The Cosy Little Cupcake Van: A deliciously feel-good romance

by Annette Hannah

  ‘Me too,’ said Lucy kicking off her shoes and hanging her coat up next to Carrie’s. ‘It’s been ages since I’ve given myself the afternoon off.’ She retrieved a bag from the floor and handed it to Camilla.

  ‘Ooh thank you,’ said Camilla, her eyes lighting up as she saw the bottle and a luxurious box of chocolates. ‘So which one shall we have first – the pink or the white?’ She held up both bottles and waved them up and down.

  ‘Don’t mind,’ they said in unison.

  ‘In that case I suggest we go for white then pink as I’ve got another bottle of pink in the fridge.’ They exchanged mischievous glances.

  ‘Looks like we’re here for the night then, ladies.’ Carrie laughed.

  ‘Oh goody, so you’re not driving then. Did you get dropped off?’ Camilla spoke to them from the kitchen. Through the open beams they could see her put the bottle in the fridge and take out three glasses from the cupboard.

  ‘No we walked. It only took us just over half an hour and the weather was lovely and mild,’ Carrie replied as she couldn’t resist stroking one of the fluffy cushions on the couch.

  ‘Dom is picking us up later and Jackson is having a sleepover at a friend’s straight from school so I’m free,’ said Lucy as her eyes danced around the room. ‘I love what you’ve done with the place; it’s beautiful.’

  ‘Thank you. It was lucky that Blake found this furniture going cheap for a quick sale or I never would have been able to afford it all.’

  ‘So, talking of Blake,’ said Carrie as she followed Lucy into the kitchen, ‘when do we finally get to meet him?’ She helped herself to a crisp from the bowl on the worktop. Lucy was waiting eagerly for an answer too.

  ‘I’m not sure you will as he’s back in Canada,’ Camilla replied, trying her best not to think of him with someone else even though it was none of her business. She opened the bottle of prosecco and they cheered and tried to hold their hands steady as she poured it into the glasses they were holding.

  ‘Cheers,’ they said as they clinked their glasses together.

  Camilla led the way to the orangery and her two friends oohed and aahed at how pretty the table looked.

  ‘I love the candles and they smell divine,’ said Lucy.

  ‘Thank you. These are pomegranate ones I bought from Flowerpots this morning.’

  ‘That’s so handy having a garden centre practically on your doorstep. Just a five-minute walk away.’ Carrie pulled out a chair and sat at the dining table.

  Lucy joined her and Camilla went back into the kitchen to bring the food through, shouting over her shoulder, ‘Yes it is handy and there is a lovely hidden pub too. I don’t know if you spotted it; it’s called The Unicorn.’

  ‘Yes we passed it on the way. It looks lovely and I never even knew it was there,’ replied Lucy loudly so Camilla could hear her over the sizzling noises coming from the kitchen. A delicious aroma soon began to waft out into the orangery and was followed by Camilla carrying a tray with three small plates on it. She placed a dish in front of each of them and encouraged them to tuck in. Lucy inhaled the delicious smell before even taking a bite.

  ‘So this is a sort of bruschetta but I basically just make it up as I go along, so you have toasted granary bread brushed with garlic-infused oil and topped with tomatoes and red onion, fried in olive oil then mixed with chopped avocado and sprinkled with grated mozzarella and a pinch of herbs, then drizzled with a balsamic glaze. Enjoy.’

  ‘You sounded just like Nigella then.’ Lucy smiled before she cut into the lunch enthusiastically. ‘Oh this is delicious. The flavours just burst in your mouth.’ She wound a stretchy strand of mozzarella around her fork before popping it into her mouth.’ Camilla pouted in her best Nigella impression.

  Carrie agreed as she tried to balance a little bit of everything onto her fork to optimise the flavours.

  Camilla looked around at her friends and smiled a genuinely huge smile. She raised her glass.

  ‘Here’s to special friends. I don’t know where I’d be without you all.’ She could feel herself glow with happiness.

  The others raised their glasses too. ‘To special friends.’

  ‘And ladies who lunch once in a blue moon.’ Lucy laughed.

  ‘Is Gracie still coming?’ asked Carrie as she took her last forkful, her face stretched into a look of ecstasy.

  Camilla stood up and began to clear the plates, gesturing to the others to stay seated as they attempted to help her. ‘She’s really sorry but she couldn’t make it for lunch. Apparently little Matty had a musical movement class to go to, but she hopes to pop in for a bit of pud later.’

  ‘It will be good to see her and that scrumptious little boy.’ Carrie smiled.

  Lucy agreed. ‘Ooh he makes me so broody; he’s adorable.’

  Camilla returned with steaming dishes and placed one in front of each of them. The delicious smell swirled around them.

  ‘If this tastes as good as it smells then I’m moving in,’ Lucy said with a laugh.

  ‘It’s a veggie lasagne so a bit lighter than a normal lasagne, I thought. I’ve used aubergines instead of pasta sheets so I hope you like it.’

  ‘My mouth’s watering just at the sight of the crispy cheese on top,’ said Carrie. She cut into it. Her fork sliced through layers of peppers, onions, aubergine and sweet potato all coated in the creamy sauce and topped with the cheese topping. She nodded at Camilla in appreciation as she chewed.

  Camilla smiled at the looks on their faces and the groaning noises they made. They were clearly enjoying it. She topped up their glasses and the bottle ran out as she tried to fill her own glass up.

  ‘That’s one down.’ She laughed. ‘I’ll just go and get another.’ She soon returned with her own lunch and a fresh bottle. ‘Pink this time – wahoo!’ She popped the popper to the traditional cheers that follow every bottle of bubbly opening, gulped down the drop of white that was already in her glass and refilled it. Then she was able to tuck into her lunch, which, even if she said so herself, was delicious.

  ‘So come on then tell us more about this Blake of yours,’ said Carrie as she picked through her side salad whilst waiting for the delicious lasagne to cool a little.

  Camilla reddened. Her heart played hopscotch every time she heard his name; she too was munching on the salad and eating around the edge of the lasagne where it was a little cooler, impatient to get to the good stuff inside.

  ‘He’s not my Blake anymore. That was over a long time ago and even if he were free, I really don’t think it would work between us. I mean he’s lovely but we’re two completely different people now. It took me far too long to get over him last time to even contemplate such a thing. He lives in Canada and is only here sporadically at the moment. He does love England and always wanted to live back over here, but he’s probably settled there now.’

  ‘Oh, is he with someone then?’ Carrie did inverted commas with her fingers at the word “with”.

  ‘Yes, he’s just started seeing someone called Dawn – a friend of his sister’s apparently. So how have you ladies been?’ she asked innocently.

  ‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ said Lucy. ‘I was hoping you could rekindle your relationship.’

  Camilla took a deep breath, which she blew out slowly.

  ‘I can’t deny that he was the love of my life, and always will be. Part of me thinks that getting back together would make all my dreams come true and I would float on a cloud of happiness for the rest of my life. But I do have some…actually a lot of trepidation about it all. If you can imagine what my heart looks like now after the way we split up, think of something precious like a broken Ming vase being held together with a couple of plasters. I don’t know if I could put myself or my fractured heart back together again if it all went wrong.’ Her throat felt thick with emotion. She gulped more water down.

  ‘You poor thing, you must have been heartbroken.’ Carrie stroked her arm across the table.

  ‘Oh I was. I was a walking cliché
really. I either couldn’t eat or I’d eat too much; couldn’t sleep, crying all the time but the sad thing was that my mum was almost more devastated than I was. She blamed herself the whole time and could have done without me being such a mess.’ She laughed scornfully. ‘I was so pathetic and wasted so much precious time by being miserable. I had a couple of boyfriends after that but nothing serious and then I met Freddy and fell in love or so I thought, but it was more a bit of reckless fun, which was great at first. However, our ideas of having fun were very different and, well, you know the rest.’

  ‘There’s someone special out there waiting for you, Camilla; maybe you just haven’t met him yet,’ said Lucy.

  ‘That’s the thing though – I’m not sure I want to meet anyone, not just yet anyway. Because for the first time in my life I don’t feel like I’m just plodding along or a walking disaster area. I feel as though I have ambition and a real focus. I want my business not just to succeed but to excel. I think before I mostly felt as though I was doing a favour for a friend. I could relax and do the odd wedding cake here and there but I never really had that sense of urgency that I have now.’ She took a sip of her drink and the bubbles fizzed on her lips. ‘Losing absolutely everything has made me realise what’s important in life and has forced me to take things a lot more seriously and to grow up.’

  ‘I would like to raise a toast,’ said Lucy holding up her glass. ‘To Camilla Cupcake, the best darn cake maker in the world.’

  Carrie raised her glass and repeated the toast whilst Camilla raised hers and giggled. ‘To me and the best darn friends in the world – and not forgetting Cora, my cosy little cupcake van,’ she added.

  ‘To Cora the cosy little cupcake van,’ they chorused.

  She cleared away the lunch dishes and popped into the kitchen again just as the doorbell rang.

  ‘Perfect timing,’ said Camilla as she placed the dishes in the sink and headed for the front door, wiping her hands on a tea towel. ‘You’re just in time for pud. Oh—’ On opening the door she expected to see Gracie and Matty but instead saw a pair of friendly green eyes and a cheeky smile.

  ‘Ged, hi, how are you?’ She felt a little light-headed thanks to drinking in the afternoon.

  ‘Hi, I was passing through and thought I’d pop in and say hello,’ he said in his cheery Irish accent, ‘but if I’m interrupting something then I can come back another time if you like.’

  She could sense her two friends pottering about the kitchen doing non-existent errands; they’d obviously heard the male voice and come to investigate.

  ‘I’ve just got a couple of friends round for lunch but you’re welcome to have some pudding with us.’

  He turned to go. ‘Oh no don’t worry, I’ll come back another time.’

  Lucy had appeared at Camilla’s shoulder and pushed her hand out to him. ‘Hi, I’m Camilla’s friend Lucy and you are?’ she said, in the tone of a disapproving mother.

  Ged shook her hand. ‘It’s good to meet you, Lucy. I’m Ged, also a friend of Camilla’s.’

  Carrie pushed her way through the two women to get to him; she pulled her glasses down from on top of her head so she could get a proper look and raised her eyebrows in admiration. She too shook his hand and introduced herself.

  ‘Ah look here’s Gracie, so you can’t go yet as she’s blocking your van in.’ She smiled as Gracie got out of her car and reached into the back to get Matty out.

  ‘Sorry I’m late, girls. I hope there’s still some cake left for me.’ She approached them carrying a bundle of arms and legs and all his paraphernalia in a huge changing bag. As soon as Matty saw Carrie he stretched himself forward to get to her quicker, almost toppling Gracie over.

  Carrie stepped out of the house to take the little boy into her arms. ‘So we’ve now got two handsome men at Camilla’s door, have we?’

  Camilla nudged her and put her finger to her mouth to shush her.

  ‘What?’ Carrie smiled with a mischievous wink at Camilla. She pulled Matty into an embrace and he allowed her to kiss him all over his face.

  Ged and Camilla’s eyes locked over Carrie’s comment and they smiled shyly. Camilla held the door open wider and gestured with her head for him to come in.

  ‘Come on in – the more the merrier. I hope you like lemon meringue pie,’ she said.

  ‘It’s my favourite.’ He winked at her. ‘And it doesn’t look like I’ll be going anywhere for a while.’

  She wondered, not for the first time, whether she should have set her sights on someone uncomplicated like Ged, who had a clean slate as far as hurting her was concerned. He didn’t do relationships though; he would be strictly a no-strings-attached fling. Sometimes she wished she could be like that too. It was simple maths: no expectations equals no broken heart. Blake had the potential to destroy her and she didn’t feel that she was strong enough to deal with that again. She wished her heart didn’t race just at the thought of him, but it did and she needed to protect herself.

  Within five minutes she had made coffees for Gracie and Ged, topped up the drinks for herself, Carrie and Lucy, and everyone had a succulent and tangy piece of lemon meringue pie in front of them. She had only just taken it out of the oven, so it was still warm when they ate it. Matty sat on Carrie’s knee, bashing his spoon into the little piece he had been given and they laughed as he screwed his little face up from the bitterness of the lemon.

  The girls had given Ged a good grilling about what he did and where he was from and Lucy indiscreetly put her thumb up to Camilla when he wasn’t looking.

  ‘That was so good, Camilla, the best I’ve ever tasted to be sure,’ he said. Camilla smiled and tried to ignore the sneaky glances from the others. ‘So the reason for my visit,’ he said after scraping the last of the meringue from his bowl, ‘was to ask you a huge favour.’

  Carrie nudged Lucy but missed her arm and dug her in the ribs causing her to squeal and then try to stifle her giggles. Matty got overexcited and bashed his spoon louder, causing most of his meringue to fly around the table.

  ‘Oh I’m so sorry, Camilla.’ Gracie jumped to attention and tried to wipe down the mess with a couple of baby wipes.

  ‘Don’t worry about it, it’s fine,’ said Camilla. ‘Nothing that can’t be wiped away.’

  Gracie began to wipe Matty’s face and he started grizzling, which soon turned into a full-blown cry.

  ‘Sorry, everyone, he’s really tired so I’m going to have to go and put him to bed, and myself too come to think of it. I’m knackered.’

  Carrie reluctantly gave him back to his mum and Gracie packed all of his things back in the bag. Gracie turned to Camilla.

  ‘Oh yes I wanted to say well done to you. I saw Ron the other day and he told me you’d made his granddaughter’s christening cake and they were all delighted with it. He showed me a picture of it.’

  ‘Thank you,’ said Camilla. ‘It took a few attempts and a lot of tears but I did it eventually and I must admit it felt really good.’

  Carrie and Lucy clapped.

  ‘Does this mean that you’re back?’ asked Lucy hopefully. ‘Have I got my champion cake maker back in business?’

  ‘Baby steps,’ said Camilla. ‘I don’t want to take on too much straight away in case I let you down again. I don’t want a repeat of those awful panic attacks.’

  ‘You didn’t let me down. You suffered a devastating loss and then had to cancel a couple of jobs. It happens all the time. You’re a human being and there were plenty of decent cake makers out there who filled in for you, so no harm done. Anyway do you have a picture of this masterpiece?’

  Camilla glowed with pride as she found the photo on her phone and showed everybody. Lucy punched the air. ‘Yes! Camilla Cupcake is back in business.’

  Matty squealed louder as Gracie zipped up his coat and she hitched him up on her hip. ‘I’m so pleased for you, Camilla. Thanks for the delicious food and the lovely cup of coffee I managed to drink while it was still hot for a change. Wave bye
-bye, Matty. See you all again soon.’

  Gracie and Matty did the rounds of kissing and hugging everyone goodbye. Ged shook Matty’s hand and then he stood to go too.

  ‘I’m going to let you get on with your girly day.’

  ‘But we haven’t finished interrogating you.’ Carrie laughed.

  ‘Maybe next time,’ he said. ‘Nice to meet you all. Bye for now.’

  He stood at the front door with Camilla.

  ‘I’m sorry it was such a mad house in there today.’

  ‘Nonsense,’ he said. ‘I had fun.’

  ‘So what did you want to ask me?’

  ‘Oh that, nothing important. I just wondered what you thought about helping me organise a fundraiser for the charity and dare I ask maybe if you could make a cake for it – no pressure of course, after what you just said.’

  ‘That sounds like a great idea,’ she said. ‘Let me have a think about it.’

  ‘I’ll give you a call next week if that’s okay,’ he said, taking her hand and planting a chivalrous kiss.

  Pink spots appeared in the middle of her cheeks and he winked again as he walked off to his van. Camilla waved to Gracie as she drove off. Matty was already asleep in the back. Then she waved to Ged as he drove off in his coffee van.

  As she went back into the orangery she could hear the others laughing.

  ‘So, where the hell have you been keeping him?’ Carrie asked. ‘He’s frickin’ gorgeous.’

  ‘Full of that lovely Irish charm too,’ added Lucy. ‘So, which is it to be: Blake or Ged? Because he has got the hots for you.’

  ‘Don’t be daft,’ replied Camilla.’ Let me get some more wine. There’s no such thing as an empty glass in my house.’ She laughed.

  When she got into the kitchen, she laughed to herself after once again mistaking the freezer for the fridge. She pulled out the bottle of wine and cuddled it to herself as she tried to dissect her friends’ comments. She realised that since splitting up from Blake she had never felt that strongly about anyone. That is until she met Ged on the very day that Blake had come back into her life. Why did everything have to be so complicated? She wanted to hear Blake’s voice again so checked her watch and guessed it would be roughly 8am where he was, so she might just catch him before work.