The little bell above the door of the café tinkled as Pippa walked through, armed with numerous boxes – and many more in the van outside. She was greeted by Zoe as she quickly ran over to swipe the boxes from her clutches. ‘Should you be carrying all this yourself, Pip?’ Zoe manoeuvred the shop floor with ease, winding in and out of the tables with her tiny frame and long legs, boxes balanced high.
‘Zoe, I’m pregnant, not ill. I think I can manage a few cake boxes.’ She laughed at her friend’s concern and retrieved more boxes from the back of her little van.
‘Here, take a seat. I want to talk to you about something.’
Pippa handed over the final few boxes and sat down at the counter. ‘Everything okay?’
She watched Zoe as she looked over her shoulder, back into the kitchen, and then leant in to say in a quiet voice. ‘My sister turned up yesterday.’
‘Oh, that’s nice. Did you know she was coming?’ She took in the whispering and constant checking over her shoulder that Zoe was doing and added, ‘Are you afraid the FBI are following you?’
‘What? No! I don’t want Ellie to hear me.’
Pippa laughed. ‘Okay. So why is your sister visiting a big secret?’
‘It’s not a secret, but she will go mad if she thinks I’m talking about her.’
Pippa watched as Zoe set about slicing the cakes she had just delivered and put them out on display. ‘You want me to help slice? Then you can tell me whatever it is that’s got you acting so weird.’ She stood and joined Zoe on the other side, pulling a lemon meringue from its box and slicing through the vibrant-yellow creation. It was actually quite therapeutic watching the blade slowly drag through the mixture, forming straight lines of perfection. ‘So how long is your sister here for? Is she okay?’
‘Not really. She’s got herself into a bit of a situation and she wants me to help. But I just don’t know what to do for the best.’
‘Well, what’s the situation? Maybe I can help.’ She was willing to do anything that would take her mind off what was going on at home. Jason had still been acting weird when he got up for work this morning and left without even saying goodbye. Announcing her pregnancy – that the two of them had waited so long for – should be such an exciting time. Yet she couldn’t help but feel Jason was more upset than elated. She had spent hours last night after Jason went to bed scouring the internet, looking for ways to increase her business potential and bring in more money, but the thought that the baby would be here in less than a year was constantly biting away at the back of her mind.
‘She’s just found out she’s pregnant.’
‘Oh wow! That’s great news. There must be something in the water, eh!’ Pippa laughed but immediately sensed that Zoe wasn’t in the mood for jokes. ‘You’re not happy she’s pregnant?’
‘It’s not that! I’m over the bloody moon. I’m going to be an aunty, it’s amazing.’
‘So, what’s wrong?’
Zoe put down the knife she was using to cut the brownies and exhaled agitatedly. ‘I don’t know if she is going to keep it.’
Pippa felt as if she had been punched in the stomach. The wind was temporarily knocked out of her and she tried her best to not show how devastating those words were to her. As someone who had tried for a baby for so many years and struggled so much to conceive, the thought of someone terminating a pregnancy just like that was haunting. But this was Zoe’s sister and she needed to be supportive and non-judgemental. ‘Wow, that is a huge decision. What makes you think that – did she actually say she wants to get rid of it?’
‘Yeah, she’s terrified. She’s clearly panicking and not realising what she’s saying. I know my sister and I know how she deals with things when times get hard, and I’m just so worried she is going to go off the rails again and do something stupid. You see, the guy whose baby it is, Chris, he’s such a nice guy! He and Ellie have been best friends ever since I can remember. Growing up they were always together – like two peas in a pod.’
‘So, are they together?’
Zoe shook her head. ‘No, but they should be. He loves her to pieces and I know she feels the same, but they keep up this whole ‘we’re just friends’ thing and it’s stupid. Everyone around them can see how in love they are, everyone apart from them.’
‘And now she’s pregnant with his baby?’
‘Yup! Crazy one-night stand, as far as I understand.’
‘Have you tried just explaining to her what you’re worried about?’
‘We had the longest chat last night; she said she doesn’t know what she’s going to do and that she just needed time to think. That’s why she’s come up here, to get away from it all. Chris doesn’t know yet – although I did say to her that she has to tell him – and she is very hormonal. This, for Ellie, isn’t a good thing because she can’t handle emotions. She doesn’t just cry and let it all out like the rest of us do; she’s like another species. She bottles it all up and it ends up having a detrimental effect on either her mind or her body. When Mum died, she completely lost it and I struggled to keep her head above the water, so to speak.’ Zoe had stopped slicing now and was full-on facing Pippa, concern etched over every part of her face. ‘Pip, I’m just worried she’ll do something stupid and regret it for the rest of her life.’
Pippa knew exactly what Zoe was talking about and leaned over to give her just a single squeeze of her hand, just to let her know.
‘I never told her about what happened to me, and I can’t tell her now, it’s too far down the line. But the thought of her not having this baby, it’s heart-breaking. I don’t know what to do to convince her to just stop and think.’
‘Unfortunately, it’s her decision, I’m afraid. All you can do is be there for her. I’m sure she won’t do anything without thinking it through.’
Zoe gave a little laugh before saying, ‘You don’t know my sister.’ Her head snapped round to the kitchen door as it opened.
Pippa followed her glance to the door and saw Ellie walk in. She hadn’t met Ellie in person before and the first thing she noticed was her beautiful, long blonde hair cascading over her shoulder and the full face of make-up. Whilst Pippa had more of a natural look, Ellie’s make- up was stunning, flawless. She oozed perfection and even with the jogging bottoms and t-shirt she was sporting, she looked glamorous. It must run in the family, as Zoe always looked chic and effortless. She wore less make-up than her sister but hers was a natural beauty and she carried it off very well.
‘Morning! How are you feeling today?’ Zoe chirped in her normal cheery voice that she used on everyone. Pippa was one of the only people to ever see Zoe stressed or miserable. They had been friends for some time now, but recently their friendship had become quite a close one. Zoe was opening up a lot more to Pippa and she was glad to have a friend to talk to. Not that Pippa opened up completely to anyone. If anyone knew how her home life had been more recently, they would think badly not only of Jason, but of her for staying with him. And that was more hassle than it was worth. Nobody needed to know about things at home. She knew her friends would talk her out of the marriage and now that they had a baby on the way, there was no way she was going to walk away. No matter what he did – or had done in the past. As far as anyone was concerned, she and Jason had a wonderful marriage and a baby on the way. End of story.
‘I’m okay.’ Ellie glanced over to Pippa so she smiled, hoping it looked normal and not full of sympathy. ‘Hi,’ she added to Pippa.
‘Oh, Ellie, this is my friend Pippa. She’s the lady who does all my cakes.’
‘Oh, so you’re who I