'Sharing what?'
'Your own personal thoughts for a start. Things like "Oh fuck, there goes another ladder in my tights." Generally not the sort of stuff one expects one's waitress to utter while delivering one's dinner.'
'Oh dear, I'd forgotten that.'
'And I think everyone on the street heard your comments after you picked up the pommes dauphinoise.'
'They were bloody hot!'
'They had just come out of the bloody oven, that's why! A fact that you would have cottoned on to if you'd actually been listening when I said, "This dish is hot. It has just come out of the oven." '
'Yeah, well, you see, Kirsty was telling me one of her coma-inducing stories and –'
'So, with all this in mind, it's good to know you've got another job lined up.'
Ah, yes. Of course. He was going to leave them.
'You see – oh, by the way, I'm not going anywhere, I'm staying right here – but you see, I am going to have to sack you.'
'Yes. I do understand.' No she didn't.
'I don't think you do, seeing as you've spent this entire conversation looking at your feet instead of at me. The thing is, I've realised it's just not on, having a relationship with one of my waitresses. I really don't think it's very good for kitchen morale or yours, for that matter, when I have to bawl you out. But if I were to have a relationship with an exceptionally gifted journalist, who was allowed in my kitchen to make breakfast before going out to work –'
'You mean, start over?'
'No,' said Jake slowly, 'we can't do that and, anyway, I don't want to. A good relationship isn't about chucking stuff away and starting over, like you sometimes have to do in cooking. I think it's about surviving stuff. I am glad we survived this. We know each other better now and anyway, I never stopped loving you, even when I thought I hated you.'
She went over and sat in his lap, so that she was facing him. She was so full of emotion, she was, for the first time ever, completely at a loss for words, but she knew she was with the only man in the world who would ever make her feel like that. So she kissed him.
Some time later, when they really had to come up for air, she managed to say: 'Well, that's our first row over with, then.'
'Yeah. I expect there will be others,' said Jake, but he seemed perfectly happy with this notion. 'I should warn you now, I plan on asking you to marry me sometime before lunch one day. If we fit in the ceremony before dinner it won't need to get in the way of service. That all right with you?'
'Sounds lovely to me – just as long as I haven't got a good story on. Where are we honeymooning, by the way? Over by the sink while we're doing the washing-up? And, no, don't kiss me again – it's very distracting.'
'Who cares? Oh God – I've just had a horrible thought! Harry and Georgia are getting hitched too. They won't want a double ceremony, will they?'
Kate snorted with laughter. 'No, but I'm sure they'll drop by with the photos just to confirm how much more glamorous their do was.'
'Yes, they are perfectly suited,' said Jake happily. 'Er, don't look now, but we've got an audience.'
Kate swivelled round, just in time to see several heads disappear from the window.
'You lot are going to have to get a lot quicker on your feet now we are an award-winning restaurant,' he grumbled.
'Does that mean we get a pay rise?' asked Godfrey, popping his head up hopefully.
'Oh, that's so funny! I expect, as usual, we'll be lucky to get paid at all,' said Tess, but she was grinning.
'Ooh, you both look so romantic sitting there. It reminds me of a film I went to see with my boyfriend, once. Or was it my Nanna? No, it was –'
'Shut up, the lot of you – can't you see I'm in the middle of something!' yelled Jake.
'OK, we're going, but one quick question – what about Harry?' asked Tess.
Jake shrugged.
'What about him? He'll always be here and we'll always be fighting, probably. He was sent here to try me, as my gran would say. I'll tell you one thing, though – it'll be a cold day in Hell before we become friends. Now, bugger off, all of you. No, of course I don't mean you, you silly woman! I'll tell you what I want you to do.' He pulled her closer and whispered in her ear.
'Well, I've never done that with chocolate before, but as an investigative journalist, I'm certainly prepared to give it a try!'
ALSO AVAILABLE IN ARROW
The Accidental Wife
Rowan Coleman
How do you know if your life has taken a wrong turn?
Alison James thinks she might be living the wrong life. She loves her husband Marc and their three children but somehow in the process she seems to have lost herself. And sometimes she worries that she's being punished for how it all started – for the day she ran away with her best friend's boyfriend.
Catherine Ashley knows she's living the wrong life. She adores her two daughters, but she'd always thought that at thirty-one she'd be more than a near-divorcee with a dead-end job. In those dark middle-of-the-night moments, her mind still flicks back to the love of her life: Marc James. And she still wonders whether Alison stole her life as well as her boyfriend.
Alison and Catherine have been living separate lives, a hundred miles apart, for fifteen years – since Alison and Marc ran away. But now Alison's moving back to Farmington, the town in which they both grew up. And they're about to find out just how different both their lives could still be . . .
Praise for Rowan Coleman
'Brilliant . . . moving, funny – just the tonic every
knackered woman needs' New Woman
'Touching and thought-provoking' B
ALSO AVAILABLE IN ARROW
Acting Up
Melissa Nathan
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a large ego must be in want of a woman to cut him down to size . . .
When journalist Jasmin Field lands the coveted role of Elizabeth Bennet in a one-off fundraising adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, she is not surprised to find that the play's director, Hollywood heartthrob Harry Noble, is every bit as obnoxious as she could have hoped. Which means a lot of material for her column. And a lot of fun in rehearsals.
And then disaster strikes. Jasmin's best friend abandons her for a man not worthy to buy her chocolate, her family starts to crumble before her eyes and her award-winning column hits the skids. Worse still, Harry Noble keeps staring at her.
As the lights dim, the audience hush and Jasmin awaits her cue, she realises two very important things, one: she can't remember her lines, and two: Harry Noble looks amazing in breeches . . .
'Tremendous fun' Jilly Cooper
'A modern-day Lizzy and Darcy tale you won't be able to put down' Company
Table of Contents
Cover
Table of Contents
About the Author
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Also Available In Arrow
The Accidental Wife
Acting Up
>
Recipe for Disaster Page 34