Yes Chef, No Chef

chapter Twenty Eight



Get in touch Jenny had told her, he’s really having a bad time at the moment and could do with some support. But where was he two months ago when everything was falling apart and she needed his support. Sitting at her kitchen table and staring idly out of the window she remembered how Jenny had said he was learning his lessons the hard way and something inside her softened. If there was just the hint of seeing her old sweet natured Tim emerge from all of this, it would be worth one final shot and opened the laptop to begin typing.

It took her nearly half an hour to compose the email and when she read it back to herself she decided it sounded light-hearted, chatty and friendly. She pressed the send button before she had time to talk herself out of sending it and knew for the next few hours she’d be on tenterhooks waiting for a reply.

Still buzzing from the previous night’s successful buffet, she decided that relying upon business bookings through word of mouth only wouldn’t be enough and planned to start a small advertising campaign. Beginning with Chrissie’s contact list she began to work her way through the names and designed some new flyers. Stopping midway to make coffee she couldn’t help but wonder if things were going so badly at Tim’s restaurant why he hadn’t told her during the kneading dough visit. But there again, she realised she’d been so shocked to see him she hadn’t even asked about his work.

Her cheeks flushed with guilt and slowly and deliberately she repeated the words; She. Hadn’t. Even. Asked. About. His. Work.

Thinking back to the first week when he’d got the new job it dawned upon her that apart from going with him for lunch to meet Jack, at the front of house, she’d never once set foot in his kitchen. Had Frances been right when she’d said that Tim felt his work came second best to her job and? Had she been so involved with her own work that she hadn’t shown any interest in his? On the other hand though, even if she had gone to see him would it have made any difference? Tim wasn’t the type of guy to want anyone interfering and if things were going wrong he certainly wouldn’t want to admit it to her or anyone else for that matter - he’d much rather sort it out himself, wouldn’t he? Her stomach slumped with the thought that he’d obviously felt he couldn’t talk to her about it - after all, they’d been so close, hadn’t they?

Suddenly the ring tone from her mobile startled her and she saw his name on the screen – at the sound of his first hello she could feel her insides tingle. They chatted at first and he asked about Lisa and Sarah and then went on to tell her about the plight he was in.

“And to cap it all, there’s a food critic due in two days’ time to do an article in The Telegraph about the royal wedding banquet I’m planning. Jack reckons it’s make-or-break time…”

She could hear the anxiety and exhaustion in his voice and her heart melted. “But it’s hardly your fault he was in a car accident,” she said comfortingly.

“I know, but that’s not the way he sees it,” he stressed. “As head chef I’m in charge and supposed to be able to cope with any eventuality. And trust me, I’ve rung every agency in London - there’s just no one available…”

She jibed. “Er, you haven’t tried my culinary business? I know a great home economist, called Chrissie, who is looking for the odd day’s work and, I know I’m not a trained chef but I can cook and would willingly come to help on the day the critic is visiting. Well, that’s if you want me to?”

She heard his sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line.

“You would?” he croaked. “Jeez, Kate, after everything that’s happened between us you would still come to help me?”

She could imagine the look on his face and how his eyes would have softened when he tilted his head to one side. He was the type of man that would never ask for help outright but he was also a man of integrity and she could hear the appreciation and respect in his voice.

Now she knew it was best to lighten the mood. “Well, you would do it for me, wouldn’t you?” she teased. “And, I haven’t told you how much I’m charging you, yet!”

He blundered, “Anything, name your price and I know Jack will pay it.”

They teased each other light-heartedly and laughed together while they agreed a price and arranged the hours she could do on Friday. She gave him Chrissie’s mobile number and asked him to email the recipes over to her for the fish starters and main courses so she could look over them before getting there.

Her hand was trembling when she clicked her mobile off and the reality of what she’d just done started to sink in. Her stomach was doing treble somersaults at the thought of seeing him again! It’s not a date though, she reminded herself because she knew she would be working hard, but couldn’t stop longing for Friday – she simply couldn’t wait.

That night Sarah had asked her and Lisa for dinner and as soon as she walked into Sarah’s kitchen she knew by the look on her face that this was it. This was the start of a life Sarah had been dreaming for - she looked totally different already. The happiness seemed to shine from her body and to say her eyes were sparkling was an understatement.

“It’s official,” Lisa said lounging on the settee. “Sarah’s in lurve…”

Katie offered to help with dinner but was shooed away and flopped down next to Lisa who was making the gesticulation of someone vomiting.

“OK. Here’s the deal,” Lisa said. “You can have thirty minutes to tell us all about the wonderful Simon but only thirty minutes and not a second longer.”

Sarah giggled like a schoolgirl. “It won’t take that long,” she said, “I’ve only known him one day and four hours of one night.”

“Oh no,” Katie teased, “we’ve got the time counted already.”

Sarah placed a pot of beef curry and a large bowl of rice in the centre of the table and both Katie and Lisa scrambled to their feet and sat down at the table. Sarah told them everything about him, what they’d talked about, how he’d made her feel, how he was probably the best kisser she’s ever known and how he seemed to want all the same things she did.

“And he’s sent three texts today already and I just can’t wait to see him tomorrow night,” she bubbled with excitement.

“Enough!” Lisa yelled. “You’ve had well over your time and there’s only so much slush I can cope with in one night.” But all three of them were laughing when she said it and Katie knew Lisa was as happy for Sarah as she was.

Katie took a large gulp of wine and told them about the telephone call with Tim and how she’d offered to help out in the restaurant for the day.

“Just you be careful hon,” Lisa warned kindly. “Take it slowly. I don’t want to see you hurt again.”

Sarah squeezed Katie’s hand. “Lisa’s right. But going to support him in his hour of need – oh, Katie, it’s soooo romantic…”

When Katie arrived back from Sarah’s there was a message on her answer machine from Chrissie thanking her for the work at Tim’s restaurant. She said she’d been making jellies, custards, and sorbets, and then had crooned in her admiration at such a gorgeous chef. Katie imagined Chrissie’s California smile and hoped Tim had been pleased with her work.

On Friday morning Katie woke with bubbles of excitement snaking their way around her stomach before she’d even had time to hit the shower. Her white chef’s apron hung on the side of the wardrobe door starched and pressed, and she chose a short, black skirt and black vest to keep as cool as possible in the kitchen, but she also knew they looked good on her tanned legs and arms. Every time she thought of seeing him again she felt quite giddy with longing and although she kept reminding herself she was seeing him on a purely professional basis, she hoped and prayed something more would come from it. Maybe he’d ask her out for dinner or a drink to try and talk again, or maybe she should ask him, she thought, applying lip gloss. No, she couldn’t do that because more than anything else Lisa would be appalled and after all she had held the olive branch out by getting in touch and doing him the favour, therefore, he should be the one to take it further.

Pulling up outside the restaurant she day-dreamed about going out with him for dinner and kissing at the end of the night with his strong hands roaming her body, and ….. “STOP!” she shouted, get a grip on yourself, then took a deep breath, pulled her shoulders back and entered the door into the restaurants kitchen.



Tim’s insides flipped over when she walked into the kitchen and waved across at him - just the sight of her brought a rush of sheer joy flooding through his whole body. Grinning, he hurried across and enveloped her in a bear hug. It was his Kate, and she was really here in his kitchen and smiling at him in person, and not from the photograph on his desk.

“Jeez, it’s good to see you,” he said beaming at her. “In case I forget or don’t get time to say this later, I can’t thank you enough already.”

Revelling at being in his arms again, she laughed. “Hey, hold back with the thanks, I haven’t done anything yet.”

She felt her stomach lurch with passion and desire when he looked into her eyes but reminded herself this was neither the right place nor time and forced her professional business head back into place.

“OK, Chef, lead me to it,” she said giggling nervously, slipped her jacket off, and took her white apron from a bag.

He stared longingly at the vest she wore stretched over her breasts and remembered the day they’d kneaded the dough but he shook the images from his mind because he needed to concentrate on his work.

She wrapped the apron straps twice around her tiny waist and scraped her hair up into a mop cap Jessie gave her then fell into step behind him while he showed her around the kitchen and introduced her to Simon. As they walked, he told her how great Chrissie had been and how she’d done a fantastic job preparing everything with Jessie, and that Jack had paid her generously.

Katie smiled, watching Jessie’s face as she followed Tim around, gazing up at him like a puppy-dog as though he was superman. But she knew there wasn’t the slightest reason to be jealous because for as long as she’d known him Tim had been completely guileless where women were concerned – he simply had no idea of his natural physical attraction.

Just before the restaurant opened Tim gathered them all together, reminded them of their duties and gave a little pep-talk. She felt so proud of his achievements even though it had cost them their relationship. Walking back to her work station she wondered if she could have been more understanding of the daily pressures he’d been working under.

Starting to cut the blanched leek and carrot into Julienne strips she chatted briefly with Simon and weighed out the lemon grass, ginger and red wine in readiness for her first orders. The whole kitchen was buzzing. And, although they knew the food critic was coming for lunch, they didn’t know what time, and she could see Tim was already showing signs of nervous irritation.

“Is the salad prep done?” he yelled at Jessie.

Jessie hurried around to the green chiller, checked and then called back, “Yes Chef!”

The first customers arrived for table three and Tim called out her order. “Kate, we need three scallop starters.”

“Yes Chef,” she said and went to the yellow chiller to get her readily prepared scallops.

“Kate! Did you hear me?” he bellowed, “I need to hear you answer me and you didn’t!”

“I did answer you,” she called back lighting the gas under the pan of olive oil.

He walked over to her and stood behind her inhaling her familiar shower gel. “Well you’re not shouting loud enough,” he said close to her ear.

“Yes Chef!!” she practically screamed at him like a sergeant major.

Alarmed, he jumped back and wanted to howl with laughter at her humour in a challenging situation but as Simon was tittering at the other side of the bench he decided upon a sober reaction.

“OK. That’s better,” he smirked and watched her drop scallops into the sizzling oil.

Her hands were trembling slightly when she shook the pan but willed herself to stay calm; this was her first order and she wanted to do a good job for him. She quickly arranged her small piles of leek and carrot strips, rescued the scallops from the pan after two minutes and set them aside to keep warm. Adding the ginger, red wine and lemon grass into the juices she stirred quickly and then placing four scallops onto each pile of vegetables she drizzled her dressing over and around them.

He was waiting at the service bench for them and sniffed his approval as they were whipped away to the table. Got through round one, she thought breathing a sigh of relief and hurried to prepare her salmon for the main courses.

The restaurant began to fill with hungry customers and she worked quickly cooking a further eight orders of scallops. Tim’s temper was building and he was barking out orders to them all while loud Yes Chef answers could be heard simultaneously throughout the kitchen as they all did their best to keep up with him.

She had two orders for her salmon and pine nut crusted fillet with roasted sweet potatoes and began by flash frying the prepared sliced potatoes and spreading the pine nut mix on top of the fillets to go into the oven. After six minutes and with a golden brown crust she lifted them carefully out of the oven and placed them onto plates with scoops of chunky red salsa and roasted sweet potatoes. Once again they were whisked off to the table but this time Tim told her the potatoes were a little overdone.

He hoped he wasn’t being too picky because he didn’t want to upset her but the food had to be perfect, especially today - surely she was used to taking criticism? One of the waiters arrived at the serving bench with a plate of salmon fillet in his hands and told Tim table seven were sending the meal back because the salmon wasn’t cooked. He could feel his face flush with embarrassment in front of the snidey waiter and lost his temper. What was wrong with her, he fumed, could she not even cook a piece of salmon properly?

Descending upon her he shouted. “Kate! This fillet is not cooked. Table seven have sent it back. How long did you cook them for?”

She stuttered, “S…six minutes, like you told me to this morning.” Her heart was hammering inside her chest and she tried to breathe deeply to steady herself as he glowered at her.

“Well check the oven and do them again,” he snarled. “And this time call for me to look at them.”

“Yes Chef,” she muttered and then hurriedly correcting herself she raised her voice and said louder, “Yes Chef!”

Walking back to the serving table he tried to calm down by taking long, slow breaths and willed himself not to lose his temper again. It could have been much worse if they’d been given to the food critic’s table he decided and then felt his foot slip on a wet patch on the floor.

“Jessie!” he yelled gripping hold of the table. “Get this bloody floor dried-up, it’s soaking wet.”

Katie looked at him while she prepared the fillets again, his face was flushed with the exertion of shouting, his eyebrows were knotted in frustration, and his forehead was covered in beads of sweat. Not quite so cute now, she thought testily, and set the oven timer for the fillets while frying the potatoes. Jessie sidled up to her and told her the oven she’d used was a little temperamental and showed her a more reliable oven for which she was grateful, but from then onwards things went from bad to worse and the lunch-time service seemed never ending. The next two salmon fillets she cooked were overdone and he shouted at her again until her third attempt was better although the sweet potatoes were a little too hard.

By this time her previous optimistic confidence had completely deserted her and she felt thoroughly miserable. Reasoning with herself, she knew that although his manner was dreadful, some of his criticisms were justified and she couldn’t even argue with him. But the more uptight she became the more mistakes she made and her stomach churned like a rollercoaster. Her usual calm demeanour had long since dissolved and the more he shouted at her, the more panicky she felt. God, how she wished this was over she thought, and yet she’d started the day with such high hopes. Tears pricked at the back of her eyes and, not wanting to make a fool of herself in front of everyone, and especially not him, she fled to the toilets.

Washing her hands she stared into the mirror and choked back the tears. Come on, you can get through this she told herself and blew her nose hard. Taking three deep breaths in succession she felt a little calmer and more determined to get things back onto an even keel.

When she left the toilets Jessie caught up with her and put a comforting arm around her shoulders trying to reassure her that she was doing fine.

“It’s just because he’s worked so hard on the new dishes and is desperate to get a good review from the food critic,” Jessie said. “And I do know he’s over the moon that you’ve come to the restaurant and your support will definitely buck him up.”

Katie smiled back at her young earnest face. “I know, and he’s very lucky to have you Jessie.”

Jessie grinned then anxiously looked over her shoulder to make sure Tim wasn’t anywhere in the vicinity. “He’s been so sad lately without you. He’s never said as much but I can tell by the way he stares at your photograph on his desk.”

Katie thanked her and, trying to hold her head up higher, she returned to her bench where she managed to cook the last few sets of orders to his satisfaction.

At the end of service he came up to her and smiled tentatively. “Well done, tough call today but we got there,” he said awkwardly patting her shoulder.

Feeling confused she looked into his eyes and wasn’t sure what to say. She knew that admitting mistakes had always been painful for him and noticed him wringing his hands together in embarrassment. His face was still slightly flushed and he shuffled from one foot to another.

“Tough call?” Katie probed untying the apron strings from around her waist. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? You’ve done nothing but scream and shout at me”.

Tim took the apron from her and then tried to take hold of her hand. “Look, you know it’s not personal,” he stumbled uncomfortably. “I mean, when I lose my temper and shout, it doesn’t mean anything…”

Jack suddenly appeared at the doorway calling his name and he dropped her hand quickly and turned to leave. “I’ll call,” he said over his shoulder striding towards the doorway while she stared after him slowly shaking her head in confusion.