Yes Chef, No Chef

chapter Twenty Seven



The five o’clock alarm in the morning was a rude awakening and reminded Katie of her early working days as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She needed to be at Billingsgate market to buy the freshest seafood possible and because the best choices were usually sold out by seven she had a quick wake-up shower, punched the post code into her sat-nav and drove through the empty streets.

The city was a different place at this time in the morning and she marvelled at the quiet stillness surrounding the usual packed tourist spots on Tower Hill and along Canary Wharf which was where the party was to be held later that night. Inside the market it was buzzing with noise from merchants shouting and laughing, and dealing with throngs of bleary-eyed customers.

The information board stated that the market held the largest selection of fish in the UK with daily arrivals from every coast from Aberdeen to Penzance. There were over 54 merchants, 98 stands, 30 shops, an 800 tonne freezer, a shellfish boiling room, and as she walked through the market hall making her purchases, the light salty smell of fresh fish filled her senses. She managed to buy the freshest seafood she could find and was pleased when it fitted the exact budget Andrew had given her for the buffet.

Arriving home again she made a risotto, assembled and packed all the other dishes which Andrew had arranged to be collected late afternoon and breathed a sigh of relief when his chauffeur turned up at the door to carefully load all the cool boxes into his car boot. She shook her head in disbelief when he jumped back into his car and gave Katie a cheeky wink. Bloody hell, she murmured but couldn’t help feeling flattered especially because she was dressed in her old tracksuit and her face was covered in a thick green facial mask.

She reckoned Andrew must be worth a mint if he could afford to have someone to run his errands and picked at some of the left over vegetables. She felt her cheeks flush with shame when she thought of the embarrassing time in the greenhouse with Sam and headed into her bathroom to get ready for the party.

Her behaviour she decided had resembled a sixteen year old leading a guy on and then pulling away frightened to go all the way and of course she’d done the same with Doug the butcher. Christ, she had to get a handle on things or she’d end up with an unpleasant reputation as a tease and tried to remember the days before she’d met Tim when she’d been full of confidence with men. Smoothing on a smoky green eye shadow she wondered if this was a typical reaction to being dumped and maybe the floundering was simply a result of her self-confidence taking a tumble. She’d talk to the girls later about it she thought, slipping her dress carefully over her head.

Sarah had rung to say she was running late and would meet them on board but Lisa was waiting for her at Canary Wharf Pier and she gasped in awe when she saw her. She looked stunning in a black, Bern Shaw evening dress that was off the shoulder and clung to her body leaving very little to the imagination. Katie wore her short, royal blue cocktail dress that shimmered in the dark with hundreds of glittering sequins. She’d piled her hair up with a matching sequin clasp and her silver stiletto heels completed the outfit perfectly while she walked with Lisa onto the boat trying to match her strong confident strides.

"I have a feeling we're in for a really good time tonight," Lisa said walking through a bar full of men. Nearly every man turned to stare at Lisa, and Katie noticed that Lisa’s usual slight air of indifference expression was coming across as provocative tonight rather than aloof - it was obviously driving them crazy. She was just going to comment to Lisa about the number of men in ratio to women when she realised this was normal for a male divorce party and if she had been in the mood to find herself another man, which she wasn’t, then this would be the perfect venue.

Following Lisa they made their way up to the top deck where thankfully there were mixed couples and more women standing chatting in groups.

Lisa spotted Andrew and called out a greeting. He was standing holding the rail on deck staring out to Canary Wharf but turned and swung around to face them when he heard her voice. He smiled warmly when Lisa introduced her.

"Aah, nice to meet you in person," he said pumping her hand and kissing Lisa’s cheek. "Hope you received my payment online?"

She reassured him everything had been collected earlier in the afternoon by his chauffeur and thanked him for his prompt payment while admiring his expensive tailored suit and crisp white shirt. Lisa fawned over him while they chatted then went to talk to some friends leaving Katie alone with him. Within minutes of meeting him she'd decided his air of pomposity and his haughty voice was irritating and couldn’t quite decide whether he was ugly or not - he certainly wasn’t what she would call nice looking.

"So, Katie, will you have some champagne?" he asked clicking his fingers at a passing waiter. "Bring me a bottle of Dom Perignon, not the cheap fizzy rubbish you're giving to my guests.” He bellowed with laughter and drained the glass of whisky in his hand. He was obviously hell-bent on celebrating his divorce big time and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to get into conversation with him but because the girls were nowhere in sight and she really wanted his recommendation she politely discussed her new business plan with him.

“Been there, done that, and got the T-shirt,” he drawled arrogantly. "But, we all have to start somewhere, I suppose."

The waiter arrived with the champagne before she could think of a polite reply and was handed a glass that she sipped from and he gulped at as if he was in a desert. She tried a few times to join in his conversation but found it difficult to get a word in edgeways while he droned on about the size and wealth of his business, and the more he drank the more he talked.

She was beginning to see why his wife had dumped him and run off with an American basketball player to Canada and then an old saying of her mum’s came to her mind, the bigger they are the harder they fall. He could definitely learn a lesson from Sam about how to accept divorce, she mused. And when he started bragging about his Range Rover and other three cars she decided she would have to get away from him.

Waiting for him to take a gulp of his champagne she butted in. “I’m going to head through and eat because I’m starving, and this champagne is going straight to my head. Do you like seafood?”

“Yes, I love it. That’s why I asked you to do mainly seafood for the party,” he said. “The best lobster I’ve ever tasted was at a party over at Elton John's place…”

"Oh right," she said, obviously unimpressed and started to walk towards the lower deck hoping he'd just let her go and stay where he was but these hopes were dashed when he strode along beside her.

When they entered the small room she tapped some of the black & white balloons and decorations hanging from the ceiling and admired the bunting strategically draped around the buffet table which proclaimed Andrew was just divorced and free and single again. The staff had done a great job of displaying her buffet - it looked fantastic and she breathed a sigh of relief whilst congratulating herself with a job well done.

The seafood looked fresh with ice crystals scattered around it, the vegetables and salad were crisp and colourful, and she hoped Andrew would be impressed with her selection of pristine, white calamari rings, shells of oysters and mahogany clams, huge crabs and claws, blue mussels, scallops, and every sized prawn and shrimp they'd had in the fish market. In the centre were cooked 8oz Cornish lobsters, bowls of avocado sauce, risotto and long baguettes of crusty bread.

Andrew whistled through his teeth. "This looks superb, Katie," he declared. "Shall we start with an appetiser of shrimp and prawn?"

Glumly, she realised he intended eating with her and wished she could spot Lisa or Sarah but they seemed to have disappeared. Filling their plates he ushered her to a table near the piano in the corner of the room and she followed him to the seats. The fresh smell from the prawns was divine and her mouth watered in anticipation.

“These prawns are delicious, so succulent and sweet,” he said excitedly.

Agreeing with him between mouthfuls she explained how she’d bought them fresh from Billingsgate fish market that morning and then decided she did feel a little sorry for him. It wasn’t easy coping when you were left on your own as she knew only too well, and although he was a prat and obviously full of fanciful stories his manners were impeccable and he was trying to be kind to her. Therefore, in an effort to steer the conversation away from him and his business she started to tell him about her passion for food and cooking. They returned to the buffet and she let him select a lobster while she filled bowls with salad, avocado sauce, risotto, and collected bread in a basket.

The bright red lobster sat in front of them on the table and she eyed it warily.

“I need to own up here, Andrew; I’m not quite sure how to tackle this?”

“Allow me,” he said gently twisting the claws from it. “Most of the meat in a lobster is in the tail and two front claws so we’ll try to get as much out as we can.”

She was amazed at his skill and expertise and thanked him gratefully while he broke off the tips of the claws with a nutcracker to reveal the succulent meat. He selected the best chunks for her and placed them onto her plate while she cut French bread for him and put salad into his bowl. They worked amicably in silence and after their first mouthfuls of lobster they both agreed the creamy, white meat was fabulous.

“It’s so fresh, it actually smells like seaweed. You’d think we were clambering over rock pools,” she said.

"Yeah, it reminds me of our honeymoon..." he said miserably. His voice softened and he lost the arrogant drawl while he talked about his ex-wife and how he hadn’t seen the break-up coming, and how at the end of their last argument she'd screamed her hatred for him. He told Katie he was horrified to think that anyone could actually hate him and Katie thought his loneliness seemed almost palpable.

Pouring the last of the champagne into their glasses she smiled compassionately at him. Maybe, she thought he’d taken her smile as a green light because suddenly he leant into her personal space and she smelt the strong alcohol fumes and stale cigar aroma on his breath which made her pull away from him. This however was no deterrent and he moved closer telling her how beautiful she looked while staring lecherously down her cleavage. He actually licked his lips beneath his thickly crusted moustache and she felt a shiver of repulsion run through her - it was definitely time to leave.

Suddenly he squeezed her knee hard and then tried to slide his hand up her thigh. "Look, why not be nice to me and come back to my place,” he cajoled. “If you'll stay the night and look after me properly I'll invest in your business and make you pots of lovely money."

She was horrified and roughly pushed his hand away. "You mean to tell me you're offering to buy into my business in exchange for sex?" she cried.

"Of course, it's the done thing nowadays, darling."

She stood up to leave, lifted her chin high, pulled her shoulders back and folded her arms defiantly across her chest. "No thanks, Andrew, I'd rather make it on my own," she retorted and strode across the room with his distant laughter ringing in her ears.

The bastard, she swore quietly and nearly walked into the back of Lisa who was talking to a group of men at the corner of the buffet table.

"Ah, here she is. Speak of the devil, Katie. I was just telling the guys here who'd made this fantastic seafood spread.”

She glowed with pleasure when one of the men raved about the seafood risotto she’d made with prawns, salmon flakes, and purple sprouting broccoli.

“Yes, you've really outdone yourself tonight,” Lisa said. “Is Andrew pleased with it?" she asked, looking across the room at him.

Katie took a glass of champagne from a passing waiter and sipped it. "Oh yes, he's delighted," she said raising the glass up towards Andrew and grinning. Within the next twenty minutes Katie had given countless business cards to people and confirmed a booking for another seafood buffet at an engagement party the following week. Delightedly, she beamed at Lisa, thanking her again for bringing her to the party and then taking her arm she pulled her into the ladies toilet. This was the first chance she’d had all night to talk to her alone and knew she had to do the dastardly deed. Apprehensively she licked her dry lips and told her John’s story about the picnic and Julie who was seeing a black guy from Pimlico called …. Adam.

Katie applied more blusher to her cheeks glancing tentatively at Lisa as she painted lip gloss onto her full lips. "I mean, it could be another guy living in Pimlico called Adam, and we could be jumping to the wrong conclusions. Have you seen him anymore?"

Lisa put the lip gloss back into her clutch-bag and viciously snapped the clasp shut. "Christ, no. He was just a one, no, a two-night stand," she said. "But I tell you something, Katie, this size eight bitch is really beginning to get on my nerves."

"Hmm, it’s probably just a coincidence..."

Lisa bristled. "Well, whatever it is she's getting under my skin. Nobody messes with me and my family."

They left the toilets and Katie breathed a sigh of relief that Lisa had taken it so well and didn’t appear on the surface to be too upset about Adam. A gap in people along the corridor made it clear for them both to see Sarah scurrying towards them beaming from ear to ear and taking both their hands she dragged them back into the toilets to tell them about the most handsome man she'd ever met.

"He's called Simon and well, he's just..." she giggled. “Well, I think he's the one. He really could be my Mr Right."

"Oh Sarah, I'm thrilled," Katie said smiling at the happiness shining in her eyes. Lisa shouted and whooped with delight while they both cuddled and kissed her. Half dancing in a conga chain they laughed all the way back into the buffet room and after Sarah had hurried back to the top deck to Simon, a wave of tiredness suddenly swept over Katie.

The five o’clock alarm was beginning to catch up with her. "Phew, I’m whacked and ready for home, Lisa. Are you staying?"

"Maybe just for another half hour," she answered, ogling a Brian Ferry look-a-like sitting by the piano on his own. Katie kissed her goodnight and was making her way around to the exit of the boat when she heard her name being called and turned to see Tim's sister, Jenny.

"Hello there," she said walking towards her smiling. They kissed each other’s cheeks and Katie told Jenny how well she looked and asked about Greg.

Jenny’s rebuke for not keeping in touch was gentle, "Just because our Tim is a moron and couldn't hang on to you doesn't mean we can't still be friends, does it?"

Katie agreed and, remembering how desperate she’d been to find out about Tim during the last few weeks, she could have kicked herself for not thinking of Jenny before now.

"He's such an idiot,” Jenny said fondly. “When you walked out I told him to get round straight away and grovel for you to forgive him. But he said if you’d run out at the first sign of trouble then you couldn't have been in it for the long haul and he's as stubborn as a mule, you know?"

"But I was in it for keeps, Jenny,” she countered, “I just couldn't stand being spoken to like one of his kitchen assistants."

She drained the wine out of her glass. "I know and he’s learning his lessons the hard way, believe you me. The restaurant is in a mess and he's up to his eyeballs in it."

Katie's stomach flipped with alarm. "A mess? What do you mean?"

Jenny half turned to go. "He's short staffed, the boss is on his back all the time, and he's working about sixteen hours a day. It could all be going pear shaped!"

"Oh no," Katie sighed. "He's worked so hard to get where he is..."

"Sorry, Katie, I’ve got a taxi booked. Look, why don’t you give him a ring? I know he'd be over the moon to hear from you.”

Katie wavered, "Er, I’ll think about it, Jenny," she replied.

Jenny started to hurry towards the exit and called over her shoulder, "You could give him a shoulder to cry on because he needs all the friends he can get at the moment."