The Peridale Cafe Cozy Box Set by Agatha Frost

Author:Agatha Frost [Frost, Agatha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pink Tree Publishing LTD
Published: 2020-03-03T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Two

Looping around the roundabout for a second time, Julia glanced over to Jessie, who had trays of doughnuts stacked up on her knees. Fumbling with her hands on top of the plastic wrap securing the doughnuts in place, she cracked her knuckles again. She had been doing it since they had left the cottage.

“You don’t have to be nervous,” Julia said, finally taking the turn after driving around a third time. “I’ll be by your side the entire time.”

Jessie didn’t seem to have heard her. She stared ahead, continuing to crack her knuckles; the sound sending a shiver down Julia’s spine.

From the moment Julia had woken Jessie soon after sunrise, she had sensed the girl’s fear. It didn’t surprise Julia. While she had been baking over one hundred doughnuts for the homeless residents of Fenton Industrial Park, Julia had wondered if returning there was the best thing for Jessie. Despite Jessie’s protests that she wasn’t leaving Julia, something deep within her squirmed uncomfortably.

“We’re here,” Julia said, the burnt husk of the industrial park coming into view.

Jessie snapped out of her trance state and stared ahead at the blackened warehouse buildings, which looked like they could fall to the ground at any moment. Fingers tightening around the steering wheel, Julia hated the thought of this being home to anybody, let alone a teenage girl.

They pulled up outside of the industrial park, and it had a huge ‘FOR SALE’ sign looming next to the entrance, which in turn had a ‘SALE BY AUCTION’ sticker plastered across its front, with an auction date only a couple of weeks away. Through the spiked, metal fences, Julia spotted the community Jessie had spoken about, and her heart skipped a beat.

“There’s so many people,” Julia whispered, the words escaping her mouth before she even had a chance to think about them.

“The country’s hidden problem,” Jessie said with wisdom beyond her sixteen years. “We – I mean – they live in places like this because it’s easier for people to pretend we – I mean - they don’t exist.”

Julia wanted to tell her that wasn’t true, but she bit her tongue before she let a lie slip out. She thought of her own perception of homeless people before she had met Jessie. There was nobody that she knew of in Peridale who was homeless. Until she caught Jessie breaking into her café, it always felt like an issue that happened in other parts of the country. Yet here she was, staring through the gaps in the metal fence at dozens of people, less than an hour’s drive from her front door. During her time living in London, there were homeless men and women on every corner asking for spare change. She would often dig a pound coin out of her purse for the most desperate looking of them, but there were so many it was impossible to help all of them. It was a problem most city folk were overly desensitised to. They blended into the

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