Page 52 of Eden's Comfort Kitchen
‘I suppose I could make four thirty. Maybe four at a push.’
‘Right, so get there when you can. Four, four thirty, it doesn’t matter – we’ll find some way to make use of you. And don’t try to be crap at everything so we stop asking because that’s not going to wash. While you’re there, think of me as your boss and treat me with the respect you’d give your boss, which means doing things to the best of your ability. If you’re doing this thing, you’re going to commit.’
‘Yes, boss,’ he said, and that mocking tone was back.
‘Good. Just as long as we’re clear. If you don’t play by the rules, then I won’t either – remember that.’
‘OK, OK, I got it. Wednesday then.’
‘Are you staying close by?’
‘Hotel. Close enough, don’t worry.’
‘I wasn’t. I just wondered…’
‘If I’d use it as an excuse not to come?’
‘No. I only meant…forget it.’
He gave a dismissive wave as he turned to leave. As soon as he was gone, Livia came across from the other side of the bar where she’d been polishing glasses, probably in a bid to look as if she wasn’t listening when, in reality, she could hardly do anything else. Eden didn’t blame her – she’d have been eavesdropping too.
‘What was all that about?’
‘Well, I hope it’s a stroke of genius on my part, but I’m already worried I’ve dropped a massive clanger. Then again, sometimes in life, you have to take a risk, right?’
‘Well, that’s not cryptic at all…’
Eden gave a rueful smile. ‘I laid down a challenge to try and save the kitchen. Mr Faulkner is going to come and work for us for two weeks?—’
‘What?’
‘And then,’ Eden continued, acknowledging Livia’s incredulity but not addressing it, ‘if he hasn’t been convinced of its value, I said I’d give up the fight for the hut and let him have it without a fuss.’
‘You can’t do that!’
‘It was the only way, trust me. I realise it sounds like madness, but I know what that man is capable of. Normal weapons won’t work – we have to go nuclear or not at all. You can petition and stage sit-ins and get the local papers in and all that, but it won’t matter to him. I needed something outside of the box…I only hope this is good enough.’
‘So do I – for your sake.’
Eden sighed. ‘I suppose there would be other venues. Not nearly as suitable. Not suitable at all, in fact, but…’ She shook herself. ‘I don’t need to worry about that because I have a plan.’
‘You do?’
‘Yes. We’re all going to go on a major charm offensive. He’s going to have so much fun he won’t want to leave once his two weeks are up.’
‘How does that help us keep the hut?’
‘Well, he’ll like us all so much he won’t want to be such a Scrooge McDuck.’
Livia slowly shook her head. ‘I hope you know what you’re doing.’
‘Me too,’ Eden said, not entirely sure that she did. Had she just signed the death warrant for her community café?
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Eden fully expected a no-show from Cam. If it had been the other way round, she didn’t think she would have turned up either, so it was a jolt to be peeling potatoes and staring out of the window of the scout hut kitchen to see a car pull up in one of the parking spaces at the back and him get out. But then she gave the matter a second thought and decided that she ought to have seen it coming. He’d have come just to prove a point, to prove her wrong, to win the bet, or simply to be as contradictory as he could – perhaps all of those things. He’d have come because he’d have known she’d suspected he wouldn’t, just to irritate her.
Her eyes followed him across the car park. He was wearing well-fitted jeans and a soft sweatshirt. She’d never seen him in what she assumed were his scruffs. Some of her colleagues at the property company had fancied him like mad, but though she’d appreciated his chiselled good looks, she’d made a point of taking no notice. He wasn’t someone who made himself easy to like. Today, though, away from that environment, now that he was no longer her boss…If these were his scruffs he ought to dress that way more often because he wore them well. In fact, very well. He looked…
