Chapter 1 part 2.

... Getting up from the table with the promise of the first days cake tomorrow Alice walked back in the kitchen to check all was well for the lunch time rush. She smiled to herself, Joe and Elsie came in earlier and earlier for their lunches so they could stay as long as possible without feeling guilty at taking up a table. She was really glad that she could help them albeit unwittingly to them.

Opening the kitchen door Alice observed her friend and fellow partner in the business, Heather in mid flow. She was yelling down the phone at her younger daughter Karly who was supposed to be working in the coffee shop but hadn't turned up for work at 11.30. This was a typical Heather moment, and Alice knew that Heather was also in the middle of yet another hot flush looking at the colour of her red face. Before she was noticed Alice backed out thinking to return in five minutes, when no doubt as usual calm and tranquility would be restored.

Heather's daughters couldn't be more different, the eldest Jess was just coming to the end of her school exams and was determined to travel for her gap year before taking up the promised place at Uni, if her results were good enough. Which Alice thought with a wry smile wouldn't be anything other than straight As the way Jess worked. She was one smart cookie with a steely determination to get ahead in life.

Karly on the other hand, her twin sister and younger by 10 minutes, was very different. She'd left school at the first opportunity and had done a lot of nothing jobs since. And her mother in exasperation had given her yet another chance at a job at the coffee shop. But so far Karly preferred going out with her badboy boyfriend Jacko and coming in late so she slept through the alarm most days.

Heather had her hands full with the girls, but she'd done a wonderful job as a single mum after her husband died in a tragic accident.

That's how they'd met seven years ago they both went on the same day to join a support group for single parents in the library. And Heather had bumped into Alice as she was sneaking a cigarette to calm her nerves before entering the building.

They'd hit it off straight away, the minute the group finished they had made a beeline for each other to compare notes after their first session. They went straight into the pub next door and simultaneously ordered a large white wine, before looking at each and collapsing with laughter at what they'd had to deal with in the group run by the very formidable and organised Mrs Forbes. Sitting down at a table in the corner, Heather exclaimed in her best Mrs Forbes voice, " Now you new singltons are all going to get on famously I'm sure"

Which is exactly what Heather and Alice did, but they continued to hold their new singlton evening in the pub rather than ever facing Mrs Bossy Forbes again.

And now her dearest friend, who was 10 years older than Alice was up to her armpits in menopausal flushes and a troublesome daughter.

Time to go back in the kitchen and see if calm was restored........


Keep reading to meet Brigit the local newspaper editor
George the single farmer who grows the organic produce used in the coffee shop who has a huge crush on Heather.
Peter the local soliciter who will play a big part
Deryck the ex husband of Alice
Jamie and Guy Alice's sons
And other characters who yet to have names