Page 3 of A New Arrival at Cwtch Cove

‘No problem.’

He frowned as he spotted a figure crossing the green. He couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman because the figure was shrouded in a large khaki coat with a hood over dark jeans and wellington boots.

‘Looks like we have a customer. A customer who’s in quite a hurry too.’ He gestured at the figure as it stumbled towards the shop. He opened the door and stepped back as the person burst through the doorway and staggered towards the counter.

‘Oh my god!’ Trudy let out a gasp. ‘Whatever has happened, Alice?’

Chapter3

Alice

‘Mum!’ Alice held out her arms and her mum came around the counter and embraced her. ‘Oh, Mum, I had to come home.’

‘Daring what’s wrong.’ Her mum rocked Alice gently as she held her tight. ‘And why do you have your hood up?’ Trudy gently slid the hood down and peered at Alice’s face.

‘I didn’t want anyone to recognise me.’

‘But why?’

Alice shrugged. ‘I just wanted to see you and I know what people are like around here. They’re all so friendly and they’d want to chat and ask all about my brilliant career in Exeter and all I wanted was to get here to you.’

‘Do you want a cup of tea?’ Trudy asked.

‘Yes please.’ Her mum’s answer to all life’s problems was to put the kettle on and Alice loved her for it.

‘Come on through to the back. Are you OK to serve, Henry?’ Her mum asked the tall blond man standing in the doorway. Alice had barely registered him as she’d come inside.

‘Yes, of course,’ he said.

‘Henry, this is my daughter, Alice.’ Her mum turned Alice around so she was facing the man. ‘Alice, this is Henry, my pastry chef.’

Alice looked at the man and he looked back at her. She knew she looked a right state but she also didn’t care. She was sick of men and the trouble they caused by selling their businesses and upsetting the apple cart and never wanted to care what another one thought about her ever again. She had bigger things to worry about than what some man, albeit a quite handsome one with very blue eyes, thought about her and how she looked.

‘Come on, Alice. Let’s get you a cuppa and you can tell me all about it.’

And as Alice’s mum led her through to the back of her cosy bakery that smelt of cakes, biscuits and freshly baked bread, relief rushed through Alice. Her life might be a big, fat mess but she was home now, and her mum would make everything better in the way she aways did.

Chapter4

Trudy

Trudy made tea then handed Alice a mug. Her daughter was sitting at the table in the small staffroom at the back of the bakery. The small window of the kitchen overlooked a wooded area and on warm days, Trudy liked to open the window and listen to the birdsong and the chirping of crickets and grasshoppers. Over the years since she’d bought the bakery, she’d spent some evenings in the staffroom gazing out of the window as she sipped a hot beverage, counting her blessings and trying not to miss her husband. It was so difficult though, especially when she wanted to tell him things about Alice and to celebrate the milestones of her business with the man she still loved with all her heart.

Trudy was very surprised to see Alice today because she hadn’t been back to Cwtch Cove in about eighteen months. Trudy had been to visit Alice twice during that time but with Alice working and Trudy running the bakery, neither of them had much free time for visiting. And now, looking at the mess her daughter seemed to be in, Trudy felt sick to her stomach. Had she neglected her daughter? Had she let her down by not realising that she was struggling?

Trudy sank onto a chair and set her mug on the table. ‘Can you tell me what’s happened?’ She used the voice she reserved for times when her daughter had been upset growing up. It was a calm, non-judgemental voice meant to soothe and encourage sharing.

‘Oh Mum… It’s all gone so wrong.’

Trudy wrapped her hands around her mug and waited.

‘I… I’ve lost my job.’

‘Goodness, no! How did that happen?’

‘Harold decided to sell the practice.’

‘What? When?’

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