Stirred with Love (10 page)

One thing was for sure, she realised as she waited for her to catch up. They definitely shared a common interest.

‘I really like your shoes,’ she said, looking down to admire them.

‘Thanks,’ said Kate. ‘I only got them last month.’
Just as my husband was packing up his belongings
. ‘They were half price in the sale. What size do you take?’

‘Seven.’

‘Oh. Pity.’

‘I wish I was the same height as you,’ Chloe whined as she got into the car. ‘I get sick of walking with the Gods.’

‘But you’re so tall!’ Kate started up the engine. ‘I’d love to have longer legs.’

‘You want to try catching decent looking six-foot fella’s all the time. And I hate going out with anyone smaller than me. I’m five foot eleven in a half decent heel.’

 ‘Chloe, have you never been to a rugby match?’ Kate shook her head in amusement, realising that she might at last be able to teach the young pup a thing or two.

It only took them a matter of minutes to find their way back to Somerley and unload the car. Chloe’s face was flushed when she finally came through the front doors a few minutes after Kate. She flexed her arms in relief as she put down the last of the tins on the counter.

‘Can you imagine what this place is going to smell like in a couple of days?’ she said. ‘We’ll have to buy loads of those plug-in air freshener thingies.’

‘Either that or customers can have a gas mask provided with their first drink. Where did you get to?’

‘I’ve been talking to the men who’re working on the church. They saw us earlier and wanted to know what was happening with the shop. One of them invited us to the pub later. I said we’d meet them there, about four.’

Kate’s eyes widened. ‘I’m not doing that!’

‘Why not?’

‘Because I’m not.’

‘But why?’

‘Do I have to give a reason?’

‘But it’ll give us a chance to get to know people. There’ll probably be more of them in the pub too. We can –’

‘You’ll have to go on your own,’ said Kate. ‘I can’t feel comfortable around other people yet. I need time to settle in, get used to my surroundings first.’

‘Well, sorry I spoke. Anyone would think I’d asked you to roller skate around the square naked!’

Kate lowered her eyes from Chloe’s stare.

‘Remind me what you did for a living before you came here,’ Chloe said when Kate had been quiet for a minute.

Kate sighed. ‘I worked for a housing association.’

‘So I bet you’re used to arguing your corner, speaking out?’

Kate shrugged, knowing when she was beat.

‘Don’t be all fuddy-duddy and lighten up.’ Chloe folded her arms. ‘It’s a drink in the middle of the afternoon.’

‘I’m just not as confident as you,’ Kate owned up.

‘There’s nothing scary about it.’

‘I know, but let me get used to things in my own time.’

‘Okay,’ Chloe tone was easier now, ‘I’ll give you until…tomorrow.’ She grinned and then clasped her hand over her mouth. ‘Ohmigod! We’ve just had our first row and it wasn’t me who started it!’

When Lily came back later in the morning, Chloe had made a start on stripping the main walls of paper. With the warm weather continuing and the steamer on full, the job was turning out to be worse than expected. She’d thought it would be a doddle when Kate had suggested that they do it together as she went to visit a few suppliers. So she’d got on with it by herself. But so far, in just over an hour she had managed to clear all of a metre square of wallpaper from the dubious walls.

‘I thought you might like a break.’ Lily placed two mugs of coffee on a table and pulled out a chair as Chloe made her way over. ‘I can see you’ve been working hard even though it’s so warm in here now.’

‘Cheers,’ said Chloe, thankful for a break from the heat of the dingy room. She didn’t dare look at the state her hair would be in,

‘Did you sleep well last night?’ asked Lily.

Chloe wiped her hands before picking up her drink. ‘Yep.’

‘Good. I know it’s going to take you time to settle so I wanted to get all the little details right, if I could.’

‘It’s great at the moment, though I don’t think I’ve ever worked this hard in my entire life.’

Lily shifted in her chair. ‘It’ll be much better in here when it’s decorated and light again. Oh, please sit down, child. You’re making my neck ache.’

Chloe giggled before doing as she was told. ‘Was it always so dark before?’

‘No. The walls had been white washed at first. Then we decorated it properly but it always got dirty quickly. It was hard to keep up with but Bernard tried his best.’

‘How long were you married?’

‘Fifty years,’ Lily beamed with pride. ‘We just managed to celebrate our golden wedding anniversary.’

‘Oh, congratulations.’ Recognising her mistake, Chloe turned scarlet in a millisecond. ‘I mean...’

Lily raised a hand. ‘I know what you mean. We had a long time together, so many beautiful memories. When we started out, Somerley was a quiet town. A friendly town where everyone knew everyone else’s business. Not that it was always a blessing.’

Chloe smiled shyly. ‘Have you always lived around here?’

Lily shook her head. ‘Bernard had but he was living in Chesterfield when I met him. We’d been married less than a year when he spotted this place. It was completely run down then, far more than it is now.’ Lily’s face lit up as she slipped back in time. ‘I can still remember the excitement shining in his eyes as he looked over the building. ‘Think of the potential, Lil,’ he’d said, sweeping an arm around the dark room. ‘We know this is going to be an industrial part of Somerley. Once other business developers get wind of it, lots of custom will come our way. There are always people to be fed. We could do a sandwich round. There’ll be plenty of scope to expand.’

‘What did you think?’ Chloe leaned forward and rested her chin in the crook of her hands.

‘I hadn’t been too sure. I didn’t have a clue how to run a café. I couldn’t cook that much in those days. But Bernard didn’t have the odd bacon sandwich and fry up in mind. He wanted a tea shop.’

‘A tea shop?’

‘Yes, something with a character of its own, selling home made cakes, scones and cream, and only the odd sandwich. Somewhere with a bit of class, he would say, for the ladies. Somewhere the men could get mugs of milky tea and thick, buttered toast. Well, as usual, I’d been swept up by his enthusiasm. Bernard always had that affect on me.’

‘
What did he look like?’ Chloe was intrigued to see. ‘Do you have a photo down here?’

‘Oh, yes.’ As   Chloe helped herself to a chocolate digestive, Lily shuffled over to the counter and rummaged behind it. Moments later, she handed Chloe a photograph.

Chloe looked down at a couple in their early twenties. Bernard was marginally taller than Lily and stood proud in a black suit with a carnation button hole. Hazel eyes smiled at Chloe as he posed with his bride-to-be, Lily’s arm linked through his as they stood at the side of the church. Lily wore a pink shift dress and matching short jacket. She held a tiny posy of carnations.

‘So you agreed to a tea shop?

‘Yes.’ Lily laughed as she sat back down. ‘I remember Bernard carrying me over the threshold on the day we collected the keys. And after two hard months of slog and graft, painting and cleaning everything in sight,’ she smiled at Chloe, ‘just like you’re doing now, Lil’s Pantry was ready to open.’

‘Lil’s Pantry. I like that. So was it a success?’

‘It was steady. I can remember lots of things going wrong. We experimented with new ideas and products. Sometimes they didn’t work out quite as planned but we persevered, helped each other and got through many a muddle or mishap. We had a visit from Prince Charles, you know.’

‘You mean he came
here
?’

‘No! He was coming to open a car factory around the corner on the main road. Oh, what was its name?’ Lily frowned, searching her memory but she couldn’t recall it. ‘Bernard had hung bunting and concocted a makeshift flag pole and hung a union jack. I can still hear him muttering his disappointment when the chauffeur driven limousine had driven straight past. Did he honestly think Prince Charles would stop for a cup of tea?’ She smiled. ‘The future King of England might just have caught a glimpse of a red triangle if he’d turned his head at the right moment.’

‘That’s classic!’ said Chloe.

Lily laughed at her expression. It was good to see that she still could. But then, just as quickly, her lower lip began to tremble.       

Chloe wondered if she should have changed the subject as she saw Lily’s eyes misting over. But she was so enthralled with the love story that she couldn’t stop her questions. She loved hearing about the ‘good old days.’ Her friend, Manda, thought she was strange. Said she had weird taste for anything old.

‘I bet you’d like to see this place busy again,’ she added.

Lily came back to earth with a thump then as she glanced around the dismal room that had seen better times. She knew it needed much more than a lick of paint to brighten it

‘Yes, but some of the family run firms have been taken over by the larger conglomerates as well as local entrepreneurs. They have their own canteens now,’ she explained. ‘With age as well as illness against us, the business began to slide. Bernard had…’ Lily paused. She didn’t want to share everything with Chloe, it was too personal.

‘I’m sure we can make it work again,’ said Chloe, sensing her sorrow.  

Lily leaned over and covered Chloe’s young hands with her own. ‘My dear,’ she smiled, ‘you bring light into a dim place. I’m so glad that you’re helping me.’

The door opened behind them and in walked a flushed Kate.

‘Oh, very cosy,’ she said, spying the two of them around the table.

‘It’s my fault,’ Lily admitted. ‘I kept Chloe talking. It was rather a nice chat actually.’

‘About anything in particular?’

‘Oh, you know,’ said Chloe. ‘This and that.’

‘Yes,’ said Lily. ‘Something and nothing.’

‘Well, listen up!’ Kate looked like she was ready to burst with excitement. Her eyes skimmed over the walls but she refused to be drawn in by the enormity of the task ahead. ‘I’ve sourced out a shop that could make your cakes, Lily, and I’ve found a bakery that will deliver to us on an as and when basis, so there’ll be hardly any waste while we build up trade. They mentioned a warehouse that stocks every type of coffee you can think of so I called in there too. They advised us to sell a few at a time at first, to test the market. And I’ve got ideas galore for cups and saucers, menus designs, table decorations, you know, simple things that add to the overall ambience.’ She finally paused for breath. ‘This coffee shop is going to be amazing when it’s finished.’

CHAPTER ELEVEN

On Wednesday morning, Kate was on her way to the newsagents in the next street when she heard a voice calling from above. Feeling low and in need of a large bar of the thickest, creamiest chocolate, she was off to see Harry, the proprietor, on the pretence that they needed some rubbish bags.

‘Hey, gorgeous,’ she heard. ‘Not seen you around here before. What’s your name?’

Kate shielded her eyes from the mid-morning sun and could just about make out a group of men leaning over the scaffolding attached to the side of the church. The one on the far right waved and she indulged him with a smile.

‘She’s here again,’ she heard minutes later as she walked back. Kate knew what would come next. Most builders were so predictable, they wouldn’t be able to resist.

‘You’re not shy, are you?’ one of them shouted down. ‘They say the quiet ones are the dirtiest.’

They were behind her now but Kate stopped and looked up again. She counted four of them leaning over, pretty much like quads in their jeans, obligatory yellow hard hats, fluorescent vests and steel toe-capped boots. Apart from one young apprentice they all looked about her age.

Right, Miss Chloe Ward, Kate thought as she watched them childishly point fingers at each other amidst choruses of ‘it wasn’t me, it was him’. Let’s see who’s a fuddy-duddy now then.

‘I could be shy, I suppose,’ she shouted, ‘but not when I’m fastening handcuffs and doing things involving chocolate sauce. So which one of you wants to be first?’

‘Me!’ shouted one.

‘No, me!’ shouted another.

‘Take no notice of them two. I’m older and have far more experience!’

‘Patience, patience. You’ll have to wait for me to make up my mind!’ With another smile, Kate walked away, dismissing their pleas for her to stay with a shake of her head. The smile broadened as she jogged the few yards back to the safety of the coffee shop and she began to giggle. Although they were doing all the chasing – or to put it mildly, flirting – Kate flounced, a little lighter on her feet than when she had left earlier, suddenly no longer in need of the chocolate.

‘Do you think we should make a start soon?’ Kate was suddenly feeling guilty as she and Chloe sat down to rest again. It was still only ten-thirty that morning, but already her motivation was dissolving. Stripping the walls was taking what seemed like forever. In two days, they had only managed to remove half of the paper from one of the four walls.

Chloe shook her head. ‘We deserve a break after all the work yesterday. My arms are killing me after using that steamer.’

‘At least you have a steamer,’ Kate protested on deaf ears. She had drawn the short straw after going on about what a good job hot water and washing up liquid did if it was left to soak. But the shiny surface of the paper was so thin it was coming off like chewing gum. She’d already ruined one pair of jeans.

‘Shi-i-t-t!’ shrieked Chloe and quick as a flash, her feet were off the table and she was across to the other side of the room. ‘Lily’s back.’

Kate got up pretty sharpish. She didn’t want to be caught skiving, especially after they
had
worked so hard.

‘My, you’ve been busy,’ Lily greeted them both with a smile. Chloe winked at an embarrassed looking Kate.

‘There’s still a lot to do...oh, hello.’

The lady standing next to Lily was dressed in all the colours of the rainbow. Two thin legs in blue tights popped out from beneath a red pleated skirt. Black shoes were the only drab colour she had on, probably to make up for the canary yellow of her cardigan.