in my belief that Zillah had long ago told him everything. Then to my surprise he added, ‘Good, good…I believe his punishment has already found him out, so now we can all concentrate on removing that carbuncle Mann-Drake from our midst.’
‘Zillah said we needed Raffy for that. He would be vital.’
‘He certainly has a part to play. As to the chocolate, perhaps you had better be careful when using the additional blessing,’ Grumps said thoughtfully. ‘Keep it for special recipients.’
‘Yes, I’d already decided to use only the Mayan bit for the Chocolate Wishes.’
Not, of course, that I thought my chocolate really did have magical properties, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
When I went into Marked Pages after posting my parcels, Felix asked me, slightly indignantly, what I had said to upset Raffy, because when he had seen him after morning prayers he’d been really down and almost morose.
‘Nothing! As far as I’m concerned, the past is now the past, the slate’s clean and he’s just the new vicar and nothing more. That’s what you wanted, wasn’t it? I’m ready to start again and be friends.’
‘Is that what you told him? So how come he seems to have gone into a tailspin?’
‘I can’t imagine,’ I said untruthfully.
‘Oh, no?’ he said sarcastically. ‘He said he now understood why you didn’t want to see him and he was going to keep out of your way as much as possible. And then he said he wished you all the happiness in the world with David. What did he mean by that? You haven’t got engaged again, have you?’
‘I keep telling everyone that I’m just friends with David, nothing more. Honestly, I don’t think you listen at all! In fact, although I love looking at houses, I think I’ve had enough of that now too and I haven’t really got the time anyway, because I get more and more chocolate orders every day.’
‘But David—’
‘Look, can we forget about him?’ I said wearily. ‘Let’s talk about you. Poppy says she spent the night here.’
He went pink. ‘She fell asleep on the sofa and it seemed a shame to wake her. But she left so early, I didn’t see her go. She got back all right?’
‘Yes, fine – I spoke to her this morning when she was giving a lesson.’
‘I have my first one this afternoon. I’m shutting up shop specially.’
‘Be prepared to eat your meals off the mantelpiece for the next few weeks,’ I advised him.
‘It’s not that bad, is it?’
‘Believe me, you’ll use muscles you never even knew you had. But it’ll give you a peachy bum.’
‘I already have one of those,’ he said with dignity.
David called at the cottage unannounced especially to apologise for being a bit short with me when I refused to go to Mann-Drake’s dinner party with him.
‘No really, I didn’t mind at all,’ I assured him truthfully, ‘and thank you for the lovely flowers.’
Actually, that wasn’t a total lie because I quite liked the bamboo. I’d put it in a tall, thin glass vase on its own and it seemed to be sending out roots.
He still lingered in a hopeful sort of way so I felt I had to invite him in, even though I was working. I sat him down and then carried on brushing chocolate into winged heart moulds.
‘The party was quite fun, actually,’ he said. ‘Digby – he asked us all to call him that – is such an interesting man, and some of the things he told us about over dinner were quite fascinating.’
‘Like what?’ I asked, but he didn’t seem to be able to remember specifics. I suspect he and the rest of them were hypnotised by that golden voice. I didn’t ask him who he took as his dinner partner either, because if it wasn’t Mel Christopher, I’ll eat all my scented geraniums.
‘To show you forgive me, I thought you might come with me for a second look at that cottage near Rainford, and the converted barn near Scarisbrick,’ he suggested. ‘Those were your favourites, weren’t they?’
‘Yes, but that isn’t important, is it, because I won’t be living there. It’s which one you preferred.’
‘I think you have a better eye for these things,’ he insisted. ‘Do come with me. I’ll arrange later viewings on Wednesday afternoon and then we can go and have a drink in the Green Man afterwards – even dinner?’
I tried to get out of it, because I was now not only entirely sated with house-hunting but had started to find poor David terminally boring. However, he made it impossible to get out of, though I did insist that I had to get back home after a quick drink at the pub. ‘I can’t leave poor Jake on his own all the time!’
‘He’s an adult now, certainly old enough to take care of himself,’ he pointed out.
This was true and I had started to feel a pang or two at the thought of him grown up and off, just like any empty-nester. I didn’t mention that ‘poor Jake’ was usually either up at Kat’s house, like a Goth version of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, in the Old Smithy kitchen being stuffed like a Strasbourg goose by Zillah, or foraging perfectly successfully for himself at home.
Instead I tried to make it plain to David that this would be my last house-hunting expedition with him, because my business was now so busy that I simply didn’t have time any more. We must have seen everything for sale in his price bracket in the entire county by now anyway.
He didn’t seem to take in what I was saying and I was just psyching myself up to be much more blunt when Zillah waltzed in, beaming away like a lighthouse.
‘Ah, David – how lovely! Are you well…just at present? I remember when you used to come out in the most alarming rash every time you came to see us,’ she said, then settled down as if she had all day to chat.
Only five minutes later he was roaring off in his noisy sports car as if the devil himself was after him.
‘He didn’t have to leave,’ Zillah said, looking vaguely surprised. ‘I only came to see if you and Jake fancied coming over for beef and carrots later, followed by fruit salad with marshmallows.’
‘Marshmallows?’
‘Those tiny ones that you see sprinkled on hot chocolate in cafés,’ she explained – or rather, didn’t explain. Some magazines have a lot to answer for.
‘I think you might have to have Kat too, because she and Jake offered to help Grumps unpack and display all that stuff he bought from an auction this afternoon, and it’s bound to take ages.’
‘That’s all right, there’s plenty. Gregory seems to have quite taken to Kat since she started redoing all the museum notices with her calligraphy pen and volunteering to help run it when it opens at Easter.’
‘It’s getting really close, but it’s almost ready to open, isn’t it? We just need some more stands for books
