‘That’s a good idea,’ Aidan said.
They all tucked into various flavours of cakes and noises of appreciation could be heard from everyone.
‘This apple cake is heaven,’ Flick said.
‘I could die happy eating this chocolate cake,’ Luke said.
There were other comments and groans of joy as they polished off their thin slices and went back for seconds.
Polly let out a small sigh of relief. ‘Cakes aren’t really my speciality so I was hoping they’d be OK.’
‘Better than OK,’ Ethel said.
‘Any feedback?’
‘More please,’ Aidan said, helping himself to a third slice.
They all laughed.
‘I’m not sure I like the jam on the chocolate cake,’ Rose said. ‘But that’s a personal preference, there’s nothing wrong with it.’
‘No, that’s fair,’ Polly said.
‘I think the orange and lemon cake needs orange andlemon buttercream in the middle not vanilla, but the cake itself is moist and delicious,’ Katherine said.
‘OK, I can do that. Any other suggestions?’ Polly looked around the table.
There was silence for a moment, then Alex spoke. ‘I think they’re delicious. Far better than anything I could ever do.’
Polly smiled. ‘Right, I’m going to get ready for all the villagers. Please do help yourselves to more cake.’
She hurried off to the kitchen.
‘So I have some news,’ Ethel said. ‘There’s a JCB and a concrete lorry coming tomorrow. We’ve raised the funds we need very quickly and, fortunately, my son knows someone who hires out JCBs and I’ve had a chat with them and they think they can do it. So the tree will be raised back into its original position and concreted in and then we can start decorating it. Alex and Quinn, do you have something you’d like to add to the tree?’
‘I think you definitely need a few monsters, lurking in the branches,’ Quinn said.
‘I can donate a few baubles but I’m not sure how well they will stand up to our British weather.’
‘I’ve thought about that,’ Ethel said. ‘Anything we hang on the tree like leaves, flowers or other decorations could be changed every few months so we have seasonal decorations: eggs, chicks and rabbits at Easter; Halloween decorations in October; maybe even pirate decorations next year for our next pirate festival,’ Ethel said.’
‘That’s a good idea,’ Rose said. ‘That would be anattraction, people would come up here to see the new decorations.’
‘Also our followers love that the studios are going to be renamed the Wonky Tree Studios,’ Ethel went on. ‘Lots of people are very supportive of the workshops we are doing here for those with brain injuries and some people have volunteered their time to come and help us smarten up the place ready for the reopening. Some people are going to tidy up the garden for us tomorrow and some are going to help paint the front of the house.’
‘That’s wonderful,’ Flick said. ‘Will everyone be ready if we do the grand opening on Sunday? I know there are still some areas of the house that need touching up or renovating but I think we can still do the launch and work on those things later. It would be good to capitalise on the extra footfall in the town this weekend because of the pirate festival.’
Everyone nodded.
Flick looked over at Polly and she nodded too. ‘My new countertops are being delivered tomorrow morning. Ben can fit them for me tomorrow afternoon. After that I’m ready to go.’
‘OK, I’ll get the word out,’ Flick said, making a note to work on some Facebook and Instagram ads and posts on local forums that afternoon.
They talked between themselves for a few minutes then Katherine cleared her throat. ‘So what’s happening between you two?’ she asked Luke and Flick.
‘Oh yes.’ Quinn looked like all his Christmases had come at once. ‘Do tell.’
Luke dropped Flick’s hand. ‘There’s not really a lot to tell.’
