Millie Vanilla’s Cupcake Café

‘Bet mine will be bigger than yours.’

‘Are you challenging me?’ Echoing her tone, he added, ‘Oh, Millie, you have so much to learn!’

Millie gave him a quick peck on the lips and then bobbed out her tongue. She ran out to sea, to the flat sand, a euphoric Trevor at her heels and screamed as Jed began to chase her.

Squabbling like children, they worked furiously to build the biggest castles possible, in a race against the tide.

Watching all their hard work crumble into the sea, Jed put his arm around Millie’s shoulders. ‘I can’t believe I’ve got to the age of thirty-three and not done this before.’ He kissed the side of her head. ‘And you know what?’

‘You’re starving?’

‘How did you know?’

Millie giggled. ‘Lucky guess.’ She put her arms around his waist and hugged him to her. Standing on the beach of her home town and feeling his warm, solid body next to hers, she wondered if she could be any happier. Lifting her face to the sun and to the salty spray, she said, ‘I love it here so much.’

Jed tightened his arm around her. ‘You know what, Millie? So do I.’

Back at the café, they toed off their wet shoes.

‘These are never going to be the same again,’ Jed mourned as he examined his ruined loafers.

‘Oh dear,’ Millie said, without sympathy. ‘Totally unsuitable for sandcastle making.’ She adopted a lofty expression. ‘What you need is a pair of wellies like these.’ Taking her foot out of the left one, she held it up and dripped water from a sodden pink sock. Her face fell. ‘Ah. Think I’ve sprung a leak.’

‘Yeah, that’s exactly what I need, Millie!’ Jed caught her as she giggled and unbalanced. He kissed her soundly. ‘You make me laugh. You make everything so joyous. How do you do that?’ He kissed her again.

‘I don’t know,’ she replied, emerging blinking from the kiss. Wrinkling her nose, she said, ‘Maybe it’s something I put in my famous bacon sarnies?’

Jed groaned. ‘Speaking of which …’

Chapter 14 (#ulink_647ea26d-6e73-5ddd-9998-1597a6941ba8)

The following Saturday Millie locked up the café for the afternoon and went along to the grand opening of Blue Elephant. As she flipped the sign to, ‘I’m so sorry, you’ve missed our lovely cakes!’ and turned the key, her heart sank into her Doc Martens. The café had been as silent as a tomb and just as gloomy all morning. She was in no danger of losing trade by closing early. Even the weather refused to sympathise. It was a gloriously fresh and blue day and the sun beat down hard on the concrete of the promenade. Millie shoved on her heart-shaped sunglasses and hid behind her hair. This wasn’t going to be easy.

As she neared the steepest part of the high street there was an air of palpable excitement. Approaching Blue Elephant itself she was accosted by someone in, of course, a blue elephant costume. He gave some passing children a bunch of blue balloons and thrust a glossy leaflet into her hands. It was, inevitably, elephant-shaped and exclaimed she could get a free muffin with her coffee today. Passing the acoustic trio cheerfully playing ’Nellie the Elephant‘, she went in. No expense had been spared for the launch, it seemed.

She paused for a moment to get her bearings. No trace of the old bank remained. Instead, the entrance hall rose uninterrupted to the ceiling, with a mezzanine level running around half. A spiral staircase led up to the second floor and it had been discovered by the town’s teenagers, who were running up and down, shrieking and giggling. The walls of the café were painted a chalky blue and there was a stunning abstract ammonite-themed mural on one. It had streaks of denim blue and sandy yellow, which was echoed in the striped material covering the banquettes and chairs. Millie took a breath. She’d half-hoped for more naff blue elephants or a cartoon theme. She was disappointed. Even she had to admit the decor was supremely tasteful. And the place was packed. Of course it was. It was the reason why Millie Vanilla’s had been empty all day.

Zoe appeared at her elbow. She tugged her arm. ‘Hi, Mil. Come to vet the competition?’

Millie gave her a weak grin and nodded.

‘Hand over your voucher and I’ll grab us some coffee. Quick, there’s a free table over there.’ Zoe pointed in the direction of a table where two customers were just leaving.

Millie made her way over to it, saying hello and goodbye to the people she knew as she went. Lots of them were her regulars. Perching on the very edge of a bench, she waited for Zoe and looked around. Mr and Mrs Levi, who ran the bed and breakfast on the front waved, as did Percy the butcher, who was sitting with Dean from the White Bear. Millie murmured a greeting to Dave Curzon from the newsagent and to Lola, his girlfriend, who ran a veggie restaurant in nearby Colyton. Even the Simpsons from the Lord of the Manor were here.

Zoe returned, with Sean in tow. They were carrying polystyrene cups of coffee and a paper plate of muffins.

No pretty mismatched pink flowery crockery here, Millie thought bitterly. And no washing up either. But, then again, it was not very eco-friendly. A little glimmer of hope dawned. Maybe that was something she could emphasise at Millie Vanilla’s? She was careful to use eco-friendly and reusable products.

Sean found Zoe a chair and toed it over for her to sit down. The girl looked around, a half-impressed, half-horrified expression on her face. ‘Awesome, isn’t it?’

Sean agreed with a muttered, ‘Well sick.’

Zoe sniggered at him. She turned to Millie. ‘Do you want the bad news or the really bad news?’ She pushed a coffee over.

Millie couldn’t trust herself to answer. She took a sip of her latte instead. It was delicious. Pinching off some muffin she found that was good too.

Zoe, watching her with concern, said, ‘That’s the one bit of bad news. The coffee and cake is good. The other bad news is they’ve got a barista from Rome.’ Her eyes widened. ‘A real-life Italian barista here in Berecombe. And to top all that, he’s bloody gorg!’

Millie pushed her food away. How could she hope to compete with all this? She felt like crying.

Zoe put her hand on hers. ‘Don’t worry, Mil,’ she said stoutly. ‘It’s busy today ’cos people are getting freebies. And there’s the novelty value, of course. But it won’t last. Things will settle down.’

‘Will they?’

‘’Course they will. Can’t see old Biddy or Granddad in here, can you? Or the knitting circle.’ She leaned closer. ‘And here’s the killer, they don’t let dogs in. That’ll reduce their trade by at least half come the tourist season. Chillax, Mil.’

Millie looked around. At the happy faces, at the buzzy atmosphere, at the children running about trailing blue balloons. Looking at the glossy dark-wood tables, the chandelier tinkling from the ceiling, the state of the art coffee-making machines, she despaired. In comparison, Millie Vanilla’s seemed all at once dated, shabby and insufferably twee.

Her misery was interrupted by Sean exclaiming he’d just seen his mum go through a door marked ‘Private’, accompanied by a bloke in a suit. Millie’s mood worsened. What the hell was Tessa doing here? And, more importantly, what was she doing having talks with the enemy?

Chapter 15 (#ulink_d19173f9-0447-5ec7-8618-9b35a8737901)

‘Right,’ she said, a week later, to her audience of Arthur, Zoe, Sean and Biddy, plus a snoozing Trevor and Elvis, ‘I need an action plan!’

She’d spent all week poring over the net and making muddled notes, but wasn’t much closer to coming up with a cohesive plan. All she’d succeeded in doing was having long, restless nights tossing and turning. Usually her white and gull-grey decorated bedroom was her sanctuary. She’d deliberately painted it soothing, calming colours so it would be a quieter comparison to the café’s more frantic decoration downstairs. But since going to Blue Elephant’s launch, sleep had evaded her. She’d lain awake until the first heavy steps and squawks of the herring gulls sounded on the roof. Then she’d fallen into an uncomfortably heavy slumber punctured by weird dreams of Jed running up and down Blue Elephant’s spiral staircase.

This morning, she’d woken, unrefreshed, to a turquoise sea and a sun so bright it hurt her eyes. It seemed Arthur was right, spring was determinedly on its way. And, with the better weather, came tourists. It was time to do something positive.

‘We need an action plan,’ declared Arthur, his eyes gleaming. ‘We’ll show the buggers.’

‘Way to go, Granddad!’ giggled Zoe.

He harrumphed and pushed his specs back up his face. ‘Yes well, you know what I mean.’

Despite the sunny weather, her little gang of faithfuls had congregated in the café to discuss what could be done.

There had been a noticeable dent in Millie’s trade already. The café had been deserted for much of the week. Once the season proper began, she anticipated she’d still be popular with tourists using the beach, but those window-shopping in town would favour Blue Elephant. She just hoped her dog-friendly policy would bring in a few customers turned away from the new boy on the block. The real crowning glory was Millie Vanilla’s sun terrace and its uninterrupted views across the bay. Once the weather really warmed up, it would be a huge asset – and one that a converted bank building most definitely lacked.

To Millie’s disappointment, most of her regulars had jumped ship already. The Yummy Mummies hadn’t been seen all week and the knitting circle had been lured away by the promise of cheap pensioners’ specials. Even Zoe’s gang of girls seemed to prefer Blue Elephant. Zoe, however, was confident they’d return. Clare had reported back that staff actively pushed additional orders, asking if a giant cookie or slice of cheesecake was needed to go with their hot chocolate – and getting stroppy when their suggestions were refused. To make matters worse, in Clare’s opinion, the staff had made it clear that once everything had been eaten and drunk, customers should make themselves scarce. It turned out Blue Elephant wasn’t tolerant of a group of schoolgirls loitering over one drink all afternoon.

Stick all that in your trendy pipe and smoke it, Millie had thought. Even with your hot Italian barista, the fight is on!

Buoyed by the realisation that not all was perfect in the rival camp, Millie distributed coffee, tea, hot chocolate, a specially made upside-down pineapple cake and dog biscuits and called the meeting to order. She outlined a few thoughts but explained she was open to anything they could suggest.

‘So, anyone got any ideas? Anything to say?’

‘Cake’s brilliant,’ Sean said, through a mouthful.