Page 58 of The Winter of Second Chances
‘You know!’ exclaimed Raye, thumping John playfully on the arm and nodding in Annie’s direction. ‘The Saltwater Cafe. Annie’s worked so hard on the place; though she won’t make nearly as much fuss about it as she ought to,’ Raye chided, waggling her finger at Annie. ‘And what’s worse, she won’t let us make a fuss about it either, even though we’re all desperate to and beyond excited that we’ll finally have a coffee shop in Willow Bay!’
John Granger’s face darkened. He turned towards Annie. Annie realised that Mari had omitted to mentionallof Annie’s extra-curricular business activities to her nephew. She was surprised he hadn’t noticed the new layout in the tea room when he had gatecrashed their book club last night. But then, she conceded, his focus had rather been distracted by the dildo suctioned to the table.
‘You didn’t know?’ said Raye, her smile faltering as she cast a nervous look at Annie, who did her absolute best to smile reassuringly back.
‘No,’ said John, his mouth pulling into a tight line. ‘I didn’t.’
‘Oh God!’ Raye lamented. ‘Have I spoiled the surprise? I have, haven’t I? Oh, me and my big mouth. Aiden calls mecolanderbecause I can’t seem to keep any thought I have from spilling out. Oops, sorry, Annie.’
‘Don’t worry,’ said Annie, smiling. ‘You haven’t spoiled anything. Mari must have forgotten to mention it.’ She looked pointedly at John. ‘Would you like to see what I’ve done with the place? Consider it a VIP sneak preview.’
‘Thank you but no,’ said John. ‘I’m in a hurry. Goodbye, Raye,’ he said, kissing Raye on both cheeks. ‘Tell Aiden I’ll be up to see him soon.’ He turned and glared at Annie. ‘Goodbye, Ms Sharpe,’ he said acerbically and stalked off down the promenade towards the whopping four-by-four parked at the bottom of the hill.
Annie willed the gulls that were circling the sky above to crap on his head, but they didn’t see fit to oblige.
She finished making Raye’s mocha and handed back her bamboo cup.
‘Sorry,’ said Raye. ‘I seem to have dropped you right in it. I guess a cafe opening up doesn’t quite fit with his plans to sell.’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ Annie reassured her. ‘He doesn’t scare me.’
‘Oh, he’s a darling when you get to know him. Really,’ she added, seeing the scepticism in Annie’s expression. ‘You must have just got off on the wrong foot.’
The man from environmental health finally arrived at about four o’clock. All was in order, as Annie knew it would be. It turned out she knew the agent from The Pomegranate Seed.
‘I thought your name looked familiar when I got my list through,’ said Stephan. ‘The Pomegranate Seed hasn’t closed down, has it?’
‘No, no,’ Annie assured him. ‘I’m just trying my hand at something new.’
‘You’ve picked a funny time to open a seaside cafe. End of season and all that.’
‘I’m planning to stay open through the winter months.’
Stephan sucked air in through his teeth.
‘Are you sure? Most seaside places die a death off-season. It’s not exactly a great place for footfall, is it?’
‘Well, I’m not expecting to tap into the tourist market,’ Annie replied. ‘But there’s a pretty tight-knit community here who seem keen to have a coffee shop on their doorstep.’
‘I hope you’re right,’ he said. Though Annie could tell from his expression that he thought this was wishful thinking. ‘It takes more than warm thoughts to keep a business afloat.’
Annie smiled sweetly as she waited for him to fill out her documents and tried to calculate how many times she’d had the finer points of running a business mansplained to her over the years.
It was mid-October, and while the days were getting shorter and the weather was distinctly chillier, business at the kiosk was still booming.
Annie had never intended the cafe opening to be a big deal. After all, it was really just a pop-up shop. However, there was something about John Granger’s disapproval which led her to abandon her whisper of an opening in favour of a big fat shout, and in double-quick time Annie managed to rustle up a grand opening that Raye could be justified in getting excited about.
With a little persuasion from Aiden, the folk band who had played at The Captain’s Bounty agreed to play a two-hour afternoon set outside the cafe. Paul used his charm on the kitesurfing club and managed to rustle up a race in the morning – when the wind was due to be at its strongest that day – to the outer marker, kindly deposited by Ely on his early morning fishing trip. Pam had agreed to cut the ribbon at ten o’clock on Saturday morning to declare The Saltwater Cafe officially open for business. In addition to being landlady of The Sunken Willow, she was also the chairwoman of the Willow Bay Council – with a guiding hand in everything from collections for local charities and fundraising, to the Willow Bay festivities; mother and daughter were quite the powerhouse.
Annie had revelled in organising her grand opening; it played to all her list-making skills. Paul had been an absolute star, ferrying garden tables and chairs down from the two pubs and setting them in strategic clusters along the promenade. The Captain’s Bounty and The Sunken Willow had declared they would continue the celebrations throughout the evening with a joint BBQ; Annie was discovering that the residents of Willow Bay needed very little excuse to throw a party.
The weather was due to be cold and windy but bright – just the weather to bring revellers to the beach in want of a hot drink. On Friday night Annie was still working to make sure everything was ready. Maeve had offered to make a lemon drizzle loaf cake and a fruited tea bread to help out, and Annie had made two batches of cookies – oatmeal and raisin and chocolate chip – plus a Victoria sponge, a coffee and walnut cake, and a rocky road to go with her brownies and chocolate fudge traybake. As Annie was dolloping clouds of whipped cream onto the bottom half of the Victoria sponge the phone rang.
‘How’s the prep going?’ asked Gemma.
‘Almost done,’ said Annie. ‘I’m about ready to drop.’
‘I’ll bet! Listen, I don’t want to add more to your schedule but I was talking to the mums at the school today and everyone is wondering, since you’re going to open and all, if you’d consider keeping up Mari’s Halloween tradition? It would be lovely if you could. Mari always makes Halloween so special.’
