I laugh. ‘Honestly, Bertha, I really don’t mind. Can you show me where the cleaning stuff is kept? Do we really have stuff for sensitive skin?’
‘Er, no. I just wanted to see how she’d wriggle out of it.’
‘Shamelessly, as it happens.’ I grin and follow Bertha to a little walk-in cupboard by the Ladies where all the buckets and mops are kept.
When we get back, Adam has arrived and is standing by the counter chatting to Krystle.
‘Ooh, I do like a handyman!’ she says, jokingly squeezing his arm muscles. ‘Ryan, my lovely fiancé is a bit of a DIY enthusiast. And he’s always getting oily, working on his car. I just love it when he rolls his sleeves up and gets his wrench out.’
‘Ooh, er, missus,’ says Bertha, and we all snort with laughter. ‘As it happens, my Ron is also a great fan of DIY. Whenever I ask him to fix something around the house, he says do it yourself!’
‘Boom-boom,’ grins Adam. ‘I’m not a handyman, by the way. I’m a “versatile carpenter and repair man”, he says, etching quotes in the air.
‘Ooh, get you!’ Krystle nudges him, laughing, and glances over at me. ‘Hi, Molly!’
‘Hi!’ I walk over. ‘Thanks for offering to share the cleaning.’
‘Did I?’ She looks puzzled.
‘Oh, sorry, I thought you did. I must have misheard you.’ I stare at her, equally bemused. There must be something wrong with Krystle’s memory. It’s quite worrying, really.
She smiles. ‘It’s fine, though. I’m happy to help.’
‘Thanks.’
‘No problem.’ She rubs her hands together briskly. ‘Right, those double chocolate muffins won’t bake themselves. Laters!’ She goes off to the kitchen and I stare after her.
‘Something wrong?’ asks Adam.
‘No. I’m just pleased Krystle seems to have her mojo back. She didn’t seem like herself last week. When I walked in on you two in the kitchen that morning you were fixing the pipes, the silence was deafening!’
He studies me with a slight frown. Then a grin spreads over his face. ‘Just a sec.’ He follows Krystle into the kitchen and emerges with Hope, both of them grinning like Cheshire cats. Hope gives an embarrassed sort of grimace and says, ‘I’m so sorry, Molly. I just assumed the introductions had been taken care of.’
‘Sorry?’ I shake my head, not understanding.
She takes a breath and waves someone in.
Krystle emerges and stands there, suppressing a smile. Then Hope waves her arm and someone else appears, and I let out a gasp. For a split second, I think I must be hallucinating. Then the penny drops and I see the cause of my confusion.
Twins?
I’m about to ask which twin is which. But then one of them shouts, ‘Ta-dah!’ and starts to laugh, and I don’t have to ask because it’s obvious that’s Krystle!
‘I got the “loud and obnoxious” gene,’ she points out, ‘and Carrie got the modest one.’
This, of course, makes the twin called Carrie blush even more furiously and smile down at her feet – although I suspect her shyness might have a little to do with the fact that Adam is smiling at her.
‘Oh, God, I’m embarrassing you, aren’t I?’ Krystle pulls Carrie into a sideways hug. ‘Just tell me to shut up!’
Carrie gives her twin a long-suffering but affectionate look. ‘Loud but definitely not obnoxious.’ She grins. ‘At least, not very often.’
I shake my head. ‘I can’t believe I didn’t realise there were two of you. It’s so obvious now I think about it. The bun. The ponytail. The different personalities.’
‘It’s our fault for not introducing you properly,’ says Hope. ‘Usually, only Krystle or Carrie comes in. They’re job-sharing. But I asked them both to come in this morning, because…I’ve an important announcement to make! And I’m hoping it might save all our jobs.’
Everyone is at once on high alert.
‘We had a chat last week, and there’s one idea in particular that I love the sound of – a free slice of lemon drizzle cake in exchange for an act of kindness. I’ve been asking around and people seem to think it’s a lovely idea. Fen’s going to make a special board to hang on the wall so that customers can pin their pledge up there for people to read.’ She shrugs. ‘Whether it works, of course, is a different matter. But are we all up for giving it a go?’
She looks around and we all nod, and Krystle says, ‘It’s a great idea. Can staff take part as well?’
‘Of course. Why, have you thought of a pledge already, Krystle?’
She grins. ‘It was the free cake I was thinking about.’
Hope laughs. ‘Well, if ‘Lemon Drizzle Mondays’ can make the world a kinder place, it has to be worth doing. How about a round of applause to the person who came up with this marvellous idea in the first place?’
I swallow nervously, my heart rate picking up speed.
Hope beams around at us all. ‘So thank you…Patrina!’
I stare at Hope, completely gobsmacked. I can’t believe this. Patrina, having scorned my idea, has actually gone to Hope claiming it as her own!
‘Erm, I believe that was actually Molly’s idea?’ says Bertha, with a stern look at Patrina, who’s standing there, looking rather pleased with herself.
‘Was it?’ Hope frowns from Patrina to me and back again.
I swallow, not really wanting to be childish about it. Patrina’s cheek is annoying, but does it really matter whose idea it was, as long as it works?
But Bertha is not prepared to let her get away with it. ‘Patrina thought of the free food, but it was Molly who dreamed up the kindness element,’ she says, and I glance at her gratefully.
‘Well, in that case, well done to both of you,’ says Hope, smiling. ‘I think it’s a cracker of an idea, and let’s put it into practice from today. The sooner the better. Fen’s bringing the board in later and she’s putting up posters in the village to let everyone know about it.’ She rubs her hands together. ‘I can’t wait to see what the response from customers is like. Roll on our first Lemon Drizzle Monday!’
Later, I get a chance to speak to Carrie and Krystle during our break. Bertha joins us as the café is empty, and we all go out into the April sunshine.
‘I do remember you telling me about Krystle Carrington and how your mum’s a fan of Dynasty,’ I say to Krystle, who I now know always wears a bun for work. ‘But for some reason I didn’t pick up that there was a Krystle and a Carrington.’
It was actually because Matt walked in at that moment and I was distracted.
‘I’m Carrie to my friends. Well, to everyone, really. Carrington’s such a weird name.’
‘I’ve always liked it,’ says her twin. ‘It’s a hell of a lot classier than Krystle.’
‘And Carrie’s a hell of a lot classier than you,’ jokes Bertha.
Both twins laugh, and Krystle nods. ‘I have to agree with you there, Bertha. And I’m sure our favourite handyman will back you up.’
‘Oh, shut up,’ says Carrie, going scarlet.