towards his sister flooded through him and he knew he’d kill anybody that ever hurt her. He wished with all his heart he could do something to put things right for her so she could be happy.
Hugging her closely, the sobs eventually began to subside.
“And what does Greg have to say?” he asked quietly.
She sat up and wiped her face with the back of her sleeve. “Well, when he thought it could be his fault he wanted me to go and find another man with bigger and better sperm and I told him to stop being ridiculous, and now we know it’s mainly my fault, I told him to do the same. But thank God he doesn’t want to,” she said sniffing loudly. “You see, Tim, he’s my opposite. He keeps me grounded so to speak, and I couldn’t bear to be without him.”
Withdrawing from him she stepped back into fearless Jenny mode. “Now look, we’ve let our coffee go cold. I’ll make some more?”
Greg appeared in the doorway and they chatted for a few minutes and then making excuses about his muscles cramping if he stopped in the middle of a run he left them and ran back to the apartment.
When he stood at the serving bench later that night overseeing the dishes his chefs were preparing his mind whirled with thoughts of Jenny and his father and how much he’d managed to come to terms with in such a short space of time. He thought of the cliché; it had done him a power of good, and knew in his case it was right – he felt stronger, more confident and so much more able to cope.
One of the waiters from the dining room came through to collect his next order and winked cheekily at Tim. “Hey, there’s a gorgeous blonde babe at table six who sends her compliments to the chef.”
“Eh?” Tim asked looking confused and followed the waiter through to the dining room. He looked towards table six and saw his cupcake girl sitting smiling at him. He couldn’t believe she’d come to his restaurant and hurried across the room beaming at her.
“Hey, how’s it going?” he asked. “You should have let me know when you got here. I could have made some suggestions for you and your friend.”
She introduced her friend and told him what they’d had to eat. “I wanted to sample the food first before I decided if you’d be good enough to take me out to dinner one night?” she teased, giving him one of her best smiles.
Her stunning blue eyes sparkled at him and he played along with her game. “And?” he asked. “Did I pass the test?”
She looked him up and down which involuntarily made him pull his shoulders back a little further.
“And some,” she said pushing a card into his hand. “Call me?”
Sunday mornings were still a struggle and after watching another re-run of Masterchef on TV he invariably thought of Kate. The trouble with sudden break-ups and no communication was that there was just this big empty hole with no answers and he wondered if she was leaving her job because she didn’t get the project manager’s role. He prayed it didn’t have anything to do with him missing the Savoy party but dismissed this thought as he swung his legs out of the bed - Kate certainly didn’t need him to help her up the corporate ladder. But, he did know how much she’d wanted the role and imagined her sad gentle eyes digesting the disappointment. If she’d been here now he could have kissed and caressed it all better and then groaned with the arousal he felt after weeks of pent-up sexual frustration.
Pulling up his boxer shorts he wondered whether she hated Sunday mornings now, but there again, was she still lying in bed on her own at weekends or was she dating again. The thought of Kate with another man and her body arching to meet someone else’s thrusts made him feel angrier than he ever thought possible and he marched through into the kitchen to make coffee.
While waiting for the kettle to boil he glanced at Miss Cupcake’s card. She was called Julie and without giving himself the chance to change his mind he punched the number into his mobile and asked her out to dinner. The date, he knew, was just going to be a little fun and had nothing to do with his feelings for Kate; they were sacred, deep and very