Page 39 of The Seaside Cocktail Campervan

‘Well, I found him on Facebook and Instagram, the Cocktail Campervan pages … Lucy, I saw his picture … I’m sure I know him.’ Her friend’s voice had dipped warily.

Lucy had a prickly feeling that she wasn’t going to like the way this conversation was heading. ‘Where are you going with this, Becks?’

‘What’s this guy’s surname?’

‘Umm …’ She thought back to their recent conversation on the beach. ‘Anderson, I think. Yes, Jack Anderson.’

A beat of silence from Becky, then, ‘Oh shit. That’s it … I bloody well knew it. Jack twat-faced bloody Anderson … the guy who only went and wrecked my 21st Birthday with his two-timing antics.’

‘Honestly? Are you sure, Becks?’ Lucy felt the blood drain from her cheeks. It all began to fall horribly into place. That Jack.

Lucy had met him briefly back then, but it was years ago, and yeah, he’d worn his hair really short, and he and Becky had only been on a few dates – time enough for her friend to have fallen head over heels for him, mind you – and time enough for him to have been seeing someone else too. She still remembered that night, at the restaurant bar that had been booked in town, Becky waiting excitedly for her new boyfriend to turn up and meet all her family and friends … except, he never showed. Halfway through the night, some apologetic ducking-out text from him. And then, a week later, news on the Rothbury grapevine that’d he’d been seen with some other girl at a club in Newcastle they often hit.

‘Oh shit. Becks. That Jack.’ Lucy felt a bit queasy.

‘Yeah, so be careful, Luce. That guy is toxic. Really, you don’t want to touch him with a bargepole.’

‘Bloody hell …’ Lucy’s voice drifted, she was still trying to process the news. Friday … tomorrow … the birthday booking he’d helped her secure … How could they not see each other?

‘Luce?’

‘Bloody hell, we’re both at a birthday do tomorrow. Yikes, that’ll be awkward, won’t it?’

‘You’ll be fine. Just play it cool. It’s not like you’re best buddies or anything, is it? And that kiss moment … well, it was all a near-miss. Nothing actually happened, did it. Just put it down to experience.’

Lucy couldn’t help but notice that Becky had well and truly changed her tune. All excited and egging her on about the near-kiss, and now playing it down like it was nothing at all. Well, her friend was only trying to protect her.

‘Yeah, you’re right.’ She now also felt stupid that she’d even entertained any possible romantic notions about Jack. The beach day and the drive were never going to be mentioned ever again.

Thank god she hadn’t let him into the cottage. Was that his technique? A fun-filled afternoon, a cocktail or two, and then charm his way in with an innocent kiss? It shouldn’t have been a surprise to her, not really. He was still the same smooth-talking charmer that Becks had fallen for. It kind of made sense, all the Jack the Lad banter she’d heard him spouting at his cocktail bar. God, she might have ended up as just another notch on his bedpost. She felt so very naive. Jack might have managed to open up a little chink in her heart on that beach afternoon. But no more, that door was being well and truly closed again.

Her poor wrecked heart had been through enough this past couple of years. She vowed, there and then, that if she ever, ever looked to have some kind of relationship in the future, it certainly wouldn’t be with someone like Jack Anderson.

The next morning, Lucy’s fingers were stiff from once again kneading and shaping dough. She was now creating individual balls, enough for the pizza bases for this last-minute birthday event, sixty of the little knuckle-busting monsters in fact, and – truth be told – the dough was taking a real pounding after the bombshell phone call from Becky last night.

Let it all out, Lucy had thought to herself, channelling her frustration into the production line.

Yep, she just had to refocus and crack on. Next, she switched on the oven, ready for step two of the day, making two humungous chocolate-cake squares to turn into the Italian chocolate mousse party cake. This needed to be freshly baked and that meant the pressure was on. Thankfully the Clementine and Limoncello cakes were already made, as Nonna had advised that if you made them the day before they’d taste even better.

And after that, hah, all she had to do … was prepare the cured meats and olives ready for the charcuterie boards, along with green salads and cherry tomatoes. Her To-Do list still looked rather daunting, and she was now down to hours, not days.

She’d raided both her mum’s and Nonna’s kitchen cupboards, borrowing as many nice platters and dishes as she could, along with a trestle-style table found lurking in her mum’s garage. Online she’d also discovered a fabulous red-checked oilcloth to cover it with (typical Italian restaurant-style, very much like it might have been in Papa’s restaurant of old), and some new olive-wood serving boards to complete the look. With her string of Italian-flag bunting and some extra fairy lights for above the counter area, she hoped the styling would prove attractive too. She really needed to impress and make her mark with this food feast. Fingers crossed.

To add to her woes, not-so-helpful Tamsin was adamant that she had an ‘unmissable’ party lined up for herself that evening and couldn’t help at All Fired Up. There was no way she’d be working on some ‘poxy pizza van’ all night. So, Lucy had been well and truly left in the lurch, with her anxiety levels cranking up a gear.

Thankfully, and rather surprisingly, her saviour came in the form of her brother, Olly. Though Becks had offered to step in to help if push came to shove, she knew her close friend had an early start the day after the event with a family wedding to go to on the Saturday, and Lucy really didn’t want to spoil that for her.

She was letting off steam about it all on the phone earlier with her brother, about to hurtle a dough ball across the room in frustration, when he’d come up trumps and offered, rather marvellously, to stand in and help her out. So, her new event was to be a real Papa’s Pizzas family affair, and whilst she was still in a bit of a spin about seeing Jack after Becky’s revelation, and of course anxious for it to all go off perfectly for her and her guests, a part of her was also looking forward to having Olly’s support and company.

Cheers to 40 Years!

You are invited to

A Surprise Birthday Bash for

James’s 40th

Friday 18th June evening