Burned At The Bake

by Ashley Cain

  For now, that decision had to wait. The café was starting to fill up and by the looks of it she was the only one serving this morning. With a smile she took two orders for coffee and pastries and put Connor temporarily out of her mind.

  Chapter 13

  “I don’t like him, cocky little sod”. Miguel made his outburst as soon as April followed them in to the kitchen, a late breakfast order in her hand. “He struts around the grounds of the apartment building as though he owns the place”.

  “I’m not asking you to like him” April said patiently, “but do you think he could he do the job?”

  “I think he could do the job” There was hesitation in Rachel’s voice, “but like Miguel, there is something about him that I’m just not sure about”.

  April sighed. She tended to agree with both of them. Ignoring his self-confidence that was bordering on arrogance, there was something else that unnerved her. A shiftiness about him that made her question whether or not he was telling her the whole truth. She had enough trouble trusting Jerome and Sylvain at the moment, should she really take on someone else who, from the start, she really wasn’t sure about?

  “There is nothing that he said that suggested he couldn’t do the job” April said eventually. “Let’s see what this reference is like from the Belvedere Spa. He left some contact details, didn’t he?”

  Miguel picked up the piece of paper from the counter “Gail Ross, Restaurant Manager” he read out. “He has written the number underneath”.

  “No time like the present” April took the piece of paper off him. “You start those breakfasts and I will put the phone on speakerphone so that you can overhear the conversation. If she answers straight away then we can get this decision wrapped up pretty quickly”.

  Propping her phone up against an empty container that had held one of Rachel’s cakes, she dialled the number that she had been given. A receptionist at the hotel put her through to Gail Ross after a couple of minutes of mood music. April explained who she was and that she was ringing for a reference. Without even giving his name, Gail knew immediately that the reference was for Connor.

  “Connor has already phoned me” Gail explained. April looked at Miguel and Rachel in amazement. That had happened very quickly, he had only left the café a few minutes ago. He must have phoned Gail as soon as he got out of the door. That was possibly the reason that she had had to wait a minute or two for the call to be connected.

  “Can you tell me what work he did for you and what the standard of his work was?” April doubted very much that anyone, least of all Connor, would have given her the details of someone who would say their work had been rubbish, but at least asking what his work was like would give her the chance to ask for specifics.

  “Connor was a kitchen assistant” Gail answered “He worked for the Belvedere Spa from 3rd March last year to the 2nd September” The 22nd September was last week which tallied with what Connor had told her.

  “That’s what he told me” She heard someone speak to Gail in the background, but couldn’t quite catch what they said “Is now a good time to speak?” she asked, “I can phone later if you want”.

  “No, no, it’s fine” Gail reassured her. “You know what it is like just before lunch, there is always that mad panic to get everything ready” she laughed “There never seems to be enough time between the end of breakfast and the beginning of lunch”.

  “Tell me about it”. April watched as Rachel took out the two breakfasts that Miguel had cooked. Miguel was hovering, listening to the conversation on the phone. Through the open-door April could see that at least the Pagets had gone and Hope was busy taking the money off the couple with the baby who had ordered pastries “I won’t keep you long, can you just tell me what Connor’s work was like?”

  “What do you want to know? I’m not sure I can tell you much”.

  “Well, he used to work for you” April probed, “so can you tell me the type of work that he did and how he did it?”

  “It was excellent. He could do everything we asked him to do with no problems at all. He was very quick at picking things up and very popular with all the staff and the guests”.

  “And what sort of things did he do on a daily basis?” April tried to keep the irritation out of her voice. The last answer had been so vague, she hoped that none of her staff ever left her but if they did, she was sure that she could tell whoever wanted a reference a hundred specific examples of how they had worked.

  “Oh”, there was a pause and April heard the voice in the background at the other end of the phone again “I’m sorry, I’m going to have to go, a bit of a crisis. There really is not much else I can tell you other than his work was really good and we were very sorry to lose him. I’m sure that he will be a real asset to you and your café”. The phone clicked and the call was disconnected.

  An asset to the café. April mused. That was exactly what Connor said he would be. Everything seemed to check out although there was still that niggling doubt in her mind that something didn’t feel right.

  “She didn’t give a lot of information” Miguel said, pointedly, mirroring her thoughts.

  “No, but she confirmed the dates he had worked there which matched to the dates that he had said, and she did say his work was excellent. We know at least that he worked there and that the Belvedere Spa has high standards. They wouldn’t keep anyone on who’s work was poor”.

  “Who wouldn’t?” Hope had come in to the kitchen with a sandwich order and overheard the last few words.

  “The Belvedere Spa” April answered. “That guy I was interviewing just then has applied for the job here and used to work at the Belvedere Spa”.

  “Why does he want to work here then, bit of a come down isn’t it?” The words could have been taken rudely but April knew there was no malice behind them and she had asked herself the same question. She loved her café and was proud of its reputation but it was not a five-star hotel.

  “He has moved here to the Rockspur and wants a job close to where he lives”.

  “I see” Hope said nastily “Another of these young men whose rich parents have bought them a fancy pad and don’t want to do a proper day’s work. No point in taking him on April, he will be lazy”.

  “We don’t know that”. Hope was so quick to jump to assumptions and they were never positive. Even though she had reservations about Connor herself, she found herself defending him. If Hope was right though it made sense why he was living at the Rockspur and wearing designer clothes. “His reference was good from the Belvedere and he had worked there for 18 months”.

  Hope wrinkled her nose “Must be a glutton for punishment then. My friend Renee Durant works there as a housekeeper and they do not treat their staff well, I can tell you. At least it would be another pair of hands here, I’ve been rushed off my feet all morning”.

  Miguel snorted, which he quickly turned in to a cough as he moved away from the conversation and walked to the stove. April tried not to smile. For the forty minutes that she herself had been in the café, Hope had served two tables and spent the rest of the time talking to her friends the Pagets. Rachel had served more tables and she had been interviewing Connor and was supposed to be baking in the kitchen.

  “I don’t really think we have any reason not to offer him a job” April confirmed. “If he doesn’t work out, we can always get rid of him when James comes back. It may only be a few weeks, what harm can he do?”

  They were words that she was to regret very soon.

  Chapter 14

  Connor started the next day and from the very first moment managed to cause problems. As his first task, Rachel asked him to mix up a large quantity of mixture so that she could begin to make a large number of sponge cakes, and watched with horror as he tipped two pounds of salt in to the flour and butter mix.

  “What are you doing?” she screamed as she turned around from stirring a pan of apples that she was going to use to make apple charlottes and saw him throw the bag away.


  “I’m making the cake mix” He cracked an egg from the tray by his side and added that to the bowl. “Why all the drama, that is what you asked me to do is it not?”

  Miguel turned from frying bacon on the griddle and looked with concern at Rachel’s anguished face. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “He’s just tipped a bag of salt in to the cake mix”. Rachel retrieved the empty bag of salt from the bin where he had thrown it and showed it to both Connor and Miguel. The words Sea Salt were clearly written in large blue block capitals across the front of the bag.

  “I thought it was sugar” Connor looked at the bag in surprise. “Our sugar used to come in blue and white bags very similar to that at the Belvedere so I didn’t really look closely. I just assumed it was sugar”.

  “It clearly says salt” Rachel said, her face covered in a frown. She pointed at the big blue letters on the wrapper.

  “I’m really sorry”. The self-confident look that he had worn yesterday was replaced with a puzzled one. “I honestly didn’t pay much attention as the blue and white stripes look so like the blue and white stripes on the sugar bags at the Belvedere. I’ll be more careful in future, I promise”.

  Rachel huffed. She was annoyed, but Connor looked so crestfallen she couldn’t be mad at him. It had obviously been a genuine mistake and they couldn’t expect everything to run smoothly now the dynamic in the kitchen had changed. “I need to tip this out and start a fresh batch” she said handing him the wooden spoon. “You stir these apples and brown sugar until they are soft while I get rid of this and then I’ll start the cake mix”.

  Connor pulled a face. “It was a genuine mistake; I don’t know why you don’t let me make another batch” He moved over to the stove grumbling and started stirring the apples unenthusiastically.

  “Hello, have we got someone new here?” Martha walked through the kitchen towards the store cupboard, taking her coat off. She gave a long appreciative look at Connor who was wearing very tight white trousers and a black t-shirt that showed off the large muscles on his tanned arms.

  “I’m Connor”. He turned and flashed a dazzling smile at Martha. “I’m the new cook, I’m replacing James while he is recovering from his bike accident”.

  “How many cooks do we need?” she said laughing at Rachel and Miguel. “You know what they say, too many cooks spoil the broth”.

  “This one has already spoiled the cake mix”. Miguel scowled. “And he is not a cook, he is the new assistant. He is helping me and Rachel in the kitchen in a morning and then helping you in the café this afternoon”.

  “Or hinder” howled Rachel from behind them. The smell of burning was just starting to reach the others noses. “Connor you have let the apples burn”. As they turned towards the smell Rachel held up the pan with black congealed sugared fruit stuck to the bottom. The normally placid Rachel was scarlet in the face.

  “Don’t blame Connor, it was me that distracted him by talking” Martha smiled at Connor who smiled back and shrugged his shoulders. “It’s only a few apples, you can easily do some more”.

  “That’s not the point” snapped Rachel. “That is two things you have ruined this morning and you have only been here thirty minutes. Miguel can you please give him something to do while I get some more fruit and start again”.

  “You can scramble some eggs” Miguel said, “and I am going to be keeping a close eye on you mate, I don’t trust you an inch” he muttered to himself quietly.

  The rest of the morning passed without incident, and when April came in from her deliveries neither Miguel nor Rachel told her of the earlier problems. They felt that April would only think they were being harsh and critical. They waited to see if Connor would own up to the mistakes but he didn’t, and instead they had to listen to him telling April that he had made some improvements to the scrambled eggs by adding a dash of jersey cream, and had overheard one customer telling Martha that the Spanish omelette he had made was the best he had ever tasted. “Imagine that”, he nudged Miguel, “I can make a better Spanish omelette than you and you are from Spain”. Miguel couldn’t trust himself to speak he was so angry so he just turned away and muttered “My ancestors are from Portugal you idiot not Spain”.

  April noticed the tension in the kitchen but didn’t say anything. She couldn’t keep quiet at lunchtime though when she heard shouting coming from the kitchen. She had just given Ivan Fletcher and his companion, a glamourous red-haired lady who smelt strongly of Chanel number 5, their bill when she heard the commotion. The café was over half full and everyone’s head turned towards the kitchen at the sound of shouting.

  Bursting through the kitchen door still holding the credit card that Ivan Fletcher had given her, she was confronted by the sight of Miguel and Connor standing nose to nose, their fists clenched. Rachel had her head in her hands and looked as though she wanted to be anywhere but in the kitchen at that moment in time. She was staring at a big silver bowl that was on the counter just to the left of Miguel.

  “What the hell is going on?” April rarely shouted, but she was embarrassed at the noise and the fact that all her lunchtime guests had heard the commotion. No doubt the Bluewater café would be the topic of conversation in Gull Bay over the weekend for all the wrong reasons. Not much ever happened and so anything slightly out of the ordinary would start tongues wagging “Everyone can hear you shouting”.

  “This idiot has put a great big dollop of English mustard in the crab mayonnaise” Miguel shouted prodding Connor’s shoulder with his finger.

  “Don’t touch what you can’t afford”. Connor pulled himself away angrily and smoothed down his t shirt glancing at his shoulder as though he imagined a great big grease stain had been deposited there. “I’m giving your plain old boring crab salad sandwich a bit of class”.

  “What by overpowering the taste of the crab with mustard? You’re out of your mind” hissed Miguel angrily.

  “You wouldn’t know high class food if it was put right in front of your face” Connor retorted. “I’m bringing the food up to the standard of the Belvedere. The customers of Gull Bay deserve a bit better than the cheap and cheerful stuff you attempt to cook”.

  “You” Miguel started raising his fist, but April was too quick for him and dashed between the pair before a full-scale brawl broke out in the kitchen. She was furious with Connor but now wasn’t the time or the place to discuss it.

  “Connor, put that bowl in the fridge, we will put spicy crab on the menu tomorrow. And you can wipe that smirk off your face whilst you are at it” she snapped as she saw the grin of triumph on his face. “Next time I want you to change one of my recipes you ask me, or Miguel. You do not experiment with my food unless you are asked to”. Connor’s smile was replaced by a sullen look as he yanked open the fridge door and half threw the bowl of crab on to the bottom shelf.

  “Miguel” she said, quietly. “Please take crab off the menu for today and if anyone has already ordered it offer them lobster at the same price. Rachel are you OK?”

  Rachel nodded, but looked so dejected that April knew that she was going to have to have a word with her before the end of the day. She hoped that this was just a one off and she wasn’t going to have trouble with Connor. Looking down at the credit card in her hand she remembered that he had used to work for Ivan Fletcher. Maybe he would remember him.

  Returning to the café where fortunately everyone seemed to have got bored with the argument, she approached Ivan Fletcher’s table, the card and receipt in her hand. “Staffing trouble?” he asked, smirking in a not altogether pleasant way.

  “Just a misunderstanding”, she smiled sweetly. “We have taken on a new staff member and he made a mistake with the crab. You may know him” she added “he used to work for you. Connor Monroe?”

  “I’m not sure” he said dismissively. “I don’t really get involved in the staffing. Oh, wait a minute” he pushed back his chair to stand up. “Connor, now I remember him, good looking lad, very smart. He rents at th
e Rockspur, his parents are very wealthy I believe and give him an allowance so he can indulge his passion for cooking. He was very creative in the kitchen, always went the extra mile and made some excellent suggestions for the menu. The chefs found his suggestions invaluable. I think they were sorry to lose him but he wanted to work closer to where he lives”.

  Another glowing report, and her questions over how he could afford to live at the Rockspur had been answered as well. Maybe she had misjudged him and Miguel had overreacted. She would have a taste of the crab mayonnaise that he had added the mustard to, come to her own conclusion as to whether or not it improved the recipe or not.

  “What had he done to cause such an argument”? Ivan’s companion asked, standing up as well “Sounded like someone was going to kill him” There was a slight accent to her voice that April couldn’t place.

  “He had added mustard to the crab mayonnaise”