One
‘No...no...no - wait. Dammit.’ Claire scowled as she
accidentally swiped left and watched the flash of a cute smile
disappear from her screen. ‘Stupid app.’
Honestly, why wasn’t there a back button? She had
half a mind to deactivate her profile. At first, it had been
addictive swiping through all those faces, choosing the ones who
sparked her interest and had good enough chat to keep her
entertained but now she was getting bored. She put the phone down
on the kitchen counter and poured a glass of orange juice.
‘I hope there’s vodka in that,’ Keri said, fastening
an earring as she walked into the kitchen.
Claire shook her head. ‘I can’t turn up at my
sister’s tomorrow with a messed up cake.’
‘It’s Christmas Eve,’ Keri replied, raking her
fingers through her red hair. ‘You’re seriously telling me you’re
going to stay in and be all Nigella Lawson?’
‘Yep.’ Claire shrugged. ‘Even if I didn’t have to
bake, I’m shattered after that flight.’
She’d just endured eleven hours from Cape Town back
to London, running around after a group of kids on a school trip,
dealing with a warring couple and the heaviest turbulence she’d
experienced to date. Added to the almost constant partying in the
lead up to the festive season, her body needed a rest. Even so, she
still tallied up the pros and cons.
Pros : Joining Keri and the rest of her
colleagues at Sugar Bar. It had been featured on Made In
Chelsea and rumour had it, some of the cast would be there
tonight. She could do a bit of celeb spotting while drinking
Prosecco and flirting outrageously with Fit Mark, the new, hot
pilot based at Gatwick.
Cons : Dodging intimidatingly rich people all
night, moving onto Sambuca after the Prosecco - never a good idea -
and ending up looking like a complete moron trying to pull Fit
Mark. All of which would result in her rocking up late and hungover
at her sister’s tomorrow with a half-arsed cake.
‘Are you sure?’ Keri asked, raising an eyebrow.
‘It’s going to be one hell of a night.’
Claire nodded. ‘I bet it will, but I’ll stick to my
juice and cookbooks. Have an awesome time.’
Keri grinned and left, the clacking of her heels
against the floor echoing through the flat as she went. Claire had
to admit that the pros of going out far outweighed the cons but
tomorrow, she’d be spending the day with all of her family for the
first time in years and she had to be on top form. Just thinking
about how her fractured family had come together again made her
smile. Her twin sister, Sarah, was cooking a full on Christmas
dinner and their mum and step-dad were driving down from Sheffield
tonight. It would have been unthinkable only a year ago.
Claire took a gulp of her juice and looked down at
the cookbook in front of her. Despite being the World’s Worst
Baker, she’d been put on dessert duty. There was a risk she’d end
up making something more like rock cake than sponge but she
would’ve baked a hundred of them if Sarah had asked.
She flicked through the pages and stopped at a
picture of dainty looking cupcakes, complete with thick, twirled
icing. Everyone was all about cupcakes these days - they were bang
on trend. Even traditional wedding cake seemed to have been
replaced by tiers of cute little cupcakes and every weekend, the
café down the road from her flat had a queue outside that would put
New York’s Magnolia Bakery to shame. How hard could they be?
Thirty minutes later, she queued for the checkout in
the supermarket down the road, her basket laden with baking
goodies. A Seventies Christmas song pumped through the speakers and
the store was decked out with tinsel and baubles. Claire shuffled
her feet as the queue moved forward an inch. The place was packed
with last-minute shoppers, all intent on stocking up enough to
over-indulge for the next few days and, as hectic as the shop was,
most of the faces seemed to be smiling.
She watched the couple in front
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