The Sunflower Cottage Breakfast Club (15 page)

‘It's been a good few days, hasn't it? We've given the guests a good feed
and
managed to not kill each other! I'd call that a success,' said Noah.

‘Don't tempt fate, eh? Something's probably going to go disastrously wrong now! Probably the breakfast club, knowing our luck. Do you reckon we're ready for our first one this Friday?'

‘Yeah, of course we are!' Noah grinned at me. ‘We're going to give the people who turn up the best breakfast they've ever had.' He winked. ‘If you can tear yourself away from your laptop, of course!'

I stuck my chin in the air. ‘I'll have you know I've decided to put my laptop away for the rest of the time I'm here! It's under my bed and it won't be coming out again unless it's absolutely necessary.'

Noah blew air out through his cheeks and craned his neck to look out of the window. ‘I could be wrong, but I
think
I just saw a flying pig go past!'

I leaned over the table and gave him a playful smack on the arm.

‘I'll tell you one thing; you'd better be prepared to make the feast of the five thousand on Friday,' said Diane. ‘I've spoken to quite a few people and there's been a lot of interest in the club so far. I think people are pretty keen to have their breakfast cooked for them!'

I smiled at her. ‘Well, you've been a fantastic teacher, so if they enjoy our food it's down to you!'

My guilt surrounding the secret I was carrying snapped at my heels. I'd managed to put it aside during the cooking lessons, but it was still lurking on the periphery. So far, I'd managed to throw myself into the breakfast club and my burgeoning friendship with Noah, but I knew I couldn't avoid the Derek situation for ever. It was only a matter of time before the secret unravelled…

She got up and gave both of us a pat on the back. ‘You've done absolutely excellently, the pair of you. The breakfast club is in for a treat! Anyway, I'd better skedaddle before my customers think I've skipped the country or something!'

We exchanged goodbyes and she headed out of Sunflower Cottage, leaving Noah and I alone in the kitchen together. An odd expression crossed his face and he stared intently at me, as though he was deep in thought about something.

‘What is it?' Having his gaze on me made my composure vanish in an instant.
What was wrong with me?
This never happened to me around a man.

‘Oh nothing, nothing…' He trailed off and busied himself at the sink, washing the dishes from our cooking experiments. ‘Actually, do you mind if I ask you something?'

‘Fire away.'

‘Um… so my mum sent me another letter today, asking if we can meet up this Saturday. Are you still OK to come with me to meet her?'

I nodded my head as I happily tucked into my pancakes. ‘Sure, count me in!'

‘There was something else I wanted to ask as well. Are you… oh, I don't know… are you seeing anyone at the moment?'

I frowned, almost choking on the remainder of my pancake. ‘I beg your pardon? Why do you want to know that?'

Although his question had startled me, I couldn't help but be a teensy bit excited that Noah wanted to know about my love life back in Glasgow.

‘Just asking, you know, like colleagues do.' His attempt to sound nonchalant failed miserably when his voice rose by an octave or two.

I narrowed my eyes and cocked my head to one side. ‘That's funny because none of my colleagues has ever taken an interest in my love life before. Well, except my best friend, Frankie, of course, but that's different. What's the
real
reason you're asking?'

He turned to face me, wringing his hands on the dishtowel he was holding. ‘OK, you caught me. I wanted to ask if I could take you for dinner afterwards; you know, to say thank you for going with me to meet my mum. I… I just wanted to make sure I wouldn't be stepping on anyone's toes before I did, that's all.'

I had to stop my jaw from dropping to the floor. My brain immediately went into overdrive and my imagination began to run away with me.

‘Um… like a date, you mean?' I must've sounded utterly horrified at the prospect because Noah's hopeful expression fell away.

‘Well, yeah, that was the idea,' he replied. ‘But if you're not keen on the whole date thing, it can just be a friendly dinner to say thank you. I just thought, because we got on so well the last time we went out, you might want to do it again.'

He shrugged and mumbled something about it being my choice, before suddenly becoming very interested in cleaning the oven.

I crept up from my seat, moving as slowly as possible, and snuck up behind him.

‘It's a date,' I whispered in his ear.

*

Before we knew it, the big day arrived.

Finally, after a lot of hard work and preparation, the Sunflower Cottage Breakfast Club was ready to begin. Noah and I were up bright and early, though not bright-eyed or bushy-tailed, to prepare for what lay ahead.

‘Hey,' I said, stifling a yawn as I padded across the kitchen. ‘You ready for today?'

‘Born ready!' He rubbed his hands together and strode across to the cooker, ready to work his magic. ‘I see the trouser suits are still out in force.'

I shook my head and rolled my eyes as I began to prepare the continental options. ‘I told you, it's
professional.
Plus, I happen to like wearing these!'

No sooner had the words left my mouth than juice from the orange I was trying to cut in half squirted onto my nice, clean blouse.

Noah looked round at me as he put some sausages into a saucepan. ‘I think that's the universe's way of trying to tell you to ditch them, Emily!' He stopped for a moment to tend to the sausages. ‘I'm feeling pretty nervous about tomorrow. Can't decide if the worst-case scenario is her not turning up at all or her turning up pissed as a fart!'

‘It'll be fine,' I said in as confident a voice as I could muster. ‘She wouldn't have written to you unless she was serious about making things right, would she? And don't forget, I'll be there for moral support.'

He threw a smile my way from over his shoulder. ‘I really appreciate you coming, you know. It means a lot to me. Let's hope it doesn't turn into a scene from Jeremy Kyle, eh?'

We exchanged a look that lasted just a fraction too long, before going back to our respective tasks. I began to wonder if the sizzling saucepans were the only source of heat in Sunflower Cottage's kitchen.

*

Diane's assertion that we'd be overwhelmed with breakfast club members was ‘optimistic', to say the least.

We ended up with four in total: two old ladies named Marjorie and Dolly who wore identical twinsets and pearls, a kind-looking man named Fred, and a young woman named Alice whose eyes were fixed permanently to the floor. Not exactly the hordes of people Diane had said we'd be greeted with, but it was a start.

‘Right,' I said, clapping my hands. ‘Thank you all for coming to the first ever Sunflower Cottage Breakfast Club! My name's Emily and I'll be your host today; anything you need, just ask me! Can I take your orders for breakfast?' I looked around and realised we didn't have any menus. ‘We do all sorts: pancakes, a full English, a New Yorker, eggs Benedict. Whatever you fancy, really! Oh, and there's continental options while you wait too.'

I gestured to the array of cereals, fruits and juices that I'd lovingly laid out for them.

‘Any prunes, love?' asked Dolly, fluffing up her wisps of white hair. ‘I'm not a big eater in the mornings, truth be told.'

I pulled on a smile. ‘We don't have any prunes, but we do have mango, pineapple and a selection of berries for you if that's any help?'

Dolly's lips pursed and she looked away from me, muttering something about her constitution.

‘Anyone else like to order something?' I flashed them a hopeful smile, praying at least one of them would want to try the food we'd been working so hard on.

Alice put a hesitant hand in the air. ‘C… can I try the New Yorker, please?'

‘Of course you can!' I scribbled her order down in my notebook.

The others began to mumble out orders; Marjorie wanted to try the eggs Benedict, Dolly decided to risk it for a biscuit and order some pancakes, and Fred fancied a full English.

I took the orders in to Noah, who was as confused as I was.

‘I thought Diane said we were due a good turnout?' he said, frowning at the scribbles in my notebook. ‘There's only four orders here. Do the rest of them not want a cooked breakfast or something?'

I shook my head. ‘Four's all we've got, I'm afraid. It's a start, though; if they like what they get today, they might bring some friends along with them next time.'

Noah nodded and turned back to his sizzling pans of food. ‘Here's hoping! Let's get ready to rumble, eh?'

As I walked through to check the club members had everything they needed, I was sure I could hear him mumble some very familiar song lyrics under his breath. Ones about watching us wreck the mic, psyche.

*

In my job with Walter Marshall Hotels, it had become slowly ingrained in me that a ‘job well done' meant landing a prospective client and adding to the company's profits. I measured my success by how many new additions I brought to the chain, but very rarely took the people behind the businesses into consideration. To me, they were voices at the end of the phone or an email that popped into my inbox. Very rarely did I get to see the owners' hearts and souls or the passion they put into their businesses. I was too busy focusing on business to bring any personal sentiments into it.

Until, that is, the Sunflower Breakfast Club started.

As I interacted with the members, making sure their every need was catered for, I felt a strange sensation course through my veins. It felt as though a fog around me had been lifted; for the first time in forever I felt alive.

‘Does anyone need any more fruit juices or maybe some more toast?' I asked.

I was greeted with a chorus of happy noises in response as the members ate their breakfasts. Their faces had all lit up with sheer enjoyment and it was a pleasure to see. We were joined a moment later by Dixie, who'd come in to see what all the fuss was about and possibly cadge some free food.

‘Everything's perfect, dear,' said Dolly, who had almost polished off her pancakes topped with apple and cinnamon. ‘I'm glad you didn't have any prunes now!'

She reached down and stroked Dixie, who tried to climb up and steal some of her pancakes. The little white bundle of fluff made an excellent addition to the breakfast club.

The biggest and most intriguing change was undoubtedly in Alice. As she tucked into her New Yorker, her sullen face had transformed into an expression of pure joy. She sat slightly apart from the rest of the group, as though she was in her own little bubble.

‘Everything OK?' I asked, sidling up to her. ‘Have you got everything you need?'

She nodded. ‘Yeah, this breakfast is lovely! Like a fry-up but even better.'

Although her face had lit up since she'd started eating, I could still see a trace of sadness in her eyes like something was missing. For reasons I couldn't quite put my finger on, it struck a chord with me. I wanted to ask her what was wrong, but wasn't sure how to broach it, especially since we were strangers.

‘So…' I began, searching for a conversation starter. ‘Have you lived in the village long?'

‘All my life, really,' she replied with a thin smile. ‘I lived in New York for a while, though; I was on Broadway.'

My eyes widened. Alice was such a small, slight creature who'd barely spoken a word since she'd arrived; it was hard to imagine her doing something as extroverted as performing on Broadway.

‘Wow! What shows were you in?' I asked.

‘Quite a few:
Chicago
,
Hairspray
,
Mamma Mia
,
Wicked
. I gave it up, though… My heart wasn't in it anymore.'

All of a sudden, Alice seemed very far away. Her eyes drifted back to her half-finished breakfast and I knew it was best to leave it there.

I went back to my old vantage point near the kitchen and watched the members interact with one another over their breakfasts. A warmth rushed over me that I'd never experienced before. I felt part of something, something that was bigger than numbers and spreadsheets and promotions. Getting back to Glasgow to claim my promotion was the furthest thing from my mind.

Was I starting to feel at home in Luna Bay?

Chapter 16

The world of dating wasn't one I was particularly familiar with. I'd been on precisely three in my whole life, all of which had been unmitigated disasters. So while the prospect of going out on an
actual
date
with Noah excited me, it also filled me with dread.

There was only one person I could think of to help me with my dilemma: Lucy. I raced over to see her after the breakfast club was over.

‘Wow, you
are
stepping out of your comfort zone lately!' she said with a grin when I told her about my impending date. ‘When you came to this village, you were an uptight workaholic and now look at you! Can't remember the last time I saw you glued to your laptop and now you've got a date with an actual human being instead of a conference call! What's next? Are you finally going to ditch those trouser suits you love so much?'

I looked down at the dove-grey one I was wearing and felt a rush of self-consciousness. ‘Actually, I was hoping you could give me a hand with that. I don't really have anything to wear for a date and I don't want to show up in a trouser suit!'

Lucy flashed me a kind smile. ‘Then this is the perfect time for our day out, isn't it? We said we were going to head out somewhere, so this is as good an excuse as any!'

She called to Jake over her shoulder that she was going out. He gave us a little wave while he served a customer and told us to have fun. As we left, I noticed the look he gave Lucy: it was as though, to him, she was the most wonderful person on Earth. As though she exuded a special kind of magic only he could see.