendly and approachable, yet I could tell from her confident and assured demeanour that there was a fire within her that she could use when necessary. She was a lovely woman, but not one to be messed with. I wondered what her life with Derek was like. Were they a happy couple who did things together or had things never been the same between them since his affair with my mum? Did Diane even know about it? Also, where was Derek? Surely he’d help his wife run her café. It seemed he was just as elusive in his hometown as he had been the last twenty-five years.
‘Here you are.’ Diane’s voice nearby startled me out of my thoughts. ‘A cup of tea and a slice of our best chocolate cake. Don’t say we’re not good to you here at the Moonlight Café!’
‘Thanks, this looks amazing,’ I replied with a grateful smile. I looked up to check it was quiet before continuing. ‘Listen, I was wondering if I could talk to you about something? If you’re not too busy, that is.’
She wiped her hands on her pinny and sat down. ‘What’s wrong? You’re not ill, are you, because you look a bit washed-out if you don’t mind me saying?’
I stared down at my black trouser suit and made a mental resolution to throw it away as soon as possible. This wasn’t the first time people had enquired after my health while I was wearing it.
‘I’m fine; I actually wanted to talk to you about Sunflower Cottage.’
Hearing the B&B’s name made Diane straighten her back and her eyes widened with curiosity.
‘Oh, yes; how’s Rose after her operation?’
‘Giving the nursing staff a hard time,’ I replied with a grin. ‘She’ll be out of action for a while, which she’s not too happy about. She’s got Noah and me helping to run Sunflower Cottage, but we’re having a few problems with breakfast. I think Noah mentioned them the last time we were here.’
A small smile crossed Diane’s lips and she gazed at me with an amused expression. ‘I vaguely remember something about issues in the kitchen! What sort of problems?’
I chuckled and felt myself blush as I remembered them all. ‘How long have you got? So far we’ve had exploding eggs, burnt bacon and sausage and all sorts of disasters! Noah did a full English the other day and that turned out fine, but I decided to save time by doing hard-boiled eggs in the microwave. Didn’t turn out very well!’
Diane put a hand over her mouth to hide her laughter. ‘Oh God, sounds like you’ve had quite a time of it! Where do I come in?’
‘Well, I was hoping you’d give us a hand in the kitchen and maybe help us get better at cooking the breakfast. Noah’s pretty decent, but I can’t ask him to do it every day. Do you remember us saying we wanted to do a breakfast club? You know, something for the village residents to come to and make breakfast a bit special for them? You were about to tell us whether you’d help out, but a customer called you over. If you could just come to us for even a couple of days and teach us some simple recipes it’s basically impossible to get wrong, I’d be really grateful.’
I did what I hoped were my best puppy-dog eyes and even considered sticking my bottom lip out, but decided not to. Diane was silent for a moment, tapping her chin thoughtfully as she considered my request.
‘And of course,’ I added hastily, ‘we’d owe you a favour in return.’
Her eyes narrowed and she stared at me. ‘Before I say yes or no, answer me this. Why are you giving up your holiday to help run a B&B and start up a breakfast club? Surely you should be out enjoying the sunshine and exploring the village.’
I gulped, knowing my answer could make or break everything. Noah had made it clear how beloved Sunflower Cottage was to Luna Bay; I guessed Diane wouldn’t take the news it was being sold well. It would be easy to think up a convenient lie, too easy in fact.
However, I decided to opt for the truth. ‘I… I’m not actually here on holiday, Diane. Rose wants to sell Sunflower Cottage to the hotel company I work for and I’m here to broker the deal.’
As predicted, her entire body stiffened and her body language became defensive: crossed arms, suspicious expression, the lot.
‘So it’s going to be sold to some big, international corporation, is it? And no doubt the character will be ripped out of it as well?’
A large part of me wanted to scream at the top of my lungs that Walter Marshall Hotels wasn’t the big bad wolf and reiterate that Rose wanted to sell to us. But I needed Diane’s help and had to keep her on side for the sake of Sunflower Cottage’s breakfasts and our potential club.
‘I know how much everyone in this village values Sunflower Cottage,’ I said gently. ‘That’s why I want to start the breakfast club; I want to get to know the people who love it so much and give them something special. And I promise that, apart from a few minor tweaks that you’ll hardly even notice, it’ll still be the place that everybody knows and loves. But the sale and those minor tweaks are still a long way off and, in the meantime, I’d really appreciate it if you could help us out with the breakfasts. What do you say?’
Diane huffed and adjusted herself on her chair. She looked at me as if I were an unexploded bomb, just waiting to cause destruction and devastation everywhere.
Which, to be fair, wasn’t entirely wrong, given the secret I was carrying.
‘I probably shouldn’t be helping the person who’s here to turn our village B&B into a corporate chain hotel, but I’ll do it. For Rose, you understand, not you. I’ll come round after I close the café today and show you a couple of simple recipes you can use.’
I nodded and stuck out a hand for her to shake. ‘That’s all I ask.’
*
Diane was as good as her word and came round to Sunflower Cottage when she closed up the café. Noah and I were ready and waiting, pinnies round our waists and a fridge full of ingredients to be used.
‘Right, Emily’s told me you need a hand with the breakfasts, so here I am! There’ll be no exploding eggs on my watch, that’s for sure. With these recipes, you’ll be able to do Rose proud, give those guests the breakfast they deserve and start that breakfast c
lub you want. Before we get started on the cooking, I thought we could have a sit down and talk about the breakfast club: when you’d like to start it, what sort of stuff you’d like to cook, et cetera.’
Noah and I nodded and sat down at the table with her.
‘Right,’ she said, ‘let’s talk breakfast!’
And talk breakfast we did.
We decided to start the club as soon as possible, once we’d had a chance to master some recipes. It would be one day a week, probably Fridays to give everyone something to look forward to at the end of the week. Diane would advertise in the café and tell as many people as she could about it. Although the Moonlight Café offered breakfast, she conceded that customers coming to us one day a week wouldn’t do much harm.
‘I might even get a lie-in for the first time in I don’t know how long!’ she chortled.
Next came designing the menu. My limited knowledge of breakfast foods really shone through and I felt more than a little uncomfortable. I was used to knowing exactly what I was talking about. I floated the idea of a full English, but Noah had another idea.
‘I went to America a few years ago and had this breakfast called the New Yorker. It was a stack of pancakes, bacon, sausages and hash browns. It was the best thing I’ve ever tasted. What about if we offer that alongside a full English? You know, as something a bit different?’
I nodded slowly, letting the idea sink in. ‘I really like that idea. Good thinking, Batman!’
We high-fived and our palms touched for just a fraction too long, making us both feel decidedly awkward. We looked away from each other and practised our best nonchalant looks as we tried to ignore one another’s presence. I took a deep breath and gritted my teeth. How I was getting through this, I had no idea. I had so much I wanted to ask Diane, namely why Derek had chosen not to be a part of my life. Words clawed at the back of my throat, desperate to get out and be heard, and it was all I could do to keep them inside.
Luckily, Diane brought some normality to the proceedings. She was totally unaware of the sudden tension between me and Noah, and the fact that I wanted to conduct the equivalent of the Spanish Inquisition about Derek.
‘OK, so we have pancake stacks with a variety of toppings, a full English and a New Yorker. What else? You could do eggs Benedict; that’s always a popular one. Or smoked salmon and scrambled eggs. Ooh, what about kedgeree?’
I crinkled my nose. ‘I don’t fancy serving up fish, eggs and rice for breakfast. I know I don’t know much about breakfast, but I don’t think many people could eat that first thing in the morning! Eggs Benedict sounds nice, though. That’s poached eggs, English muffin and hollandaise sauce, isn’t it?’
Noah raised an eyebrow. ‘You may know more about this breakfast lark than you think!’
I allowed myself a smile. What had started out as an utterly impossible idea now seemed to be taking shape before my eyes. The Sunflower Cottage Breakfast Club was looking to be a real possibility.
Chapter 14
Once the rough details of the breakfast club had been worked out, it was time to get cooking.
‘OK, you two, over to the oven and let’s get cracking!’ Diane was like an army drill sergeant clad in a floral apron.
I half wanted to shout ‘Yes, sir!’ and fall into line ready to march, but thought better of it. My earlier suspicions were right; Diane was not a woman to be messed with. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Noah give me a worried look. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was feeling worried too. Had I done the right thing asking Diane to help us? I also didn’t trust myself not to blurt out any of the questions about Derek that were burning at the back of my mind. My curiosity about him was at an all-time high now that I had someone who knew all about him right in front of me.
‘The first thing we’re going to make is pancakes. These are ridiculously easy and a really popular breakfast option. I know you’ll want to learn to do the full English, but that can wait until next time.’
Noah chuckled and raised his eyebrows. ‘This should be interesting after what happened the last time you tried to make pancakes, Emily!’
I stuck my tongue out. ‘Ha bloody ha – we’ve got professional help this time! How badly could it go wrong?’
As it turned out, very wrong indeed.
I wasn’t sure why I thought bringing Diane in would magically bless me with cooking skills, but if anything I was worse than before. I measured the ingredients out wrong, the mixtures stuck to the pan and they were anything but fluffy and golden.
‘This is no use,’ I huffed as I scrubbed out yet another pan. ‘Face it, Diane, pancakes just aren’t going to work.’
She came over and took the pan out of my hands. ‘Nonsense! Come on, let’s have one more go, then if it doesn’t work, we can call it a day.’ She turned to me and gave me a wink and a nudge. ‘It’ll be all right, flower. Don’t you worry.’
I felt myself blush, followed by a pang of pain. Diane would’ve made a lovely stepmother, I thought, if only I’d got to spend any time with her growing up. She was kind yet strong, firm but fair. I liked her very much.
‘I think Emily’s right,’ Noah said as he tried in vain to get some burnt batter off one of the hobs. ‘Maybe we need to get someone in to do the breakfasts for us in the mornings. It’s pretty obvious we’re not up to it, isn’t it?’
Diane hit his arm with a tea towel. ‘If everyone gave up on something after the first try, where would we be? We’d have no televisions, none of those smartphones you all seem to love so much, no medicines. And you two are moaning about trying to make a batch of bloody pancakes! I’m going to give you one more chance. I’m going to have a sit down at the kitchen table and, in a few minutes, I want to see one pancake that isn’t burnt or stuck to the arse of the pan. Is that clear?’
We both nodded and said we understood perfectly. She took a seat at the table, leaving us standing at the oven with the pancake ingredients and next to no clue about how to use them.
‘Right, let’s give this a go.’ I tried hard to sound confident even though I felt completely out of my depth. ‘What did she say? Four ounces of flour?’
Noah nodded and I measured out the amount of flour we needed, putting it into the mixing bowl.
I turned back to look at Diane, who gave me a kind smile and a thumbs-up gesture. It fascinated me how she could go from being a sergeant major one minute to someone’s favourite aunt the next.
‘Do you cook pancakes a lot, Diane? For your husband or kids?’
A wistful look crossed her face and I could see her eyes cloud over. ‘I used to. Not so much anymore, though.’
I was about to subtly ask what her husband was like, but Noah’s voice distracted me.
‘Now we need two ounces of sugar.’ He took his turn at weighing out and added the sugar to the flour.
I cracked an egg into the mixture then Noah added three tablespoons of milk. Diane had said the recipe only called for two, but that three worked better in her experience. Once all the ingredients were added, we mixed them together to make a batter. I sneaked a glance at Diane, who was gazing out of the window and looked like her thoughts were very far away from our pancake-making session. Further questions could wait for another time, I thought.
‘That looks better than our last attempt. You could’ve plastered the walls with it!’ I checked the consistency with a spoon and was relieved to see it wasn’t lumpy and sticky like the last lot had been.
‘Then we’re ready to go,’ he said with a smile. He spooned some of the mixture into the hot pan and it started sizzling as it cooked.
We waited with bated breath until it was time to turn it, glancing at each other every so often with anticipation.
‘How do you think it’ll turn out?’ I asked. ‘I mean, it looks OK, but it’s how it tastes.’
I flipped it over with the fish slice and my heart jumped when I saw the gorgeous golden-brown colour.
‘Well, we don’t have long to find out,’ Noah replied.
‘Just another couple of minutes until it’s done.’
He kept watch over it until he decided it was ready, then used the fish slice to move it onto the plate.
‘What do you think of that then?’
I stared down at it, scarcely able to believe it was real. We had made an actual pancake that at least looked edible!
‘I… We did it! Look at it, it’s not burnt to a crisp or a lumpy mess! It’s a real bloody pancake!’
‘Damn right it’s a real bloody pancake!’ A bright smile lit up Noah’s face and he turned to high-five me. ‘We’ve cracked it, Emily!’
I returned his high-five, a feeling of pride soaring through my veins. I couldn’t believe I felt so happy about mixing flour, sugar, milk and eggs together into a batter and cooking it, but I did. At that moment, everything else I’d achieved – five A grades in my Higher exams, getting a first in my business degree at Strathclyde, landing my internship at Walter Marshall – all paled into insignificance. Making my first, and hopefully not last, pancake was my proudest moment.
‘Let’s see how it tastes, eh?’ Noah went to grab forks and I sat down at the table, hardly able to contain my excitement.
‘Right, let’s see how we’ve done, shall we?’ he said when he joined me at the table. ‘Bon appetit!’
He cut it in half and let me have the plate for mine. We each took a bite and let out moans of pleasure as the taste hit our tongues. It was just a plain pancake, but after our various fruitless efforts, it tasted like heaven.
‘How good is that?’ I hurriedly took another bite, afraid it would disappear if I didn’t wolf it down as quickly as possible. ‘The guests are going to love these!’
‘So will the breakfast club. That was a great idea you had, by the way. I’ve had a think about it and I reckon it could really work. We’ll have to wait until we’ve got a bank of recipes, but it’ll be nice to do something for the people who live here. We could even branch into cooking demonstrations; get a few local chefs in to teach their signature dishes. What do you think?’