Page 19 of The Gingerbread Cafe
She wasn’t sure if she’d talk him into actually baking gingerbread, with the fuss he invariably made about it being beneath him. And she anticipated he’d have even more to huff about when he saw the state of the kitchen after her morning of failed festive baking, but they were on their way, and that was an impressive start.
They trudged side by side down the hill, Angel Gabriel bouncing along in front of them on his lead. Gretel had swapped her deely boppers for her festive owl hat and Lukas had pulled up his hood.
The snow was picking up its pace, swirling tentatively around them, landing on noses and melting into coats. Church bells rang in the distance and the few lights that were still working on the Christmas tree in the lane shimmered below them in the half-light. They hadn’t yet spoken on the descent, but Gretel could almost sense Lukas tensing as they got nearer to the village. It was easy enough to pretend it wasn’t the big day out innature, but the village beamed Christmas, with tinselled trees in windows and cottages decorated with string lights.
As they reached the bottom of the hill the smell of log fires and wholesome roasts filled the air, the sounds of laughter and Christmassy TV escaping through windows. They dodged a troupe of carol singers and Gretel thought she heard Lukas swear. She wanted to tell him off, but stopped herself. Perhaps he was struggling too. She knew all too well how heartache felt, even if she still didn’t know why his heart was hurting.
‘Not working today?’ she asked, hoping to distract him.
‘I did a shift earlier. Back in tonight.’
‘Wow. The fun never stops.’
‘Keeps me busy,’ he said gruffly. The sounds of ‘Good King Wenceslas’ and his feast did not appear to be cheering him up. He pulled his hood tighter.
‘What do your fancy diners eat on Christmas Day?’ she felt brave enough to tease. ‘I can’t imagine them accepting sage and onion stuffing with instant gravy.’ He didn’t need to know that was the sum total of her Christmas dinner efforts earlier. There had been no point in burning a nut roast for one.
She hurried to keep up with him as he marched past the festive-looking houses.
‘Partridge and pan-roasted pear has been our most popular. The port and dark chocolate sauce finishes it off nicely.’
Gretel laughed before realising he wasn’t joking. ‘Oh, sorry. People really eat that?’ She could live with the chocolate part, but what a bizarre mix. ‘Please tell me they at least get a huge blob of Christmas pud and cream for dessert.’ Preferably just after the yule log and just before the mince pies and After Eights. Nell had really got her into a traditional English Christmas.
‘Deconstructed medjool date cheesecake,’ he said, matter-of-factly.
‘Which is what? A biscuit with a date on the side?’ She’d never been a fan of those chewy little things.
He shrugged. ‘Basically.’ Was he trying not to smile now? And it definitely wasn’t ‘Ding Dong Merrily on High’ that was tickling him.
As they reached the cobbles of Green Tree Lane, Gretel’s heart sank a little to be reminded that it didn’t look nearly as festive as in years gone by. When the little shopping street had been more prosperous, the shop owners had made more effort to decorate it with red and green festive lights and fake snow, like something from a film set. She remembered huge candy canes outside the door of The Gingerbread Café, and piped music spilling out onto the pavements. The old-fashioned lamp posts looked far too solitary without the strings of lights connecting them. Not all of the lamp posts even worked now.
‘We should fix some of these lights,’ said Gretel.
‘Not our job,’ Lukas replied, and she sensed his mood sinking.
Was it too much to hope he’d cheer up again soon?
Gretel had picked up Angel Gabriel to save him struggling across the wet cobbles now that the snow was trying to settle. The thought of looking out of the window later to see a snowy Christmas card scene made her heart bounce. Surely she deserved one good thing this Christmas?
Passing the other shops in the street, she noticed that most of the shopfronts looked as though they needed some love. Paint was flaking and some of the window displays could do with a touch of life. Was it sad she didn’t even know who the other shop owners were, beyond recognising their faces in passing? Amber had mentioned trying to talk to them … but no. She’d never been one to mingle.
As they reached the front door of The Gingerbread Café, she noted their paintwork could also do with a freshen-up – butthere was no point in mentioning it. He’d shrug her off about that too. Not that she was into change.
Lukas pulled out his keys and then frowned at the ferret in Gretel’s arms.
‘What? I can’t leave him out here in this weather, he’d freeze. He’ll be no trouble if I pop him in the crochet bag for a nap under one of the tables. I promise we won’t let him near the kitchen.’
Lukas looked down at the crochet bag, which was now sodden from the snow that had been wisping around them and seeping into their outer layers, including Angel Gabriel’s little festive jumper. ‘We’ll find him some dry towels. But afterwards, you take the towels home and keep them. I don’t want to see them back near a kitchen.’
Even if the snow didn’t settle, that small gesture was a Christmas miracle in itself.
Chapter 18
Once they’d settled Angel Gabriel in his warm towel nest in a corner of the café, Gretel braced herself and followed Lukas into the kitchen. His borderline OCD need for order was not going to enjoy the shambles she’d left when she’d tried to make gingerbread people that morning.
But he simply sighed, and began moving around the marble-topped island, grabbing dirty cooking equipment and lining it up with military precision near the sink. He flicked the radio off at the plug in case she’d had any notions of a festive singalong. She wondered if the wayward jukebox was storing up a treat for him. ‘If you want my advice, the first rule of working in a kitchen is to keep your workspace tidy.’
As much as Gretel wanted to pull stupid faces behind his back, she was silently glad to see the chaos clearing.
