Page 26 of The Pop-Up Cake Shop

‘Ah, yes. You should do well there. It’s farmers’ market day.’

We said goodbye and as we drove away, I turned to Ellie. ‘You just made a little girl and her mum very happy. That was inspired.’

She chuckled. ‘Maisie adoredFrozenwhen she was little and she had all the little figures. Including that one. Goodness knows why it was still in my handbag.’ She raked through the bag in question. ‘Along with a screwdriver, a bag of sugared almonds from a wedding about a year ago, and... the top from a washing-up liquid bottle?’ She held it up in bewilderment and we both started to laugh.

*****

Ten minutes later, we drove into the village of Lockley Meadow to find it a great deal busier – because of the weekly farmers’ market on the green – than it was during our previous frantic stop-off at the village when we were delivering cakes to little Bella’s party.

My eyes immediately swung towards the building site on the far side of the green, hoping that by some miracle, the small cluster of new houses would be finished and the builders gone.

Spotting the distinctive raised arm of a yellow crane in the distance, my heart sank.

No such luck, then.

Ellie must have seen my gloomy expression. ‘They’re still here, then.’

‘Apparently.’

She grinned. ‘Try to stay calm.’

I grunted. ‘I will. Just as long as that ignorant thug of a bulldozer driver stays out of my way.’

‘He might just have been having a bad day.’

‘Oh, he was. Apparently, his wife forgot to do the lottery and their numbers came up.’

‘Really?’ She looked appalled. ‘Oh, that’s awful, Katja. I’d be feeling pretty grumpy myself if that had happened to me.’

I glared at her. ‘Hey, whose side are you on?’

‘Yours, of course.’

‘Yes, well, just because he missed out on millions doesn’t mean he has to take it out onus!’ I muttered.

‘No, you’re absolutely right. He should have just shrugged his shoulders, shelved his plans to buy that country estate he’d always dreamed of, and carried on smiling.’

‘Oh, ha ha. Stop feeling sorry for him.’ I was about to add:He almost cost me my trip to New York.But I stopped myself in time. He’d have done me an enormous favour if he had!

‘I’m not feeling sorry for him,’ said Ellie, as she parked the van in our allotted space on the green. ‘Well, maybe a bit. He could have been driving a Bentley by now instead of a bulldozer.’

‘It’s not funny.’ My mouth lifted in grudging amusement at one corner. To be honest, I was feeling rather foolish now about getting out of the car and charging over to challenge himthat day. It was so unlike me to make such an exhibition of myself. If I remembered rightly, I’d poured scorn on the entire male population, so he and that equally irritating site foreman probably had me down as a fanatical man-hater! Was that why I was feeling so ridiculously nervous at the thought of bumping into them again?

I groaned. ‘It’s really not funny, Ellie,’ I repeated.

‘I’m not laughing.’ Ellie attempted a very serious expression, but that just made us both smile. Then she glanced over my shoulder, out of the passenger window. ‘Oh, no, don’t look now.’

‘What?’

‘It’s him. He’s coming over.’

‘What?’ I squeaked and spun round, but of course there was no one in sight.

Ellie was chuckling away, and as we got out of the van and opened the back doors, preparing to receive customers, I joined her in her amusement. She was right. Bulldozer Man had probably just been a bit grumpy after his very bad lottery experience. Let’s face it, even if I did have the misfortune of bumping into them again, they probably wouldn’t even recognise me. I should just forget the whole embarrassing incident...

‘I saw the building site foreman on the local news last night,’ said Ellie. ‘Actually, he’s not just the foreman. He’s the actual builder. He scrubs up quite well, I have to say.’

‘Really?’

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