Page 26 of A Wonderland Wish on Ever After Street
‘He wasn’t nearly your anything.’ Bram’s hands are in such tight fists that it looks like his nails are cutting through his palms and I’ve never seen his mouth set in such a hard line before.
‘So you two know each other?’ I try to ease the tension that’s shot through the room, so tight that it feels like you could pluck the air with a guitar pick.
‘She’s my…’
‘We were engaged.’ Tabby finishes the sentence that Bram seems unable to complete, and then she clearly appraises him. She makes no secret of looking him up and down, and I can see him squaring his shoulders and standing straighter.
Her nose turns up. ‘Why would you do that to your hair? You look like an electrocuted Smurf.’
He plasters on his Mad Hatter smile and gives her a false grin. ‘Because I knew it would drive people like you and my father absolutely crackers.’
‘He wants me to get back with you, you know. Luckily I have a wonderful new boyfriend now, but your father still wants me to see if I can straighten you out.’ She gives him a look of scrutiny. ‘Seems it might be beyond even my powers.’
It rubs me up the wrong way. I might have had plenty of reasons to get annoyed with Bram myself, but no one comes intomytearoom and insultsmyHatter. ‘Bram is the best Mad Hatter I’ve ever met. Absolutely no one gets to straighten him out on my watch.’
‘Have you met many Mad Hatters?’
‘Enough to know when I’ve got a good one.’ I dodge around her and go back to the counter. ‘Now, if you’ll excuse us, we still have work to do before opening time. If you’re going to work here, you’ll need to muck-in.’
‘Muck-in? Me?’ She looks so horrified that she must think there’s actual muck involved. ‘Oh, no no. I take my orders from Mr Hastings. He said nothing of the sort. I am to play a Queen. Can you imagine what people would think if they saw a Queen waiting tables?’
‘You can help us cle?—’
‘Orfwith your head!’ she cries before I’ve finished the word ‘clean’. ‘See? I’m playing a character who would have servants to clean and I am fully committed to the role. I’m sure you can appreciate that,Alice.’ She gives me the same appraising look she gave Bram earlier and it makes me stand taller too.
What the heck is going on here? First I getBram dumped on me unexpectedly, which hasn’t been an altogether bad thing, then his ex-fiancée turns up, and she’s already got my hackles up.
Instead of letting Tabby’s critical gaze get to me, I pick up the bag of icing I’d put down earlier and continue icing the cakes. Bram and I are working like a well-oiled team. He passes a tray over, spins around me to collect the ones I’ve just finished and place them on the stands in the display unit, and she watches us for a moment. ‘I’m going to freshen up. Bathroom?’
I point out the door to the back room. ‘Through there and up the stairs, you can’t miss it. You can leave your coat up there too.’
Bram watches the doorway, and when she disappears, he jerks his head to get me to step closer to him, and he bends until his mouth is right next to my ear, and his fruity aftershave fills my nose.
‘I won’t tell anyone our secret, but she willdelightin it. Be very careful.’
Oh, great. It was hard enough keeping it a secret from him, but now he knows, life has been so much easier. And I trust him, but the thought of someone else working here and finding out my little secret sends my thoughts spiralling. Just when things were starting to go well, I’m once again left in a spin of panic that my little white lie is going to get back to Mr Hastings and he’ll fire me on the spot. ‘Did you know she was coming?’
‘Heck no. Holy green tomatoes, she’s someone I never wanted to clap eyes on again, never mind work alongside.’ He sounds like he’stryingto sound upbeat and jokey to cover how much her appearance has thrown him. ‘Seriously thinking of quit?—’
‘Don’t you dare!’ I reach out and grab his forearm, my fingers curling tightly around the sleeve of his lime green jacket. ‘The Wonderland Teapot wouldn’t be the same without you. You’re not allowed to go anywhere, ever.’
He seems flummoxed for a minute, and then his face breaksinto the most genuine smile I’ve seen so far this morning. ‘Awww. And all this time, I thought you barely tolerated me.’
‘I barely tolerate you pulling things out from behind my ear. When you’re being yourself, you’re marginally okay.’
‘Be still, my dusty old heart.’ He puts a hand on his chest and gives me a sarcastic grin. ‘And on that note, I’m going to go and empty the recycling bin in case she pokes her nose in there.’
‘Did you see her nails? There’s no way she’s ever been near a recycling bin in her life.’
He lets out a loud unexpected laugh and his shoulders loosen for the first time since she came in. ‘Remarkably accurate. Back in a tick.’ He goes to walk out and then turns back. ‘Cleo? Thanks for saying that about straightening me out. Much appreciated.’
For just a second, he looks insecure and vulnerable, and I think I’ve just got a glimpse ofwhyhe hides so much of himself behind a character.
Having taken the supermarket packaging to his car, Bram is back inside by the time Tabby glides into the shop in her ridiculously oversized red ballgown. ‘What are you really doing here? Don’t forget I know you well enough to know that you’d never deign yourself to work in a tearoom if there wasn’t something in it for you.’
‘I’m just here to show willing. I put in an application to take over this building myself, you know. A wellness retreat. I think it would’ve been the perfect fit.’
‘A wellness retreat on Ever After Street?’ I say incredulously. Of all the things Ever After Street needs, I can’t think of anything more misplaced.
