‘Text me later, I want details! A lot of details!’
I let her out and lock the door behind her, and when I turn back, Bram has gone to join his father and the inspector at the counter.
‘I trust you’ve found nothing of concern in your investigations?’ he asks, his tone suggesting that he’s expecting the answer to be no.
‘Well, not really, but…’
‘The toaster crumb tray needs emptying,’ I interject.
Bram looks over at me and then at the inspector. ‘Allow me.’
The inspector and Mr Hastings watch in amusement as he goes out to the back room, empties the toaster crumb tray into the bin and washes his hands, and comes back with a hilariously smug Hatter grin on his face. ‘There we go, you can strike that one off your long and elaborate list. Was there anything else?’
‘There’s a bit of cracked grouting in the splashback behind the sink, and…’
‘Right, grouting. I can do that. And…?’
‘Previous food hygiene scores are exemplary, I’m sure there’ll be no problem going by them for the time being.’ Mr Hastings doesn’t give him a chance to add anything else.
‘And our kitchen is available for inspection at your convenience,’ Bram says.
I meet his eyes across the room and he gives me a subtle wink, and my heart flutters at what he means. That things are okay and we can go back to how we were.
‘I’m sure you’re very busy today.’ Mr Hastings reaches over to pat the inspector on the shoulder. ‘We wouldn’t want to hold you up any further. Is that everything you need for your report?’
The inspector ums and ahhs for a minute, but clearly doesn’t fancy trying to argue with Mr Hastings. Even if he’s slightly less heartless than I thought he was at first, I doubt many council employees would want to get on the wrong side of him.
The inspector packs his laptop and gathers up his things, and the three of us follow him to the door and wave him off.
‘I’d better get back to work too.’ Mr Hastings starts patting down his pockets as if to make sure he hasn’t left anything behind. ‘That was quite an eventful morning.’
‘I’m sorry about the cupcakes and the scene at the wedding, Mr Hastings.’ I’ve been debating with myself whether to bring it up, but if there’s one thing we need in The Wonderland Teapot, it’s a bit more honesty on all sides, including mine, and I finally blurt it out as he goes to open the door, and he turns back to me.
‘And I’m sorry too, Miss Jordan. I made a mistake in sharing our private business with Tabby. I acted as if she was still my daughter-in-law without ever truly understanding what had happened between her and my son. Given how insistent Bram was about us making this right, I suspect we may be seeing more of you in our family life.’ He glances at Bram uncertainly, like he’s making sure he’s used the right name, and then reaches out to shake my hand. ‘And I really do apologise for my part in this debacle. I hope The Wonderland Teapot will continue to thrive for many happy years on Ever After Street.’
He shakes Bram’s hand too, and we stand together in the doorway as we watch him walk off down the street and then both realise at the same moment that everyone has gone and it’s just the two of us. He grins at me. ‘’ello.’
‘Hi.’ It seems a daft thing to say when I’ve been standing next to him for the past twenty minutes and just confessed my love for him.
He reaches out for my hand. ‘Can we talk?’
I can’t slip my hand into his fast enough. ‘I didn’t realise how much I’d miss you.’
‘Me too. I mean, I always knew how much I’d miss you, but life has been extraordinarily dreary since Sunday. I’ve come to rely on your hugs like oxygen. If I could not have to go another day without hugging you, ever, it would make me very happy.’ His cheeks go gorgeously red and the tightness that was still clenching around my chest and shoulders suddenly lifts, and we’re just smiling at each other again. He jiggles my hand and tugs me towards the nearest table. ‘Tea?’
‘Always time for tea.’ I can’t resist the opportunity to make use of his favourite quote.
He’s about to go and start making it when I clamp a hand on his shoulder and push him downwards because the circles under his eyes are so dark that it looks like he’s still wearing eyeliner, even though he isn’t. ‘Sit down. You look exhausted and you’ve been making me tea since the moment I met you. Let me.’
I boil the kettle and throw a teabag into two glitter-sprinkled mugs as quickly as possible, and then carry the tray over and set it on the table between us.
‘Cake?’ He looks at me expectantly, like serving tea without cake is one of the most scandalous crimes a person can commit.
‘I don’t have any. I didn’t make anything last night because I was too scared of it being “inspected” and I couldn’t very well let him inspect supermarket-bought cakes.’
‘Ah, but I do. I always come prepared.’
‘Prepared for situations where you might need cake at a moment’s notice?’
‘Exactly.’ He flashes the Mad Hatter grin at me and beckons me to sit forward and leans closer so he can reach a hand across the table and his fingers hover in my peripheral vision.
‘Bram, if you’re about to pull a cake out from behind my ear, I won’t be responsible for my actions!’
He laughs, but instead of a cake, he pulls a card out from behind my ear and hands it to me. The Ace of Hearts. I can’t help smiling as I turn it over between my fingers and watch as he gets a cardboard cake box out of his bag.
He opens it out on the table and inside are two cupcakes in the shape of teapots, covered with lemon-coloured fondant icing and decorative green piping, with a fondant handle formed on the side. ‘They need better decoration, which is where you come in, but I thought they’d be really fun and Wonderland-ish in the display case. And I was trying to be productive while I couldn’t sleep last night. Thought I might have to bribe you to talk to me, and cake was my best bet.’
I go to grab us two plates and he lifts the cupcakes from the box and passes one over. I pop a bit in my mouth and can’t hide the noise of pleasure at the sweet lemon-and-lime taste, and he sips his tea, and it’s blatantly obvious that we’re both putting off the actual talking part of this conversation, but neither of us seem willing to face it head-on.
‘He hasn’t got away with it,’ Bram says eventually, without needing to clarify who he’s talking about. ‘Plenty of his colleagues were at the wedding – they heard everything you said and were far from impressed to hear he’s been using his position to bully employees. He’s got questions to answer for an internal investigation and he’s been “relieved” of some duties, and Mrs Willetts has been appointed as co-councillor for the Ever After Street area to ensure everything is handled fairly in the future.’
‘That’s good. Almost as good as this cupcake.’ I eat another piece and take a deep breath. ‘Bram…’
‘I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you about the tearoom,’ he blurts out before I get any further. ‘It wasn’t meant to get as messy as it did. Yeah, I was going to take this place on, and yeah, I didn’t expect someone else to come along at the last minute, but I believe things happen for a reason, and I was okay with that. At first, it was irrelevant, I didn’t expect to get close to you, and I didn’t think you needed to know. And then my father used it as blackmail material, and the sabotage incidents started, and suddenly it became a big deal, and I was right in the middle of it, and I didn’t know what to do. And then the other day, when it came out, I froze up. I could feel you slipping away and I didn’t know how to stop it happening. I was exposed and vulnerable and I didn’t have my usual shields up, and in front of so many people… My shutters came down and I turned defensive. I could feel everyone in that room turning against me, and I panicked. It was like my father’s shadow had crept in and eclipsed yet another part of my life.’
‘I was wrong to doubt you.’
‘I lied to you, Cleo. You weren’t wrong to doubt me.’
