Page 113 of All Mine
Amber got there first, wrapping her up with a, ‘Yes, girl!’ which made Isabella laugh through her tears. Angie from Australia was next, putting her arms around both of them, followed by Naomi and Paul and the rest of the team in the biggest, most affectionate team huddle Etienne had ever seen. ‘We’re ready!’ they all agreed. ‘We open tomorrow!’
Breaking the circle apart to excited chatter, Isabella extricated herself and finally, finally came towards Etienne. His breath caught as she put her arms around his neck and pressed herself to him.
‘Thank you,’ she said, in a low, urgent voice.
‘You don’t have to do everything on your own,’ he said, repeating her own words back to her. ‘You have me now.’
She grinned and glanced around at the fully kitted out restaurant.
‘And Honeybridge,’ she said. ‘And it feels so good.’
Chapter Sixty-Three
Isabella
Isabella awoke thinking that Etienne was curved behind her. She stretched and turned to him before she was even fully conscious, before she realised the other side of the bed was empty. In that moment, when she thought he was there, she was happier than she had been in. . . for ever.
She flopped onto her back and stared at the ceiling. She loved him, she knew that. It wasn’t just infatuation, or desire. She hadn’t said the words to him yet, but she would. She was madly, passionately, wholeheartedly, wonderfully in love with him, and although he hadn’t said the words to her yet either, she recognised the same look in his eyes and hoped, believed, he felt the same.
Last night, after Nonna and Gabi had gone to bed, they’d talked late into the night, sharing stories and pasts on the sofa, always wrapped around each other. There was something different again between them, a recognition and a depth. It got late; the clock in the square rang ten, then eleven, but she didn’t want to give in to the time. She didn’t want the night to end. She yawned and tried to cover it with her hand, but he laughed and smoothed her hair away from her face.
She was aching inside, however tired she was, with the want to pull him to her, run her fingers over his chest, mount him on the sofa and ride him, ride him, ride him. But it was also the last day of her year. The very last day of a promise she had made to herself. She opened her mouth to say something, to explain why she had to stay away from him that night, but he put a finger on her lips.
‘I’m going to The Bistro now,’ Etienne had said. ‘You need to sleep. You’ve got a big day tomorrow.’ He sucked the air through his teeth. ‘And you can’t fall at the last hurdle. You have to pass the finish line in one piece’– he chuckled– ‘even if it’s killing me.’
She’d kissed the finger against her lips and smiled. He got it.
‘It’s killing me too, if that makes you feel any better?’ she’d said, letting her eyes skim his chest again, fall to his lap. She was wet just thinking about being with him. Was he hard too? She’d wanted to extend a hand, rest it on his lap, tease him; she’d groaned and clenched her fist instead.
Etienne got up, pulling her to stand with him. Holding her face between his hands, he’d lowered his lips to hers. The kiss was slow and soft. She’d twined her hands into the curling hair at the back of his head and let herself fall into him, not wanting it to stop.
‘Good luck tomorrow,’ he’d said at the door. ‘Text me when you’re ready for me to come over.’ As he went out, over his shoulder, he’d called, ‘Night, Bella,’ and she’d locked the door and gone upstairs to find her phone and her trusty photograph of his hand on her skin.
Now it was opening day and Bonfire Night. The day she’d been dreaming about for a year. Which was even better today than it was before the Dougalls, because Tutto Mio had become something else, something bigger. Not just the result of her efforts, her work, but the evidence that she’d made an impact in this new place. That the community here welcomed her and that she had a brand-new home. Her mismatched, beautifully eclectic dining room was proof of that. Luckily, she had showered and dressed before the phone rang for the first time in the restaurant for a customer to make a booking.
By ten o’clock in the morning, she had to put Gabi on phone answering duty. Everyone who had seen the segment on the evening news wanted to book in, to show their support. Gabi sat with the laptop at a table in the corner, trying to navigate the calendar and book callers in, even as the online bookings flooded through. Sometimes a slot would disappear while she was talking to someone on the telephone, and they’d have to try the next day. By lunchtime and before they’d even opened for the first time ever, they were fully booked for the month ahead.
Isabella checked her watch and called the team together. They huddled in a circle, each putting a hand in the centre, grinning at each other nervously. She made sure to make eye contact with each and every one, starting and finishing with Amber.
‘Youare by far the best waiting team there has ever been,’ Isabella said. ‘Now, let’s go spread some sunshine to every single person that walks in that door.’
The clock chimed twelve and it was officially lunchtime. Amber high fived Isabella.
‘You got this, sister.’
Isabella snapped a quick photo of the restaurant on her phone and sent it to her family WhatsApp group with the messageAnd we’re open!before taking her position at the front desk, butterflies the size of sparrows in her stomach. Amber opened the door and Tutto Mio was up and running. Isabella greeted every diner as they entered, her cheeks soon aching with so much smiling, but she couldn’t stop.
The guests exclaimed at the restaurant; they’d all heard the story. Some pointed out their own possessions in the room, an old chair or a donated cushion, and they did so with pride, feeling like a part of something. By half past twelve, every table was full. The buzz of people eating and talking and laughing was like music. When Nonna came out of the kitchen for a moment, drying her hands to stand by Isabella, they both looked out in awe.
By the time the first sitting were eating puddings, they were booked for three months ahead. And by the time Australian Angie, Naomi and Paul left and were replaced by the evening team, they were fully booked for six months and Gabi had lost her voice.
Isabella didn’t get a moment in the bathroom to freshen up before the evening sitting. She talked to the lunchtime crowd on their way to the firework display and then she heard about how wonderful it had been from the later diners. It was ten o’clock before she reapplied a slick of lipstick, rearranged her waves and spritzed some perfume. Her face in the mirror glowed back at her, even if she’d been on her feet for twelve hours by then. It didn’t matter. Today was the best day of her life. All her dreams were coming true.
She resumed her station back at the entrance and checked the iPad bookings in front of her for the next day. She was running a check on the table plan when someone cleared their throat in front of her.
‘Sorry I’m late. I have a booking for a table for two,’ a voice said. One which she recognised immediately. Her head snapped up. Daniel.
He looked the same: his floppy hair was a bit longer, but his expression was the same from the last time she’d seen him. The day she signed the divorce papers. Slightly sheepish. He probably thought he looked cute. She thought he looked infuriating. Like the popular boy at school who thought he could get away with anything by flashing a smile.
