Yes Chef, No Chef - By Susan Willis Page 0,105
I’d love to do the buffet.”
Lisa had continued. “Andrew’s an ace in public relations; he’s well connected in the London business sector, and knows some very influential people. So, make sure you bring plenty of business cards with you.”
Sitting with a coffee at the kitchen table she chewed the end of her pencil and made a list of the seafood arrangements she wanted to do and the ingredients she’d need.
She thought again of Lisa sighing with dread at having to tell her about Adam and knew her friend’s reaction would be a bolshie, couldn’t care less attitude but moreover knew that when Lisa was alone she might be upset. At the moment though Lisa was in Prague at a work conference and because she didn’t want to tell her on the mobile decided to wait until tomorrow night at the party.
The night before she’d called at Sarah's and told her what she'd learned from John and Sarah agreed it had to be the same guy called Adam, and that Lisa certainly needed to be told. And when Katie had whinged about having to tell Lisa, Sarah had wrinkled her nose and gave her a ‘now you know what it feels like’ look. But she had offered to help when telling Lisa and Katie had driven home feeling happier knowing she had Sarah’s support. Before reaching Grafton Road however, she’d spotted her older brother Jack and his little boy Thomas on route from the cinema.
When she’d pulled over, Thomas had tapped on the window of the car and when it rolled down he’d stood on his tip-toes and rested his little chin on the edge grinning at her with a big gap where his front tooth had once been. A rush of tenderness had swept through her while she’d listened to his story about the tooth fairy and how the next morning there’d been a pound coin under his pillow. She loved Thomas dearly and whenever she heard him call her Aunty Katie it made her insides melt. He wasn’t strictly her nephew because Jack was living with a nice woman whose husband, Thomas’s father, had been killed in Afghanistan but she liked to think of herself as his adopted aunty.
“Where’s Uncle Tim?” Thomas asked. “Can I come to stay at your place again?”
Katie had felt such a sharp pain in the middle of her chest it had nearly choked her but she’d swallowed hard and gently stroked the side of Thomas’s silky smooth cheek. “He’s not with me anymore, sweetheart, but you can come to my new flat very soon and we’ll think of some new games to play.”
Jack had gazed sadly at her with the same tender eyes of her father making her feel more desolate than she had for weeks. When she’d pulled up outside her front door she’d remembered the weekend Thomas had mentioned and how she’d stepped in at the last minute to babysit. At first Tim had been disgruntled when their weekend plans were turned upside down, but by the time Jack had returned to collect Thomas he’d fallen completely under his spell and was loath to see him go. Later they’d cuddled up on the settee and decided how many children they were going to have and even had a competition to see who could choose the silliest names for boys and girls.
Finishing the coffee she got up to look for her boots sighing wistfully at the thought of having a son with Tim and how he’d probably turn out to be a little boy with the same dark thick hair and green shining eyes as his dad, and wondered now if she would ever have any children. Automatically she rubbed her flat stomach trying to imagine what it would feel like to have a baby growing inside - her biological clock was certainly ticking she decided, but shook herself out of the reverie, grabbed her bag and headed out to the car.
The afternoon sun streamed through the windscreen of the car when she drove out to the garden plots listening to Joe McElderry’s CD of classical music. She had a list of vegetables she needed for the buffet but wondered if she should start to order carrots and onions on a weekly basis. It would be cheaper and more convenient than buying them from a supermarket she reasoned, and of course it would also mean gazing into Sam’s twinkling blue eyes when he delivered them. "Bring. It. On," she whispered to herself -