Page 75 of Once Bitten, Twice Fried
She abruptly stood up, kicking her chair behind her in the process. She rubbed her forehead and walked towards her wine cabinet.
“Do you want a glass of Saint-Emilion as well?” She turned to Nicki.
“You know I always need a glass after interacting with Harry.” Nicki leaned back on her chair, looking as stressed as Zoe felt.
“I know, right? He’s so…” Zoe turned towards Nicki and mimed strangling someone with her hands. She placed her attention back to the wine rack and slid out a bottle, examining it. “This one should do.” Zoe grabbed two wine glasses from the cabinet and a corkscrew then sat back next to her assistant.
“The problem-” She sighed and started working on the bottle. “Is that Harry is stupidly good at his job. I went from a nobody who didn’t even win a cooking show to a beloved chef almost in a fortnight.” A nice warm popping sound echoed as Zoe took the cork in one swift movement. She poured them both a generous glass.
“You weren’t a nobody. People have loved you since the first episode ofChop It Like It’s Hot.I remember everyone was gutted when you lost in the semi-final.”
Zoe chuckled. “Who’s everyone?”
“My parents, my friends, my neighbours,…” Nicki was counting on her fingers.
“Were you gutted?”
Nicki nervously took a sip of her glass. “So what do you think of Harry’s suggestion?”
“Nicki, answer the question please,” Zoe teased.
Nicki bit her lip. “I’m so sorry Zoe, I’d been rooting for Barbara since the beginning of the show.”
“For Barbara?” Zoe exclaimed, faking outrage. It felt insane to let herself have this moment of lightness, but she couldn’t resist.
“Well, she did win the competition, didn’t she? So my gut feeling was good, she was clearly the best chef.” Nicki said mischievously.
Zoe didn’t take the bait. “She’s massively talented. I hear her new restaurant in Manchester is a huge success.” Zoe circled the rim of her glass with her finger. “I guess everyone prefers a nice Northern girl to a thoroughbred Southerner.”
“I know I do” Nicki chuckled as Zoe jokingly swiped at her.
Nicki looked serious again. “So what do you think of Harry’s plan?”
Zoe groaned. “It would solve all of our problems, wouldn’t it? Tom and I saying yes in a nice little meadow in the countryside. Then we would ‘accidentally’leak some wedding pictures to the press for everyone to see.”
“That would really be the best solution,” Nicki nodded. “But… is it really what you want to do?”
Zoe knew that she wouldn’t be feeling this way about it if it was. But maybe that wasn’t the important question right now. Maybe this was the moment to set aside her desires, to prioritise her career, and Tom’s, and bring some stability back into her life. Maybe once she’d done that, she could take the time to properly think through her feelings for Julie. And then from there, she’d figure out how to tell Tom that she’d cheated on him, and that she’d had feelings for someone else, and that that person was a woman, and then deal with fall-out fromthatcrisis, and ultimately end up back where she was now. Or maybe it would all be fine. She really had no idea.
“What would you do if you were me?”
Nicki leaned on her chair and pretended to think deeply about it. “Well, Zoe… If I were you, I would tell my assistant about what I really wanted to do, deep down in my heart.”
Zoe smiled. “I guess this is a question that only I can answer.” She looked at the bottom of her wine glass. “The truth is… I don’t know.”
“You don’t want to marry Tom that soon?”
Zoe was bursting to tell Nicki the truth about why she couldn’t marry Tom now, but she couldn’t. They were already in a crisis; she couldn’t throw gasoline on the fire by admitting, even to Nicki, that she’d slept with Julie. She shook her head. “Everything just feels so rushed. And I don’t want to make my wedding into this soulless commercial thing for pragmatic purposes.”
“That’s fair enough.”
The sound of a key in the lock interrupted their conversation. Tom was coming home.
Zoe tensed up. Would she still be able to look him in the eye?
“Zo? Are you home?” Tom walked into the kitchen. He had a black t-shirt underneath his black leather jacket. He had dark circles under his eyes, and his beard looked like he hadn’t shaved in four days.
Tom stopped in front of Zoe, dropping his backpack on the floor. He looked at her from head to toe for a moment then took her into his arms.
