The Diary Of Pamela D.

When their food arrived, it was served by Gladys, who stood watching the three expectantly as they began. Pamela stopped immediately after the first bite of her pastie.

'Gladys! This is fabulous!'

'Don't thank me,' she rejoined with a smile. 'I just spoke to Daphne on the phone. At her insistence she whipped up your order and sent it right over, just to be sure you don't go ahead and change your mind. She wants to start tomorrow- and she wants to speak with you about making some changes.'

Pamela looked a question.

'She wants you to expand the kitchen, knock out the wall on the right there to take in that old storage room that's too small to use.'

Pamela winced, thinking of the cost. The wall would be expensive to remove- it was structurally necessary to the building. But, doing some quick mental arithmetic, she quickly grasped how little time it would take for the pub to recoup the loss.

'Tell Daphne she's got it,' Pamela said. 'And tell her for me that if she has any other suggestions to just leave them with me, and they'll be put into action just as soon as I can get to them.'

Gladys beamed a smile at her and went back to the kitchen with a spring in her step, secure in the knowledge that it would be her last time.

'You're acting like a Mrs. Dewhurst already,' Tessa told her. 'Shall I start making some calls about the wall?'

Tessa's comment reacted on Pamela like cold water. 'Sure,' she replied, feeling a mixture of anticipation and fear. In only one more week, she and Theo would be husband and wife.

And then?

But her mind still refused to think that far ahead.