Passing Through

Passing Through - Part One

A/N - ok, so I have rapidly started a new story, I promise that I'll be better at updating than with last story. Been a bad six months, but back up and at it. Hoping you all love the start of this story, there's a little surprise in there, but I have a few reservations too. Stick with me, please?? MZxxx

Passing Through

"What an amazing looking cake, if I do say so myself."

There was no one there to hear it, but Natasha Ingram didn't care as she licked her fingers, standing back to examine the two layer coffee and walnut confection that she'd spent the morning making. Another red velvet sponge was in the oven, but for a moment she was captivated by her latest creation, the same enthusiasm that she still gave every cake that came out perfectly.

Nine months she'd been running the cafe that she'd inherited from her grandmother. Well, it hadn't been a cafe when her wonderful grandparent had owned the building, but a knitting shop. One that was struggling to sell more than the occasion ball of wool.

Losing her grandmother was hell, she was more than a parent to her, especially as her parents lived and worked in the US and she rarely saw them. No, Hilda, Nana H, she'd been her main confidante and friend for over half of her thirty one years. Inheriting her home, the shop and the flat above had been little consolation at losing her relative, but converting it to her dream, a cafe where she could bake cakes and make coffee, as well as healthy lunches and smoothies, well it had been her everything, though with that, also came a huge risks. The building was on the fringe of the city, but near to the university, which helped her trade. But everyday was a battle.

Heaven and Hell was born from her love for the indulgent and the healthy. She should have called it 'Everything in moderation', but that was far too stuffy.

The bell above the door tinkled, so she wiped her hands on her apron and carried the cake with her into the cafe.

A tall blonde man was at the counter and his eyes lit up as he spotted her, or rather the cake in her hands. He was wearing an immaculate and expensive looking suit, which made him stand out to her usual relaxed, student clientele.

"Oh my god, I was going to just have a coffee..."

She chuckled, "this is the 'hell' part of the job." She set the cake in the glass fronted display cabinet, then turned to him, "what can I get you?"

"I'll take a skinny decaf latte please, and a black coffee...do you have filter coffee, or just Americanos?"

She grinned, "both."

"Great, a filter coffee too, please. Can I get one piece of that cake, but with two forks?"

That made Natasha grin, "of course." The beep behind her told her that another cake was ready. She was using a quiet Monday to build up her stock for the start of the week. "Take a seat, I'll bring them over."

Retrieving the muffins from the oven, she put them to cool then set about fulfilling the man's order. It was ten thirty, the breakfast rush over, usually a spate of students from the university turned up around midday, but this was the small lull before that rush.

Before she could carry the drinks to the window table, the door opened and a woman burst in, a heavily pregnant woman, with a small blonde girl wrapped around her leg.

"Daddy!" The shy girl squealed, immediately dropping her hiding place to rush across the room, to be scooped up by the blonde man, leaving the woman to try and negotiate past the chairs. Natasha placed their coffee on a nearby table, and then helped move the closely packed seats, to allow the woman to sit down.