Page 24 of The Pop-Up Cake Shop

‘Well... I don’t see a bus stop. But they’re standing exactly where our leaflet said we’d be at ten o’clock every Wednesday. So I guess they must be our customers.’

‘It’s a miracle,’ I breathed, relief rushing through me.

Ellie chuckled. ‘Well, I wouldn’t go that far. But itisquite exciting.’

‘Thisis new,’ remarked a smiley woman at the front of the queue when we hopped out of the van and opened the doors at the back. ‘I have to say, I was very excited when your leaflet came through the door.’

The woman she was standing with laughed. ‘I actually did a little happy dance in the hallway when I saw it was the Little Duck Pond Café coming to our village. My husband now thinks I’m a cupcake short of a full pack.’

‘Well, that’s nothing new, is it, Sadie?’ joked the first woman, nudging her friend. She turned to us. ‘But seriously, since we don’t have a bakery in the village, we have to buy our cakes and pastries when we do our weekly shop at the supermarket, whichis miles away. So this mid-week cake van pitching up practically at our door is the best thing since sliced bread.’

‘Or chocolate croissants?’ Sadie grinned, peering into the van and running her eye over the selection of bakery goodies. ‘I’ll take four of those, please.’

‘Well, it’s really lovely to see you all,’ smiled Ellie as I swung open the van doors. ‘Let’s hope the cakes and pastries meet with your expectations.’ She took the container Sadie was holding out and placed fourpains au chocolatinside it.

It was definitely a good start, I thought to myself cheerfully, as I slipped the cash into the money belt around my waist.

Everyone was clustering around now and there were lots ofoohsand exclamations of delight at the price list. Ellie got back in the van to make a phone call, while I served the other customers. Then I turned to find that another three people had joined the queue: a couple with their dog, who were pleased to snap up one of the lemon drizzle loaf cakes, and a youngish woman with spiky pink hair, who bought half a dozen of the brownies.

‘Nice brooch,’ she remarked. She was wearing pink-framed glasses to match her hair and a necklace bearing the name ‘Mo’ around her neck.

I thanked her – and then she grabbed the lapel of her voluminous green coat and flashed her own brooch, which to my amusement was the gravestone one I’d seen in the jeweller’s shop, declaring ‘RIP the Patriarchy’.

‘We obviously shop at the same place,’ she pointed out, tapping the side of her nose in a confidential manner as she took her bag of brownies.

I grinned. ‘Clearly great minds think alike. Enjoy the brownies, Mo!’

‘Oh, I will. See you next week.’

‘Great!’ Smiling, I watched her walk away and join a man who was obviously waiting for her. As she reached him, he stood up from the bench he’d been sitting on, revealing himself to be a good deal taller and thinner than Mo. Then they walked off together.

I glanced around to check for latecomers before joining Ellie in the van.

Then we set off for our next stop, which was the village of Risley Common.

But when we arrived, to our disappointment, there was no one waiting for us at the designated parking spot.

‘What do we do? Just hang around for a bit?’ I looked at Ellie.

She nodded. ‘It’s not quite eleven yet so we’ll give it a bit of time, shall we?’

‘If we don’t sell anything here, I reckon we’ll do well at the next stop in Lockley Meadow.’

‘We’re bound to, I reckon, considering it’s their weekly farmers’ market on the village green today.’

I swallowed, remembering the last time we were in Lockley Meadow, the day before I flew to New York. ‘I just hope we don’t bump into Bulldozer Man again.’ I gave a shiver of revulsion.

Ellie laughed. ‘Oh, yes. I’d forgotten about him. You’d better promise me you won’t get into any fisticuffs fights if we do bump into him! Because it came pretty close to that the last time.’

I reddened at the memory. ‘I’m not usually so...vocal. It’s just I was so scared I wouldn’t get home in time to sign for my passport.’

She chuckled. ‘He’s probably terrified of you now, so I wouldn’t worry about bumping into him again. He’ll give you a wide berth, I’d imagine.’

‘I wasn’t that fierce, was I?’

‘Well, Iwasa bit worried you were going to climb up and drag him out of the cab and move the bulldozer out of the way yourself.’

I laughed. ‘I might well have done, if that other guy hadn’t come out and stuck his oar in.’

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