Note: I'd just like to say a big thank you to my guest reviewers whom I couldn't thank in person. Glad you liked it, folks! Chapter two is now here, and if anyone's worried about the seeming lack of Gold in this one, don't worry, he'll be back with gusto in chapter three.
Carrot Cake
Chapter Two
"Belle, you are looking at the door every two-and-a-half minutes. Are you expecting someone?"
Belle jumped at Emma's voice but recovered herself quickly.
"You mean apart from Ruby? Where has she got to? The lunch rush is starting and she's half an hour late already…"
"Belle, as worrying as Ruby's lateness is, it's not unheard of. You are definitely looking out for someone coming in, and have been doing ever since you arrived at half-past eight. Could this someone possibly be a certain approaching-middle-age lawyer-with-a-limp from over the way?"
"Emma!" Belle began, but before she could go any further, the doors to the café were flung open and a familiar voice was heard to wail.
"Pongo's ill!"
Everything in the café stopped, and everyone looked at Ruby in the doorway. She was still wearing last night's date outfit, and she looked absolutely distraught. Belle and Emma exchanged looks.
"Pongo?" Emma mouthed. "Last night's date?"
"No, I think that was Steve," Belle mouthed back.
"Ruby, who on earth is Pongo?" asked Emma, waving their friend over to them as the café returned to its previous business. Belle finished serving the customer who had been waiting patiently at the till during Ruby's dramatic declaration, and the three waitresses clustered around the counter.
"Archie's dog!" Ruby moaned. "He's a Dalmatian, called Pongo, and he's ill!"
"Ruby, who on earth is Archie?" asked Emma, still confused.
"Dr Hopper," said Ruby in a perfectly matter-of-fact manner. "Didn't you know his name? I bumped into him last night on my way home from my date, he nearly ran me over actually, because he was on his way to the vet's with Pongo, so I went with him to give him some moral support – I mean, I was there and I wasn't doing anything else – and I've been with them ever since. It's serious stuff, they had to operate and everything. Poor Archie, he's devastated, he's had him ever since he was a puppy…"
"Excuse me," said an impatient voice behind Ruby. She jumped out of the way and Emma quickly served the next customers. The rush began in earnest at that point and Ruby was seconded into working her shift in her stilettos to help them get through all the orders. It was coming up to two o'clock before any significant lull came and she could tell them the entirety of her tale.
"The date went all right; Steve was lovely but a bit on the boring side, and he's so short… But he did pay, which is something. Anyway, it was about ten and I was crossing the road to get the night bus home when I was nearly run over. The driver stopped and I was going to give him a piece of my mind when I saw it was Archie, and I saw how worried he looked, and there was Pongo in the back, covered with a blanket looking so helpless and pathetic. And once Archie explained what was happening, well, I just had to offer to go with him and make sure he was ok."
"Oh yes," said Emma wryly, nodding. "You had to."
"Had to what?"
Belle turned to see Ashley waiting for service at the counter. The younger woman had started working as a secretary for Guildhall Law just after Belle had begun at Granny's, and they'd bonded over a particularly disastrous morning of spilled coffee and lost paperwork.
"Had to go and help a dog in distress," said Emma. "What can I get you, Ashley? We haven't seen you for months; they've been sending Marina in for the coffees. The usual haul for all your charges too busy doing legal things to buy their own beverages?"
"No, lunch hour for once." Ashley exhaled heavily. "I'll be glad of the day that this one comes and I get out of there." She patted her pregnant stomach.
"That bad, huh?"
Ashley nodded.
"Sid's in court all week so he's been telephoning in contradictory orders left, right and centre; Her Majesty's upped her game as lead candidate for Bitch of the Year; Fox is more concerned with planning his retirement than seeing his clients; and Gold's being even more of a terror than usual because he's at the hospital this afternoon." She paused. "Everyone else is all right. I'll have a ham sandwich and some carrot cake, please."
Belle rang it up as Emma went round the corner into the kitchen area to prepare the sandwich. Something inside her twisted at the thought of Gold being described as a terror, especially when he had seemed so pleasant the previous evening... She peered around the partition and caught Emma's attention; Ruby was still chatting to her about her exploits: "He held my hand in the waiting room!" "Who, Pongo?" "No, Archie!".
"Pst!" Belle hissed. "Are you two ok if I take a break now?"
"Sure," said Emma. She looked up from laying slices of ham on the bloomer bread and grinned. "Go and pump Ashley for information on her terror."
Belle rolled her eyes, extremely annoyed that Emma had pre-empted her exactly. She cut a generous wedge of carrot cake and brought it over to Ashley, who'd eased herself into a chair by the window and was leaning back with her eyes closed.
"Thanks, Belle," she said as the other woman slipped into the seat opposite her.
"How long now?" Belle asked, nodding towards Ashley's belly.
"A month and a bit. I finish work on Friday. It's going to be bliss." She snorted. "I bet no-one's remembered and I'll get an angry call from Fox on my first day off asking where the hell I am."
Belle laughed.
"Get Sean onto him."
"I intend to."
Emma brought over her sandwich and Ashley attacked it with gusto.
"So…" Belle began, unsure quite how to begin a surreptitious enquiry. "Mr Gold's settling in, then?"
Ashley nodded.
"Part of the furniture already. Fox loves him; it means he gets to advertise another specialist. We've got three now, and, as Fox never fails to remind us, that's more than any other high-street firm in the area." She pounced on a bit of ham that had dropped out of the sandwich.
"What's Mr Gold then?" Belle asked. She knew that Guildhall could already boast accredited specialists in contract and personal injury cases.
"Family," said Ashley. "Divorce and children."
"Oh." Belle was taken aback. "That's… unexpected."
"I know, you wouldn't think it to look at him. I had him pegged as the million-a-go contract type, but no."
There was a pause. Belle bit the bullet.
"You said he was a terror."
Ashley sighed, and pulled her cake towards her.
"He's got one hell of a temper on him. He can't afford to lose it with clients so he loses it with us instead. He doesn't really shout much, but I've heard him throw things. He's a perfectionist and bloody relentless with it, which is where I'm at loggerheads with him, because I'm, well, not. And he's even snappier than usual today because he's got a hospital appointment about his knee and he hates doctors."
Belle laughed.
"I bet he and Mills get on like a house on fire. She's never out of hospitals to visit her clients!"
"Oh, they hate each other's guts," said Ashley cheerfully. "They're constantly needling each other. It's about fifty-fifty as to who gets the upper hand." She sighed. "He's a good lawyer, Belle. He'll take any case as long as he's paid for it, unlike Fox who'll only deal in contracts, and the juniors who won't touch any remotely nasty criminal cases with a barge pole. But like I said, he mainly does the family stuff, and, despite everything, he's great with kids." Ashley grinned and tapped Belle's hand with her cake fork. "Excellent husband material."
Belle groaned and rested her head in her hands.
"How much have Emma and Ruby told you?" she asked, thinking of the notebook.
"Oh, enough. It's more your body language that's the main culprit, though. And your subtle questioning isn't all that subtle."
"Oh… bother."
"It's ok, I've only got a few more minutes as I need to go to the chemist as well. We won't go into the details of your love life."
"More like the lack of it," Belle muttered. "Ok, so who else's love lives are you keeping tabs on?"
Ashley leaned in as much as she could with her bump.
"I reckon that Sid and Her Majesty are screwing," she said conspiratorially.
Belle raised an eyebrow.
"Sidney Glass and Regina Mills."
"Yes," confirmed Ashley.
"Screwing."
"Yes."
Belle shook her head.
"Now that's one mental image I don't want again in a hurry," she said. "Seriously? Sid and Regina?"
Ashley gave a knowing nod.
"Caught them in Sid's office standing a little bit too close to have just been having a friendly chat between colleagues."
"Hmm." Belle wasn't entirely convinced. Ashley got up to leave.
"Well, I'll see you around. Hopefully the next time you see me, all this excess baggage will be on the outside." She paused, grinning wickedly. "Shall I give Gold your love?"
"No!" Belle exclaimed. "Ashley, I'll kill you!"
"Gold can instruct your case when you're done for murder, then," Ashley said. "Perfect. Bye!"
Belle waved but made no reply. Emma had just left in order to pick up her son from school and Ruby was nowhere to be seen, so it looked like her break was over and she was manning the café single-handedly. She went back behind the counter and leaned on it with a sigh. As much as she wanted to indulge in a little dreaming, she should really be more concerned with Ruby's whereabouts. She gave a final, longing glance at the entrance, knowing thanks to Ashley's information that there'd be no use in door-watching this afternoon.
She squealed as two skinny arms grabbed her from behind and squeezed.
"Oh, Belle, everything's all right; Pongo's going to be fine. I just had a call from Archie, who'd just had a call from the vet."
"So that's where you got to," said Belle as Ruby detached her limpet hold from round her waist.
"Yeah, I was talking to him in the fridge. What? Don't give me that look. It's quieter in there."
Belle made no comment on the subject.
"Does this mean you can go home and get changed now?" she asked.
"Well, no, I left my other shoes in Archie's car." Ruby grinned. "I swear that it wasn't intentional. I swear. I was just in a bit of a flap because I was late."
"That seems to be the story of your life at the moment," Belle observed drily. Ruby paid her tone no heed.
"Something very good came of it though," she said. "I've got Archie's number now."
Belle rolled her eyes.
"Trust you to get a date out of a crisis."
"I haven't got a date!" Ruby batted her with a tea towel. "Yet. And I gave him my number so that he could let me know that Pongo was ok."
Belle half-believed her friend. Ruby was a huge dog-lover, no-one could deny it.
"Ok, I'll let it slide."
"But since the opportunity's there, of course…"
"Ruby, you are incorrigible."
"I know." She leaned on the counter beside Belle, waiting for the next customers. "Are you getting anywhere with yours yet?"
Belle considered telling her the events of the previous evening, tame as they seemed in comparison to Ruby's adventures. She shook her head. Ruby patted her shoulder.
"One day," she said brightly, before going over to take up her place at the coffee machine as the next customers entered.
Belle couldn't help another quick glance across at the law office. One day. Hopefully soon. If only she'd known he was a divorce lawyer before. Ruby's suggestion would have been perfect. Oh well. What was done was done. She'd cross that bridge when she came to it. If she came to it.
She shook herself and focused on her work; there was no use moping about now. She'd gone about half an hour blissfully free from unwanted thoughts or regrets when Ruby's voice broke through her carefully constructed 'concentrating very hard on the washing up' mentality.
"Oh, Archie, you shouldn't have! Thank you, you're a lifesaver."
Belle peered around the kitchen partition to see Dr Hopper standing at the counter, holding up Ruby's working flats that she'd left in his car. He looked even more crumpled than usual but definitely happy, and Belle thought that she could detect a small expression of triumph in his smile at being seen to be doing something gallant and chivalrous for Ruby. Her friend took the shoes and leaned over the counter to kiss the doctor's cheek, causing him to blush a bright red that clashed with his hair horribly.
"What can I get you?" she asked. "You must need something after the fraught twenty-four hours you've had," she added.
"I, erm, well, I really just came in with your shoes," Archie began.
"Oh, nonsense," said Ruby. "Sit down and I'll bring you a cappuccino. On the house." She called over her shoulder to Belle as she skidded over to the coffee machine. "I'm having a break now, Belle!"
"Honestly…"
"If you can take a break to chat to our clientele, then so can I!"
Belle dried off her hands and came out to the counter to keep an eye on the café whilst Ruby was engaged in the far more important occupation of flirting with the psychiatrist. She watched as her friend sprinkled a double helping of chocolate onto the drink she'd just made and went out into the main shop. Damn Ruby. She made it look so blinking easy…
To be continued