Page 31 of The Cake Fairies
Chapter Eighteen
ANNABELLE
“I
can’t believe you did that last night without running it past me. I thought we were a team, Polly Williams?”
Annabelle paced around the vast kitchen island, morning cuppa in hand; a move that would have had infinitely more impact to convey her thundery mood had she not had so far to walk. Polly glared at her but then clearly thought better of another argument, softening her features in response.
“But weneeda chief cake taster, and who better than someone with a culinary background? If Ivy likes it, we drop it. If Ivy doesn’t like it, we drop it from the menu. Cake connoisseurs of the sixties we may be, but this is – and I still can’t believe I’m saying this,” Polly whispered, eyes veering to the left and right in case anybody was listening. “This istwenty-flipping-nineteen.We’re starting a lot of things from absolute scratch here.” She eyed up the robotic-looking cake mixer and Annabelle came to a standstill before it, swallowing down her own fear as to how its plethora of buttons made it do its thing; they’d hunted high and low but, frustratingly, there wasn’t a manual in sight.
“She’s a teenager – and a student. She can hardly accompany us all over the country. Her taste buds won’t be mature enough for some of the fusions we’re creating. Sweet and sour sauce expertise does not constitute sweet tooth of the cake variety.” Annabelle was less than convinced and flapped her arms around to show it. “Not only that, but the more modern-day people we let into our lives, the more we put ourselves at risk.”
With the slight exception of Alex.
“I’m not sure anything will be remotely as dangerous as the journey we took to get here, and how very Middle Ham of you to pigeonhole Ivy’s taste buds like that.” Polly frowned, making spirals with the ends of her long hair. “She’s seventeen. Back in the village, that’s as good as engaged to be married for the average girl,” she reminded her. “Besides, change starts with the young. If Ivy can be lured away from Snaptalk—”
“Chat,” Annabelle butted in and Polly tutted at her fastidiousness.
“Conversation, dialogue, gossip… whatever… If we can lure her away from all of that malarkey with a kawaii-face double-decker chocolate fudge ganache cake, then we know we’re onto a winner.”
“Well, hark at you thinking you’re all hip and with it. Okay, fine,” Annabelle quickly conceded. “But if you’re allowed a right-hand woman, I’m allowed a right-hand man.” Darts of pleasure catapulted from Annabelle’s stomach to areas it was really rather inappropriate to think about in the kitchen, especially given that the guy would soon be as good as taken, when Polly gave in to temptation. “Alex is coming over tomorrow morning to help us.”
“You what?” Polly froze, statue-like.
“And your problem is?”
“Pfft, where to start?” She pressed her hands flat on the bench to labour her point. “First off, he’s an egotistical idiot, which is solelyhisproblem, I’d say. Second, what part of Ido notrequire somebody like that in my life do you not understand?”
“He’s an acquaintance, Polly; an acquaintance who might turn out to be a friend – to both of us. And he’s good with his hands,” Annabelle wrestled with the seductive image unfolding in her head. “In… the kitchen, I mean… as well as the supermarket. He might well have saved your life yesterday.”
Wow. But Polly really wasn’t buying his brand of suave today. “He seems pretty keen to upgrade himself to more than just good friends – and with anything in a skirt, I’m willing to bet.” Polly extended a hand to shake, but Annabelle declined. “There’s nothing he can teach me,” she crusaded on. “I run a bakery, remember? So do you. But he’s nothing more than a glorified Scandinavian waiter.”
To think they’d called Kitty Withers belligerent. “Want me to call him, tell him not to bother?” Annabelle teased. “Oops, I can’t. Only one of us gave the other a number.” She couldn’t resist affixing a witchy cackle to that revelation.
But trust Polly to sabotage everything again. What if he took a shine to the pretty and much younger Ivy now, instead? It was hard enough for Annabelle, watching him light up at the sight of her cousin. Their new-found friend’s insights into the world of a tech-obsessed teen couldn’t have been more obvious, and there’d really been no need to invite her back after they’d rescued her. All Ivy had done was reconfirm their suspicions, just as Annabelle had known she would – thank you, Little Miss Twenty-first Century: have a nice life, and goodbye. On the other hand, if they did make her Chief Cake Taster, Annabelle could tap her up for some of those Krav-whatsit lessons. They sounded like they’d come in mighty useful for any future encounters with the likes of Ray…
“Fine. Whatever,’ said Polly. “I can’t be bothered to argue. He’s your guest. You can do all the talking. Ivy and I will work at one end of the kitchen…”
“Me and Adonis at the other. Okay. That works perfectly for me.” Hell, thought Annabelle.What had she got herself into?
“Do not mention that word again,” Polly snarled.
“You started it.”
“Argh. You’re impossible when you get like this!”
“Right. Folder time.” Annabelle changed the subject decisively. “Sounds like we’re going to have a full penthouse soon enough.” She smiled her most annoying smile. “So, we might as well find out what today’s task involves, then we can put everybody to work the moment they arrive.”
Polly ran to the folder, pathetically trying to retain the upper hand. Annabelle stopped in her tracks. She needed to choose her battles wisely in these uncertain times.
“Day three.” Polly perched herself onto a bar stool and began to read aloud. “Did you like Waitrose? Hope you spotted one or two treats while you were perusing the store.”
Annabelle snorted.
“Ahem.” Polly grimaced. “I’m going to be setting you mainly multi-tiered cake challenges for your drops. They’re the most enticing and eye-catching constructions by far and will yield you the best results. And enticing and eye-catching is everything you’ll need to remove focus from screens to the streets, and the fact there are other people living and breathing on them,” Polly continued. “See. That’s exactly why Ivy is helping us.” She donned another irritating told-you-so smile.
Annabelle bit her tongue.
