Page 5 of The Pop-Up Cake Shop

There was an ear-splitting honk from the bulldozer. It gave me such a fright, my feet almost left the ground, and the foreman turned and signalled brusquely with his hands for the driver to desist.

I shook my head. ‘You know something? If awomanwas in charge here and there wasanother womandriving that bloody bulldozer, this whole ridiculous palaver would have been sorted out by now.Peacefully!’

The foreman’s eyebrows rose a fraction at my obvious fury. He opened his mouth to say something, but I stomped away, not bothering to stay and listen.

‘We’ll reverse, okay?’ I shouted back at him without turning. ‘Because I’m awoman. Andwomenare clearly the superior sex in terms of compromise and consideration for others.’

I dived back into the car. ‘There’s a space back there.’ I muttered to Ellie, who was staring at me, gobsmacked. ‘Can we reverse?’

She put the car in gear and nodded ahead. ‘No need. He’s managed to get the surly bugger to move.’

‘Oh.’ Sure enough, the bulldozer was starting to reverse slowly back into the site entrance.

As we drove past the foreman, he gave me a wary look as if he thought I might be about to leap out of the car and start yelling at him again.

Ignoring him, I turned to Ellie, feeling thoroughly rattled but rather foolish at the same time. ‘Let’s just deliver these cakes and get on our way, shall we?’

‘Absolutely.’ Ellie parked up and we leaped out of the car. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll get you back by four. Give the poor man a wave.’

‘What “poor man”?’ I turned with my tower of boxes, just in time to see the foreman strolling back on site, hands in the pockets of his blue jeans.

Ellie chuckled. ‘I think you scared him. Actually, you scared me as well. I’ve never seen you so cross.’

Smiling ruefully, still feeling shaken after the dramatic stand-off, I nodded over at the party house.

‘Come on. Let’s go. There’s a giant rabbit waiting for us at the gate.’

*****

After delivering our cakes to a very grateful Maggie, we drove off just as the bulldozer was emerging again.

Ellie circled the village green slowly, navigating carefully past the continuous line of parked cars on one side, until eventually we made it back to the main road.

She glanced back with a grin. ‘Goodbye to the cheeriest bulldozer driver in the history of construction workers. At one point I thought he was going to bulldoze us all the way back to Sunnybrook.’

I grunted in agreement. ‘He had one helluva pair of angry black bushy eyebrows on him. They really should have their own social media account.’

She chuckled. ‘Well, we’ve done what we promised. And Maggie seemed delighted.’

‘That’s good, anyway.’

‘And now I’m going to whizz you home.’

Staring out of the window, I gave a heavy sigh. ‘You know what? I’m not even sure Iwantto go to New York.’

‘What do you mean?’ She glanced across at me in surprise. ‘You’ve missed Richard while he’s been away, haven’t you?’

‘Yes. Of course.’ I attempted a smile. ‘Just ignore me. I’m being silly.’

‘Is this about thinking you heard a female voice in the background when you phoned him that time? Because you know it wouldn’t be anything to worry about. Richard’s not like that. I’m sure it was just the TV, like he said.’

‘I know. I’m sure you’re right. But your imagination can play horrible tricks on you, though, can’t it?’

‘It can indeed.’ She groaned. ‘Remember what I was like getting all worried because I imagined Zak’s new literary agent was a stunningly beautiful twenty-year-old model-type.’

‘Yes, and she turned out to be a lovely mature lady in her early seventies – and a granny to boot. That was the pregnancy hormones, though.’ I pointed with a wry smile at Ellie’s burgeoning baby bump. ‘What’smyexcuse?’

She chuckled. ‘You’ll be fine. Richard is going to welcome you with open arms at the airport and you’ll come back to Sunnybrook, all nauseatingly loved-up again.’

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