Page 23 of The Wedding Cake
“Too right I would. I love you so much, Al. It’s been hell seeing you distraught about your father’s shoddy behaviour in the past – his favouritism of one daughter over the other. And don’t get me started on your mother. I know I have little experience in the parenting department, with no father figure in my own life since day dot, and I know my mum’s style of taking care of me has been eccentric over the years, to say the least, but I don’t like the way your old man thinks he can buy in or out of your life as he sees fit.”
“I understand your reluctance but it felt like a gift I couldn’t refuse. The thing is, it didn’t come from him directly, but through him… if that makes sense?” Alice had wished River would fix her up with a second cocktail to take the edge off this discussion. “When I moved back to the UK from LA, I think he took it for granted that as I’d chosen to live in Somerset, I’d mould back into the family dynamics and fit in with expectations. My mother didn’t even know about us uprooting so quickly and moving yet again, down to Cornwall, until a few weeks after we’d gone. It all happened in quite a rush, didn’t it?”
River looked a little sheepish now. It had been the one and only rough patch in their relationship and it had definitely made them think they needed an urgent change of scene. Cutting a very long and complicated story short, River had been completely swindled by the sister of a former childhood friend, who would stop at nothing to drive a wedge between him and Alice. It was no wonder he’d become a lot less trusting of people.
“Yeah,” Alice continued. “So she found out about my father’s undercover trips down to Cornwall and basically blackmailed him: If he dared to contribute to my dreams – regardless of the fact he was technically squaring up with me and giving me the money I was owed – she would divorce him and take him to the cleaners.”
River’s jaw dropped.
“Nooooo! I knew your mum could be manipulative but that’s just…”
“Awful,” Alice finished. “Even as recently as last year I held out hope of us healing our relationship. Now I know better. It’s futile. But it really would appear that my father has started to see how devious my mother has been over the years. That’s quite a development and the last thing I want to do is shut him out. He might even need us down the line, Riv. Things have become unbearable.” Alice sighed. “Anyway, he cashed in some shares without my mother knowing, and he gifted me the money. It’s not quite as much as my folks have spent on my sister over the years, but I accepted the token because it was timely, the universe would frown upon me if I didn’t… and we all know it’s foolish to look a gift horse in the mouth.” She giggled at her equestrian pun and even River’s mouth began to twitch into a tiny smile. “It’s never wise to block your channels to abundance, asyour dear mumwould say.”
River cracked and began to laugh and, despite all the unnecessary heartache that her own mother had created, Alice had to join in.
Her relationship with her parents had been rocky for years. You could pinpoint the exact day and hour: the moment she’d walked into the drawing room of the grand family home in the Somerset village of Butleigh, and announced she was joining the rock band, Avalonia (as opposed to pursuing Olympic glory with her horse as per her parents’ expectations). She had been cut out of her inheritance, and her mother and father had fawned over her elder sister, Tamara, ever since. But deep down Alice had always known it was her mother who wore the trousers (or jodhpurs). Her father was simply scared of rocking the marital boat and would go along with anything his wife decreed; from the holidays they took to the brand of coffee they drank… and the shade of Farrow & Ball paint that adorned the many rooms in their beautiful country home.
Now Alice’s mobile phone began to vibrate on the table, making her jump. That would be River, no doubt deliberating over the Spanish food labels at the hypermarket and needing her to help decipher things with her rusty GCSE Spanish. Alice picked up the phone and looked at the caller ID. But it wasn’t River, it was a Spanish number instead.
“Hello. Is that Alice?” said an female English voice which sounded kind of familiar, its tone unmistakably urgent. “It’s Freya from FOM.”
“Oh! Hi, Freya. What a lovely surprise. How are you? Is everything OK at your end?”
“Well, that’s why I’m calling. I really wish I could say that it was, but unfortunately I have some pretty bad news. Can I just check that you’re sitting down? I am so very sorry, there’s no easy way of saying this.” Alice’s stomach sank. It sounded like somebody had died. Her hand began to shake so she thought it best to put her coffee down before she spilt it all over her white sundress.
“I’m s-seated,” Alice replied with a shaky voice to match the hand.
“Right. Good. Okay, without going into the finer details – because that’s something for me to sort out personally to ensure that it nevereverhappens again… it’s come to my attention that your gorgeous wedding cake has been double-booked.” Freya didn’t even stop for air. “Due to this massive oversight, the tight turnaround and lead times required for staff, hours, ovens, and ingredients, unfortunately we are in a situation where just one wedding cake has been booked for your wedding venueandthat of another couple’s on exactly the same day: August the sixth – yours at the finca, and the other bride and groom’s at a villa down in Marbella.”
“Oh, crumbs.” Alice grimaced at her unfortunate choice of reply. “I mean, that’s really tricky.” Her heart began to race. The news was terrible, there was no denying it… and yet it was nowhere near as life-changing as it had initially sounded. Clearly this wasn’t Freya’s doing, and from the way she had worded things, it didn’t take much imagination to figure out who had fudged up the planning. Still, it totally changed her big surprise. What a bummer so close to the big day, with no time to find a solution! She went silent for several seconds as she let the expletives fly around her head. But there was no point taking this out on Freya. She would have a good old scream on her balcony later before River returned, and preferably without any onlookers on the street below if she timed it just right.
“Obviously I’m devastated to hear this, but…” Alice paused to sigh, thinking how dreadful this call must be for Freya. “I can’t even begin to imagine how gutted you guys must be too, what with all the love and skill and hard work goes into making such a large cake. I’m sure it was a genuine mistake. It must be beyond frustrating to have such a conundrum on your hands… but it’s not a matter of life or death, is it? We’ll cooperate however we can and help solve the issue. It’s such a huge cake. There’s more than enough for both weddings. Perhaps it could be transported from one venue to the other, sliced up at a location in the middle and shared? The other party may not agree of course, but River and I will be open to pretty much any possibility to salvage the day—”
The line fell silent and Alice stopped waffling, wondering if she’d been cut off, but then Freya began to sob.
“Freya? Are you all right?”
“Y-yes. Just about. But really it should be me asking you that question… and me coming up with a solution. How can you be so kind and understanding? I just don’t get it.”
“Well, it isn’t the best news I’ve ever received, for sure. But I guess everything in life is about perspective. I’m sitting in one of the most beautiful squares in Europe, sipping coffee in the sunshine, watching the world go by, and about to marry my soulmate. Compared to billions of others on this planet, I am very lucky and I try not to take that for granted. Yes, I had envisaged a huge cake…”
At this point, Alice filled Freya in on her plans to give the cake out to as many Spanish and Portuguese villagers as possible during their honeymoon – which reduced Freya to further tears. Alice wished she could hug her. Then she went on. “But we’ll improvise. Hey, maybe you could whip us up some trays of flapjacks or a Bakewell tart or two? Just a handful of quick English classics. If you could get them over to us at the finca by the time we leave for our honeymoon, I’m more than prepared for you to forget the refund. In fact, I think it might even work out better. It’ll be fun to bring some of our sweet English roots and traditions to the locals, and smaller cakes will be a heck of a lot easier to store and distribute. In a roundabout way, you might even be doing us a favour.”
“It would be my pleasure, and I will make you a plethora of traybakes and tarts,” said Freya, expelling a giant sigh. “But you will still be getting a refund. On that point there is no negotiation.”
“If you’re sure and that’s what you want. Oh,” Alice added, feeling the kick of the caffeine acting like a muse. “I’ve had another idea to solve the issue: Let’s just cut the cake in half, straight down the middle – assuming you have a knife that’s big enough for the job?”
“It’s funny you should say that,” Freya replied. “Not in the literal sense, of course…”
At the end of the call Alice felt that at least they’d found a solution that was acceptable to herself and to FOM. On the other hand, Freya hadn’t yet made the call to the other couple concerned, and instinct told Alice they might not see the situation inquitethe same way. One thing was certain, though: River would be elated at the money refunded, even if Alice’s surprise cake jaunt in the camper van wouldn’t be quite as ostentatious as planned. There was nothing wrong with a good old Bakewell tart, and she could still keep that side of things under wraps. They would have so much fun meeting local people and seeing their reaction to the treats. Perhaps River could make and serve cocktails to pair up with them.
Spain’s laidback attitude had properly seeped into Alice’s pores and she refused to get upset about what was essentiallyjust desserts. These things happened to the best of people and where there was a will, there was a way around them. There was no time to make a different cake from scratch and Freya only had a certain number of expert hands at her disposal. Those were the facts and they could analyse the problem day and night. The only solution was to halve the cake. It would still be tall and it would still be rustically beautiful and delicious.
TIM
“Squirrel, we need to have a serious talk before we set off tomorrow,” said Tim’s friend, Josh, calling him by the Beatrix Potter nickname he’d never managed to brush off among his school friends.
Josh, Kyle and Nath were heading out on the same midday flight as Tim and Piper, travelling from Manchester to Malaga, although they’d be going their separate ways once they landed in the Costa del Sol – until the stag do. Even Marbella’s ‘budget’ accommodation was too pricey for Tim’s friends, so they’d be staying half an hour along the motorway in down-to-earth Torremolinos, and that’s exactly where Tim intended to join them for a very laid back evening prior to his wedding. A few pints in a pub, a game of snooker, and a meal in an unpretentious restaurant that didn’t require you to eat with umpteen knives, forks and spoons whilst your breath hitched at the thought of the bill. A very laid-back evening that definitely didn’t involve getting himself tied to a lamppost… or waking with his eyebrows shaved off. He honestly couldn’t remember the last time he’d done anything so normal on a night out and it was the only part of the wedding proceedings he was excited about.
