Part Four
Muffin Compares to You
Cressida McLaughlin

Copyright

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

The News Building

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www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain in ebook format in 2020 by HarperCollinsPublishers

Copyright © Cressida McLaughlin 2020

Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2020.

Cover illustration © May Van Millingen

Cressida McLaughlin asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Ebook Edition © 2020 ISBN: 9780008333522

Version: 2020-02-24

Dedication

To the BookCampers

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Part Four: Muffin Compares To You

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Acknowledgements

Keep Reading …

About the Author

Also by Cressida McLaughlin

About the Publisher

Part Four

Chapter One

It was summer in Porthgolow, and Delilah Forest was trying very hard to embrace every glorious moment, which wasn’t easy when, only three days before, she had given up the love of her life.

Charlie’s Yorkipoo looked up at her questioningly, and Lila rolled her eyes, brushing away fresh tears that she couldn’t seem to keep at bay. ‘I’m not being over-dramatic, Marmite,’ she told him. ‘That’s exactly what’s happened. But I had to let him go; it was the only option.’ Reaching the beach, she crouched and undid the dog’s lead, and he took off across the sand in the direction of the water.

It was early, the light still had a shimmering, ethereal quality to it, but even so, there were already a couple of food trucks parked close to the Cornish Cream Tea Bus. Lila was about to take part in her first Porthgolow food market. She had arrived in the village in the midst of one, intrigued by the brightness of the beach on such a dull February day, but since then, and with them only happening once a month in the low season, Lila hadn’t been to another one.

Filming for the television drama Estelle had concluded its Cornwall shoot – for the time being, at least – and had moved to studios in Bristol. Lila hadn’t been there for the last two days of filming, but Charlie had come home last night, bringing Gertie back with her, full of details about the final day – the jubilant feeling on set, the goodbyes and well-wishes she had received, and how many people had asked after Lila, and been disappointed not to be able to say goodbye to her, too.

‘Toby and Aria got us this,’ Charlie had said, hefting a large tote bag into the living room. Marmite, and Daniel’s German shepherd Jasper, had started sniffing it while Charlie reached in and pulled out a beautiful gift set full of cheeses, chutneys and expensive crackers, along with a bottle of raspberry vodka. There were small plates with a swirling red and blue pattern, a cheese knife with a gilt handle and two gold-rimmed shot glasses.

‘Wow!’ Lila had said, nursing a cup of peppermint tea. ‘That looks like something from Fortnum & Mason.’

‘They said they didn’t know what to get us, but that we might fancy something a bit different after spending so much time up to our elbows in baking.’

‘I love cheese,’ Lila had admitted, and Charlie passed her the gift set so she could look at it more closely.

‘Keeley said she’d be in touch,’ Charlie had added, folding the tote bag slowly, avoiding Lila’s gaze. ‘Apparently she knew you weren’t well.’

‘We spoke on the phone the other night.’

‘Ah,’ Charlie had said. And then, after a pause, ‘Winston and Gregor were there, too. They thanked us for all we’ve done.’

‘That’s good,’ Lila had replied, reading the tiny print on the chutney jar.

‘And Darius and Bert, especially, were sad to miss you. They said they had fond memories of that night on the beach.’

Lila had looked up, her cheeks flushing. ‘That was … while you were away.’

‘I figured,’ Charlie said. ‘I certainly don’t remember a night on the beach. But they wanted me to pass on their love. We’ll get tickets to the London press launch later on this year.’

‘Ace.’ Lila had tried her biggest, brightest smile, and hopped up from the sofa. ‘I’m feeling a lot better! I’m so full of peppermint tea I smell like a toothpaste factory. Do you want a glass of wine to celebrate, to mark the end of an era?’ She had opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of rosé she had bought on her way back from the beach earlier that afternoon.

‘He was gutted not to see you, Lila,’ Charlie said softly. ‘He looked awful. Miserable. What on earth happened?’

Lila had turned to her cousin, the tears spilling from her eyes even before she’d had a chance to realize what was happening. ‘He’s going to America. He’s got this amazing film gig, and I … I didn’t want to stand in his way.’

‘So you ended it? Oh, Lila. Relationships have survived more than a few months of long-distance.’

Lila shrugged into Charlie’s embrace. ‘It seemed like the best thing to do,’ she’d mumbled into her shoulder. ‘A clean cut.’

‘If only love was as simple as a freshly baked cake,’ Charlie had said. ‘You can’t just slice yourself down the middle and throw one set of feelings away.’

Now, as Lila watched Marmite racing in the shallows, she tried hard not to think about Sam Magee on this beach with her, or stealing kisses on the top deck of Gertie while Charlie served below. She tried fervently not to think about their night at Crystal Waters, surrounded by luxury, or the night in Lila’s bedroom, how they had snuggled up together, laughed and talked and made love. He had accepted all of her, had cherished her, and she had thrown it back at him.

She winced as she remembered what she’d said to him down by the cliffs, flinging her anger at him like sea spray, hoping he would take the hint and turn away. But he had hung on, and so she’d been left no choice but to sever it herself. She knew, in her head, it was the right decision. She just had to convince her heart.

Collecting a soggy Marmite and clipping his lead on, she started making her way up the sand. Myrtle was standing outside her Pop-In shop, adjusting the position of the newspaper stand which, instead of displaying the day’s headline, had a bold sign announcing the food market on the beach.

‘Glad to see Gertie’s back for the summer,’ she called, giving Lila a thumbs-up.

‘Me too!’ Lila shouted back. ‘I’m going to eat myself silly today.’

‘That, cheel,’ Myrtle continued, her voice lowering as Lila approached, ‘is a rookie mistake.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘We’ve all done it. Got overexcited by what’s on offer, gone round samplin’ and buyin’ and tryin’ to fit three lunches in. You’ll be sick as a dog come this evenin’.’

‘That’s not a very good advert for the food markets.’ Lila wrinkled her nose.

‘The markets are wonderful,’ Myrtle protested. ‘My nephew Bill runs the vegan truck, which is one o’ the best additions we’ve ever ’ad.’

‘I’m a veggie, so he’ll be right up my street.’

‘But,’ Myrtle continued, holding a warning hand in front of Lila’s face. ‘You must treat it responsibly. You’ve got the whole summer ahead of you, Delilah. No need to fit everythin’ in today.’

‘Thanks for the advice,’ Lila said, touched by the older woman’s concern, hoping it wouldn’t set off a fresh wave of tears. ‘I’ll be sure to pace myself.’

‘So,’ Charlie said, as she and Juliette both turned to face Lila. ‘We were thinking …’ They were standing in Gertie’s kitchen, and their smiles were definitely complicit.

Lila narrowed her eyes. ‘Thinking what?’

‘That instead of majoring on Cornish cream teas today,’ Juliette said, ‘though of course Gertie will always major on Cornish cream teas, what with it being the Cornish Cream Tea Bus …’

Lila waited, but Juliette didn’t elaborate. ‘Yes?’ she asked.

‘Oh, right!’ Juliette slapped a hand to her forehead, her engagement ring sparkling in the light. ‘I’ve got wedding brain.’

‘Isn’t it baby brain?’ Charlie corrected, laughing. Then her laughter stopped abruptly, and she turned to her friend with wide eyes. ‘Unless you—’

‘No!’ Juliette said hurriedly. ‘No, no. That isn’t the reason we want to get married so quickly. Also, we’re not living in the Dark Ages, so even if I was pregnant, I wouldn’t feel the need to hurry into the wedding. All I’m saying is that wedding planning, especially when you’re working to such a tight deadline, makes your brain hurt. I’m all dress designs and vows and playlists. But anyway, that’s not important right now. What is important is making this day yours, Lila.’

‘What?’ Lila’s mind had started wandering in the direction of what she would wear at her own wedding, were she ever to have one. It would be something entirely unconventional, in animal print or neon blue. ‘What do you mean, making this day mine? It’s a food market, isn’t it? We’re serving Cornish cream teas.’

‘Yes, but today …’ Charlie said, and she and Juliette moved away from the counter, and Lila saw packets of different coffees and bottles of syrup laid out on the top. ‘We’re going to specialize in coffee.’

‘We are?’

‘I had planned to do this anyway,’ Charlie said. ‘Make more of your skills on the bus this summer, but then …’ She shot Juliette a quick glance.

‘Char told me about Sam,’ Juliette continued, her dark eyes full of empathy. ‘I am so, so sorry. That it had to be that way.’

‘His star is rising,’ Lila said past the lump in her throat. ‘I don’t want to be the weight that keeps him tethered to earth.’

Juliette smiled. ‘You couldn’t keep anyone tethered. You’re too full of sparkle for that. But, whatever has happened, today is about coffee.’

‘I ordered a load of stuff and got it sent to Crystal Waters,’ Charlie explained. ‘It all turned up yesterday. Daniel said it smelled as though a Starbucks had exploded in reception.’

It did smell wonderful, and as Lila looked at the display on the counter, she saw that they had got everything. Every type of bean and roast she could think of, and a syrup pack with ten different flavours, including the more unusual lavender and rosemary. There was a mini electric grinder and three tall, polished cafetières. ‘This is amazing.’

‘I know we have the coffee machine,’ Charlie said, ‘but it’s not so easy to keep swapping the different beans in and out. I thought this way, if anyone wanted a speciality coffee, this could be your work station. We’ve got an hour before the market officially opens. Do you want to draw up a new menu?’

‘I don’t think so,’ Lila replied, a smile forming on her lips. ‘I think we just write out all the options – bean and roast, coffee style, and then the additions – full fat, soya or almond milk, cream, sugar, syrup – and let customers decide. If they want advice or suggestions, I can help them, and we’ll go from there.’

‘OK then,’ Charlie said. ‘Juliette and I will take orders, serve and clear tables. You’re in charge of the coffee emporium. Deal?’

‘Deal!’ Lila and Juliette said in unison.

Lila started to organize her new coffee paraphernalia as if it was unearthed treasure.

Within half an hour of the Porthgolow food market opening, they were all rushed off their feet. Visitors to the bus – locals, regulars from further afield and newcomers – were all intrigued by the ‘build your own coffee’ idea, and Lila had been creating concoctions she hadn’t ever considered before. A flat white with rosemary syrup and cinnamon sprinkles; a latte with medium-strength liberica beans, hazelnut syrup and some of the marshmallows usually reserved for hot chocolates. Stella and Anton sat at one of the downstairs tables and had a Cornish cream tea for two, with Americanos instead of tea, a shot of vanilla syrup making Stella’s order even sweeter.

Lila spent her time beavering away in the kitchen and talking to customers, explaining the different strengths and qualities of the roasts, suggesting which cakes would go with which drink. She created a bus-shaped stencil out of cardboard, so she could dust the cappuccinos and lattes with a unique, Cornish Cream Tea Bus design. Charlie introduced her to everyone she knew, and Lila was greeted warmly by people with thick Cornish accents, and heard so much praise for Charlie and her bus that her pride mingled uncomfortably with a growing sense of guilt.

‘I underestimated your reputation,’ she said, looking up from the Marmite-shaped stencil she had moved on to.

‘What?’ Charlie leaned on the counter alongside her, her forehead glowing with perspiration. ‘What do you mean?’

‘This place – Gertie. She’s so loved. I’m wondering if kidnapping her to work on Estelle was the right thing to do.’

‘You can’t be serious,’ Charlie said. ‘Working on Estelle was wonderful. We got to meet all those amazing characters, and got paid handsomely for our time, so all my plans for repaints, outdoor chairs and tables and a new sound-system can go ahead. Also, you were in your element surrounded by thespians, which meant I felt able to go on my American adventure with Daniel.’

‘You wouldn’t have felt OK doing that if Gertie had been here?’

‘Of course I would have,’ Charlie said. ‘But … I don’t know. I liked thinking of you there. It made me happy, knowing you were happy.’ Her voice softened when she added, ‘And would you really rather have never met Keeley? Or Sam?’

Lila stared at her stencil, the little doggy ears alert. ‘No, of course not. I’m not saying I wish it had never happened, but—’

‘But your heart feels like it’s breaking into a million splintered pieces?’

Lila forced out a laugh. ‘I thought I was the melodramatic one.’

‘So you’re not heartbroken?’ Charlie asked. ‘I shouldn’t have been flippant, I’m sorry. But I can see … well, you’re hiding it pretty well. That’s what I think. Hiding it from other people, but not from me.’

‘Does this look like Marmite to you?’ Lila held the stencil up in front of Charlie, seeing portions of her face through the cut-out shape.

‘It doesn’t have to be over with Sam if you don’t want it to be.’

‘Maybe it looks more like a hippo. Do you think people will mind having their chocolate sprinkles hippo-shaped? Perhaps they’ll think hippos are a feature of Porthgolow Bay, like the dolphins.’

Charlie huffed in frustration. ‘OK, I get it. Now is not the time. But I am going to talk to you about this later. I know what it’s like to be unsure, to come up with a hundred different reasons why a relationship might not work. But if your gut is telling you it’s right, then—’

‘Charlie, how’s the cream tea coming on for table five?’ Juliette asked, slightly breathlessly. ‘We’re getting a queue! How cool is that?’

‘Five minutes, Jules,’ Charlie said, turning away from Lila and setting out a tray. ‘I’ll be right there.’

Despite the day continuing on its relentless trajectory, and Charlie having no more time to ambush Lila with her concern, she couldn’t entirely escape the spectre of Sam. He hovered in her thoughts, popping up between customers and coffees, filling every available space she had. And it wasn’t just her mind conspiring against her, but the outside world, too.

She had gone upstairs to deliver a tray of gingerbread cappuccinos and brownie slices to two women, and couldn’t help overhearing their conversation.

‘It’s just finished apparently, only this last week. It’s a shame, because Maria wanted to go down there and ogle Toby Welsh, you know, from that hospital drama? I told her it was probably a good thing. The security would have been intense, and she’d only have been disappointed after driving all that way.’

‘They were on this very bus!’ the other woman exclaimed. ‘Didn’t you see it in the paper? All those beautiful people. And the bus was on set – I’m sure I read that – though what a double-decker bus is doing in a period drama, even if it is a vintage Routemaster, I honestly have no idea. Talk about anachronisms.’

‘Here you go,’ Lila croaked. She cleared her throat and put the drinks down. ‘I hope you enjoy them.’

‘Do you know anything about this Estelle series, then?’ the first woman asked. ‘Was the Cornish Cream Tea Bus really on the set, or did it just do the tour with all those lovely young things?’

‘We worked on the set,’ Lila admitted. ‘We were part of the location catering, offering something a bit different to the cast and crew.’

‘My word!’ the second woman said. ‘So you met them all, Toby Welsh included?’

‘I did. He’s very nice.’

‘And his brother – oh, what’s his name? That’s who my Maria really took a fancy to, once she saw some of those long-lens shots on the Sun website. Sam something. Tall, dark-blond fella. All angles and cheekbones. Very handsome.’

‘Sam Magee,’ Lila managed.

‘You met him too?’

‘I met everyone. It was a brilliant place to work. A real privilege.’

‘And I suppose you have loads of spoilers, don’t you? Know the whole plot and everything.’

Lila smiled. ‘I might do. But I’m sworn to secrecy, of course. I wouldn’t want the producers to come and shut our bus down because I’ve been a bit too free and easy with the on-set gossip.’ She tapped the side of her nose, realizing that she had so much to be grateful for, so many happy memories. It was a time in her life that she would never forget; she should embrace all the good that had come of it, then move on to whatever came next.

‘Good heavens, no!’ gasped one of the women, her brownie momentarily forgotten. ‘Shut down the Cornish Cream Tea Bus? They wouldn’t get away with it – it’s a local treasure. I should think they’d cancel the television series first, if it came to it. Close this beautiful bus, I ask you!’ She shook her head and her friend patted her hand, as if what Lila had said had been a personal affront rather than a joke. She didn’t need to be smack-bang in the middle of a showbiz set to find pockets of drama – they were everywhere.

As the afternoon morphed into evening, Lila felt the satisfied exhaustion of time well spent, working hard and making people happy. It had been so much busier than any of the days on Estelle, an entirely different kind of thrill. She couldn’t even begin to count how many coffees she’d made and served, or all the different combinations. But she’d accepted all feedback gladly, and was going to use it to create a tailor-made coffee menu for Juliette and Lawrence’s wedding, complete with some alcoholic options. Juliette had floated around as if on a cloud, working without pause, smiling and laughing, her eyes sparkling. Lila was so pleased for her.

She pressed her hands against the counter, stretched out her fingers and arched her back, loosening the tension. Beyond the window, the food market was still in full swing, the vibrant trucks selling burgers and burritos, fish and chips and curries, candyfloss and cocktails. Lila wondered what she would try: she was going to head straight to Bill’s vegan truck, and maybe pick up some fudge, too. Her gaze wandered over the busy scene and then drifted down, beyond the market, to where people thronged on the sand, playing games or lying on beach towels reading books, a fair few still in the water.

One person stood at the edge of the waves, boots in his hands.

Lila’s breath caught. It looked so much like Sam. The tall frame and wide shoulders, thick hair dancing in the breeze. The way he stood so still, making no hurried movements. But the sun was behind him, lowering towards the horizon, and he was little more than a silhouette. Of course she couldn’t be sure, but a part of her was. She could feel that it was him.

She turned away, her heart thudding as Charlie came down the stairs. ‘Do you mind if I head out for five minutes?’ she asked, trying for nonchalant.

‘Go,’ Charlie said. ‘We’re close to shutting anyway. You’ve worked like a Trojan, and Juliette and I can do the clean-up.’

‘You’re sure?’

‘Go, coffee queen,’ she said, laughing. Lila was already untying her apron, hurrying down the aisle. She ran out, weaving through people eating ice creams and chips, drinking beer out of plastic cups. She passed them all, her shoes pounding against the hard sand and then, as soon as she reached the softer part of the beach, digging in, puffing grains up around her ankles. She stopped to catch her breath, and dragged her gaze along the length of the beach.

The silhouette was gone. There was no sign of a tall man carrying his shoes, walking close to the water or anywhere else. Her imagination had conjured him up. She had wanted to see him so badly that suddenly, there he was. She turned away, her shoulders sagging, and trudged back to the bus.

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