He grins at me and I can’t help smiling back. What happened in the café just before Christmas fades away a little, because despite that, despite what I said to him, despite what he didn’t say to me, he’s here, right in the middle of my crisis, and he’s smiling at me. I want to go over to him and rest my head on his shoulder. I want to hear him tell me everything will be OK. I want to talk to him, to hear his side of the story – if even Marcus thinks it’s worth listening to then I owe Ben that much.
The fire and the long days sitting on my own in the hotel have helped me get some perspective on a lot of things. Finding out about my mother and talking to Dad have helped me understand that there are different sides to every story and that sometimes we think we’re doing the right thing, even when other people might not see it that way.
I can’t go over to him right now though, in front of half of Sanderson Bay.
‘What are you all doing here?’ I ask.
‘Everyone’s here for you, love,’ Miranda says. ‘To see what needs doing, to see how we can help and to make this the best New Year’s Eve Sanderson Bay has ever seen!’
‘Thank you,’ I say quietly.
‘And,’ Terry says stepping out from behind the bar, ‘we wanted to show you this.’
Everyone steps to one side as Terry leads me towards the alcove at the back of the pub. When I see what everyone has done, my breath catches in my throat and those tears threaten to make a comeback.
‘What do you think?’ Terry asks. ‘Will it do?’
All the pub furniture has been moved from the large alcove and replaced with what can only be described as a mini version of The Two Teas.
‘It’s perfect,’ I say. ‘I can’t believe you did this. How did you do it?’
‘Well Bessie whipped up the bunting,’ Terry says. ‘Just like she did for the café and your aunt got the teapots and teacups.’
‘Guilty as charged,’ Miranda says from behind me. ‘When they gave you and Marcus the all clear to go and collect some of your things I asked if I could get a few things too. I collected as may teapots and cups as I could and took them home and washed them thinking they might come in handy.’
‘Which they have,’ James says grinning.
‘And what about the table and chairs?’ I ask.
‘That was young Ben,’ Eric says from where he and Ben are still standing by the window. ‘He got them on the internet and we all mucked in to paint them white first thing this morning. It’s not the best paint job but it’ll do in the circumstances.’
I press my hand to my mouth, speechless in the face of the kindness of this community I’ve become a part of.
And Ben. He didn’t have to do a thing and yet…
‘How did you know?’ I ask. ‘How did you know to get the table and chairs?’
Ben looks as though he’s about to say something but Sascha butts in.
‘That was me,’ she says. ‘I had his email address from when he stayed at the hotel and you weren’t going to get in touch with him so I did.’
‘Isn’t that breaching all sorts of data protection laws?’ I ask.
She shrugs, completely unconcerned. Ben says, ‘I don’t mind. I won’t sue her I promise.’
There’s a rumble of laughter through the pub, which turns into general chat, which in turn makes people thirsty and Terry is soon back behind the bar serving drinks. I want to go and talk to Ben, to ask him why he’s here, where he got the chairs from and so many other things but I can’t get to him. I feel Miranda’s hand on my arm.
‘What do you think?’ she asks quietly.
‘To this mini café in the pub idea or to Ben’s arrival?’ I ask.
‘Either.’
‘Overwhelmed to be honest. But in a good way.’
‘Ellie!’ someone calls from the other side of the pub. I turn around and see Mo gesturing at me to join her in the pub kitchen.
‘I’d better go,’ I say to my aunt. I walk over to Mo, a route that means I don’t pass Ben. Sascha follows me.
‘Right, you two,’ Mo says to us. ‘We need to talk about food for New Year’s Eve and where it’s all going to be prepared.’ She leads the way into the pub kitchen, which is quiet, still and gleamingly clean after the lunch rush. ‘Obviously I can store food in our fridges but I can’t offer up the kitchens for prep as we’ve still got tomorrow’s lunch and dinner and New Year’s Eve lunch to do first.’
‘We can use the hotel kitchen,’ Sascha says. ‘We’re so quiet at the moment we’re not offering evening meals, so we only have breakfast to do.’
‘What needs doing, Ellie?’ Mo asks.
My gaze flicks between the two of them. ‘What do you mean?’ I ask.
‘For the champagne tea party on New Years’ Eve,’ Sascha says softly, her hand on the small of my back. ‘What do we need to do to prepare?’
My stomach drops as I think about all the things I would have spent the last few days getting ready if I’d been in the café. I don’t see how we can do this in time.
‘Everything needs preparing,’ I say. ‘I was going to cancel the whole event so I haven’t done anything and I don’t see how we can get it done in time now.’
‘Of course we can if we work together,’ Sascha says and Mo nods in agreement.
‘I really appreciate everything you’ve done and I can’t believe you’ve all been painting furniture for me all morning but…’ I trail off. ‘And Ben’s here, I should go…’
‘Ellie, focus,’ Sascha says. ‘I know this is tough, I get it. But you have a whole town full of people who want to help so tell us what needs doing. Then you can go and talk to Ben.’ She smiles at me and it’s so reassuring I feel my shoulders melt away from my ears a centimetre or two for the first time since the fire.
‘OK,’ I say. ‘Well we need to bake cakes and scones – at least one of the cakes needs to be Christmassy. We need butter, jam and cream for the scones. We need to make sandwiches so we’ll need bread, ham, cheese and eggs but we can get all of those from the shop. I need the three-tiered stands to serve the afternoon teas on so I hope Miranda salvaged them otherwise I’ll need permission to go back to the café to get them. And of course I’ll need tea and champagne.’
‘We can provide the champagne,’ Mo says.
‘And I’ve got lots of your teas that we use at the hotel so you can have them,’ Sascha says. ‘It’ll be a more limited selection than you’re used to but needs must.’
‘You and I can do an early morning trip to the cash and carry, Ellie,’ Mo says. ‘We can get everything you need so start making a list.’
‘And the Knitting Club girls will all help with the baking that we can do in the hotel kitchens tomorrow,’ Sascha says.
‘Really?’ I stare at them and feel a fizz of excitement in my stomach. Maybe we can actually pull this off.
‘Really,’ Sascha replies. ‘Now go and talk to Ben.’
‘I’ll pick you up around seven tomorrow morning for the cash and carry,’ Mo says as I start to walk away.