Page 22 of Eden's Comfort Kitchen
Livia shook her head. ‘I’m sorry, but it wouldn’t be me. I want to help as much as you do, but I have Nancy and Levi and my mum, not to mention two jobs. I’d love to, but?—’
‘Of course – I get that. They have to come first.’
‘I think the thing to do is get a plan together. Decide what it is you actually want to do, something concrete to work with. Maybe we can go and talk to Ralph about it – get his take.’
‘Wouldn’t it be better to ask Ralph first? He might be able to steer me in the direction of a workable plan rather than me go to him with something that’s clearly stupid in the first place.’
‘That does sort of make sense,’ Livia agreed.
‘I don’t want to hassle him, though. I’ve only just started to work for him, and he doesn’t know me, and the next thing I’m asking him for this.’
‘I don’t think he’d see it as hassle. He’s busy, yeah, but?—’
‘Could you ask him? Explain what we’re trying to do? He might be more willing to help if it comes from you.’
‘He’d be willing to help anyway. Ralph’s like that.’
‘Even so, he doesn’t know me from Adam. And you said yourself you thought it might be a flash in the pan when I first mentioned it. Ralph might think the same.’
‘I can ask if he’s willing to talk to you, if you really want me to, but I honestly think you ought to do it. He’ll want to know more than I can tell him, so you might as well.’
Eden wasn’t used to feeling doubtful – at least, not in this sort of situation – but she did now. In her old job, she’d come up with brilliant ideas and have no problem articulating them to her bosses. But this was something entirely different. Thiswasn’t some money-making proposal, and she wasn’t dealing with hard-headed corporate types. This was emotive, personal. What she did here had the potential to make a difference for many people. It was an unformed and as yet unrecognised hope, but somewhere in the back of her conscious thoughts there was almost a hope to change lives. Too grand, perhaps, arrogant and foolish, but what if it didn’t have to be? What if she could change lives? Wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing? Even if that was a step too far, what if she could make someone’s life easier for a short while? Wouldn’t that be a bit wonderful too?
The more she looked at the proposal, the more she agreed with Livia that Ralph’s input would be invaluable. But approaching Ralph was something that made her strangely nervous. The way people viewed her mattered to Eden in a way it had never done before. She was painfully aware of her status as a newcomer, as someone the locals might not even trust. They knew nothing about her – and perhaps if they did, they’d trust her even less. She was trying hard to change that, to be a better person, but none of them would know that.
‘I suppose you’re right,’ she said finally.
‘So we’re working tonight.’ Livia popped the end of her cone into her mouth. ‘I can ask Ralph in the meantime, but if I were you, I’d get there early and try to grab him before the pub gets busy.’
‘I’d love that, if it’s not too much bother. I know you’ve got work here and?—’
‘It’s no bother at all.’
Eden gave her a grateful smile. ‘That’s great, thanks.’
CHAPTER EIGHT
Eden spent the rest of the afternoon in a state of agitation. She couldn’t help but feel she needed to get something straight in her head before she talked to Ralph. She couldn’t waste his time on vague notions of doing something a bit nice; she needed to present something viable, even if it wasn’t a fully formed plan. So she’d bought herself a pretty notebook from the charity gift shop at the lifeboat station and then headed back to Four Winds Cottage to doodle spider diagrams with all sorts of ideas hoping to inspire a eureka moment. When she’d got to the point where she was confusing herself rather than teasing out anything useful, she took a walk along the clifftops to clear her head.
The wind had picked up, and it was colder than it had been during her first few days in Sea Glass Bay, but it was still beautiful, only now there was an added romance about it. Eden allowed herself to feel like a Regency heroine as the wind caught her hair and sent it whipping around her face and the sun skimmed the sea, catching the waves like scattered crystals. Shielding her eyes and staring out towards the horizon, she watched as boats zigzagged across the bay, and every so often, a dark shape would break the surface, but from here it was impossible to see if it was one of her elusive dolphins. It lookedas if the closest she was going to get to a dolphin was the pub she’d just started to work at.
As she made her way back to the cottage, her phone bleeped the arrival of a message. It was Livia, telling her that Ralph was happy to talk to her later. He’d make time for them before the evening rush if they wanted to pick his brains.
When Eden got there, Livia had already fixed all three of them a drink from the bar.
‘Orange gin, right?’ she asked, pushing one across the table to Eden as she took off her jacket and sat down with her and Ralph.
‘Wow, that’s what I call service! Thank you.’ Eden took a sip. After a sweaty walk from her house on the cliffs, it was icy and fresh and very welcome.
Ralph reached for his pint. ‘So what’s this about? Livia says you’ve got some ideas for something or other you want to do while you’re here in the bay. It all sounds a bit mysterious, but I’ve always been a sucker for a mystery.’
Eden took another sip of her drink and then a breath.
‘So…the other day when I was on shift, you had people coming in to get food parcels – which is completely brilliant, by the way – but it got me thinking. Livia says there are people round here struggling a bit, and I thought… I know you’re doing something to help, but I want to do something too. I was thinking about how it might be nice if there was a place to go and eat like a soup kitchen. Only not a soup kitchen,’ she added quickly, glancing at Livia. ‘Because that sounds all wrong and too Victorian, you know, but somewhere to get a meal for free that was also a nice place to be. There might be places like that already, I don’t know, but when I asked Livia, she didn’t think so, and so…’
Ralph looked at her with some amusement. ‘And you thought this would be your job?’
‘I know I’ve only just got here and already I’m like, “I know what you all need”. It must seem as if I’m being patronising, but that isn’t my intention. I just…’ Eden let out a sigh. ‘Cards on the table, I’ve not been a nice person over the past few years, and I want to be a nice person. I want to be better, and I think making life better for others is the way to go. It might sound selfish. I suppose it does, but the way I see it, even if helping others is for selfish reasons, it’s still helping them.’
