Page 23 of Love in the Air at The Cornish Bakery

Chapter Twelve

‘Here we go. Get thesedown yourselves. It’ll warm you up a bit before we open.’ Elsie placed a tray of warm croissants and a jar of jam down on the table closest to the cake and coffee counter and rubbed her hands together.

‘It’s freezing today.’ Diane pulled her coat tighter around herself. ‘I think it’s going to take me the whole morning to warm up after my walk down here.’

‘Get one of these down you and a hot drink and you’ll soon warm up, love. Our bodies just need a bit of time to get used to the drop in temperature.’ Elsie rubbed Diane’s shoulder.

‘You can say that again.’

‘Besides, when we’re rushed off our feet, we won’t have time to feel the cold.’ Brooke laughed as she picked up a croissant and smeared jam inside.

‘That’s very true.’ Sinking back into her seat, Diane wrapped her hands around her mug of coffee.

‘These are delicious.’ Nina closed her eyes, savouring the taste of the warmth from the croissant mixing with the cool of the jam.

‘Ooh, we’ve got breakfast today!’ Wendy held the front door open as Molly slipped in behind her.

‘Don’t look so surprised. You know you can always help yourself to something for breakfast.’ Elsie chuckled.

‘I know. It just signals the colder days when you bring us croissants. It’s like an autumn tradition.’ Wendy grinned and flung her coat on another table before sitting down next to Nina and taking a croissant.

Shutting the door behind her, Molly slipped her coat off, keeping her scarf wrapped around her neck for warmth. ‘It smells lovely.’

‘Thanks, love. Now eat up, drink up, and get warm. You look freezing.’

‘I am. And Wendy gave me a lift today, too.’ Molly laughed and began slathering jam on her croissant.

‘With the heating up full blast, I might add.’ Wendy grinned. ‘Which might sound lovely and warm but I’m sure it’s not working properly because it only just managed to defrost the ice on the inside of the windscreen. It didn’t actually seem to do much to warm us up.’ Wendy shrugged.

‘You’ll have to take it along to Scott. Let him work his magic.’ Elsie picked up the now-empty tray.

‘Is that Olivia’s partner, Scott?’ Nina took a sip of coffee.

‘Yes, he’s a mechanic. He works at the garage up by the pub.’ Diane took another bite.

‘Oh, I keep meaning to. But it’ll have to wait until the end of the month now. Hudson stood on the bottom drawer of his chest of drawers and has now broken it so that needs replacing too.’ Wendy sighed.

‘Go and speak to Scott, I’ll see him right. You can’t go driving about with ice covering your windscreen and the heating not working.’ Elsie laid her hand on Wendy’s shoulders. ‘And ask Connor to look at the drawers. I’m sure he’ll be able to fix them.’

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