A Perfect Paris Christmas - Mandy Baggot Page 0,76

been the worst. Bo-Bo was apparently in a deep sense of shock as well as having an injured foot. He was currently sleeping off the medication in the garage of the hotel at Tour Eiffel. It had been all he could do to get Jeanne into a hotel room there rather than have her rest alongside the dog in the loading bay.

He let out a sigh. So, he was a little dishevelled? Who needed to be in an uncreased business suit to exude professionalism? Self-belief came from inside not from power-clothes. At least he wasn’t in his running gear…

‘Order the coffee Silvie likes,’ Ethan said, straightening the collar of his shirt. ‘And something American for Louis. A hot dog perhaps?’ He smiled. ‘Nothing connected to penguins.’

‘Monsieur Durand has already ordered. Honeyed coffee and coconut biscuits.’

Ethan scoffed. ‘He orders this yet he wants to—’ He stopped himself short. He had been about to say that Louis wanted to sell the hotels, but that wasn’t the kind of information you should be imparting to your staff, even your closest confidante.

‘He wants to…?’ Noel inquired.

‘Change the menu,’ Ethan said.

‘He wants to change the menu?’ Noel asked, now looking confused.

‘Non,’ Ethan said. ‘I think we should look at changing the menu.’ He took the papers from Noel and hoped it was the information he had asked him for. Details of how well the brand was performing despite the global difficulties of earlier that year. ‘The menu has not been changed since the hotels were formed.’

‘That is because a long time was taken to perfect a core menu that was, if you remember, almost scientifically devised,’ Noel said to him.

Ethan knew that. He had listened to Ferne talk about it, plus two experts she had employed to deliver on it. Ferne had wanted the restaurants of the hotels to be in sync with one another and all the dishes had to be a surprise for the palate with delicate nuances taking well-known French cuisine to another level. The science said that diners were seeking ‘different’ with a touch of ‘unexpected’. But did science really know about everyone? And shouldn’t food be more about a ‘feeling’? Ethan held his breath then, thinking about Keeley. What she had said about ‘feelings’ had really resonated with him.

‘I want a new menu before Christmas,’ Ethan blurted out. ‘I want you to look at what the other hotels have planned for their festive lunches and Christmas party evenings and then I want you to think the complete opposite.’

‘I do not understand,’ Noel said. ‘The other day you tell me to see what other hotels and restaurants are doing with their decorations so we might create something similar. Now you are—’

‘Now I am asking you, Noel, to do something else.’ Ethan hadn’t meant his tone to be so sharp, but it was important for him to be in charge when Silvie and Louis seemed desperate to strip him away from that role. Ferne had trusted his judgement. Always. ‘Think… home comforts. Not everyone who comes away for Christmas is doing that because they want to get away from home.’ He mused on this anew as the words fell into the air. ‘Some people will have to be away from home, or perhaps they simply cannot be with their loved ones. They may well want reminders of those Christmases.’

He took a moment to remember the best Christmas dinner he had ever eaten. Not in a restaurant. Not even with the Durands. It had been at a shelter where the goose had been cut thick and served with crispy roasted potatoes, hot and fluffy in the centre, a menagerie of vegetables served with a dark, rich gravy. Ethan could recall just how full his stomach had felt after eating that feast next to other people like him. People with nothing and no one. People who relied on the kindness of others.

‘Home comforts?’ Noel mused, as if the phrase was alien to him.

‘Yes,’ Ethan answered. ‘Like… all the things you think you should not have, but secretly crave because they remind you of… a happier time or… a special place or moment.’

As he spoke he was filled with the most intense feeling. This was exactly what was missing from the Perfect Paris mission statement. There had been nothing wrong with Ferne’s quest for luxury, but perhaps the world had changed. And Ethan couldn’t help thinking that the other part of his friend – the part who had cared for strays and given money to