‘I’ll hold you to that.’
‘Some people can cook better than others,’ Tansy said. ‘Iris is rubbish.’
Cathy laughed. ‘Please don’t ever let Iris hear you say that.’
‘She thinks she’s brilliant at everything but she’s not.’
‘She means well,’ Cathy said. ‘And she has been very kind to me so I’m not going to comment on that at all. She lives on her own, don’t forget, and she’s an old lady now. I think if it stops her from getting lonely and gets her out of the house, then let her get involved in everything St Cuthbert’s has to offer. Believe me, I know what it’s like to be lonely and feel as if there’s no place for you in the world; I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.’
‘I hate to think of you feeling like that,’ Matthias said.
Cathy turned to him, a smile full of affection and gratitude. ‘But I don’t anymore.’
Tansy rolled her eyes. ‘If you’re going to do that, I’ll go and eat my lunch in another room, shall I?’
‘Sorry…’ Cathy said, blushing.
‘One day this will happen to you and then you’ll understand,’ Matthias said, chuckling.
‘What? One day I’ll turn into an idiot?’ Tansy fired back.
‘No, you’ve already done that,’ he returned.
Tansy pulled a face and he roared with laughter. ‘Round one to me!’
‘Believe what you like, loser,’ Tansy replied, but she was stifling a grin just the same.
Cathy chewed on a mouthful of turkey. ‘Tansy, this might be about the best turkey I’ve ever had.’
‘Really?’ Tansy looked doubtful.
‘Really. You should have more confidence in your abilities – you’re a natural cook.’
‘I thought you said anyone could cook,’ Matthias said.
‘Yes, anyone can cook, but it’s like art or music. Anyone can learn it, but some people have a gift that lifts them above everyone else.’
‘You think I have a gift?’ Tansy asked.
Cathy smiled. ‘I do… Tansy… you know how you told me you hate your college course…?’
‘I don’t see the point in it. What am I going to do with A levels when I don’t want to go to university?’
‘I don’t know about that, but what if you did something you enjoy? Would they let you swap onto a different course?’
‘Like what?’
‘Like catering. You like cooking and it might lead to a job you like. At least it might feel like less of a waste of time.’
‘That’s a brilliant idea!’ Matthias said, beaming at them both. ‘What do you reckon, Tans?’
Tansy was thoughtful for a minute. ‘I always thought the thickos did catering.’
‘I think perhaps that’s a bit unkind,’ Cathy said gently. ‘Look at it objectively and forget your preconceptions for a moment. What job could you see yourself enjoying? What would you be happy to go in and do, day after day?’
‘I don’t know,’ Tansy said, and Cathy sensed a little impatience in her tone now. Perhaps this was the wrong day to talk about this and perhaps Cathy was the wrong person after all. She and Tansy were getting along better but she couldn’t expect miracles and she couldn’t expect a transformation of their relationship overnight.
‘You should give it some thought,’ Matthias said. ‘I think it might suit you a lot better than what you’re doing now. You said yourself that you don’t see the point in your A levels. If you don’t know what you’re going to do with them, is it worth doing them at all?’
‘It’s always worth doing these things,’ Cathy said. ‘If they make you happy and get you to where you want to be. That’s the real question you’ve got to ask yourself… Anyway…’ She picked up her wine again. ‘That’s probably a conversation for another day. One when we’ve had less wine.’
‘I’ll think about it,’ Tansy said, looking from one to the other. ‘I’d have to talk to Mum too.’
Cathy was surprised to hear that Tansy would want to discuss anything with her mum after all she’d said about her, but maybe it was a good thing. Maybe she was getting to a place with Michelle where they could get along, even if they weren’t living together. She half wondered if Tansy might go back to her mum’s house in the new year, though Matthias had made it clear that Tansy was going to be with him until she finished college at least. This hadn’t been as much of a problem as Cathy might have thought, considering they could at least get moments of privacy at her house if they couldn’t at his, and so she hadn’t made much of a comment on this. Matthias still wasn’t completely convinced that it was good for Tansy to be in the same house as Michelle’s boyfriend, Shane. Tansy had come clean and admitted that she’d been as much to blame for the animosity as him and that he’d never threatened her with violence of any kind, but their relationship was still far from healthy and Matthias was of the opinion that there was no need to subject her to that at close quarters when there was a perfectly good alternative available.
‘I wonder where we’ll all be if we’re sitting around this table again this time next year,’ Cathy said.
‘I should hope we will be,’ Matthias said. ‘Got plans elsewhere, have you?’
‘I’ll be here if you are,’ Cathy said.
‘Ugh!’ Tansy cut in. ‘Seriously, if you two are going to do this all day…’
‘I’m afraid you might have to get used to it,’ Matthias said. ‘We’ve had a lot to drink.’
‘True,’ Cathy said.
‘God, then I’ll have to go to Erica’s.’
‘You can’t,’ Matthias said. ‘I’ve had too much wine to drive you over there.’
‘I’ll walk.’
‘Good luck with that.’
Cathy giggled. Tansy looked like she wanted to bang their heads together as if they were a couple of naughty kids.
‘You’re right,’ Cathy said as she managed to stop laughing. ‘We’re being very silly.’
Tansy looked sceptical for a moment. But when Matthias offered no comeback, she seemed satisfied and cut into a roast potato. Cathy sent a steamy glance Matthias’s way. They did need to behave today but, the way she felt about him right now, that was going to be very hard.
Epilogue
A year to the day had passed since that first Christmas lunch at Matthias’s house. Cathy had remarked more than once on how quickly it had flown by and how she couldn’t believe they were all sitting around the same table once again. But in that fleeting year, so much had changed in her life that she barely recognised herself as the same person who had laughed at Matthias’s lowly Christmas sausages. They’d all changed: Matthias, Tansy, the folks at the cookery club. For a start, the members of the cookery club were all minor celebrities. At least, most of them felt like it, and it had done wonders for their confidence.
On the shelf in Matthias’s living room, Cathy’s cookbook took pride of place. Not the old exercise book, still tea-stained and largely illegible, nor the copy Fleur had given to Cathy last year, filled with amateur photos of cakes taken on phones and Comic Sans typeface – they were two of Cathy’s most treasured possessions and were tucked away in a chest at her house. No, the cookbook on the shelf at Matthias’s house was one of his most treasured possessions, because he loved completely the woman who’d written it.
Inside, the typeface was crisp and classy. Cathy had no idea what this one was called but it looked good. The pages were adorned with high-resolution photos of her creations (she suspected they’d been tampered with by the photographer to make them look better after she’d presented them but had let it slide) and photos of members of the cookery club hard at work in the kitchens of St Cuthbert’s. They all looked as if they were having the time of their lives – the images of them frowning at their mixing bowl or each other, or looking less than delighted with their lives had been quickly deleted from the camera roll of the professional photographer who had come to capture the essence of what they and the cookery book were about. It was about community and frie
ndship, about people coming together to make their lives better, to enrich their own and by doing so enrich each other’s. And on the final page was a huge photo of them all together as a group, Cathy at the front with her hands tucked into the pocket of her apron and a beaming, welcoming smile on her face. It said, come on in everyone; you can all cook with us.
‘How much money do you think the book has raised for the vicar’s charities so far?’ Matthias asked as he poured wine into Cathy’s glass.
‘I haven’t had the exact figures yet,’ Cathy said. ‘They’re done quarterly and the book only came out in October. I hope it’s going to be a decent amount.’
‘I think any amount is amazing. Most people would have taken the royalties for themselves.’
‘Yes, but it was the vicar who made it all happen really. It was the least I could do, and I’m glad to be able to help some good causes. Besides, if the YouTube channel keeps on gaining subscribers at the rate it’s doing right now I’ll be able to live off the revenue coming from that quite comfortably. Not that I’d ever leave Fleur, of course. I still can’t believe people want to watch me cook.’
‘Neither can I,’ Tansy said.
Cathy smiled at her. ‘I can always rely on you to keep my feet on the ground.’
‘Someone’s got to do it,’ she said. ‘Don’t want you getting all famous and big-headed.’
‘I doubt a few YouTube followers will make me famous,’ Cathy said.
‘It makes some people famous,’ Tansy replied.
‘Youngsters maybe. I haven’t been one of those for a long time.’
‘Loads of people on my catering course have watched you.’
Cathy looked up from her drink. ‘They have?’
‘Yeah. They know I know you, see?’
‘I bet they’re having a right laugh too,’ Cathy said with a wry smile.
‘No, they like you.’
‘They’re going to say that to you, aren’t they?’
‘Some of them have the recipe book too. I hate that photo of me, though; I wish you hadn’t said they could use it.’
‘It’s a great photo of you,’ Matthias said.
‘It’s alright for you,’ Tansy replied, ‘you don’t have to be in a book for the whole world to see.’
‘I would have if someone had asked me.’
‘You’d have been labelled as the only man in the world who’s completely unteachable when it comes to baking,’ Cathy said. ‘You’d have come with a health warning.’
He grinned. ‘I did try to tell you.’
‘I’m going to phone Mum before lunch,’ Tansy said.
‘Tell her we said hello,’ Matthias called after her as she left the room. They could hear her footsteps as she went upstairs and then the sound of her bedroom door shutting.
He turned to Cathy. ‘She won’t. And even if she did, Michelle wouldn’t care.’
‘Do you think they’ll ever be able to get along properly again?’
‘I don’t know. I think Tansy’s changed too much.’
‘Yes,’ Cathy agreed. ‘I suppose she’s a woman now with her own opinions and ideas and they don’t seem to be very much aligned with any of her mum’s. At least they’re talking a lot more now.’
‘It might be the most they ever do.’
Cathy paused, caught by that now familiar feeling as she fell into his eyes. They’d been together for a year but that feeling had never been less than all-consuming. She loved it and she craved it, but at times it had made her very afraid that she might not have it forever.
‘So…’ he said. ‘We’re alone…’
‘Yes, we are…’
He leaned in to kiss her. ‘Do you want your Christmas gift now?’
Cathy giggled. ‘Depends what it is. Don’t you think Tansy might have something to say about it?’
‘Oh, your mind is filthy!’ he said, chuckling before kissing her again.
‘I thought we’d already done presents this morning anyway,’ Cathy said.
‘We did, but I was saving one for later.’
‘Then give it to me later.’
‘I can’t wait… I want to give it to you now.’
‘There you go again with those double entendres…’
He leapt up from the table and went to the hallway. A moment later he was back with a small gift-wrapped box in his hand. He placed it in front of her with a broad smile.
‘That’s cheating,’ Cathy said. ‘I feel bad now that I don’t have anything else for you.’
‘I don’t care about that. Everything we opened this morning was supposed to be my lot too, but I saw this last-minute and I knew I just had to get it. I only wrapped it first thing if I’m honest.’
Cathy laughed. ‘Did Tansy wrap the others by any chance?’
‘It’s that obvious?’
‘They’re a lot neater. For someone who appears to be this clumsy, I don’t know how you rehabilitate people for a living.’
‘That’s funny, that’s what people say at the hospital too!’
Cathy laughed, but then she turned back to the box, her heart beating just a little faster. She tore off the paper, and then her face lit into a huge, beaming smile as she opened the box.
‘Oh, it’s beautiful!’ she cried. ‘It’s just perfect!’
‘As soon as I saw it, I just knew I had to get it for you,’ he said.
Cathy reached into the box and took out the bracelet. It was a charm bracelet, the chain sparkling silver, and every little charm that hung from it was a baking utensil. There was a tiny spatula, a mixing bowl, a whisk, a recipe book, a chef’s hat, measuring spoons and even a food processor.
She looked up at Matthias. ‘Oh, I love it so much!’
He reached for it, and Cathy held out her arm as he unfastened it and then did it up around her wrist. Then his hand slid to cup her face.
‘I’m glad,’ he said in a low voice as he moved closer. ‘I’m glad you love it, because I love you.’
‘I love you too,’ she said. ‘More than anything. I love you so much my chest hurts just to think about it.’
‘Hmm,’ he said, ‘I think I know a physiotherapist who can help with that.’
‘There’s no cure for what I’ve got,’ Cathy said. ‘And I hope I never find one.’
‘In that case,’ he said, ‘we’ll just have to live with it.’
‘Fine by me,’ she said, melting into his embrace, breathing him in and knowing that if she could survive right here in his arms for the rest of her life, never moving, never sleeping or eating or doing anything else, she would.
If you fell in love with Cathy’s Christmas Kitchen, then your heart will be stolen by Tilly Tennant’s bestselling book, Hattie’s Home for Broken Hearts.
Order here!
Hattie’s Home for Broken Hearts
Get it here!
Escape to the daisy-strewn windswept Dorset cliffs, to the donkey sanctuary at Sweet Briar Farm, where Hattie Rose is about to find, that in this world, the most unlikely opposites can sometimes attract…
Hattie was once thrilled to call the beautiful city of Paris her home. But when her heart is broken by her boyfriend and she loses her dream job, she bids farewell to the city of love and hurries home to Gillypuddle, a sleepy village on the Dorset coast. But as she returns home she finds her parents struggling to cope with a terrible family tragedy.
In a desperate search for a new start, Hattie takes a job at the donkey sanctuary nearby on Sweet Briar Farm where Jo, the taciturn owner, certainly loves her animals far more than humans. Hattie can’t help but fall in love with the donkeys (and the opportunity to get close to dreamy Canadian vet Seth) but Jo is harder to get to know and when she finds her boss sobbing in her sleep one stormy night, she knows that her new friend is hiding a dark secret.
And when handsome newspaper reporter Owen does some digging into Jo’s past he finds something that connects her to Hattie on a whole new level. Can Hattie trust what Owen says, especially when he s
eems intent on standing in the way of her blossoming romance with Seth? And can Hattie help Jo to start healing and the donkeys of Sweet Briar Farm?
Get it here!
A beautiful story that will melt the hardest of hearts. If you love Jenny Colgan, Lucy Diamond and Josie Silver you will be enchanted by this life-affirming read that reminds you that home is wherever the people you love are.
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Books by Tilly Tennant
Worth Waiting For
Cathy's Christmas Kitchen
The Waffle House on the Pier
The Break Up
The Garden on Sparrow Street
Hattie’s Home for Broken Hearts
The Mill on Magnolia Lane
The Christmas Wish
The Summer Getaway
The Summer of Secrets
An Unforgettable Christmas Series
A Very Vintage Christmas
A Cosy Candlelit Christmas
From Italy with Love Series
Rome is Where the Heart is
A Wedding in Italy
Honeybourne Series
The Little Village Bakery
Christmas at the Little Village Bakery
Hopelessly Devoted to Holden Finn
The Man Who Can’t Be Moved
Mishaps and Mistletoe
Mishaps in Millrise Series
Little Acts of Love
Just Like Rebecca
Cathy's Christmas Kitchen: A heart-warming feel-good romantic comedy Page 28