Read Online A Spoonful of Sugar by Kerry Barrett - Free Book Online Page B

suddenly surrounded by people.
    ‘Harry, Esme, over here!’ they cried, blinding us with flashes from their cameras.
    ‘What do we do?’ I asked in a panic, shielding my bump and cowering by the car. Harry, luckily, took control. She stared fixedly at a ruddy-faced photographer whose eyes glazed over for a second. Then, with a blink, he stood up a bit straighter.
    ‘Amelia’s just arrived,’ he said loudly. ‘She’s down by the loch.’
    Like a tide turning, the throng of paps spun round and headed towards the beach, leaving Harry and me alone.
    I breathed out in relief.
    ‘That’s better,’ Harry said. ‘Imagine how awful it must be to have that all the time.’
    I squinted through the rain at the shores of the water.
    ‘Is Amelia here?’ I said. ‘I can’t see her.’
    Harry gave me a weary look.
    ‘Of course she’s not here,’ she said. ‘I just had to get them away from us, didn’t I?’
    ‘Ohhhhh,’ I said, understanding what she’d done. ‘I see.’
    Together we ran – waddled – through the rain to the cafe where Mum and Suky exclaimed over how wet we were and fussed round us. Within seconds, I was sitting in a make-up chair, my hair being towelled off and a cup of tea and a plate of biscuits by my side. Harry may not be enjoying her fifteen minutes, but there were definite perks to being famous, even if it was only temporary.
    June and Wilf were in the cafe too. Like Amelia, June seemed to be a bit more glamorous this weekend. She was wearing cropped beige trousers and a pretty broderie anglaise blouse. She’d had her hair cut into a more modern style and had pink streaks put in it. Wilf looked exactly the same.
    ‘Ready for pastry week?’ he asked, bounding over and stealing a biscuit from my plate.
    ‘As I’ll ever be,’ I said gloomily. But it was fake gloom. Harry had given me an intensive week of tuition and I was confident I’d mastered the basics of every kind of pastry. I was ready for whatever they threw at me – and I’d prepared a three-tier pie for the challenge that I was very pleased with.
    Make-up done, we all trooped to the marquee under golf umbrellas. Lizzie greeted us all with a smile, but Peter barely acknowledged us. He was deep in conversation with a man in a suit, who I thought was part of the production company. I wondered if they were talking about Amelia, so I zoned in to their conversation.
    ‘ … silly schoolgirl,’ Peter said.
    The suited man nodded.
    ‘That’s true, but her dad runs the company so we need to show willing.’
    Peter sighed heavily.
    ‘Fine,’ he said. ‘I’ll have her as a guest spot on my next series. But not every episode.’
    The man in the suit shook Peter’s hand with vigour and dashed off out of the tent.
    I chewed my lip thoughtfully. It seemed things hadn’t worked out that badly for Amelia after all. Maybe she’d dropped the caramel on her own head. No, surely not?
    ‘Welcome to pastry week,’ Lizzie said, startling me out of my thoughts.
    ‘For today’s first challenge, we’d like you to make twelve chocolate éclairs,’ Peter said.
    I resisted the temptation to punch the air. Yes! Harry and I had practised these and I was pretty confident I could pull them off. Up at the front, Harry turned to me and grinned, and I gave her a thumbs-up. Bring on the éclairs, I thought. I may not be here entirely through my own merits but I was going to prove I deserved my spot in this round.
    And do you know what? I really did. For once, everything went perfectly. My choux pastry came together like a dream. Poor Wilf had a nightmare and ended up with a sticky goo that he came over to show me, chuckling ruefully.
    ‘Lucky it wasn’t this that landed on Amelia’s head,’ he said to me, lifting the gluey dough up with a spoon so I could fully appreciate how awful it was. ‘She’d never have got this off.’
    I grinned.
    ‘You’re going to have to start again,’ I said. ‘Do you have time?’
    Wilf checked his watch