‘Actually, someone did suggest a solution.’ I swallow hard. ‘He said I should put the café in the treehouse instead.’
She frowns and looks at me for a minute. Then she gives a bark of surprised laughter. ‘Well, it would certainly be unusual.’
I nod. ‘I can see the headline now. Local girl turns childhood treehouse into a café.’
‘Shame it’s not big enough.’
‘Oh, Theo has a friend who’s a carpenter. He reckons his mate could extend the treehouse into a viable structure to house a café. All pie in the sky, of course, because it would probably cost an absolute fortune!’
She nods. ‘Interesting. Who is this Theo, by the way? Someone nice?’
‘Oh, not really.’ I shrug awkwardly. ‘I mean, yes, he is nice. He’s a personal trainer and he gave me a free session, and we ended up having a drink in the treehouse, that’s all.’ I get up to make some tea and to conceal the annoying blushes that have just flooded my cheeks for no good reason.
‘A free session? Hmm, very good.’ I can tell by her tone she’s dying to know more about mystery man Theo, but she’s going to be disappointed! In any case, I barely know anything about him myself.
What I do know is that every time I think about him pulling away from me, I feel stupid and embarrassed all over again. And I can’t stop wondering what he meant when he said he was ‘bad news’. Did he mean he stays away from relationships because he’s not the faithful type? But it was only a kiss. I wasn’t proposing marriage or anything. It was a kiss that happened on the spur of the moment, probably – from my side anyway – because of the build-up of emotion. I was so scared of the storm, I’d have clung to anyone who offered to prop me up and see me through the worst of it …
I bring our tea and some gingerbread to the table, and Mum says, ‘We’d better not be too long. When do you open up?’
I glance at my watch. ‘Ten. In half an hour.’
‘Right, well, you never know, there might be a queue a mile long when we get there!’
I smile at her determination to remain positive. She might feel differently after a day of kicking her heels behind the till of a deserted café, as tumbleweed rolls along the street outside. But whatever happens, I’m so very glad she’s here with me.
‘Mum?’
‘Yes, love?’
‘We don’t need to mention to Dad that business isn’t exactly booming, do we?’
She shakes her head firmly. ‘Definitely not. It’s our secret, for now.’
Chapter 25
After a day spent in the café, reading magazines and chatting in the long gaps between customers, Mum and I decide to cheer ourselves up with a couple of our favourite movies and a Chinese take-away. We get into our pyjamas and I open a bottle of wine and we have such a lovely, relaxed evening.
Halfway through Sleepless in Seattle, Mum falls asleep – curled into the corner of the sofa – and I watch her with an aching heart. She must be utterly exhausted, looking after Dad, but at least she’s had a chance to escape the hospital routine for one night. We have my Auntie June to thank for that. She’s looking after Dad while Mum’s away.
Mum wakes up around ten, long enough to drink some tea before I shoo her off to bed with strict instructions to sleep for as long as she needs to, then have an easy day while I’m at the café. We’ll have a meal together when I close up in the afternoon, then I’ll walk her to the station around seven for her train back to London.
The following morning, Paloma comes over to the café around eleven and it’s pretty clear she’s not in a great mood. When I mention that Mum arrived unexpectedly and is staying for a while, her face lights up and she hugs me, saying what a lovely surprise.
But she continues hugging me long after she normally would, and that’s when I realise, to my horror, that her shoulders are shaking.
‘What’s wrong?’ I hold her arms and pull away from her vice-like grip so I can see her face. Sure enough, tears are leaking down her face, and I can’t help feeling alarmed. Paloma very rarely cries. Apart from breaking down over losing Linda and before she told me about looking for her birth mum, I’ve only ever known her to cry once. That was when her ex, Rufus, revealed his prize knob-head status by expecting her to tolerate his kinky sex sessions with his ex-wife, which he insisted were a vital part of his ongoing psychotherapy treatment.
‘Sorry.’ She dashes the tears away and tries to smile. ‘I’m so pleased for you that your mum is here, Twi. It’s just I haven’t heard a thing from Sylvia and I just keep wondering if I’m ever going to find my mum.’
‘Oh God, poor you. And here’s me going on about how great it is to have Mum here.’
Why didn’t I think?
But Paloma shakes her head. ‘Don’t be silly. It’s not your fault. I’ve just been feeling really despondent about the whole thing. I’ve started to think I should probably just forget about trying to find her if it’s going to cause me so much grief.’
‘No, don’t give up. Not yet,’ I urge her. ‘Sylvia could unearth something at any time.’
Paloma attempts a smile, but it changes into a huge yawn and it turns out she’s been working most of the night on a project. I pack her off home with a bag of freshly baked cheese and thyme scones and she promises to go to bed and get some sleep.
After she’s gone, there’s a bit of a lull and then Rowena Swann arrives. She orders three cappuccinos, explaining that Betty and Doreen are on their way and will be here any minute.
She walks around looking at the wall art while I set
