The Peridale Cafe Cozy Box Set 4

by Agatha Frost

  “Make yourself useful and take this tray of sandwiches out to table seven.” Julia pulled away from the beaded curtain. “Katie’s not shown up yet.”

  Barker saluted and scooped up the tray, leaving Julia to continue kneading a fresh batch of scone dough. As her fists worked, beads of sweat formed at her temples. She angled her head back, directing them away from the mixture and onto her dress. The ceiling fan was set to its strongest spin, but it only appeared to be blowing the hot air around.

  “Sorry, I’m late!” Katie whined as she rushed in through the back door. “Oh, wow! It’s hotter in here than out there. How is that possible, Julia?”

  “It’s a mystery.” Julia paused her kneading to dab at her face with a paper towel. “A mystery that won’t be solved until the crisp relief of autumn takes over the village.”

  “I had to keep wiping off my makeup,” Katie said as she dramatically fanned herself with the heavy door. “It wouldn’t stick where I put it. I used a long-lasting primer, matte foundation, three different powders, and a setting spray that claims to be waterproof, and I’m still sweating through it!”

  “I have no idea why.” Julia offered Katie a paper towel, which she refused. “Mainly because I understood virtually none of what you just said.”

  Katie closed the back door and dug through the cupboards until she found a packet of coffee filter papers. She tore one into a rectangle and began dabbing at the shiny surface of her makeup.

  “Absorbs oil,” Katie explained as the white paper turned translucent with her sweat. “I think I’ll need the whole pack.”

  “You’re a wealth of information,” Julia said with a dry grin. “I’ll file that away for future reference.”

  “I know lots of things.” Katie offered a pleased smile. “Coffee as an exfoliator, olive oil as a moisturiser, baking soda as shampoo.” Katie opened the freezer and backed into it. “Sweet relief!”

  Julia chuckled. With Jessie away, Katie had volunteered to step in to help run the café, an offer Julia had cautiously, but gratefully accepted.

  “We’re not too busy this morning. I think people are scared they’re going to melt if they step outside.”

  “I can relate,” Katie said as she assessed her reflection in the stainless-steel fridge surface. “Oh no! My hair has deflated!”

  Julia suppressed her laughter as Katie attempted to fluff up her peroxide curls. Julia couldn’t imagine putting so much effort into her appearance on a typical day, let alone during one of the hottest heatwaves the country had ever experienced.

  Despite them being the same age, Katie Wellington-South was technically Julia’s stepmother. She was married to Julia’s father, Brian, and was the mother of Julia’s nine-month-old brother, Vinnie—not that her incredibly toned stomach, currently displayed by a revealing crop top, showed any signs of the enormous belly she had possessed for most of the previous year. If not for the temperature, Julia might have told Katie that her outfit was inappropriate. As it was, Julia might have worn something similar if she looked anything like Katie.

  “How’s Jessie?” Katie resumed her blotting. “Is she enjoying Austria?”

  “Australia.”

  “Is that in Austria?”

  Julia measured Katie’s perplexed expression, hoping that it would crack. When it only grew more confused, she realised Katie was not joking.

  “Not quite.”

  “Geography was never my subject at school. None of them were, actually.”

  “Austria is in Europe,” Julia said. “Think The Sound of Music. Australia is the one with the kangaroos. And yes, she’s having a great time. We video called last night. I needed to see her face.”

  “Aw, you miss her, don’t you?” Katie abandoned the freezer and walked to the sink to wash her hands. “I can’t imagine what it would be like if Vinnie went to Australia without me.”

  “Considering he’s a baby, that would be quite impressive,” Julia teased as she joined Katie in washing her hands. “But, you’re right. I miss her a lot. It feels weird waking up knowing she’s not in the room next door.”

  “They grow up so fast.” Katie grabbed her bright pink apron, which had her name bedazzled on the front in sparkling crystals. “Vinnie is already forty-one-weeks-old. I don’t know where the time’s gone.”

  “You’re counting his age in weeks?”

  “It’s easier to keep track,” Katie said with a shrug, before pushing through the beads into the café.

  Julia chuckled as she resumed kneading the dough. She wondered if Katie knew how funny she was, or if her humour was an unintentional by-product of her girlish and childlike personality. Julia had kept Katie at arm’s length for the first five years of their relationship because of that personality, but Katie’s pregnancy had brought them closer together, and now Julia was glad to call Katie a friend.

  When the scone mix was perfect, Julia added chocolate chips and almonds and shaped the dough into circular discs on a greased baking tray. Leaving them to bake, she retrieved her phone from her handbag and called Roxy Carter.

  “Bit early, isn’t it, Julia?” Roxy grumbled on the other end. “It’s the summer holidays. This is when teachers sleep. What’s up?”

  “You’ll never guess who’s moved back to the village,” Julia hummed in a sing-song voice, parting the beads to glance at Leah as she wrote something on her notepad. “You’ll literally never guess.”

  “Then what’s the point in me trying?”

  “Because it’s fun!”

  During the long pause that followed, Julia imagined Roxy sitting up in bed, squinting at the clock and scratching her fiery red hair as she tried to think of a name.

  “Michael Jackson?”

  “When did Michael Jackson live in Peridale?”

  “He might have done.”

  “Roxy…”

  “We don’t know everything,” Roxy protested through a yawn. “Not even you, Julia.”

  “Well, he’s currently dead.”

  “That’s what they want you to think!”

  “Roxy…”

  “Sorry.” Roxy let out another deep yawn. “Violet is big into conspiracy theory documentaries at the moment. I think they’re seeping into my brain. Did you know we’re all alien lizards from another planet?”

  “I didn’t,” Julia said, unable to conceal her smile at her best friend’s dry humour. “Did you know coffee filter papers make good sweat absorbers?”

  “See, you really do learn something new every day,” Roxy said, as the distinctive sound of a toilet flushing echoed in the background. “It’s fun to share facts.”

  “Did you just use the bathroom while on the phone to me?”

  “What did I just say?” Roxy’s smirk radiated through the phone. “It’s fun to share.”

  “You’re gross.”

  “Believe it or not, you’re not the first to say that.”

  “I’m shocked.” Julia feigned a gasp. “Back to my guessing game.”

  “So, I wasn’t right?”

  “It’s still not Michael Jackson.”

  “He could be living next door to any of us.”

  “With Elvis?”

  “Exactly!” Roxy laughed. “Now you’re getting it!”

  “Oddly, you’re getting warmer.” Julia peered into the oven as she sandwiched the phone between her ear and shoulder. “Guess who just moved back into the cottage next door to mine?”

  “Emily?”

  “Not quite.” A lump rose in Julia’s throat, but she decided not to mention the former resident’s death over the phone, especially since Roxy was still in a sleepy state talking about Michael Jackson’s supposed fake death and alien lizard people. “But you’re close. Guess again.”

  Roxy sighed and groaned. Julia imagined her pacing her bedroom as she pulled on fresh clothes, resigning herself to the reality of her ruined lie-in.

  “It’s too early for this, Julia! We don’t all enjoy playing detective. I haven’t even had my morning coffe
e yet. Tell me, or else I’ll hang up and block your number until you can learn to call at a more civilised hour.”

  Julia wet a cloth and began wiping the counter down, leaving enough of a pause to build up the drama.

  “Leah Burns!” Julia’s voice quivered with excitement. “Remember? Leah from school? She’s just moved into her mum’s empty cottage.”

  Another long pause was followed by a click, and then the long hum of a dead phone line.

  “Roxy?”

  Julia waited for Roxy to call back in case she had accidentally ended the call with her cheek. When a minute had ticked by, Julia tapped on Roxy’s number again and put the phone to her ear; it diverted straight to voicemail.

  “Weird,” Julia said aloud, tapping her phone against her chin.

  Once the scones were perfectly baked, Julia transferred them to a cooling rack. Plucking one out, she put it onto a plate with some jam and cream and took it through to the café.

  “On the house,” Julia said to Leah. “You might want to wait for it to cool down, but I quite like them a little warm.”

  “You’re spoiling me,” Leah said after finishing her third cup of free tea. “You’re also turning me into a peppermint and liquorice addict. This stuff is delicious.” Putting down the cup, Leah thumbed through the magazines crowding the table until she found her notepad. “Okay, so I’ve started putting together a list of things, in order of importance, we should start brainstorming. I’ve phoned a few places, like caterers, cake makers, wedding DJs, just to get some prices so we can fit them into your budget.”

  “You can scratch off cake maker.” Julia peered at the upside-down list. “I’ll make my own cake.”

  Leah considered Julia’s remark for a moment before crossing it off.

  “If you were a normal client, I’d say you were crazy, but I don’t think anyone else could bake a wedding cake like you. That frees up a nice chunk of the budget. People charge an arm and a leg for wedding cakes. We can funnel that money into the dress—which reminds me, we should really start looking at dresses as soon as possible. Alterations can take weeks—sometimes months—if things go wrong, and that’s provided you find the dress at all. Nobody ever believes me when I tell this story, but I had a bride shopping for her dress the day before her wedding because she couldn’t decide. She ended up in an ill-fitting poufy ivory number that she swore was the dress, but I think she was trying to convince herself that she had done the right thing ignoring my daily warnings.”

  “I promise I’ll listen to all your warnings.”

  “Good!” Leah laughed before turning to her notes again. “Is that little bridal shop still open on Mulberry Lane?”

  “It was the last time I checked.”

  “Then we’ll start there.” Leah scribbled down a note. “We don’t have to buy from there, but it’s a good place to get an idea of what suits your body. I’ve already marked out some silhouettes and styles I think you’ll like, but they’re just preliminary ideas.”

  Leah flicked through a few of the magazines, pausing to show Julia dresses she had circled. They were demure, tasteful, and exactly what Julia had imagined wearing.

  “What’s all this?” Katie asked, appearing behind Leah’s shoulder. “Wedding dresses?”

  “Leah’s an old friend,” Julia explained. “Leah, this is Katie, she’s my—”

  “Stepmother,” Katie interrupted, holding out a hand to shake Leah’s. “Charmed.”

  “She’s married to my father,” Julia explained in a hushed voice. “There’s a lot to fill you in on.” She turned to Katie, who was peering at the displayed dresses with a sceptical eye. “Leah has just moved back to the village. It turns out she’s a wedding planner, so she’s offered to help plan mine.”

  “You’ve set a date?” Katie asked, clearly taken aback. “Since when?”

  “Since last week,” Barker chimed in without looking up from his laptop. His fingers tapped away without stopping. “November third.”

  “Oh.” Katie’s bottom lip quivered. “I see. You know I could have helped you plan your wedding. I planned mine.”

  Julia felt thoughtless for not anticipating the hurt in Katie’s eyes. Katie had been talking about the wedding more than Julia had since Barker’s Christmas Day proposal.

  “It all happened so quickly,” Julia explained, her cheeks prickling. “I didn’t want to overload your plate. You’ve got Vinnie, and the fake tan business, and you look after your father, and Leah’s a professional, and—”

  “But my wedding was perfect,” Katie said, sulking. “Everyone said so.”

  Julia nodded, although ‘perfect’ was not the word she would have used to describe it. Six years later and she could still vividly see Katie’s pink dress, which, at the time, Julia had said looked like someone had stitched Princess Diana’s dress to Cinderella’s, doubled the shoulders and ruffles, and then dropped it into a vat of fuchsia dye. Added to an equally pink carriage, horses with pink manes, and her father’s white suit and a pink tie, it was not what Julia had in mind for her simple village wedding.

  “I’d love your input, Katie,” Leah said, nodding at Julia as though she ought to be left alone to pacify the child. “There’s room for everyone in a wedding. Oh, I love your lipstick! What shade is that?”

  “Candy Yum Yum,” Katie said, a smile pricking her inflated lips. “Let me take that empty cup.”

  Katie retrieved the cup and headed into the kitchen. Barker looked up from his laptop and breathed a sigh of relief while Julia stared at Leah in dumbfounded silence.

  “It comes with the job,” Leah explained. “Working my first wedding, I learned that everyone wants their say. Those with ‘step’ or ‘in-law’ before or after their names are usually the worst. It’s better to let them think they’re helping, even if we don’t use their ideas. You have the final say on everything, okay? That’s how I operate. As long as you’re smiling when everyone has left at the end of the wedding, I’ve done my job correctly.”

  “I feel like an angel sent you back to Peridale,” Julia said, resting a hand on Leah’s shoulder. “I can’t believe you’re doing this for free.”

  “These cakes are payment enough.” Leah picked up her knife and spread the jam onto the scone, followed by the cream. “You really haven’t lost your touch.”

  Julia was about to leave Leah to the rest of her information gathering when the failed phone call to Roxy sprang to mind. If the call had been an isolated incident, Julia might have pushed the thought away, but Leah’s reaction to hearing their friends were still in the village ensured there was more to the story than Julia knew.

  “I called Roxy,” Julia said as casually as she could. “I told her you were back.”

  Leah stopped chewing the scone for a moment, her eyes freezing on Julia before flicking down to her list. She quickly swallowed the mouthful and licked her lips, her brows tensing.

  “Oh?”

  “She hung up on me.” Julia wondered if she was barking up the wrong tree. “Maybe her phone died? I don’t know. Did something happen before you left?”

  Without missing a beat, Leah shook her head and said, “Not that I can remember.”

  Julia nodded, leaving Leah to enjoy the rest of her scone. Julia didn’t need powers of detection to know Leah had just lied to her.

  She tried Roxy’s phone again, but it continued to go to the voicemail message. While Katie used a pocket mirror to reapply her hot pink lipstick, Julia scrolled to another contact, deciding to try another approach.

  “Johnny!” Julia cried cheerfully. “Are you out and about? Oh, you are? Drop by the café. I have a surprise for you.”

  Before Johnny could ask any questions, she hung up. Julia smiled at Katie, who beamed back, their earlier wedding-related friction already a distant memory. If Jessie were there, she would have accused Julia of being ‘up to something’, but, just this once, even though she missed Jessie, Julia was glad her scheming was going unnoticed.

  As expected
, newspaper journalist Johnny Watson, arrived at the café via the back door fifteen minutes later, his camera strung around his neck. He looked around the empty kitchen and fiddled with his thick-rimmed glasses.

  “Hey,” he said, his hand drifting up to his brown ringlet curls. “I was just at the village hall taking pictures of the summer trampoline kid’s club for the paper. What’s going on? You said you had a surprise?”

  Julia pushed a slice of carrot cake across the counter and nodded at Johnny to try it. He arched a brow before lifting the cake off the plate. His stiff expression relaxed as soon as his lips closed around the cake.

  “S’good,” he mumbled before wiping his lips. “Is that citrus?”

  “Orange zest. I’ve been experimenting.”

  “It’s really nice.” Johnny placed the unfinished slice back on the counter, his bushy brows pinching together. “You called me here to try your new cake? No offence, Julia, but I come in and buy them at least three times a week. What’s the emergency?”

  “Ah,” Julia said, snapping her fingers together. “You’ve caught me. I was just trying to butter you up a little, or should I say ‘buttercream’ you up?”

  Julia laughed, but Johnny only smiled awkwardly.

  “Anyway.” Julia clapped her hands. “There’s someone I want you to see.”

  “Who?”

  Julia had been wondering how to reintroduce Johnny to Leah without startling him. From what she could remember, they had all been the best of friends at school, and even though they had drifted apart during their college and university years, Julia struggled to pin down a source for Roxy’s frostiness. Johnny, on the other hand, was kind to everyone. She was sure he would be happy to see their old friend.