But there is so much more to Andie than this. She is very brave, and fiercely honest, and she is warm and wonderful and generous. She is also very beautiful, but she doesn’t like anyone to focus on that, because more than anything she wants to be seen for the person that she is underneath. I lost sight of that person for a while. I doubted her, and I didn’t fight to keep her, because clearly I’m an idiot. I have no other explanation or excuse. I was wrong, and I have come to regret it more than I can express here.
So for these reasons, and many, many more, I’m afraid I cannot recommend Ms Lonergan for any position, because I don’t want to let her go, ever again.
Regards,
Dominic Gerou
Executive Chef
Viande
Andie sat staring at the letter, breathing hard.
‘You’re not saying anything,’ Dominic said after a while.
He obviously didn’t realise how hard it was for her to speak right now.
‘Andie . . . what are you thinking?’
‘Well, I’m not going to be able to give this to any prospective employers,’ she said, meeting his gaze. ‘You’ll have to write me another one.’
‘Oh . . .’
His face, it had that crestfallen look that always got to her.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I’ll do it again. Give it to me.’
‘Oh, you’re not getting it back,’ said Andie, standing up. ‘I have it in writing that you admit you’re an idiot, and that you were wrong. I’m keeping this.’
He sighed, managing a small smile. ‘Andie, I missed you, every single day. I didn’t think I had the right, after everything . . . I thought I should leave you alone. But then when you came to the restaurant the other day . . .’ He paused, taking a breath. ‘I had to see you again. I had to ask you. Please come back to Viande.’
Andie was shaking her head. ‘I can’t come back, Dominic.’
There was that look again.
‘Don’t you get it? I don’t want to make the same mistake twice.’
‘So you think it would be a mistake,’ he said, defeated.
She was going to have to spell it out for him. ‘Yes, Dominic, it would be a mistake to have a relationship with my boss again,’ she said. ‘So that’s why I can’t come back to work at Viande, for you.’
She watched his expression go from bewildered to enlightened as the penny dropped. And then he smiled.
‘So,’ Andie said, ‘are you coming in?’
He stirred. ‘Pardon?’
‘I have to get back inside. Are you coming?’
‘Oh, I don’t know . . . I don’t want to be in the way.’
Andie looked at him. ‘Let me rephrase that – you are coming in.’
‘I am?’
‘We’re flat out, we could use the help.’ She held out her hand to him. ‘I should say though, it’s pretty messy in there, in fact it’s chaos.’
Dominic smiled, taking her hand. ‘I don’t mind . . . I don’t mind at all.’
Acknowledgments
I have to begin this time with thanks in retrospect, as some of the team have moved on since my last book. Top of the list is Cate Paterson – my wonderful, amazing publisher who plucked my first manuscript off the slush pile and has nurtured, guided and mentored me for more than ten years. She is deservedly now the Publishing Director at Pan Macmillan, but she remains a mentor and a very dear friend. I have said it before, but it bears repeating – I will never be able to thank her enough for everything she has done for me.
Louise Bourke was her assistant for the last few years, and was always incredibly patient and hardworking as she shepherded my novels through to publication. I hope she knows how much I valued her contribution, and that I wish her all the very best on her new path.
So life moves on, and people come and go, but fortunately Pan Macmillan seems to attract the best and the brightest. Thanks to my new publisher, Alex Nahlous, who has stepped up to the plate and guided me to the finish line – or perhaps dragged? (late again!) – and has dressed up my book with the most beautiful cover, designed by Jon MacDonald. This is the first time I’ve met the designer in person, and I was blown away by his enthusiasm for the task.
My structural editor, Julia Stiles, did an amazing job, as usual, helping me wrangle this book into shape. I couldn’t have done it without her intelligent insight and her empathy.
Thanks to Libby Turner who replaces Lou, and has brought the same passionate commitment to transforming the manuscript into the finished book that you have in your hands. She is a joy to work with, as is my new publicist, Caitlin Neville, who is not only ultra-competent and dedicated, but also very sweet.
My sons always deserve a special thank you. This time, Pat was my primary sounding board, helping me thrash out ideas early on, and putting up with more than his fair share of my doubts, and emotional ups and downs – so much so he’s left the country for four months of R&R in south-east Asia! Joel leapt to my aid and read the first draft at a very busy time for him, and came back with his trademark insight and spot-on suggestions. And I’m grateful to Zac for being such an easy-going kid, and to Dane for never failing to surprise and inspire.
Thanks to Diane Stubbings for reading my longwinded emails full of writerly angst, and taking the time to give me thoughtful feedback and understanding, and thanks to Desley Hennessy for the long walks and a listening ear. And I am always appreciative of the friendship, support and encouragement of fellow authors, especially Tony Park and his lovely wife, Nicola, and Ber Carroll and Liane Moriarty.
And last, but never least, thanks to my wonderful readers. It has been a genuine privilege to meet so many of you this past year at library and bookshop talks, and on Facebook and even Twitter. Your unwavering loyalty and enthusiasm are the reason I keep writing.
Dianne Blacklock has been a teacher, trainer, counsellor, checkout chick, and even one of those annoying market researchers you avoid in shopping centres. Nowadays, she tries not to annoy anyone by staying home and writing. The Secret Ingredient is her eighth book.
www.dianneblacklock.com
Also by Dianne Blacklock
Call Waiting
Wife for Hire
Almost Perfect
False Advertising
Crossing Paths
Three’s a Crowd
The Right Time
ALSO BY DIANNE BLACKLOCK IN PAN MACMILLAN
Three’s a Crowd
Catherine, Lexie and Rachel are lost. Without Annie, the one who kept the four friends together, everything suddenly feels different.
These worries are soon pushed aside as their own lives become increasingly complicated. Catherine is excelling in her high-flying career but struggling in her relationships, especially with her unfathomable teenage daughter. Lexie is juggling her young family and the ego of her hardworking husband, while taking the first steps to achieving her own dreams.
And Rachel, the one who can’t seem to settle down, is in the heady euphoria of a new relationship. But when the truth comes out about who she has fallen in love with, fragile friendships will be put to the test all over again . . .
Crossing Paths
With a hefty mortgage, a frustrating career as a newspaper columnist and a flailing relationship with a married co-worker, Jo Liddell is resigned to living a less-than-perfect life.
That is, until she crosses paths with Joe Bannister – a celebrated foreign correspondent returning home to care for his dying father. Against all her natural instincts, Jo finds herself falling for Joe, and with his help begins to realise that she might deserve to be happy after all.
But when she decides to take the plunge and give love a chance, the results are catastrophic. And so Jo must fight hard for everything she has never believed in – success, self-acceptance, and above all, real love.
False Advertising
Helen always tries to be a good person. She recycles, obeys the water restrictions – she is even polite to telemarketers. As a moth
er, wife, daughter and nurse, Helen is used to putting everyone’s needs before her own. But it only takes one momentary lapse of concentration to shatter her life forever.
There was no such momentary lapse for Gemma. Her customary recklessness leaves her pregnant, alone and estranged from her family, with her once-promising advertising career in tatters.
So when Gemma barges unceremoniously into Helen’s life, things will never be the same again for either of them. Two very different women who have one thing in common – their lives have fallen short of their expectations. But is fate offering them a second chance?
Almost Perfect
Georgie Reading runs a successful bookshop – with a name like that, she was born to. A fun-loving friend, loyal sister and adored aunty, life’s pretty good for Georgie. Except her love life, that is. Nothing seems to go right and she’s ready to give up.
On the other side of town, Anna and Mac appear to have the perfect marriage. But with every failed attempt at IVF their relationship suffers further and Mac doesn’t know how much longer he can cope with Anna’s pain and disappointment.
So when a stranger walks into Georgie’s bookshop and they strike up a friendship, events are set in motion that no-one could imagine. What is the connection between the stranger, Anna and Mac? And what will the consequences be for everyone involved if Georgie allows herself to fall in love with him?
Wife for Hire
When she was a little girl, all Samantha Driscoll ever wanted was to be somebody’s wife. She would marry a man called Tod or Brad and she would have two perfect children. But instead she married a Jeff and he’s just confessed to having an affair.
Spurred on by supportive friends and her unpredictable sister Max, she finds the job she was born for: Wife for Hire. Sam manages the domestic duties for many satisfied customers.
But when Hal Buchanan is added to her client list, and claims not to need her services, Sam realises that while she can organise many things in life, she is not so business-like when her emotions are involved.
Call Waiting
Ally Tasker feels trapped. Her dreams of a fulfilling life after art college didn’t include cleaning up after bored school children and being a doormat for her high-flying boyfriend. Ally envies her friend Meg who has turned her art training into a lucrative job in graphic design, not to mention having a doting husband and gorgeous baby to complete the package.
But when Ally’s grandfather, her sole relative, dies, she returns to the Southern Highlands home of her childhood where she must confront painful issues from her past that her safe life in the city has allowed her to ignore. Meanwhile, Meg is not as happy as Ally imagines . . .
Sometimes you have to risk all you have to realise what is worth saving.
The Right Time
The Beckett sisters – Ellen, Emma, Elizabeth and Evie – all need to shake things up.
Emma has been planning her dream wedding even since she was a little girl, and as soon as her boyfriend Blake finally proposes, she presumes that it can only be smooth sailing from then on.
Liz is a well respected and successful doctor and she expects her affair with a married colleague to turn into something more serious as soon as her partner can leave his wife. But that does seem to be taking a long time . . .
Evie and Craig are married with three children, but have lost their way. When Craig suggests a way to spice up their relationship, Evie is horrified – must she go through with Craig’s plans in order to save her marriage?
And Ellen, the eldest sister and the anchor of the family, is dealing with a marriage breakdown and getting back into the dating game. But she wonders if she’ll ever be able to let go and open her heart to love again.
There’s never a perfect time for life-changing decisions – just the right time.
First published 2011 in Macmillan
These electronic editions published in 2011 by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd
1 Market Street, Sydney 2000
Copyright © Dianne Blacklock 2011
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. This publication (or any part of it) may not be reproduced or transmitted, copied, stored, distributed or otherwise made available by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations), in any form (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical) or by any means (photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise) without prior written permission from the publisher.
This ebook may not include illustrations and/or photographs that may have been in the print edition.
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
Blacklock, Dianne.
The secret ingredient / Dianne Blacklock.
A823.4
Adobe eReader format: 9781742628769
EPub format: 9781742628776
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Cover design by Xou Creative
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The Secret Ingredient Page 42