Page 45 of The Midnight Bakery
‘Here, sit down,’ said William, pulling out a stool from under the worktable. ‘I’ll get something cold. Do you have any ice?’
She shook her head. ‘But there’s a cold pack in the bottom of the freezer.’
He assessed her for a moment, eyes missing nothing. ‘Okay, so we’ll sit for a while and see if that helps, and then I think a trip to A&E might be in order.’
‘No.’ Her reply was louder than she intended. ‘Sorry…I didn’t mean to shout. But I can’t go to the hospital.’ She looked around the room with anxious eyes. ‘There’s so much to do, and besides, I’m sure nothing’s broken, I just wrenched it, that’s all.’
William’s only reply was to raise his eyebrows.
‘Honestly,’ she said. ‘I’m happy to sit for a bit, but after that…’ Her eyes widened. ‘What on earth am I going to do?’
William opened the freezer. ‘Youare going to stay there and put this on.’ He handed her the cold pack. ‘Iam going to get to work, andweare going to sort this.’ He picked up the fallen tub of dough, which, thankfully, seemed none the worse for its sudden descent, and placed it on the worktable. ‘What do I need to do first?’
Frankie sighed with relief as the fire in her wrist began to abate slightly. She nodded towards the far side of the room where the storeroom lay. On the wall beside it was a whiteboard,sectioned into grids and covered in green writing. ‘That’s the plan,’ she said. ‘Every type of bread we make, and each pastry, quantities and weights. It hasn’t been updated much since I got here, but what isn’t written down is up here.’ She tapped her head with her good hand. ‘And that’ – she pointed to the tub of dough – ‘is for the first batch of sandwich loaves. We need to divide it up into equal weights, shape it, put it into the tins, which need to be prepared first, and then leave it to rise again. Basically…There’s a little more to it than that.’ She gave a wry smile.
William just grinned, holding up both hands. ‘Better wash these then, hadn’t I?’ He moved towards the sink but then stopped, turning. ‘I assume I get a pinny as well?’
‘A pinny?’
‘Yeah… an apron.’
Frankie rolled her eyes. ‘I know what apinnyis.’ She smothered a smile. ‘Just that it seems such an…’ She didn’t want to offend William. ‘Old-fashioned word…’ she finished, wrinkling her nose in amusement.
‘And…?’ William’s eyes twinkled in challenge.
‘And…it’s hanging on the back of the storeroom door,’ she said, trying her hardest to keep a straight face.
It seemed impossible. And improbable. Given all that had happened, how could she simply watch while William worked? Yet that’s exactly what she did, effectively ignoring everything until something which had, at first, seemed insurmountable, gently assumed new proportions, less scary ones, until what she’d thought of as the hugest of obstacles became one which could be simply stepped around with ease.
At first, she explained every detail, every action William should take, every process he should follow, but as the minutes turned into hours, she gave less and less instruction, becomingaware that she had swapped from watching his every move to simply watching him.
‘You’ve done this before,’ she said.
William barely looked up. ‘Once or twice,’ he replied. ‘Like I said, I’ve had a life, Frankie. I’ve made the odd loaf of bread in my time.’ He flicked her a glance. ‘Not like this, but this is good. I’m enjoying it.’
It was true. Frankie could see it in the way he moved, his body relaxed and at ease. His face was the same. He had been concentrating so hard in the beginning, but gradually his initial anxiety at getting things right had been replaced by a simple peace. Andshefelt peaceful, too. It was a spell she really didn’t want to break.
Eventually though, light crept into the room as the rising dawn gained mastery over the night.
‘What do we do now?’ asked Frankie, looking around at the result of William’s labours. They hadn’t finished, but they had done enough. William had done enough. But she wasn’t referring to the to-do list.
‘About what?’ replied William, although it was clear he understood her meaning.
The wordusseemed to hover in the air but Frankie turned her head slightly so as not to see it. ‘This…me…the situation. And me crying all over you.’
William cocked his head to one side. ‘Do we have to do anything about it?’
Frankie thought for a moment. ‘I suppose I thought you’d want to talk more about stuff – me, and what happened. And I don’t mind, if you want to ask me anything.’
William’s look was warm. ‘I could do, but your situation didn’t happen overnight. It’s taken time to rise, but now you’ve been punched down, it’ll take a while before you?—’
‘That’s really corny,’ interrupted Frankie, laughing.
‘I know.’ He grinned. ‘But it’s a pretty good analogy, all the same.’
‘So, what now?’ she said, amused. ‘Into the oven with me?’
He scratched his head. ‘That’s where it kind of falls apart. But what’s important here is that I understand this is not something which has only just happened to you. It runs deep and will take time to come right again. Poking it every five minutes to check if it’s okay will probably have the opposite effect.’ The corners of his eyes crinkled. ‘So I’m trying really hard not to.’
