by Ashley Cain
“I’ll give Martha a ring” she said wearily. She was going to have to keep a close eye on Jerome and Sylvain. “Although Martha won’t be able to cover all the hours, she already does a lot as it is. I’ll probably have to go to seven days myself; I don’t really want to take anyone else on as it may only be for a few weeks”.
Connecting with Martha she explained her predicament. “That’s sorted” she said finally putting the phone down. “Martha’s going to work an extra eight hours so I just need to not take a day off for the next few weeks and we can get it covered. It’s not like I was going to go anywhere on my day off so it doesn’t really matter”.
“Good, well that’s sorted then” Hope went to the cupboard and grabbed her coat. “I’m off, I’m absolutely exhausted”.
April was truly grateful to Hope for staying today. “Take the rest of this lasagne and that Greek salad, it will save you having to cook tonight”. She handed her the dishes that she had already wrapped in cellophane.
“Thank you”, Hope half smiled looking something akin to cheerful or as cheerful as she ever did. “I’ll have a slice of that lemon drizzle cake as well if you don’t mind, it will go lovely with a hot chocolate before I go to bed”.
April, Miguel and Rachel suppressed a smile as Hope helped herself to the largest piece from the cake. April didn’t mind letting her have a piece of the cake, she was truly thankful for how her staff had rallied around in her hour of need. The only dark stain on her day was the question over the trustworthiness of Jerome and Sylvain but she had worked with them for three years and if all she had to bother about was a missing cake or goats cheese tart every so often then she could live with that.
Chapter 12
With James absent from the kitchen and the launch of the bakery a new routine soon fell over the Bluewater Café. Miguel and Rachel co-habited in the kitchen as though they had been working together all their lives. April placed an advert in the local newspaper, and even took a slot on the local radio show, to promote the new team in the kitchen and the start of the Bluewater Bakery. Sending flyers out to the local supermarkets and grocery shops, she was soon inundated with requests for locally produced cakes and the orders increased and increased as the month progressed. Early every morning April got used to driving around the island in her car delivering supplies before the breakfast rush.
If the team in the kitchen was working like clockwork, the same unfortunately could not be said for the serving team out front. Martha, whether through tiredness because of the hours she was working, or because she was distracted by stresses in her personal life, kept making small mistakes; tipping a plate of baked beans over the wool skirt of a customer, providing cream instead of milk, writing down orders wrong. Hope was not pulling her weight at all, spending more time chatting to customers than serving them, and scowling and snapping at Martha if she was asked to help out. And Jerome and Sylvain were still sulking over what they had taken as accusations over the theft of the cake. April had taken them to one side the day after the argument and had tried to explain that she had just been trying to find out what had happened and had spoken to everyone about it, but to no avail. They walked around with such miserable looks on their faces it could have curdled the jersey cream that they served with the scones in the afternoon tea.
The unusual poor service had some of the locals making derogatory comments when April walked past, and to top it all she had received her very first one-star review on a website. A disgruntled customer had complained about the old lady who had refused to let them sit at a window table for four because there were only two of them, the waitress had got their order for crab sandwiches wrong not once but twice, and then they had not been able to get anyone’s attention when they wanted to pay and had ended up leaving twenty pounds under the plate. “We will never go again” he had written, and April reading the litany of complaints that had made up his experience couldn’t blame him.
If it hadn’t been for the wonderful cakes and pastries that were coming out of the kitchen on a daily basis, she would have been worried that before long she would have no customers at all. As it was the Bluewater café was full to bursting every afternoon. It had become the new “in” place for the locals who wanted to meet up and chat over a coffee and cake and her profits were up threefold on what they had been at the same time last year. Breakfasts and lunches had slowed right down, which was only to be expected this late in to September now the majority of the tourists had left, but come three o’clock the café was full, with people even waiting for tables. To make sure everyone who wanted cake was accommodated she had even had to extend her closing time by one hour.
Something had to give of course, and it was Martha’s left hand just after closing time on the last Thursday in September. With an almighty crash the stack of plates that she was carrying smashed all over the floor. Miguel who was just pulling a tray of Banana and White Chocolate Muffins out of the oven was so shocked by the noise that he dropped the hot tray on to the floor, burning his arm in the process. Rachel who knew that a local store had ordered two dozen muffins to be delivered the next morning yelled at him and then promptly burst in to tears. April who had been helping out by adding pistachio nuts to the tops of a couple of orange sponge rings looked at the devastation in horror.
“We can’t go on like this” Martha said wearily, fetching the sweeping brush so that she could clear up the mess. “Look at us, we are absolutely exhausted. When is James back?”
“Not for another couple of months at least. It is unlikely to be much before Christmas” April had spoken to him yesterday and knew that the break of his collar bone was a bad one and that he had been signed off work for at least another eight weeks. She had been trying to find the time to talk to everyone to see what they could do but it was impossible as they were so busy.
“I didn’t like to say anything April, as I was the one who asked for extra hours” Rachel was drying her eyes on a tea towel and there were black smudges where the tears had stained her mascara. “I can’t carry on working like this though. I’m working twelve-hour days and I’m dreaming of baking when I go to sleep”. She gave a little sob and April felt guilty. She was doing very well financially and could afford to take on extra staff.
“I understand” she took a deep breath “Look, you’ve all been so good and I guess that I have just been so busy myself that I was slow to realise that we needed help. What about if I advertise for a general assistant, someone who can help out in the kitchen in a morning when Hope is here, but can then work in the café serving when we have our afternoon rush. How would that work?”
“Sounds like heaven” Martha said, picking up the last of the shards of plates and walking to the store cupboard to find a rubbish sack. “But we can’t wait for you to put the advert in the local paper, we need someone to start as soon as possible, preferably by the weekend which if it is like the others is going to be exceptionally busy”.
“I could do with them tonight”. Rachel gave a small smile as she wiped her eyes. “Luckily I made extra mixture for the muffins as I was trying to get ahead of myself, so Miguel’s clumsiness could have been worse, but if we can get someone for Saturday that would be awesome”.
“I’ve already written out the advert whilst you have been talking”. Miguel waved a piece of paper in front of them with the words, KITCHEN ASSISTANT REQUIRED, APPLY WITHIN. written on it. “I’m going to put this on the front door now, hopefully someone will see it soon”.
“Let’s hope it works” Martha had collected the mess off the floor and was heading out to the back to deposit the sack in the dustbin. “Not sure that there is anyone in Gull Bay though who wants a job”.
“We can but try” April returned to the sponge rings and having finished putting the pistachio nuts on the top took them to the store cupboard. “The one thing I do know is that nobody will see it if we don’t put it up”
Someone did see it and much sooner than any of them could have imagined. As April parke
d her car in the space for deliveries the next morning, having just returned from her trip around the island with the day’s cakes, she was approached by a young, very good-looking man of around her own age. His dark hair was cut very short and his angular chin was covered in dark designer stubble. He was tanned and muscular and the only thing that stopped April instantly falling in lust with him, was his eyes which although the colour of creamy chocolate had a guarded look about them. She was instantly wary of him as there was just something about him that she felt she couldn’t trust.
“Are you the boss around here?” he pointed at the job advert on the door. “I noticed that you are looking for someone”.
“Do you know of anyone?” she looked at him dressed in his designer jogging pants and hooded top, a pair of white and silver trainers on his feet that she knew must have cost well over £200 for Ivan Fletcher had a pair the same and had told Martha how much they cost. She knew that appearances could be deceptive but he didn’t look the sort of person who would know someone who wanted to work in a café.
“Yes me. My name is Connor” he grinned a full wattage smile and she was almost blinded by the whiteness of his teeth that had clearly been professionally and cosmetically enhanced.
“You?” April couldn’t keep the surprise out of her voice.
“Yeah me.” His smile momentarily faltered and he looked taken aback. “Why not me?”
“I don’t know” April was unsure how to answer. “I just didn’t expect someone to be interested so quickly, we only put the advert up yesterday”. It was a small white lie but she felt that she could hardly say that he didn’t look like he had ever waited on tables in his life.
“I’m at a loose end and have just moved to Gull Bay from St Helier. I used to work at the Belvedere Spa Hotel, but I left last week as it was a pain travelling there and back every day from here. I thought I could try and find something local”
“What did you do at the Belvedere Spa?” The Belvedere Spa was Ivan Fletchers hotel, one of the top hotels on the island, with a reputation for excellent food and service. Ivan Fletcher was a stickler for maintaining the excellent reputation of the hotel and she knew that he wouldn’t have let just anyone work there. If the guy in front of her had worked there then he must be good.
“Pretty much same as you want here”. The smile was back on his face along with a cockiness that irritated April. “I used to work in the kitchen and serve in the tea room if they got busy. They did a wonderful afternoon tea there and I used to make the scones, and the sandwiches”.
Despite her misgivings he did sound exactly what she needed. Hope’s comment about her being a bad judge of character whispered around her head. Maybe if she saw good in people that were bad, it might work the other way around as well. Maybe she was being unfair to this guy because he was handsome and self-confident, and she wanted him to have a flaw. She blipped the alarm on her car. “You sound just what we need”. April opened the door and beckoned him inside. “I need you to meet Miguel and Rachel though, they are my two cooks and you would be helping them”.
“I know them” he followed her in to the café which as April expected was relatively quiet with few breakfast customers. Hope looked up with interest as they walked in, but she was sitting at a table with Mr and Mrs Paget who lived in the same row of houses as her and came in every Friday for poached eggs on toast. April was mildly irritated that she was sitting at the table with them but there was no-one needing attention so she let it go. If she started to have a conversation with her Hope would no doubt want to be involved in the decision as to whether or not to take Connor on and she could do without her opinion. “They live in the Rockspur apartments, don’t they? That is where I have moved to. I met them a few nights ago when I was parking my car”.
“You live at the Rockspur?” It was getting curiouser and curiouser as to why Connor would want a job as a kitchen assistant if he lived at the Rockspur. April knew that the only reason Miguel and Rachel could afford to live there was because they had a hugely subsidised rent, which they received as a condition of the development. The other apartments though were very expensive. Miguel had told her most of them were £500 per week, with the two penthouses commanding £1000 per week. It was no wonder that Ivan Fletcher could afford designer trainers but April couldn’t help wondering how Connor could afford that sort of money, and if he could why he wanted to work as a kitchen assistant.
“Yes, it’s perfect for working here” he answered “I could walk to work”.
They were walking in to the kitchen as they were talking and just as they came through the door Miguel and Rachel jumped apart guiltily. Not quick enough to avoid being seen to share a sneaky kiss. April had suspected that they may start dating once they had moved in together and it looked like she was right. Miguel’s face clouded over a little when he saw Connor standing there, but Rachel was all smiles.
“Hey”, Connor said, “we were just talking about you. I’ve applied for the kitchen assistant job and boss lady here wants to run it by you before she hires me”.
April felt a sense of disquiet. He had made it sound like she had virtually offered him the job when she had done no such thing. She also didn’t very much like being called boss lady by someone who was the same age as her. The words itself could be construed as respectful, but the way Connor said them made her sound like some dominatrix in a sex club. There was a look in his eyes when he spoke that she really didn’t like, and no matter how busy they were she hoped she could find a plausible reason for not offering him the job.
“Is that so?” Miguel said giving April a look which quite clearly showed he wasn’t very happy.
“Well, that’s not exactly what I said” April clarified, smiling to take the sting out of her words. Although she needed to assert her authority on the conversation which she was in danger of losing control of, she had no reason to intentionally upset Connor, even though his arrogance could do with being taken down a peg or two. He looked just the sort who would challenge her decision and make life difficult for her and the café if he felt he had cause to.
It was the post breakfast lull and so they had about ten minutes to have a quick conversation. April got them all a coffee and they sat down in the far corner away from Hope who was still talking to the Pagets. April could see that Hope was desperate to find out what was happening, but it was also clear that Mrs Paget was imparting some scandalous gossip that made it impossible for Hope to leave the table. April smiled to herself at the thought of how frustrated Hope must be. Miguel was asking some testing questions of Connor in an obvious attempt to try and catch him out, and Connor was answering them well. It was clear that he could do the job. The only misgivings that April had were why he would want a kitchen assistant job in her café when he had previously worked in a five-star hotel, and how he could afford to live at the Rockspur apartments and dress in designer clothes on the sort of salary that a kitchen assistant earned. Neither were reasons to not give him the job.
“I can only pay £9.00 an hour” she said as the door opened and a young couple with a small baby walked in. She looked across at Hope who was still listening to Mrs Paget and deliberately refusing to notice the customers. “And you would take your orders from both Miguel and Rachel” She stood up as the couple settled themselves in to a window booth.
“That’s fine” he smiled at both Miguel and Rachel. “I was on the same money at the Belvedere”.
“OK” April smiled across at the couple to let them know she had seen them. They were studying the menus so she had a minute or two before she needed to go across “I’ll talk to Miguel and Rachel later today and then we will let you know. Is there a number I can call you on?”
Connor looked disappointed. “Can’t you offer me the job now, I answered all of your questions and there is nothing you asked me that I can’t do. I would be a real asset to your cafe”.
April was tempted to say yes straight away, she was desperate for someone to start and having someone
else so local was just what she needed. But to be fair she had to check with Miguel and Rachel as they would be the two people who would be working with Connor the most, and she also wanted a reference, just to check that his credentials stacked up.
“Look, I’ll be able to let you know by lunchtime if you can give me the contact details of someone at the Belvedere who can give you a reference” April was desperately trying to make eye contact with Hope who was studiously avoiding her gaze. The couple had put the menus down and were looking around them expectantly, and April could see another couple approaching the café from the road. “I need to serve so if you can give the details to Miguel and we can take it from there” She hurried across to take the couple’s order as the door opened.
It was obvious that Connor was disappointed, and by the look on Miguel’s face as she had turned around, she didn’t think he was too enamoured at the thought of Connor working with them either. If the truth be told April wasn’t happy herself, there was an arrogance about him that she didn’t like, and she couldn’t understand his situation which made her concerned. Why he would want to earn £9 an hour and yet be able to afford to live in an expensive apartment was beyond her. But the bottom line was they desperately needed someone, he appeared to have the skills they needed and if his reference was good there was no reason to turn him down.