Christmas at the Little Village Bakery Read online

  ‘Oh!’ Ruth had exclaimed, ‘I could have helped her with dinner! I bet she’s rushed off her feet as it is!’

  Nobody was fooled for a second, even Tori who had met Ruth only once before. Not only would Ruth have helped to cook dinner, but she would have wanted to stay and eat it too. There were some gatherings that were sacred, and this was one of them. Millie, Dylan and Spencer had faced a world of troubles in the past and come through it all together, and friends didn’t get much closer than that.

  As Dylan opened the front door, Millie looked up, her face bright with expectation, and broke into a huge smile as the blast of arctic air from outside brought with it Spencer, the friend who had been perhaps her biggest and most solid rock on her arrival in Honeybourne; a time when the fabric of her life had been in tatters. She couldn’t have looked more different from the woman he had met eighteen months before. Her dark hair was still sleek, but she wore it longer than the bob she used to have; she’d put on a few pounds with pregnancy, but it suited her. She still had an astonishing feline beauty, but now it was warmer and softer. Another girl stood next to her, a slightly shorter, less obviously beautiful copy, but pretty in her own way. Spencer had to assume that this was Millie’s cousin, Darcie – the family resemblance was so obvious. She held a baby in her arms and watched quietly as Millie let out a squeal of delight and threw herself at the newcomers.

  ‘Spencer!’ she cried, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tight. He picked her up and swung her around, laughing. When he put her down, she went to Tori next and offered her a hug. It was a slightly more restrained version for someone she knew less well, but there was no mistaking the warmth in it just the same.

  ‘It’s so good to see you,’ she said, stepping back, her face split into a huge smile. ‘I can’t wait to hear all about how life is treating you in Colorado.’

  ‘I think you’ve seen almost everything on Facebook,’ said Spencer, smiling.

  ‘Well, you can tell me again over tea. I’ve made mince pies too.’

  ‘You’ve baked?’ Tori asked. ‘Wow, how have you had the time?’ She nodded her head to where the other girl was holding the baby. ‘Is this Oscar?’

  ‘Oh!’ Millie laughed, skipping over to take the child into her own arms. ‘Yes… Spencer, Tori – meet Oscar Hopkin-Smith!’ She kissed his head tenderly and smiled up at them with obvious pride.

  ‘He’s gorgeous!’ Tori crooned, stepping closer and peering down at him.

  ‘He must take after his mother then,’ Spencer said.

  ‘Oi!’ Dylan laughed. ‘He must take after both of us.’

  ‘Um… No, just Millie.’ Spencer grinned. ‘So, how old is he now?’

  ‘Two months. He’s still a bit tiny because he was a few weeks premature but he can’t half pack away the milk,’ Dylan said, with more than a little pride in his voice.

  The baby gnawed on a fist as he stared up at the new faces. ‘He’s going to want feeding again soon,’ Millie commented to no one in particular. ‘I never knew that babies could eat so much.’

  ‘Well, he is Dylan’s after all,’ Spencer said. ‘I’m surprised he hasn’t asked you for a can of Heineken yet.’

  ‘I’m saving a special one for his first birthday,’ Dylan said.

  ‘I bet that’s not even a joke,’ Spencer replied.

  It was then that everyone seemed to remember the sixth person in the room.

  ‘Oh, I’m so sorry, Darcie!’ Millie said, turning to her. ‘I’m so used to everyone knowing who you are in Honeybourne now that I totally forgot you three haven’t met before. Spencer and Tori, this is my cousin, Darcie.’

  Darcie put up her hand in a tiny wave, a nervous smile twitching around her mouth. ‘Hello…’

  ‘The famous Darcie!’ Spencer smiled. ‘We’ve heard so much about you, it’s good to finally meet you in the flesh.’

  Darcie turned to Millie with a questioning glance.

  ‘All good,’ Tori reassured her.

  ‘In fact, all quite saintly,’ said Spencer.

  Dylan strode over and slung an arm around the girl’s shoulder. ‘She’s our angel, aren’t you, Darcie?’

  In that instant, Spencer saw it. He’d spent enough years wearing that look of longing that he would have recognised it anywhere. Darcie looked up at Dylan, and it was obvious that she was hopelessly in love with him. Spencer’s own smile faded, but as Millie watched the friendly affection the father of her child offered her younger cousin, she seemed unconcerned. Spencer wished he could feel the same, but he had been friends with Dylan Smith for too long to be able to ignore his past. Dylan looked like a loving partner and doting father, happy with a steady life in a rural bakery, but he was still Dylan. Millie and he were perfect, so good for each other… but Spencer wondered whether Dylan was aware of Darcie’s obvious adoration and if he’d ever be tempted to take advantage of it. He believed that Dylan had changed since Millie had come into his life, but tiny doubts were inevitable when you knew Dylan like Spencer did. What if all it took was an argument, a day when Oscar was being particularly difficult, when perhaps Millie wasn’t feeling quite as amorous as he was… What then?

  He tried to shake the thought. He was being unfair to his oldest friend, who looked as happy and contented as he had ever seen him. Love changed people, and nobody knew that better than Spencer.

  As Millie busied herself making coffee, Tori took a seat alongside Spencer and took a moment to appraise the bakery. She had seen it before, of course, but only briefly when they had come along to the grand opening – the first and only other time she had visited Spencer’s village. After that they had gone immediately on a very exciting whistle-stop tour of UK landmarks – a time she remembered fondly as involving lots of castle ruins, quaint towns with unpronounceable names, rain, teashops, and sex. She had been taken by surprise with his marriage proposal on the day of the bakery opening, despite saying yes, but during the whirlwind of a vacation that followed, she knew she had made the right choice. Spencer was special, not like the jocks and arrogant go-getters her parents had always done their best to push her in the paths of, and he couldn’t be more different from their particular favourite – Hunter Ford. Ugh! How could they even think that she would be attracted to a man like Hunter for one second? And yet they had been unerringly obsessed by the idea of her marrying him for the last five or so years and it was clearly the reason they were determined to hate Spencer, no matter how they might deny it. Hunter Ford might have been on his way to becoming District Attorney, and he might have been handsome in a very obvious way, but he was pompous, boring and self-absorbed. In contrast, Spencer was thoughtful, intelligent, cultured and humble, with the kindest heart of anyone she had ever met. And as much as she loved her parents, and had always strived to please them in all other things, in this case she had defied them. It didn’t matter that she and Spencer would never live in a five-storey house or send their kids to private school, only that she would have a life she loved with him.

  The décor of the bakery had worn into itself a little since her first visit – contrived shabby chic had become real shabby chic; the pastel-painted tables and chairs bore the signs of wear with the odd chip and scuff, and the tablecloths were soft with repeated washing, but the place looked more homely for it. The wooden counter gleamed, a sign that it was polished rigorously on a daily basis, the glass cases displaying the baked goods were spotless and there was a warm, welcoming sweetness to the air. A part of Tori longed for a home like this herself and she could see that Millie and Dylan loved running their little rural business. Perhaps she could find tranquillity and cosiness like this in the wilds of Colorado, even if it did come with bears and towering firs rather than fields of wheat and sheep, but would Spencer be happy there? It was a question they hadn’t really discussed properly, and Tori suspected that was part of the reason she still didn’t feel quite settled about their future. She suspected that Spencer felt the same, and to discuss it would mean they had to reach a conclusi
on that one of them might later come to resent.

  Dylan ran a hand through his thick, sandy hair, hazel eyes bright with humour as he plonked himself at their table, Oscar over one shoulder in a way that Tori found disconcertingly casual, but that didn’t seem to be causing Oscar a bit of trouble as he leaned against his dad looking quite content.

  ‘So,’ he began, grinning at Tori. ‘He’s managed to persuade you to fly all this way for Christmas. It must be love. And to think…’ He glanced at Spencer with a look of mischief, ‘she still hasn’t found out what a total nerd you are.’

  ‘I like nerds,’ Tori laughed, grabbing Spencer’s hand across the table for a squeeze. ‘Geeks and dorks too.’

  ‘That’s lucky, because Spencer is all of those.’

  ‘Thanks…’ Spencer shot Dylan a wry smile. ‘It’s good to know you’ve got my back.’

  ‘It’s what I’m here for.’

  Darcie and Millie came to the table, each carrying a tray loaded with cups, sugar bowls, milk and spoons. After laying it all out, they took their own seats. Tori reached for a cup and inhaled deeply.

  ‘Smells amazing. Almost as good as the coffee at home.’

  ‘You can’t be talking about the coffee they make in the staffroom at Riversmeet School,’ Spencer said. ‘That tastes like they fetched the grounds from the recycling and gave it another go.’

  ‘No, not that coffee,’ Tori laughed. ‘It’s true; I don’t know how they make it so bad.’

  ‘Must be a school thing,’ Millie said. ‘We all know what school dinners are like.’

  ‘But if it was good coffee, then maybe we never would’ve struck up a conversation about it that day,’ Tori said, smiling at Spencer.

  ‘Is that how you met?’ Darcie asked in a hesitant voice that instantly told Tori she was a shy girl, not usually the one to instigate conversations. Their story had obviously intrigued her enough to make her do it now.

  ‘It is,’ Tori replied. ‘There I was, doing my best to avoid drinking the coffee and this very cute guy sat next to me with a cup of it. I tried to warn him not to drink it but too late and, boy, did he need some counselling afterwards! As soon as he opened his mouth and that accent came out, I knew he was on the exchange programme and had come in place of one of my colleagues. Lucky for me Andy Bartowski’s exchange buddy turned out to be a charmer. A week later we were dating.’

  ‘So you fell in love right away?’ Darcie asked.

  ‘I wouldn’t say right away,’ Tori smiled. ‘But I guess I knew quickly that I had someone special.’

  ‘It’s funny you don’t say it like that to me,’ Spencer said with a mischievous grin.

  ‘I can’t let the adulation go to your head, can I? That would lead to all sorts of trouble.’

  ‘I’ll do my best to stay calm in the face of your hero worship.’

  Tori shot him a withering look as she spooned sugar into her coffee, but it was only pretend and he let out a laugh that told her he could see right through it. ‘So, Darcie,’ she said, turning to her again, ‘we hear you’ve settled into your new life pretty well.’

  She nodded. ‘I like it here,’ she replied, shooting the swiftest glance at Dylan, though it didn’t go unnoticed by Tori.

  ‘We’re so lucky to have her,’ Millie said warmly. ‘When Darcie phoned and said she wanted to come down to help, I was thrilled. I needed to employ someone, with Oscar being almost due and the business still getting off the ground, but you can never be sure of people you don’t know, so who better than my cousin? There’s none of that awkwardness with family, is there? I didn’t hesitate to say yes.’

  ‘You felt like a change of scenery, huh?’ Tori asked Darcie.

  ‘Um… I suppose so,’ Darcie replied.

  Tori detected some reluctance to pursue the current line of conversation. There was obviously something bothering her, something in her past she didn’t want to talk about. It probably had something to do with what Dylan had told them earlier, though it was obviously something she was not going to hear from Darcie herself, and not in company either. Tori couldn’t help but be intrigued though, and resolved to ask Spencer what he knew when they were alone.

  Millie stepped in. ‘Have you and Spencer set a date for the wedding yet? And please don’t say no, because I can’t believe how long it’s taken you. If only I could get Dylan tied down on the question of marriage, I’d have a date inked in the diary quick as you like before he changed his mind.’

  ‘I would never change my mind,’ Dylan cut in. ‘Although, we’re ok as we are, aren’t we?’

  ‘Oh, I’m happy enough. I was just saying, if it happens in the future. I mean…’ She turned to Spencer and Tori again. ‘You announced the engagement back in April and last I heard you still hadn’t set the date.’

  ‘I’m sorry to disappoint you but we’re no closer to it,’ Spencer said.

  ‘Maybe a little,’ Tori added. ‘At least we have a ballpark of next summer. But we’ve been so busy with work and it’s kind of hard to do when you can’t even figure out where you’re going to get married, never mind when.’

  ‘Sounds like a terrible excuse to me,’ Millie said, giving Spencer a glare of pretend chastisement. ‘Set a date, for pity’s sake, and then you can figure out the venue.’

  ‘Oh, now I’m terrified…’ Spencer said, grabbing Tori’s hand playfully and shaking theatrically. ‘First Saturday in July! Is that ok, Miss?’

  Tori smiled at him. ‘First Saturday in July it is.’

  Spencer’s mouth dropped open. ‘Really? I mean…’

  ‘I know it was a joke, but Millie’s right. How about it? First Saturday of July, you and me? If our diaries are clear, let’s get hitched!’

  Millie clapped her hands together with a little squeal. ‘Yay! Now we have to get wedding magazines and everything! Please let me make the cake! I don’t mind sending it to Boulder… or even bringing it over myself!’

  ‘Steady on!’ Dylan spluttered, sending coffee spraying across the pristine tablecloth. ‘We haven’t got the money to go to Colorado to deliver cake!’

  ‘And that’s what we’re up against,’ Spencer said, his smile fading. ‘Now do you see why we’ve put off making concrete plans? Wherever we get married, one or the other of us will have to make sacrifices and lose guests we’d like to have there but who can’t make it. And that’s only the start of the troubles.’

  Tori aimed a warning frown at him to stop the current thread of conversation. She could guess what subject it would turn to – where they were going to live once they were married. And while she was happy to have a high-spirited debate about setting dates and choosing dresses, the rest was something they needed to figure out when they were alone. If only one of them would be brave enough to state truthfully what they wanted and the other brave enough to listen and perhaps be prepared to compromise.

  She looked at the faces sitting across from her: handsome Dylan with his arsenal of perpetual banter; Millie who seemed to be everyone’s friend; and sweet, inoffensive Darcie. They were lovely people – kind, caring, welcoming. And Honeybourne was full of other lovely people, as she had discovered during her last visit, and it was just like the picture-postcard vision of rural England that she had always imagined. But could she live here? For good? She liked it well enough, but Boulder was home and she loved it dearly. She loved her job at Riversmeet, and the kids in her class, the softball team she coached, camping trips out in the woods of Colorado in the summer with toasted marshmallows and singing by the fire… Could she give all that up to come here? Could she give it all up for Spencer?

  She glanced up at him, his face crinkled into a smile that showed the dimples in his cheeks as Dylan made some new quip, but before she’d had time to think about anything else, the door of the bakery flew open and old Ruth Evans burst in, followed by a flurry of snowflakes.

  Millie turned to her, mouth open. ‘Ruth—’ she began, her tone indignant, but she never got to finish the sentence.

 
‘Dylan!’ Ruth cried. ‘You have to come quick… Doug’s fallen off the roof of the Dog and Hare!’

  Chapter 2

  ‘Shit!’ Dylan stared at Ruth. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Of course I’m sure!’ she squeaked. ‘I saw it with my own eyes!’

  ‘Who’s with him?’ Millie asked.

  ‘Just Colleen,’ Ruth said. ‘I called on Frank Stephenson on the way here to see if he could help but he wasn’t answering his door.’

  Spencer would have smiled at this in less shocking circumstances. The trouble with Ruth Evans was that a lot of people didn’t answer their doors to her, because it would be hours before they could get rid of her again. Though she meant well, she was a busybody however you looked at it and some people just had too much to do. He glanced at Tori and she turned to him with a questioning look. ‘Doug’s the landlord of the local pub and Colleen is his wife. You met them at the bakery opening, remember?’ he offered as a brief explanation.

  ‘And Frank? Does he work at the pub too?’

  ‘No – he’s a farmer…’ Spencer turned back to Ruth. ‘Is Doug alright?’

  Ruth shook her head. ‘I don’t know. He’s talking, but he’s not right.’

  ‘That’s something,’ Dylan said briskly. ‘Come on, we’re wasting time here. Millie, call an ambulance, would you? I’ll jog down there now, see what I can do.’