Page 49 of The Gingerbread Cafe
‘You had me at leftovers.’
As Lukas took lids off the various containers, Gretel’s stomach began giving in to a hunger she’d forgotten was there. She’d barely touched the tiny morsels of pretentious food at Lukas’s friend’s restaurant that evening. Fork now in hand, she was secretly thrilled Lukas had done away with the formality of plates. She was ready to dive in.
‘Mmmwoooow,’ she mumbled through a mouthful of cheesecake, throwing off any guilt about gobbling so much pudding before bedtime. That part of her never planned to grow up. ‘What is this? It’s heaven in a box.’ She closed her eyes as she let its lightness tease against her tongue. It was like a heady mix of creamy silk and biscuity spice and it was all kinds of delicious. She never wanted it to end.
‘Just something I threw together earlier today. A few ideas have been playing on my mind lately.’ He cleared his throat and gently lowered himself onto the loveseat next to her. ‘This one’sa white chocolate cheesecake with a ginger crumble topping. You honestly like it?’
She opened her eyes slowly, as though rousing from a luscious slumber. ‘You couldn’t tell?’ Her voice came out several octaves lower than she’d expected and she felt her cheeks glow, conscious she was almost moaning. Being around him was already sending her senses into overdrive, but now he was staging an attack on her tastebuds too? She’d be defenceless.
His pupils dilated as he watched her, his eyes drinking in her movements as she sampled his desserts, which all looked so homely and inviting, and smelled like a sweet and spicy dream. There was a summer berry and gingerbread ice cream cake that made her feel both warm and shivery all at once, and a plum and five spice tart with a ginger custard that was surely made with the milk of angels.
When she next looked up from her taste-testing he was almost on the edge of his seat.
‘What?’ She wiped her mouth in case she had pudding around it. But as she searched his keen eyes she realised what he was waiting for. ‘Oh. You want my formal approval? Like me getting lost in a binge-fest wasn’t enough of an answer?’ She treated him to a smile through her sugar-induced haze. It was adorable that he was hanging on for her endorsement, even though he was an accomplished chef and she was still wearing her baking L-plates. ‘The desserts were perfection, all of them. But … what are they for? I’m guessing they’re too homely for La Carotte Rôtie. Are they for your new place? The restaurant with the mill?’
She tried to sound casual about it, as though she wasn’t holding her breath.
He looked away and shrugged. ‘Perhaps.’
With the taste of his exquisite desserts still on her tongue, she couldn’t help remembering Francesca Whimple’s words that evening. Lukas’s talentsdiddeserve bigger things than a caféserving hot chocolate and gingerbread. Was she being selfish, trying to tether his finances to the café? Perhaps she should be more supportive of his dream to sell the café and buy his own restaurant, even if it was in direct conflict with her own.
Or maybe there was a middle ground. If the February Fair boosted trade in the street and things stayed buoyant, perhaps she could look towards buying Lukas out one day. Would he wait that long? She blinked herself back to the present because she was getting ahead of herself. There was no way she could mention that sort of crazy plan yet.
‘Though maybe …’ Lukas chewed his mouth. ‘Maybe we could try these desserts at the café. For a while, at least. Would you be up for serving them if I have time to bake more? No pressure if you have your own ideas. You’re doing remarkably well without my moody interference.’ He gave her a shy smile.
Her heart swelled at this tantalising nod towards commitment. ‘I do have some more recipe ideas brewing, especially with all the inspiration from the other shop owners. I could incorporate Bea’s lavender and Gordon’s rhubarb … Maybe you could help me bring these ideas to life at some point.’ She returned his timid smile. ‘But I do love your creations. Gold star for you, Mr Knight. I’ll make room under my glass cloches for your bits and bobs.’ She winked. ‘I’ll need all the extra sweet treats I can get if we’ll be feeding the masses at the winter fair.’
He squeezed her hand. ‘Wewillbe feeding the masses. Which reminds me.’ He jumped up and paced to the Welsh dresser, pulling a sketchpad and pencil from a drawer. ‘Because do you know what kept occurring to me tonight?’ He was gripping the pencil like he was about to do something triumphant. ‘I kept thinking the restaurant was packed out with Marcus’s so-called friends. But much like if I opened my own place and invited the same contemporaries and hangers-on, they’d just be there to brush shoulders, compare notes and scurry off to try and do onebetter. I didn’t feel any love in that room. Did you?’ He waited for her to shake her head. ‘There was no sense of community or camaraderie like you’ve created in The Gingerbread Café. No real connection. No sense of in-it-togetherness. Just people turning up to show off, bitch about the food and hobnob their way upwards. Building something successful and special isn’t about getting bums on seats and it’s not about gathering a room full of disconnected people. It takes …’ He scratched the side of his head with the rubbery end of the pencil.
‘It takes a village,’ said Gretel, remembering Eve’s words which she was sure were part of a saying about something or other.
‘Exactly!’ He pointed the pencil at her. ‘So screw what anyone thinks aboutreal chefsnot faffing about withsilly gingerbread men. If I let stupid thoughts like that dictate my life, I’m as small-minded as them. So I’m not just going to make gingerbread folk. I’ll make a whole goddamn village. Shops, people, cottages with tiny smoking chimneys. The flipping lot, made of gingerbread. Care to join me? By the time of the Mistleton February Fair we’ll have it looking like the best work of foodie art the Cotswolds has ever seen.’
Gretel let out a surprised laugh, but when she looked at Lukas it was clear he wasn’t joking.
And suddenly, the passion in his dark eyes was too strong to resist. Gretel put her drink down, pushed the blanket aside and leapt up, rushing towards him across the kitchen in her stockinged feet. Throwing down the sketchpad, he was already on his way. Their bodies met in a flurry of excitement. She pulled his face in towards hers, their lips meeting and moving together in a rhythm that just felt right. She tiptoed backwards, pulling him with her, until their eager bodies tumbled down onto the loveseat with Lukas gently but firmly on top. She wrapped her legs around him, knowing that it felt too soon to turn theloveseat into a lovemaking seat, but imagining exactly how that could work when they were ready.
As the oven beeped to let them know the strudel was baked, Lukas groaned into her mouth that it could wait, as their lips moved together in a whirlpool of their own.
Chapter 41
With the excitement of planning and preparing for the Mistleton February Fair and creating their gingerbread village, it was the end of February before Gretel knew it.
Things had been moving along nicely between her and Lukas. They’d had a couple of less pretentious dates and some cosy nights in, but despite calling themselves a couple, they had been taking things slowly. With her string of short-lived relationships, Gretel had never been this up close and personal with a man before. But with the romance of Valentine’s Day still in the air and the closeness she’d felt over their weeks of creating the gingerbread village together, she sensed she was welcoming in a new level of intimacy. She almost couldn’t wait for what would be her veryfirst time.
‘I can’t believe the fair is tomorrow,’ she said to Amber, as she carefully iced the roofs of the gingerbread houses with white icing and stuck colourful gummy sweets on top.
‘Yep, theFebruaryFair,’ Amber replied. ‘So why have you got festive tunes on in here?’
Gretel stopped and blinked. ‘Have I? The radio must have slipped onto that all-year-round festive station or something. Weird.’ She leaned over and flicked it off.
Amber was raising her eyebrows, but then she did that a lot. They were in the kitchen at the back of The Gingerbread Café,which she’d closed for the day on Lukas’s insistence, to get ready for tomorrow. What with the café’s new window displays and improved menus, and the whole street bustling with the interest in the seasonal decorations, the place was always so busy. There was no way they could juggle it all. Gretel would definitely need to talk to Lukas about taking on someofficialstaff, although he was sneakily borrowing a few from the restaurant for her tomorrow. She still felt dreadful that Amber wouldn’t let Gretel tell Lukas about her.
They’d been organising and making the decorations for the tree and the street all month and now Gretel was keen to see it come together.
‘Anyway, it’s not fair you’ve been keeping me inside all day when I’m desperate to see how the street’s looking.’ Gretel sensed a subject change was in order, to encourage Amber’s eyebrows back to their normal level.
‘We want the final touches to be a surprise for you, nosey. And Eve’s got something up her sleeve with her shop, so don’t finish decorating her gingerbread shopfront until you’ve seen it.’ Amber was using her phone to take close-up photos of the gingerbread village to share as teasers on the Instagram profiles she’d set up for the street and the café. Her Insta tips from Lexie with the pixie cut had been going down a storm, but people would have to come to the fair to see the full, impressive display. Amber had also been busy decorating the inside of the café with the stained-glass bunting and edible stained-glass biscuits that Gretel had made, and swirling meringue buttercream frosting onto Lukas’s ginger peach cupcakes. Adding artistic flair was turning out to be Amber’s thing.
