Page 10 of Matilda’s Summer of New Beginnings

‘It’s long enough for that to double in size,’ said Edie, nodding at Cerys’ baby bump. ‘Trust me.’

‘Part of me can’t wait for it to do that — but another part of me thinks it seems unreal that it will do such a thing.’ Cerys looked down at her bump and shrugged. ‘Ah well. Let’s see, shall we?’

There was a momentary silence where we all found ourselves staring at Cerys’ tummy, but within a minute or so, there was a ringing sound seeming to come from behind me. I turned around and saw Sam ringing an old-fashioned bell above the bar. There was a slight cheer and a general acknowledgement of his actions.

‘Good evening everyone!’ called Sam, and there was a rumble of responses from around the room. ‘I’m sure you all know what a special day this is — and in case you didn’t know, a massive happy birthday to my partner in crime, Jay!’

A cheer went up, and I turned to smile up at Jay who had blushed as red as his sister. ‘Happy birthday,’ I said, raising my even warmer glass of wine to him. ‘May there soon be cake.’

‘God, I hope so,’ he muttered. ‘Thanks everyone!’ He raised his voice and waved. ‘Thirty is supposed to be a special birthday, so I’m very pleased you made the effort to make it even more special.’

‘Every birthday is special!’ said Rosie. ‘And Jay you have icing on your nose!’

‘Shut up, Rosie,’ he said good-naturedly, but he did surreptitiously rub the icing off. ‘And yes, I have to thank everyone for the cake and presents and cards — but mostly the cake. Now, if you’d all like to go through to the snug, I think I might be ready to light some candles.’

‘Make sure the fire alarm is covered! We don’t want a situation!’ shouted someone from the back and Jay laughed.

‘So the quicker I light them and blow them out, the better, yes?’

‘Yes!’ chorused the inhabitants of the Spatchcock, and there was a general stampede towards the snug, with Jay being urged to lead the way.

By the time I got in (I was somewhere near the back, being far too polite to surge forward) there was a pleasant glow from the candles, and judging by the cheer that went up, the Spatchcock regulars knew exactly how good that cake was.

I squeezed around the edge of the crowd, so I could at least see the Birthday Boy, and he looked up and caught my eye, then grinned.

‘Remember to make a wish!’ I mouthed and he nodded.

Then: ‘One, two, three!’ everyone chanted, and, obligingly, Jay blew out the candles accompanied by another cheer and a rousing chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’. Then, surprisingly, there formed quite an orderly queue up towards the table where Veronica and her friend had plates and knives ready, and were cutting slices of cake and handing them out to the guests in a very civilized manner.

I took my place in the queue, and shuffled along obediently until it was my turn.

‘Let Matilda have the edge bits,’ Jay instructed Veronica. ‘She likes icing the best.’

‘How did you know that?’ I asked Jay, even as I accepted a couple of nice, icing-laden pieces of cake and moved out of the way.

‘Rosie told me. She said there’s always a fight in the flat over the piece with the most icing.’

‘Truth,’ I agreed. ‘But I’m not sure I like being talked about when I can’t defend myself!’

‘She says nothing bad.’ Jay winked. ‘And even if she did, I wouldn’t tell you. Are you enjoying the party then? Is Padcock anything like you thought it would be?’

‘It’s a pretty little place. I can see the attraction for the filming companies.’

‘You should do the Padcock Prowl,’ said Jay, using a dainty little fork to chop a piece off his slice of cake. It now said “Ja” instead of “Jay”. Veronica had very kindly given him the piece with his name on.

‘The Padcock Prowl?’ I looked up at him, unsure as to whether he was joking or not. ‘What on earth is the Padcock Prowl?’

‘It’s the new tourist trail. The WI ladies put it together because so many people come and visit the village and start asking where things were filmed. It’s really the Padcock Pathway. It was originally called the Padcock Prowl, but they voted to change the name to Padcock Pathway. But when you’re in the habit of a Prowl . . .’

‘That came out very wrong, Jay,’ I scolded good-naturedly. ‘The habit of a prowl indeed. But I’m not surprised they changed the name. Très dodgy, otherwise. So the trail is a bit like the Hollywood Movie Stars Map?’

‘Exactly like the Hollywood Movie Stars Map.’ Jay grinned. ‘Unfortunately, so much of the filming takes place at Padcock Court that our map hasn’t got half as many places on it. And if the tourists linger too long at the gates of the Court, Mrs Pomeroy charges out and shouts at them to move along, away from her house.’

I laughed. ‘I don’t blame her. If it’s her home, then she’s perfectly within her rights to do that.’

‘She’s one of the local celebrities, that’s for sure. She was busy tonight, so couldn’t come, but she sent cake.’

‘That was kind of her!’ I laughed again. ‘So where does the Padcock Prowl take you, then?’ I settled my bottom against a window ledge and crossed my legs at the ankles. This was nice, just chatting to Jay. All thoughts of Glen drifted away, and even the sting of Damien’s sneakiness faded a bit.