Yes Chef, No Chef - By Susan Willis Page 0,13

got into him behaving like that? Bloody-hell, he really had to stop drinking so much.

Trying to sit up again he finally managed to stagger through to the kitchen and greedily gulped down a glass of water. He found a bottle of aspirin tablets and threw two into his mouth then refilled the glass from the running cold water tap. Staring at the water swirling its way in circles down the plug-hole he shook his head in disbelief. He still couldn’t believe she’d actually gone and he was standing in the kitchen on his own. Grimacing at the foul taste of the aspirin tablets he knew he’d been well out of order, especially at his parents’ house, but his dad always wound him up and she knew that. Couldn’t she have just left him alone and given him a bit of slack for a few hours? And why oh why did she have to keep banging on about that bloody Savoy party?

Switching the kettle on to make strong coffee he knew if she’d found out the real reason why he hadn’t made it to the party she’d have flipped all the more so was just as pleased he’d kept quiet about the mess he was in. He pushed the plunger in the cafetiére down roughly, remembering the incident at work on Saturday and cringed with embarrassment - how could he have been so stupid to believe in Jim? And why was it all going so horribly wrong? It was his dream for God’s sake and he’d worked his bollocks off to get where he was and she knew that.

Heading towards the shower he stripped off his dirty jeans and jumper and yanked the shower curtain along the rail. ‘And another thing,’ he bristled, ‘wasn’t she supposed to be the one? The one that was in it for keeps? Hadn’t they said that to each other often enough and now at the first sign of trouble and hitting a rough patch, what does she do but walk out?’ Well that’s her decision, he thought truculently and of course any man would be peeved if they’d had their hand knocked away from her breast. And, what was all that about? She’d never done that before. While he stood holding his flushed cheeks up to the streaming hot water he shivered involuntarily when the memory of Sally’s pretty face flashed into the stainless steel shower head. No way, he thought vehemently, there was no way he was going down that road again with any woman and especially not Kate, who was after all, supposed to be the love of his life.

Wrapping a towel around his slim waist and hips he began to feel a little better. He decided to give her a few days to think things through - when she got in touch he’d have no objection to talking to her. But as far as he was concerned she should be the one to make the first move.

Heading back into the kitchen and buttering a slice of toast he sighed remembering how much he’d drunk yesterday. He knew if he didn’t get a handle on it he would end up sitting in one of those AA meetings, chanting out, ‘My name is Tim Fletcher and I’m an alcoholic.’

Shuddering at the thought and crunching into the toast, he left the apartment, deciding to call Luke later and talk to him about it. Luke had moved up to Yorkshire last year with his company and he still missed him. Tim knew Luke’s branch manager’s job was stressful and as he climbed into his car he wondered how he was coping with it all.

Arriving at the restaurant he swung the car into a space outside the back door and switched off the ignition. There were only a few parking spaces in the street overlooked by the back of old terraced houses and he glanced up at the grey dismal sky while locking the car door. There had to be something else he could do to cope with the stress, he thought striding towards the door; maybe drugs or smoking cigarettes, but he’d tried both in the past and hated them.

The noise in the restaurants kitchen seemed ear-splitting when he walked in and just with the simple movement of taking his jacket off the pain throbbed mercilessly in the side of his head. His junior commis chef, Simon, and Jessie, a young kitchen assistant were laughing and shouting at each other while preparing vegetables for the lunch