Страница 8 из 70
Just then Linda Forbes, the owner of the bakery, came over with her little six-year-old granddaughter, Tilly, who had the biggest toothiest grin and a mop of messy ginger curls. Pe
‘Tilly wants to know if you’d like to try our newest recipe, these are marshmallow snowmen biscuits.’
‘Thank you,’ Maggie signed with her hands at Tilly, before taking one and devouring it in seconds.
Pe
Tilly’s face lit up and her hands flew into action as she signed her reply. Pe
Pe
Tilly gri
Linda smiled warmly at Pe
Pe
‘All the girls in your year at school have kids now,’ Linda said. ‘In fact, you’re the only one over the age of twenty-five not to have any children—’
‘That’s not true,’ Maggie interrupted. ‘Jade was in our class, she doesn’t have any children, neither do Beth or Chelsea or any of the Blonde Bimbo Brigade.’
‘And we all give thanks for that. What kind of mums would they make, going out and getting drunk and ending up in a different man’s bed every night? But Pe
Pe
‘I don’t really want children,’ Pe
Linda stared at her as if she was some kind of monster. ‘Why wouldn’t you want children?’
‘Excuse me.’ Henry suddenly loomed over them all. ‘Can I buy some cakes? I’m in a bit of a rush so…’
‘Of course, sorry to keep you waiting.’ Linda quickly moved back behind the counter and Henry flashed Pe
He had stepped in to save her.
Tilly came ru
‘They’re beautiful, I love them,’ Pe
But Tilly insisted and Pe
Tilly skipped off behind the counter again, taking her creations with her.
Maggie leaned over the table. ‘Ignore the nosy old bat. Having children is no fun, they poo and cry all the time, you never get any sleep, you spend your whole life driving them around as they have far more of a social life than you, every pe
‘And this is your third child?’ Pe
Maggie’s face lit up as she smiled adoringly at her belly. ‘I know, I never seem to learn my lesson.’
Pe
Maggie waved at her as she was eyeing some of the other cakes that were on sale behind the glass counter.
Pe
He walked up the street with her, but he didn’t say anything.
‘Thanks for, erm…’ Pe
‘No problem. Is everyone in the town as rude as that?’
‘She wasn’t being rude, it’s just people don’t really mind their own business around here.’
‘I don’t like the sound of that. Where I come from, no one pokes their nose into what anyone else does with their life.’
‘People care, they look out for each other. It might come across as nosy but it comes from people genuinely wanting the best for everyone. I like to pretend that I don’t want my own children or family but in reality I do and the people of the town know that.’
Henry stared at her and she winced.
‘I hate that I’m so brutally honest with you. There’s something about you that brings all my secrets to the fore. I wish I could blame the mulled wine, but I can’t even do that today.’
‘What were you doing with your hands in there?’ blurted out Bea from the safety of Henry’s arms. Henry stared at Bea in confusion.
‘The little girl in the bakery, Tilly, she’s hearing impaired, which means she can’t hear anything…’
‘She can’t hear anything?’ Bea’s eyes were wide with surprise.
‘No, so when people talk to her she can’t hear what they say. So she communicates with her hands. It’s called sign language and she makes different movements with her hands to say different words.’
Bea nodded solemnly, with all the seriousness of a four year old taking the weight of the world on her tiny shoulders.
‘Shall I teach you how to sign your name and the next time you see Tilly you could introduce yourself?’
Bea nodded keenly and Pe
He cleared his throat. ‘So you learned sign language so you can communicate with Tilly?’
Pe
Henry nodded, thoughtfully. ‘I can see that it has—’
Just then Beth, second in command of the Blonde Bimbo Brigade, came striding over. She sidestepped Pe
‘Henry, I’m Beth…’
Henry stopped dead in the street. Pe
Pe