All That She Can See(33)
‘It’s that Chase, isn’t it? He’s the reason this place is so bloody empty. Right bloomin’ nuisance,’ Bruce said and Cherry sighed. ‘Hey, it’s not all bad! I’ll never leave!’ he gestured to himself and it made Cherry almost tearful to see how proud he looked of himself. That was a first.
Bruce Bunting was married but to a woman who had never been faithful to him. Bruce had caught her countless times sending various men inappropriate pictures and he had even found her in their own bed on two occasions with two different men. She was beautiful and intelligent, which was why Bruce stayed with her. He thought he’d never strike that lucky again. Had Cherry known why Bruce felt so worthless she would have tried to help in other ways, beyond her baking, but Bruce kept his cards very close to his chest. He thought that the only other person who knew was Margie, as she had once caught his wife red-handed too – but in truth, news within their community spread quickly and most of the townspeople knew about his marriage. This information in particular, however, hadn’t yet reached Cherry.
Cherry covered her face with her hands, not because she wanted to cry but because she wanted to shut out the world for a moment. She wanted everything to just stop. She had never thought meeting someone who shared her gift would be so difficult, but she knew she had to keep her bakery and its customers safe from Chase and his dangerous and mindless behaviour. Even if that meant playing him at his own game for a little while.
‘Right!’ she said, slamming her hands down on the counter and making Bruce jump so hard he slid off his stool. ‘Sorry, Bruce, but I have to do something about this. I can’t just sit here.’ Cherry pulled out her phone and opened up the Facebook app. She typed as fast as her unpractised fingers could go and in minutes she had a post ready to send.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, and all those who have been so loyal to this bakery in the little time I’ve been here,’ Cherry called out, as if addressing a crowd far larger than Sally, Bruce and the one woman in the corner sipping tea and reading her book. ‘It’s time to repay you all with another event. It may be short notice but this Friday, there shall be all the usual treats with no charge. Just a one pound entry fee at the door. I look forward to seeing you all then.’ Cherry posted the details to her Facebook page and locked her phone with a flourish. Bruce applauded loudly, Sally simply nodded her approval from the corner and the one odd woman knocked back her tea, closed her book and left.
The event was a hit. While Cherry knew that some people turned to alcohol over cake in times of need, free cake was a different ball game altogether. No one could turn down free cake and Cherry made sure that the Eclairs were far more Encouraging, the Cake was more Consoling, the Cookies were overly Confident and the Pavlova was extremely Proud. Cherry hadn’t held back on her measures on this occasion and she was confident her cakes would win her customers back. There were only so many drunken benders you could go on before the fun ran dry but cake never lost its charm (in her bakery, it was, quite literally, full of it). Unlike at her launch event, Cherry did lay her treats out on the tables this time. Her plan was to give her customers whatever they wanted, but in much bigger doses so that their overly positive feelings would convince them to come back to the bakery. Once they were visiting her regularly again she would remedy their overdosed happiness by still giving them what they actually needed but with more careful measures.
Laughter and chatter rang out from every corner and Cherry sighed with relief. This might just work. She looked over to the window. The number of Meddlums lining up outside was far less than the number of people inside, and the ones that were there were writhing in agony as they shrivelled and shrank. She looked around at the huge smiles on every single face and something twisted in the pit of her stomach. A voice in the back of her head that sounded like her own said, This is going to end badly, but she pushed the feeling and the voice into a far corner of her mind and ignored them.
‘You can never have too much of a good thing,’ she said to herself with a nod.
‘You really think that’s true?’ Chase said, pushing his way to the counter past a group of three mums who had inexplicably started to dance, even though there was no music playing. Chase’s left eye had a purple-blueish bruise around it and even though he was the last person Cherry wanted to see right now, she couldn’t help but feel incredibly guilty that she’d hit him. She’d never had such an emotional outburst before. She doled out feelings to everyone else but she always kept her own under control. At least, she used to.
‘Sorry,’ she said quietly, gesturing to the bruise. ‘I shouldn’t have hit you.’
Chase rubbed the bruise with his fingertips but ignored her apology. ‘So Mary Berry has finally upped her game. Looks like you’ve joined the dark side, after all.’
‘That’s not what’s happening here,’ she said, her expression serious.
‘Really?’ he scoffed. ‘Look around! Do you see a single sad face in here?’
‘Making people feel good isn’t the dark side.’ She fiddled with the fur trim on the sleeve of her pyjama top.
‘No, I suppose you’re right. Making people feel too good is the dark side,’ Chase said, looking outside. The line-up of Meddlums he could see was at the other extreme to what Cherry saw. It was crowded and glowing, much like the inside of Cherry’s bakery, but he felt that same tightening in his stomach that she had and he thought that this route may end up leading anywhere other than somewhere good.