Page 3 of Daydreams & Doughnut Cake

Swiftly scanning behind me as if she was expecting to see a mad axeman on the loose, she murmured, ‘Why not gointhe van?’ She ushered me towards the driver’s door. ‘It’s open.’

‘Thank you.’ Relieved, I got in and slid down low in the seat.

My ragged breathing sounded loud and laboured in the silence of the van. But I forced myself to slow it down, trying to focus on each individual breath, rather than the turmoil that was going on inside my head.

I held out my hands and saw they were shaking.

They said you couldn’t run from your past. It would always catch up with you.

Was today going to be the day that it finally did?

*****

‘Are you sure you’re okay?’ asked Katja, peering at me worriedly.

‘Yes, thanks. I’m fine, honestly. I didn’t mean to be so dramatic.’ I managed a nervous laugh, although I was still having to grip the arm holding the coffee beaker to stop it trembling. ‘I don’t usually behave so weirdly, I promise you.’

The danger was over. In the rear-view mirror, I’d caught a glimpse of a familiar car driving away, in the direction of the market exit.

When I’d got out of the van, Katja must have seen how shaken I was because without even asking, she poured me some coffee from her flask and stirred in some sugar, which she said was good for shock.

I sipped it gratefully, although my insides were still rolling around queasily. ‘Sorry, Katja.’ I smiled sheepishly at her. ‘You must have been wondering what on earth was going on.’

‘Hey, Rosie, you don’t have to apologise. But... do you mind me asking who you were running from?’

‘Oh, no one. Really. My reaction was completely over the top.’ I felt such a fool now. ‘It was just a face from the past that I wasn’t expecting to see again.’

She nodded understandingly. ‘I know that feeling. Old boyfriends have a habit of rearing their ugly heads when you’re least expecting it.’ She grinned and I relaxed a little, grateful for her assumption that it was an ex of mine. She pulled a queasy face. ‘Richard came into the café yesterday.’

‘Oh, no. How are things between you two now?’ Katja and Richard had split up a few months ago, and she was now happily dating the lovely Caleb, boss of the nearby eco-friendly house-building project.

She shrugged. ‘Fine. I mean, a bit awkward, but it always is, isn’t it, when you run into your ex unexpectedly?’

I nodded.

‘So is that what it was? An ex of yours?’

I swallowed. ‘Er, no, actually.’

‘Right.’ She looked at me speculatively.

I racked my brains, trying to think of a way to explain my bizarre behaviour that would seem likely.

‘It was... well, it was someone I used to know when I lived in Brighton. But... well, I’d rather not renew the friendship, if you know what I mean.’

Katja smiled. ‘Enough said. I can think of a few acquaintances I’d hide from if I saw them. But the danger’s past, has it?’

‘It has.’

‘Good.’

I searched my brain for an easier subject. ‘How’s Ellie, by the way? Still enjoying her maternity leave?’

Ellie had given birth to a beautiful baby girl three weeks earlier. After some bleeding and a worrying dash to A&E a few weeks before, in the end their daughter had rushed into the world on Ellie’s due date, in four hours flat. It had been a normal and totally uncomplicated birth. Ellie and Zak had decided to call her Isla. They’d given her the middle name of Rose, after Ellie’s lovely mum who was living with dementia.

Katja beamed. ‘Mum and baby are doing just fine. In fact, I can’t believe how well Ellie’s coping. She looked amazing when I called round for coffee yesterday after my shift.’

‘Did she?’ I looked at her in surprise. ‘Gosh, good for her. I’m sure I went around looking as if I’d been dragged through a hedge backwards for at least the first three months after Amelie was born.’

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