said innocently. “I’ll have to try it one day. I'm thinking of maybe doing a cookery course because my diet is so crap. Apart from the mackerel I’ve learned to cook, most days I'm lucky to have one portion of fruit or vegetables a day, never mind the recommended five. You see, I’d always hoped to meet a guy who could cook and then that would solve all my problems."
Katie smiled at her friend wondering when, or if, she would ever meet her match in life. Although Lisa didn't believe in Mr Right, her mum always maintained there was someone for everyone out there, and she prayed there was such a guy for Lisa.
They spent the rest of the evening watching a DVD and just after she’d bid Lisa goodnight she checked her emails. Tim’s email address popped up on the screen and she read it savouring every word.
From tim.davies to katie.charles
Thanks again for helping out in the restaurant, and for the lovely meal you cooked – I really enjoyed being with you again. When my chef is back next week, Jack is sending me over to France to meet with some buyers and to source new wines and ingredients. It’s going to be an exciting trip and I’ll probably be there about two weeks. Would it be ok to email or text you while I’m away?
Love Tim.
Shit, shit, shit! She raged, she knew she should have kissed him. Now he would go away thinking she's wasn’t into him anymore and who knows what would happen or who he'd meet. She wanted to scream ‘please don’t go’ or ‘please take me with you’ but instead she calmly replied;
To tim.davies from katie.charles
Hey, that sounds great! Hope you have a good trip and yes, of course, drop me a line anytime – I’d love to hear from you…
Love Kate
She rang Lisa. “I knew I should have kissed him,” she wailed. “And now he’s gone off to France thinking I’m not interested in him - what a stupid mistake to make…”
But Lisa firmly and kindly disagreed, repeating her mantra, “Treat ‘em mean, to keep ‘em keen”.
So for the next week she kept herself busy and tried not to keep checking for texts or emails from him but found it difficult because the days seemed to be dragging by.
Frances came for supper one night and Katie hadn’t realised until she was sitting opposite her just how much she’d missed her friendship and the daily camaraderie. Sarah had suggested weeks ago that she might find it hard to adjust to working alone, after being part of a team all her life, but Katie had dismissed the theory as simply another one of Sarah’s worries. Now as she looked at Frances’s familiar face and her peculiar but endearing mannerisms while tucking into her supper she agreed that Sarah could have a point.
With her mouth full Frances talked non-stop about work and relived the email Katie had sent her about Terry’s disastrous night with the beef bourguignon. “What a prick!” she cried out laughing and spluttering before heaping her next forkful ready to put into her mouth.
Katie laughed with her. “Are they still together?”
“Nah, he’s got a new babe in tow now,” she said. “Poor cow”.
Katie smiled, remembering the night and how long ago it seemed, and also how detached from them all she felt.
Frances shook her mane of frizzy hair. “And Alexander Jennings? Well, what a chump he’s turned out to be,” she said giggling. “David Shaw is having to step in every week and sort out the mess he’s making of every project. And I did hear he’d told someone that the day you’d left was the worst thing that had ever happened to his team.”
Katie couldn’t help giving Frances a ‘told you so’ smile and felt gratified to be proven right. “Oh, what a bloody shame,” she said laughing and pulling a smug face.
Frances finished eating and laid her knife and fork slowly together on her plate. “That was lovely, thanks, Katie,” she said. “Would you ever want to come back? I mean, if Alex left and David Shaw was to ring and beg you to come back, would you?”
Katie was startled at the question because not once since she left had she even considered it, but really she didn’t have to think twice. “No, Frances,” she said confidently. “I don’t think I ever would.”
Katie brought her up to date with the catering bookings and the adventures she’d had with the butcher and Sam