Page 18 of Eden's Comfort Kitchen
‘That’s all right. Thank you. I wasn’t going to come, but someone said…’
The woman trailed off. Eden didn’t push for anything more.
The kitchens were like any industrial food area – mostly white tiles and stainless steel, full of heat and steam and people in chef’s whites yelling at one another. Eden asked the woman to wait while she searched for Ralph. Unable to see him, instead she went to the nearest member of staff.
‘Can you tell me where the spare food is?’
‘None left,’ the man said.
‘Oh…’ Eden’s gaze went back to the woman, waiting at the doorway and looking as if she wished the floor would swallow her up. She went back over. ‘He wants to know how many portions you want and what you’d like.’
The woman gave a nervous smile. ‘Oh, only one if you have it. I don’t mind what it is.’
Eden’s mind went to the specials board in the bar. ‘Lasagne? Would that be all right? Or a pie?’
‘If you’ve got a pie, that would be lovely, thank you.’
Eden went back to the cook and lowered her voice. He spun to look as she began to speak, as if outraged that she was there at all. ‘If you put me a pie with the bits together in one of the takeout trays, would I be able to pay for it out of my wages later?’
‘You want a pie? Right now? Put a ticket in the queue.’
‘No, I don’t want…’ Eden frowned. ‘Not for a diner. Can’t you just do it?’
‘No, I can’t just put you a meal together just like that! You’ll have to wait.’
Eden cringed as he raised his voice, certain that the woman must have heard him.
‘Not even just this once?’ she asked, and as he began a reply, she glanced quickly towards the doors to see the woman slip out.
‘Great!’ Eden said, throwing the cook a look of disdain and going after her.
But the woman had moved quickly, and by the time Eden was back in the main bar, there was no sign of her. She’d obviously heard the altercation and perhaps understood what was going on. Either way, it must have made her feel like a nuisance, and she’d probably decided it wasn’t worth it.
As the night went on, Eden couldn’t stop thinking about her. It must have taken courage for her to come here and ask for food like that, especially as it seemed she’d come on a recommendation and hadn’t been before. She wouldn’t have known what to expect or what sort of reception she’d get, or whether she’d be sent away empty-handed – which wasn’t exactly how it had happened but near enough. What kind of need must have driven her to that course of action? And she hadn’t wanted much – just one meal. Were her own cupboards really that bare that she couldn’t make something out of what she had in? The notion pulled at Eden’s spirits, dragging her down, so that she struggled to enjoy the last hour of her shift in the way she’d enjoyed the first few. And the idea that Eden herself might have handled it badly and made it worse hardly helped her feel better.
Eventually, Livia rang the bell for last orders and then, gradually, the pub began to empty. Ralph appeared and poured himself a neat whisky, which he drank as he cashed up.
‘Where have you been hiding?’ Livia asked him as she emptied the drip trays down the sink.
‘Away from you, nosy parker,’ he said with a laugh.
‘Charming.’ Livia grinned. ‘I don’t have to come here to be insulted, you know – I can go home and get that from the kids.’
‘Kids won’t pay you for the privilege, though.’
Eden mopped the floor, listening as their banter went back and forth and wondering if she’d ever have a relationship like that with Ralph. She supposed not – Livia had told Eden earlier that she’d been born and brought up in Sea Glass Bay, and so she knew almost everyone in some capacity or another. Not only was Eden a newcomer, but she wasn’t planning to stay forever. Ralph seemed like a decent enough boss, but she didn’t suppose he’d want to waste time getting to know her in the circumstances.
Actually, thinking about what she’d seen tonight, he was more than a good boss. He had to be a very good person. She wanted to ask him and Livia about what had been going on, but she wasn’t sure they’d welcome it – even though Eden herself had ended up getting involved. She felt as if her newness to the community made her a stranger and that somehow it waived the right to be involved in the things that went on in that community.
But as Ralph left them again to take the money from the till and put it somewhere safe, presumably in his flat above the pub, Eden’s curiosity got the better of her.
‘I didn’t manage to help that last lady who came in for the food parcels,’ she said to Livia as she squeezed the water from the mop. ‘We had none left, and the bloke in the kitchen…well, he wasn’t very helpful.’
‘Oh? Which bloke?’
‘I don’t know his name. Tall, cheekbones, sort of gingery hair.’
‘That’ll be Greg. He’s all right, just gets stressed, and when he gets stressed, he gets rude. You just have to make certain tocatch him in a good mood if you want anything – although once service begins that’s a rarity.’
