Page 23 of Spring Dreams at the Cornish Bakery

Lynsey looked sheepishly around the large room. Tables were full and so too was the bar area. By the looks of things, every seat had been taken and she could feel everyone’s eyes upon her as she nodded.

‘Good, good. Glad you could make it. Your team is in the corner.’ Gerald’s voice boomed through the microphone he was holding as he indicated a large table by the window. ‘Take a seat and you might just be able to help them out. Having trouble tonight, aren’t you, Team Bakery?’

Lynsey watched as Diane stood up, one hand resting on her baby bump as she held the other against her chest, a look of mock-shock evident on her face. ‘Oi! Gerald, I can’t believe you said that. We’re on a winning streak!’

‘Haha.’ Gerald chuckled as he waited for Lynsey and Zac to cross to their seats.

As they reached the table, Brooke pointed to two free chairs by her side. ‘Thanks.’ Lynsey mumbled as she squeezed around the table and sat down, thankful not to be on show to the whole pub any longer.

‘Hi, I’m Roxie and this is Mitch.’ The woman with the bright pink hair sitting next to her grinned. ‘Glad you could make it. Diane’s bluffing big time and we’re about to break our winning streak.’

‘Oh, I’m not sure I’ll be of much use, I’m afraid, but I’ll give it my best shot.’ Lynsey smiled. She’d always been rubbish at pub quizzes. Not that she’d been to one for months. She and Ross had been regulars at the pub near their old house before all the scandal had emerged and, although she missed it, she hadn’t dared go back.

‘Okay, so for those of you who didn’t catch it, I’ll repeat question number eleven again.’ Gerald looked down at the sheet of paper in his hand. ‘What were the original eight pieces in a Monopoly game?’

‘Which edition? The Simpsons’ Monopoly will have different characters than the Christmas one?’ Someone shouted out from the other side of the pub.

Gerald blinked. ‘There’s really a Simpsons’ monopoly? The game?’

‘Yes, mate. There is. Lots of other editions, too.’ The man shouted out again.

‘Oh, okay.’ Gerald scratched his head. ‘I’m talking about the classic game of Monopoly. None of these other ones.’

Lynsey smiled. She liked Gerald already. She looked around the table as members of the team whispered their answers across to Wendy, who was scribbling them down on an answer sheet. Leaning towards Roxie, she lowered her voice. ‘Which people on the team used to volunteer at Elsie’s?’

Roxie grinned. ‘Half of the table. The other half are their partners. Although we do have a couple missing. Chris and Freya couldn’t make it tonight.’

‘Half of the team?’ Lynsey widened her eyes as she quickly counted around the table. There were sixteen people crammed around, so did that mean Elsie had had eight volunteers who had been local? She’d assumed most people would travel down to Cornwall for the escape rather than volunteer locally.

‘And that table too.’ Roxie jabbed her finger at another large table sitting to their right. ‘We’ve outgrown one table.’

Twisting in her seat, Lynsey counted a further seven couples. ‘Oh wow, a lot of locals must volunteer at Elsie’s bakery then. I suppose they hear how lovely and welcoming she is.’

‘Nope.’ Roxie shook her head before throwing her head back and laughing. ‘I mean, yes, she is lovely and really welcoming. She’s the best, but no, she has a habit of being too welcoming and making people want to stay. We’re all from all over the place.’

Lynsey bit down on her bottom lip. She couldn’t have chosen a better place to volunteer to get to know people, could she? Or a better place to move to. She had a readymade friendship group right here.

‘We need one more.’ Wendy leaned across the table, her voice barely above a whisper. ‘We have the boot, dog, ship, car, top hat, thimble and iron. Gerald said there’s eight. We need one more.’

Lynsey wracked her brains. Her dad had always made it a tradition to play Monopoly as soon as their Sunday dinner ofchip shop dinner had been demolished. She should know this one. She caught Wendy’s eye. ‘It’s a wheelbarrow.’

‘Ooh, is it? Great, thanks, Lynsey.’ Wendy scribbled the answer down.

‘Right, you’ve had enough time for that one. Onto the next...’ The microphone screeched as Gerald spoke. Holding one finger up, he silenced his crowd. ‘Talk amongst yourselves whilst I take a look at this.’

‘He’s always doing that. I doubt he’ll actually be able to fix it.’ Roxie laughed.

‘Yeah, I think he just likes to keep us on our toes. That or he’s intent on deafening us all.’ Mitch chuckled.

Lynsey looked across at Diane, who was sitting on the other side of Zac, and frowned. She was clutching her stomach whilst her partner, Harry, was rubbing her back, looking flustered. Leaning forward, she raised her voice. ‘Diane, are you okay?’

‘No, no, I don’t think I am.’ Diane shook her head and looked at her nervously. ‘I think the baby’s coming.’

‘Oh, Diane. Why didn’t you say something?’ Jumping up from her chair, Roxie rushed around the table towards her before kneeling in front to of her and pulling a medical watch from her pocket.

‘Roxie, do you keep that on you all the time?’ Wendy wrapped an arm around Diane’s shoulders.

‘Only when one of my friends is due to have a baby.’ Roxie grinned; her eyes fixed on her watch. ‘You can take the midwife out of the hospital for a night off, but you can’t turn them off.’

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