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

by Annette Hannah

  “So that’s why you’re not back here. Say hi to Camilla for me. You look so cute together and the boat is adorable. Love you.” She followed it up with a cross eyed selfie.

  He laughed, typed a quick reply and put his phone away as they carried on walking along the towpath.

  ‘She’ll miss you if you do move back here for good, won’t she?’

  ‘Yes she will but I’d still be visiting there quite a bit with work and she can come over to England again. She’s still in touch with a few friends from over here and she’s got lots of friends there too. She’ll probably be glad to see the back of me for a bit because she says I’m very “parenty.” ‘

  Camilla laughed and he put his arm around her, pulling her in close to him.

  ‘This feels so good,’ he said. ‘For the last ten years I’ve tried to get on with my life but losing my dad left a void where my heart used to be. I thought I’d lost it forever but now I’ve realised that you had it all along for safekeeping. It’s always belonged to you and I’m just sorry that I never took such good care of yours.’

  Camilla looked up to him and he bent his head to kiss her softly on the lips.

  ‘That’s all in the past now but thank you.’ She squeezed his hand.

  ‘Ahoy there.’ A familiar voice shouted from a narrow boat along the river.

  ‘Finn how are you,’ Camilla shouted back, ‘Is Gracie on board?’

  Her question was answered when Gracie and a giggling Matty appeared in the window waving.

  ‘We thought we’d pop over to the pub for drinks and a bite to eat, fancy joining us?’

  Camilla looked at Blake and he nodded and smiled.

  ‘We’d love to, thanks.’

  ‘Okay great, stay there and I’ll pick you up.’

  Finn manoeuvred the boat toward the bank, lassoed the rope and Blake pulled them closer. They climbed on board and Camilla joined Matty and Gracie in the living room area whilst Finn let Blake have a go of steering.

  ‘Camilla’s heart swelled as she heard the two men laughing, it was so important for her that her friends liked Blake too.

  ‘I’ll text Lucy and Dom and see if they’re free too.’ Said Gracie as Mattie bounced up and down on Camilla’s knee.’

  Lucy and Dom joined them later on and as Camilla watched the friendships build and grow she felt it was one of the best days she’d had in a long time.

  The week flew by and Camilla had new treasured memories of Blake helping her out in the cupcake van at the farmer’s market. He’d bantered with the customers and with Ged and had become a dab hand at swirling the topping on the cupcakes. They’d even had a cheeky snog in it at the end of the night in the Unicorn carpark.

  The morning of departure arrived far too soon,

  ‘I can’t believe it’s time for you to go, I’m going to miss you so much. When will you be back?’

  He stroked her hair. ‘Saturday morning, bright and early, and I already can’t wait. Let’s go out for a nice meal to a fancy restaurant on Saturday night, or better still a boozy lunch somewhere beautiful where we can explore in the afternoon and then have dinner later on. How about Cambridge? We used to have such good times there.’

  ‘That sounds absolutely perfect, I can’t wait. Can we go punting again? But this time try not to lose the pole.’ She teased.

  ‘I’ll try but to be fair a bee did fly into my face.’ He laughed.

  ‘It wasn’t a bee it was a willow branch.’

  ‘I got the pole back didn’t I?’

  ‘Yes but we had to go round for the rest of the day with a wet arm each after trying to frantically paddle back to it.’ She giggled.

  ‘If my lady wants to punt then we shall punt, but you’d better bring some waterproofs just incase.’He swigged the last of his coffee and stood to leave. He took her hand as they went downstairs. She opened the front door for him, ran her fingers through his damp curls as he stroked away a strand of her wet hair from her face.

  ‘I love you, Cami. I’m so thankful to have you back in my life again.’ He crushed her lips with his own, his beard gently scratched her face and they held each other tightly, neither wanting to be the first to let go. He eventually forced himself to tear away from her, checking his watch.

  ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be back before you know it.’

  ‘I’ll have baked over two thousand cupcakes by the time you get back,’ she said, trying to lighten the mood and to stop herself from being a wuss and crying.

  ‘In that case I’ll see you in two thousand cupcakes.’ He laughed, winked at her and got into his car.

  Camilla went into the kitchen to make her first batch. ‘I’ll see you in two thousand cupcakes,’ she whispered to herself and smiled.

  Chapter 34

  The week started off with business as usual at Cupcake Cottage. Angela’s daughter was now at nursery a couple of days a week, which gave her more freedom to bake. Thanks to Camilla giving her a job, Angela was ready to move out of the shelter and had found a small flat to rent. She had been so excited to tell Camilla.

  ‘I feel as though I’ve got my dignity back,’ she’d said with a gush of pride. Camilla had hugged her; she couldn’t have chosen a better employee. Angela was loyal, reliable and was now a fantastic baker. She’d come such a long way from those burnt offerings she had brought to her interview and her daughter was thriving too. Sometimes people just needed a leg-up to be given a chance to prove themselves.

  ‘Angela, I’ve been thinking, I’d really love to do something for the other mums at the shelter. I’m hoping to expand the business, maybe look for premises locally and offer employment to the others. What do you think?’ She was interrupted as the doorbell rang and Camilla opened it to Ged. He wore his usual cheeky grin as he kissed her on both cheeks.

  ‘Come in, Ged, the kettle’s on, and we’re just putting the final touches to your order.’

  Ged followed her to the kitchen and greeted Angela in the same way.

  ‘You know I swear this whole cottage is made out of cake. From the outside it looks like one of those chocolate box gaffs and even the air tastes good in here.’ He swiped his finger round the bowl in the sink and licked it, clearly enjoying the tantalising zest of lemon buttercream fizzing on his tongue.

  ‘Oi,’ said Angela, ‘here’s one for you.’ She added an extra swirl to one of the cakes she was decorating and placed it in his hand at the same time as Camilla put a mug of coffee down on the worktop in front of him.

  ‘This is my favourite place in the whole world to be. Do you know that?’ he said before biting into his ginger and lemon cupcake, half of it remaining stuck to his face.

  ‘And yours is our favourite job to do,’ said Camilla with a laugh, handing him a couple of squares of paper towel.

  ‘Everyone at the shelter is so grateful to you for your contribution; it makes our visitors feel so special to have something so beautiful and hand-made especially for them instead of leftovers or foods past their sell-by date. I tell you I see their eyes light up like kids at Christmas when they’re about to tuck into one of your creations. It’s magical. And I hear your cake-making sessions are going down a treat at the local shelter. The kids love it.’

  ‘It’s our pleasure. I know it’s nothing life-changing but it gives us a nice feeling being able to bring even a small amount of joy to people,’ Camilla said as she put a coffee in front of Angela too. She filled him in on her idea of expanding the business.

  ‘That’s a great idea,’ he mumbled with a mouth full of cake.’

  ‘I wanted to thank you, actually, for introducing me to so many new places with the cupcake van. My orders have gone through the roof; in fact I’ve got a double celebration at the weekend from someone who picked up a leaflet at that huge market you took me to when we first met. Oh that reminds me, Angela, is there any chance you could do a double delivery for me on Saturday? It’s about time I got you insured for the van.’

  Angela beamed. ‘Of course, I’d be delig
hted to. I’d need a little practice drive in the week, just to get used to the cupcake van, if that’s okay.’

  ‘That’s fine; you’ll be doing me a huge favour.’ Camilla could hardly contain her grin at the thought of seeing Blake again.

  Ged smiled. ‘Oh that’s great news. I’m really pleased for you. I knew you’d be a huge success.’

  ‘It’s been amazing. So tell me. How’re the plans for your round-the-world trip coming on?’

  He nodded as he chewed the last of the cake and wiped the buttercream from around his mouth. He took a swig of coffee to wash it down. ‘Ah they’re going great. In almost two weeks I’ll be gone and then it’ll be, hey world, here I come. I can’t wait, and the offer is still open to you if you want to come with me. I promise it will be great fun.’ He tossed her a cheeky wink.

  Angela looked up from her piping and smiled at Camilla. ‘I don’t think Blake will be too happy about that.’

  Camilla flushed. She shouldn’t feel awkward about it but for some reason she did. She felt she had to explain.

  ‘Yes, Blake and I are back together, and I don’t think he’d be too pleased with me gallivanting around the world with an Irish charmer such as yourself.’

  Ged held his hands up in mock surrender. ‘Who me? Sure I’m as good as gold and apart from looking like he wants to kill me some of the time, that Blake seems like a good bloke. He was a real good sport at the auction, but you tell him from me that if he ever hurts you I will find him and I will kill him. And by the way, don’t forget that my offer is always open to you. I could show you the world. I mean what’s he got to offer apart from a fit body, a handsome face and—’ he stopped to stroke his own chin ‘—a beard to die for.’

  Camilla laughed and slapped his arm. ‘I really do appreciate the offer, Ged, thank you; but you know as well as I do that I would only cramp your style and what about all the lovely girls from all those exotic countries who will fall at your feet? I would surely be doing them a disservice if I came with you.’

  Ged pretended to be giving it some thought. ‘Sure you know I hadn’t quite thought of it like that but you’re quite right about that bit: it just wouldn’t be fair on them.’ He chuckled as he helped Angela load the rest of their donated cupcakes into the box.

  ‘Thanks, Angela.’ He had the boxes piled up in his arms, so Camilla opened the front door for him and walked him to his coffee van. He loaded the cakes into the back of his van and slammed the door shut, Camilla was waiting to wave him off and he placed a gentle kiss on each of her cheeks and gently touched her on the arm.

  ‘Seriously I am so pleased for you and I hope you’ll both be very happy, but if you ever need me for anything you know where I am.’

  ‘Well I do for another week or so but after that you could be anywhere in the world.’ She laughed. ‘But seriously thanks, Ged.’ She squeezed his hand. ‘That means such a lot, and yes thank you we are really happy.’ As she spoke, she remembered the holiday voucher she’d won from Jackson’s role model award; maybe she would suggest to Blake that she accompany him on his next trip to Canada.

  Ged climbed into the van, beeped his horn as he drove off and doffed an imaginary cap at her. She went back into the house with a beaming smile and began to prepare another batch of cupcakes. The taste of vanilla in the air welcomed her back into her comfort zone and her heart sang as she and Angela enjoyed the rest of the day chatting and baking cupcakes.

  Whilst catching up on some admin, Camilla noticed emails from a local radio station. It seemed that her inadvertently posting the wrong video had caught the attention of numerous media outlets.

  ‘Oh my God I don’t believe it!’ she gasped.

  ‘What is it?’ Angela paused holding the icing bag over a cupcake.

  ‘I’ve been invited to appear on a radio show since my video went viral. They saw the video before I took it down and replaced it with the correct one and they loved it. They’ve checked out my website too and have fallen in love with the pictures of the cupcake van. I’m just going to ring them. I’ve had so much publicity that business is booming so it might mean more hours for you, Angela, if that’s okay.’

  ‘That’s brilliant for me. Congratulations. I can’t wait to listen to it.’

  ‘You know my mum always said I should have a book out with all my fantastic cakes in it -her words not mine- but then she was my number-one fan, so she was bound to say that really. Maybe that’s something I could look at doing in the future.’

  ‘I think it’s a great idea but it’s notoriously hard to get a publishing deal. I had a friend once who tried for years to get a book deal but eventually self-published. It was about babies and did amazingly well. Maybe you could do that?’ said Angela. ‘Your cakes are incredible and really everybody should know about them. I’m so proud of you and grateful for your help in getting me back on my feet.’

  ‘Thank you so much, lovely. You’ve been such a star. That’s a brilliant idea and I’d say the logical next step to my cake-baking empire. I’m going to do it. That’s my new mission. I’m going to have to go through all my pictures now for the best ones. Oh and I’ll be donating a percentage of the profits to the shelter,’ she said.

  As she left the room Camilla couldn’t help but feel as though her mum had taken her by the hand and led her to this moment. Things were finally going right for her and each time someone told her they were proud of her she took it as a little message from her because she was unable to say it anymore. Her heart glowed at the thought of it.

  Chapter 35

  The little peppermint green van with cupcakes painted all over it attracted lots of attention as it drove around Bramblewood and surrounding villages, mainly because it was such an unusual sight. But even more so today because it was bouncing along like a kangaroo with the old ice cream music jingle playing loudly and the windscreen wipers on full when there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Camilla could see a thin film of sweat on Angela’s flushed face.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ said a flustered Angela as the van came to an abrupt halt when it eventually stalled. ‘Maybe this was a bad idea; I haven’t driven for such a long time.’ She switched off the engine and went to open the door to swap places with Camilla.

  ‘Nonsense, you were doing fine. I was exactly the same when I first started driving her. She’s a bit of a temperamental old thing but once you gel with her she goes like a dream. So come on, just start her up again and we’ll go somewhere quiet where you can practise in peace.’

  ‘Are you sure? I don’t want to break her.’

  ‘I’m positive.’

  Angela started the engine and after the third attempt and despite sounding like an old lady who smokes a hundred fags a day, the engine roared into life, this time without the music and the incessant throb of the wipers. Camilla cheered and Angela drove away much smoother this time but still a little nervously. They drove round for half an hour along country roads before Angela felt she could manage a few local cake deliveries. She tentatively opened the large box of cupcakes to check they hadn’t been smashed up due to her erratic driving.

  ‘Hurray, they’re all fine,’ she said and replaced the lid. Camilla was about to help her when her phone started ringing. Angela gestured to her that she could manage and walked into the sports centre to deliver them to the children’s party.

  Camilla had just finished her conversation when a smiling Angela joined her in the van. She waved a piece of paper. ‘I’ve picked up three more orders in there just from that party. Isn’t that great?’

  ‘Wow that’s brilliant, well done, and I’ve just taken a booking for the cupcake van for a really posh wedding in the grounds of Belvedere Manor. Maybe we’ll need those extra staff sooner rather than later.’

  Her phone beeped and her heart leapt when she saw it was from Blake but then sank as she read it.

  Angela started the car, again on the third attempt, and again it bounced along making embarrassing noises as though it were dragging tin cans along behind
it.

  ‘Oh damn, I really don’t want to let you down but I think I might need a lot more practice before I can drive to that place on Saturday.’

  Camilla winced at the grating noise. ‘Really, Angela, don’t worry. I promise you will get used to it after some more practice but there’s no rush now, as it turns out I can do Saturday’s deliveries after all.’

  Camilla could sense Angela looking at her in concern and tried not to let her see the disappointment in her eyes, which was nothing compared to the sinking feeling in her stomach.

  ‘But, I thought you had plans. What about your day out with Blake? You’ve been so looking forward to that.’

  ‘That was him on the phone. Something urgent has come up, and he needs to help out an old friend. He said he’ll explain properly when he’s back. But it’s all fine and we’re still going out in the evening and doing all the lovely things we planned for Saturday on Sunday instead.’ She smiled and tried to lighten her tone, more to convince herself that she wasn’t upset than Angela.

  ‘And this means that you get much more practice driving our cosy little cupcake van before we let you beyond the realms of Bramblewood.’

  Angela beamed. ‘I’m not going to lie but my whole body has just relaxed with relief and I think that calls for a celebration.’ She flicked the chimes on intermittently for the ten-minute journey back to Cupcake Cottage, bringing smiles to the faces of those they passed on the way.

  ‘Don’t forget the chimes can only be on for twelve seconds every two minutes,’ said Camilla.

  ‘Oops, sorry, boss,’ Angela replied.

  Having Angela do the local deliveries gave Camilla the luxury of some time to herself so she tried to shake off the disappointment and look forward to her hair and nail appointments on Friday, but she couldn’t ease the sinking feeling in her stomach. The thought of Blake letting her down again was too much to bear.

  Chapter 36

  Despite the week being exceptionally busy, as far as Camilla was concerned it had dragged and Saturday had seemed like it was unreachable but here it was. She sprung out of bed and enjoyed coffee and honey on toast in her bedroom window seat. The sunshine warmed her face as she looked out to a clear blue sky; the framed pictures on the windowsill caught her eye. Two silver frames were hinged together. The first one was of her and Blake at a friend’s wedding, taken twelve years ago, their faces beaming with the joyfulness of youth. The other a picture of them dancing at the auction that Lucy had taken. They were laughing. Apart from shorter hair, a beard and a couple of extra laugh lines at the sides of his eyes, Blake had hardly changed at all. Her heart danced at the thought of seeing him in less than twelve hours.