Page 50 of The Pop-Up Cake Shop

True to her word, in the kitchen Ellie allowed me to guide her over to one of the chairs that had been left. She sat down and I dragged the other kitchen chair over so she could put her feet up.

She didn’t look too comfortable, being pregnant in such an upright position on a hard chair, but she assured me she was absolutely fine.

‘I’m looking forward to watching you work,’ she smiled, although already she was back up on her feet and coming over to the table on which lay stacks of plates and saucers and a cluster of about thirty vintage teacups, most with colourful floral designs. On the other side of the table were the flat boxes, waiting to be taped together, and the packing materials.

The dresser’s interior had been cleared, the contents gathered on the table, and I quickly collected up the remaining pieces of crockery from the shelf above the twin-cupboard section below and added them to the collection on the table.

‘How will you get this big beast over to the new house?’ I asked, looking at the dresser.

‘Oh, it’s in two pieces. One rests on the other,’ she explained. ‘Rob’s kindly offered to take it over to the house in his van once I’ve finished with this lot.’

She reached for a piece of packing paper and started rolling up a cup, at which point I was forced to lay down the law.

‘Er... you promised you’d sit?’ I pointed back at the seat she’d vacated.

She grinned. ‘Okay. How about we compromise? I’llsitat the table while I’m packing things up.’

I nodded and dragged a chair over.

‘To be honest, that’s why I told the removals men to leave the table and a couple of chairs,’ she confessed. ‘I had a feeling I’d need to sit down while I was working.’

‘I guess that’s why you left a kettle and some coffee as well.’ I nodded at the worktop. ‘Would you like a cup?’

She nodded and made to get up.

‘I’llmake it.’ I laughed. ‘Honestly, you’re impossible.’

We drank our coffee and worked away, stacking the crockery into boxes.

And then Ellie started talking about her tour around one of Caleb’s eco houses.

‘It was fascinating, all the stuff he was telling me. It made me really think about our new house. It’s an old building, of course, but there’s still loads of little things you can do to conserve energy... stop heat escaping, that kind of thing.’

I nodded as she carried on talking about how amazing Caleb was and I tried to subtly stifle a yawn.

‘I saw that!’ She laughed. ‘Honestly, you’d be obsessed with getting draught excluders and chimney balloons yourself if you listened to what Caleb has to say on the subject.’

Now it was me who was laughing. ‘Er, I very much doubt I’d beobsessed. Mildly interested, maybe.Chimney balloons?’

‘They stop the draught.’ She grinned. ‘He said he’d pop over to have a look at Bogg House... see if he could save us some money on our energy bills.’

‘Who? Caleb?’ I said warily.

‘No, Father Christmas,’ she laughed. ‘Yes, Caleb!’

‘Right.’

‘He offered to help us install it all, which is just as well since Zak is as rubbish as I am at DIY.’

‘That’s nice of him,’ I replied grudgingly.

‘I know. I really like Caleb. He’s a top man.’ She paused. ‘I know you’re not keen on him but I think you should give him a break. It was Ivan who acted like a big nob head that day, driving that bulldozer, not Caleb. He only tried to help.’

‘Yes, I suppose so.’ I smiled. ‘Right, plates next.’ I reached for a small stack and started wrapping them individually. ‘These are lovely.’

The sooner we could get off the subject of the marvellous Caleb the better, as far as I was concerned...

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