Page 23 of Eden's Comfort Kitchen
‘Hmmm.’ Ralph was silent as he reached for his glass, but his eyes didn’t leave Eden. She could see the cogs turning. ‘What do you propose?’ he asked finally.
‘I thought…’ She looked at Livia, who gave her an encouraging smile. ‘We were talking about it earlier, and we were thinking like a community café type of thing.’
‘And how would it work?’ Ralph asked.
‘I’m not sure yet. That’s why I wanted to ask you about it. You run a restaurant here, so you must know all about that kind of thing. I don’t expect you to tell me how to do everything, but if I can get some idea of the basics, where to start, that would be a great help.’
He nodded slowly. ‘You know this could be a big commitment. Unless it’s just a one-off event you’re thinking about?’
‘No, I want it to be there all the time, whenever anyone needs it, otherwise there’s hardly any point.’
‘But you’re not going to be here past the end of the year,’ he reminded her.
‘I know, and I’ve been thinking about that.’
‘And?’
Eden shrugged. The details of this were unclear to her too, but perhaps if this thing worked as she hoped it would, perhapsif it became the thing to give her life meaning and purpose in a way it had never truly had, it might become a reason to stay in Sea Glass Bay for good. It wasn’t like anyone back in London was going to miss her, but here she could be a new person, untainted by who she’d been before, and people might like her without judging her for bad things she’d once done or because she wore the right clothes or went to the right places with the right people.
‘I think it depends on what happens over the next few months,’ she said. ‘This thing might amount to nothing, and I don’t know what I’d do then, but if it was a success and people wanted to come, then maybe I’d want to stay and keep running it.’
‘And you’ve got the funds to do that?’
‘I have some savings. I know they won’t last forever, but I had a well-paid job in London and I have a decent amount. I suppose I’d have to earn more at some point, but I’ll work that out.’
‘More than I pay you?’ he asked with that look of faint amusement again.
Eden flushed. ‘Oh, that didn’t come out right. I wasn’t making out like your job here is… I enjoyed my first shift, and I don’t think it’s beneath me, if that’s what you’re getting at.’
‘I was teasing you. Sorry,’ he said. ‘But I couldn’t resist. I knew about all that when I took you on, and I wouldn’t have given you the job if it bothered me. I’m throwing practical obstacles in your way for your benefit, so you can see what you face and what you might need to do to make this thing work. And I’m trying to make you see clearly just what it is you might be getting into, because I’m not sure you understand.’
‘I suppose it looks that way,’ Eden admitted. ‘Perhaps I don’t. I haven’t thought about everything, and even when I feel like I have, I’m sure more stuff will crop up. I only know that I want to do some good, and I think this could be it. If I try and I fail, isn’tit better that I’ve tried? If we only manage a few weeks, isn’t that better than nothing?’
‘It depends on what we get a few weeks of. There’s no point in a few weeks of a scheme that proves to be no use to man nor beast, is there?’
‘No, you’re right. So what do you think? What would you do if you were starting something like this?’
‘Start at the beginning. What are your resources? What’s your budget? Your time constraints? Your support network? What can you realistically achieve when you take all those things into account? Is that anything like what you want to achieve and, if not, do you still want to go ahead and do it?’
‘Yes,’ Eden said.
‘Yes what?’
‘I still want to do it.’
‘So you’ve already got the answer to all those questions?’
‘No, but it won’t matter. I want to do it anyway.’
Ralph raised his eyebrows. Eden could guess what he was thinking. Here was a silly young woman who knew nothing about anything, living in cloud cuckoo land. He might well be right, but that didn’t mean she was going to back down. Something deep inside was telling her she needed this. She couldn’t understand it and couldn’t explain to anyone else why it mattered so much, but the more she dreamed it, the more it did.
‘I just need practical advice,’ she said. ‘And maybe some help to get started. I’m not so stubborn that I don’t realise I won’t be able to do everything alone.’
‘OK…’ he said slowly. ‘How many days a week are you planning on doing this?’
‘Every day?’
‘So when will your life fit into that?’
