Chapter Eight
Hello, my darling Issy. You know, not every time is right for a big, full-on cake. Sometimes, you want a little essence of sweetness that is more like a kiss, or a friendly word on a sad day. And also, you know what pears are like. Ripe for ten seconds then you’ve missed it. Whereas this works very well with pears you’ve just missed, or the hard ones that go all powdery. Cake is a very forgiving mistress to bad pears.
Pear Upside-Down Cake
3 pears, peeled, halved and cored
7 oz butter
7 oz caster sugar
3 eggs
7 oz self-raising flour, sifted
3 tbsp milk
1 tbsp icing sugar
Arrange the pear halves evenly over the bottom of a buttered pudding dish and set aside. Using a wooden spoon (not the mixer. I know you think the mixer, but I say to you, did I build three bakeries in Manchester with electric mixers? Well, eventually, yes. But at first we did it with the wooden spoon, and so should you), cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs, adding them one at a time and mixing well after each addition. Add the flour to the bowl, gently folding it into the mixture, then stir in the milk. Spoon the cake mixture evenly over the pears and smooth the surface.
Cook in a preheated oven at 350°F/gas mark 4 for 45 minutes, until the surface is firm when gently touched and the cake comes slightly away from the sides of the dish.
Remove from the oven, let it cool for five minutes, then turn out on to a serving plate. Dust the top of the cake evenly with icing sugar and serve immediately. Congratulate the pears on a job well done.
Love, Gramps xx
Issy was getting up just as Helena was coming in from night shift, weary but slightly hysterical from the unit’s success in saving all four teenagers from a joyriding smash-up on the A10.
‘Hey,’ she said, noticing Issy grinding fresh beans for coffee. ‘You’re perking up!’
‘Want one?’ said Issy. ‘I am go go go today.’
‘No thank you. I have enough problems sleeping off night shift as it is.’
‘Well, try and catch up. I think I’ve found a man for your list.’
Helena raised her eyebrows. ‘Does he have penetrating brown eyes and an offbeat smile?’
‘No, Helena. That’s John Cusack again.’
‘Oh yes.’
‘He’s called Austin. He’s got reddish-brown hair and works in a bank and—’
‘Stop right there,’ said Helena. ‘Two gingers? It’s a calamity waiting to happen.’ She smiled at her flatmate. ‘It’s good to see you on form again.’
‘I got the loan and I’m going to meet a potential member of staff.’
‘Well, that is just great,’ said Helena. ‘Pretend you’re always this upbeat.’
Issy kissed her and left the flat.
Across town, Pearl McGregor turned over in the bed. Something – someone – was kicking her. Hard. It was like being bombarded by a very small elephant.
‘Who is that elephant in my bed?’
It wasn’t really a bed, it was a mattress on the floor. She had a fold-out sofa for their little two-room flat – her mother had the bedroom – but it was just too uncomfortable so they’d got an old mattress and propped it up against the wall during the day. Pearl had tried to smarten it up by sewing a patchwork bedspread and some cushions. Louis was meant to sleep in with her mum, but he always gravitated towards her in the night, and woke her up bright and early.
‘Coco Pops!’ came a tiny voice from deep under the duvet. ‘Coco Pops, Mummy!’
‘Who said that?’ Pearl pretended to search the bed. ‘I thought I heard a voice, but there can’t be anyone in my bed.’
There were stifled giggles from down by her feet.
‘Nope, no one is in my bed.’
Louis went silent till all she could hear was his excited breathing.
‘OK, good, I will go back to sleep and forget about all those elephants.’
‘Noooo! Mummy! Is me!! Wan Coco Pops!’
Louis flung himself into her arms and Pearl buried her face in his neck, sucking in the warm sleepy smell of him. There were a lot of drawbacks to single motherhood, but the alarm clock wasn’t one of them.
With the curtains open (also one of Pearl’s needlework creations), Louis propped up by the breakfast bar and her mother enjoying a cup of tea in bed, Pearl looked down at her notebook. Today the two of them could maybe go to the drop-in centre while she went round the shops. It was absolutely freezing outside but she’d tell her mum that she and Louis should stay as long as they could at the centre, so they could turn off the heating in the flat. Tea was fifteen pence there, she could handle that. Then the freezer shop was doing a deal on sausages so she’d buy as many as she could manage. A bit of her felt bad at not budgeting for more fresh fruit for Louis – she watched his adorable baby tummy spill over the top of his cheap pyjamas. And nappies. She dreaded buying nappies. She’d tried potty-training him but he was barely two, he didn’t have a clue what was going on. She just ended up spending more down the laundrette, it didn’t make sense. Then she’d go back to Tesco. They must have something coming up soon, they must do. And she’d heard that you could work around your childcare … Suddenly, groggily, she remembered. It was today! She was going to see that scatty girl. Something about a coffee shop! She rushed to turn the shower on, just as Louis put his hands up round her neck.
‘Cuggles!’ he shouted joyously, Coco Pops finished, as he launched himself at her again. Pearl hugged him back.
‘You are so damn cute,’ she said.’
‘TV on,’ said Louis happily. He knew how to get his mother in a good mood.
‘No way,’ said Pearl. ‘We have things to do today.’
It was a bright, frosty Friday morning when Pearl and Issy met outside the Cupcake Café. Their breath showed over the steaming cups of takeaway coffee they’d had to buy four hundred metres up the road. Pearl was dressed in a large pinafore and holding Louis by the hand.
Louis was an exquisite-looking child: roly-poly and caramel-coloured, with wide, sparkling eyes and a ready grin. He immediately took the proffered cake from his fond mother and sat down with two racing cars under the spindly tree.
Issy, having left the house in such a positive mood, suddenly felt a bit nervous; this was almost like a blind date. If this worked out, they would be spending eight, nine, ten hours a day together. If it didn’t, that could be a disaster. Was it a huge mistake to be planning a business relationship with someone she’d only met once before? Or should she follow her gut instinct?