Yes Chef, No Chef

chapter Seven



Lisa had impeccable taste and when she was younger had lived in Paris for a while, which had helped her re-create the Parisian style when transforming the small flat in Pimlico. Katie looked around the beautiful living room marvelling at the décor where everything was cream, from the muslin hanging at the ceiling-to-floor windows, to the occasional chairs, cushions, rugs, candles, and sofa. The long, ornate sofa stood on what appeared to be very delicate spindle feet and she eyed it warily knowing it was where she would be sleeping tonight.

Lisa read Katie’s mind. “It’s not as delicate as it looks,” she said. “It’s quite robust and comfortable. I’ve slept on it before, but there again, if I score tonight with this guy I’ve got my eye on and don’t make it home, you can always dive into my bed.”

In the five years Katie had known Lisa she’d never had a serious relationship and had only ever been interested in younger men - it was rare for them to last longer than two to three weeks. Sarah reckoned any type of emotional attachment was abhorrent to Lisa and was to be avoided at all costs, which Katie had had to agree with, or at least that’s how it appeared to everyone. Maybe it was because she had as much money and power as men and that’s why she seemed to have sex like a man without feelings.

Katie grinned at her. “And how old is this gorgeous guy, may I ask?”

“Not too sure,” Lisa quipped pursing her lips, “but definitely old enough for it to be legal.”

“You’re priceless,” Katie said laughing and plonked herself down into an easy chair.

Lisa threw back her mane of long hair and flounced-off into the kitchen to look for drinks and begged Katie to make herself at home. Katie decided to leave her cases and bags in the car ready for the next morning but went outside to bring overnight essentials and her white jeans to wear to the party. The street was quiet and empty with an almost reverential feel to it and Katie gasped with awe looking at the large entrances and grand front doors. It was hard to pick out which was the most exclusive and knew this was wealth on a grand scale. Her mum would usually recite the saying, that money didn’t always bring happiness, but she wouldn’t mind testing that theory one day.

Running back up the stairs with her things she tried to muster some excitement for the party but knew her heart wasn’t in it. The unhappy alternative though was to stay in the flat all night alone with only the previous upsetting memories to keep her company – this made her physically shudder with dread. She decided to go along for a few hours and then make an early exit once Lisa had got hooked up with her guy which, knowing Lisa’s usual track record, shouldn’t take too long.

Plans for who was showering first and what clothes they’d wear were made over a bottle of pink champagne and a table was booked at a small Italian restaurant for supper before the party. Lisa was the perfect host and made Katie feel relaxed and welcome up to the stage where momentarily she forgot the earlier upset at the apartment and began to remember with amusement the single life she’d led before Tim. While styling their hair, applying make-up and painting finger nails they chatted and laughed remembering nights with Sarah at different dances and parties and some of the hilarious antics they’d got up to and by the time the taxi arrived Katie felt slightly tiddly and in an upbeat mood.

“Thanks, Lisa,” she said when they left and walked down the steps onto the street. “I feel so much better than I did when we got here this afternoon - you’ve been an absolute tonic.”

Lisa opened the taxi door and climbed in. “Tsk, you’d do the same if I was in your situation,” she said blushing.

Katie sat next to her on the back seat and Lisa looking uneasily down at her shoes obviously embarrassed with the compliment and Katie thought she looked like someone caught in the act of being considerate and was almost ashamed at possessing such a virtue.

While Lisa gave directions to the taxi driver she let her mind drift back to the day she’d met Lisa. She’d been having lunch on her own in a café opposite the office in Holborn because Frances had cancelled at the last minute and had looked up from her plate to see Lisa breeze into the packed room. Because there were no empty tables she’d asked Katie if she could share hers and they’d started chatting and laughing together from the minute she’d sat down. Lisa had been doing some PR work in a nearby office block so they’d arranged to meet for lunch again the following week and within a couple of months they were great friends. Sarah however, had taken a little longer to firm her friendship with Lisa’s often complex personality but now the three of them were inseparable and Sarah loved her just as much as she did.

“No garlic bread tonight,” Lisa warned when they studied the menu in the restaurant. “I don’t want to be reeking of garlic when I get my lips around this guy.”

Katie giggled at her friend and not for the first time longed to have just a quarter of her self-confidence. It was as though there wasn’t a smidgen of doubt in Lisa’s mind that she wouldn’t have this guy tonight.

“I’ve got mints in my bag,” she offered, to which Lisa raised a haughty eyebrow and gently shook her head.

“My dear!” she exclaimed. “Have you learnt nothing from me over the last few years?” and they both dissolved into fits of giggles which turned the heads of other diners in the room. The waiter appeared and joined in their happy spirit while Lisa rose to his challenge and good humoured banter was played back and forth like a tennis ball while ordering their food. Katie looked around the room and relaxed, she felt content with her glass of wine, a much improved state of mind, her good friend’s excited chatter, and for the first time in what seemed like forever she actually could see the light at the end of a black tunnel.

She told Lisa how she was feeling and she clapped her hands together delightedly. “Now that’s grand, isn’t it?” Lisa said. “Me and Sarah have been so worried about you all week and quite frankly it was heart-breaking to see you in such a state.”

“I know, and I’m going to think of a way to thank you both properly when I get sorted out.”

“Now, don’t start all that again,” Lisa warned kindly. “I can only deal with so many compliments in one night.”

This was Lisa’s way of offering an explanation of her previous embarrassment and Katie squeezed her arm understandingly.

Thin crust pizza arrived with a huge bowl of fresh salad and delicious dressing to which they both attacked hungrily.

“Now, isn’t this a perfect pre-party supper?” Lisa exclaimed happily. “Just enough carbohydrate to give us the energy to dance but not too much filling to make us feel bloated.”

Lisa looked stunning when they entered the house party on Vauxhall Bridge Road and Katie noticed all the guys turning to stare at her long cream silk dress. The silk clung to her slim long legs when she walked and the front draped perilously close to exposing her bra-less small but pert breasts. She was easily, Katie decided, the most attractive woman in the room and their host called out a loud OTT greeting from the hall way.

“Darling…” he breezed. “Soooo glad you could make-it!”

“Oh, Darren,” Lisa purred. “Wouldn’t have missed it for the world…”

Even with Lisa’s height in heels she had to stand on tip-toes to air kiss either side of his cheeks and then introduced Katie to him. He was the tallest man Katie had ever seen and she guessed he had to be at least six foot five or six. Towering above her Katie knew there was no way she would reach his face so warmly took his hand instead which he shook sincerely and welcomed her to his home.

“Champagne and drinks are in the kitchen diner,” he said dashing off to greet more friends arriving in the hall way. Lisa poured drinks in the kitchen and explained that Darren was an ex-client in publishing and was desperately online-dating to try and find a single, professional woman who was over six foot. Whilst they giggled and discussed the problematic act of having sex with a man who was twelve inches taller than oneself Lisa suddenly stopped talking and looked over Katie’s shoulder.

“Oh Katie, don’t turn around and make it obvious but he’s here…” she whispered. Katie took a sip of her drink and moved around the table to see who the guy was.

Looking at the groups of people standing together Katie asked, “OK, give me a clue at least?”

“By the doorway. He’s black, his name’s Adam, and phwoarr, just look at those shoulders in that white shirt?”

Lisa was practically drooling and licked her heart shaped, moist lips while Katie looked him up and down.

Yep, she thought, just Lisa’s usual type and squeezed her friends arm reassuringly. “Go get him, Tiger,” she whispered.

She’d have great fun telling Sarah all about him tomorrow, she mused sipping her champagne slowly. Looking at Adam’s friends she decided they seemed a nice bunch of guy’s although she couldn’t feign any interest in them, and then suddenly gasped as reality hit home. God, this was something she hadn’t thought of until now - eventually she’d have to get back out on the dating scene again. Her heart sank with the tiresome thought of it all.

Before Tim she’d been out with quite a few different men and one in particular, Steve, had lasted for six months. She remembered by the end of their second month together that she’d thought him a serious contender for a long term relationship and how he’d often reminded her of her father. He’d been good looking, smart, and kind and they’d got along very well together but when his ex-fiancé arrived back on the scene he’d told Katie he was still in love with her and they’d flitted off to Australia together. She however, had been left sighing with relief at a lucky escape and decided that he couldn’t possibly have had any of her father’s qualities or he wouldn’t have been so easily led.

Just when she was wondering if she’d been guilty of looking for a copy of her father in every man she met, Lisa whispered, “And here he comes…”

Lisa’s voice brought her back to the party where she saw Darren leading Adam by the arm across the room to meet Lisa. Darren had an excited little school boy look on his face while Katie suppressed a giggle thinking it was more like leading a lamb to the slaughter but she joined Lisa in giving the guys a big smile.

“Adam, at last,” Lisa said. “We’ve finally been introduced.” And then a great discussion followed about how they’d been in the same room at the last publishing meeting but never quite got to say hello and it was blatantly obvious to Katie the plan had been hatched by Lisa and Darren before the party and by the look in Adam’s huge brown eyes it was no surprise to him either.

Katie hung around chatting to Darren while Lisa and Adam moved across the floor and started to dance and sway together mingling with another few couples. While Rod Stewart crooned ‘Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered,’ Lisa wrapped herself around Adam like a snake, leaving him with no doubt what her intentions were for the rest of the night, and Katie decided it would be safe to make a swift exit without upsetting Lisa or Darren.

Outside the house Lisa pressed her spare key into Katie’s hand when she got into the back of the taxi. “Just get into my bed, honey,” Lisa said. “I certainly won’t be coming home tonight. And have a good night’s sleep.”

Katie thanked her and wished her a sleepless night to which they both giggled while the taxi driver grumbled and told them to hurry up because he had another fare to collect.

Back in Lisa’s flat Katie lay in the handcrafted Provence rattan bed and snuggled down under the thick, luxurious quilt watching the overhead chandelier twinkle with what seemed like hundreds of glittering fairy lights. This must have cost a fortune she thought, and knew that Lisa, even on her richly deserved PR salary, wouldn’t be able to afford to live in such an affluent area of London if her father didn’t pay the rent.

Frowning, she wondered why even though they were such close friends whenever she tried to talk to Lisa about her father she got nowhere - all Lisa would ever say was that he owed her big time. She’d never elaborated on this and neither her nor Sarah had ever been able to find out anything more apart from one night when they were drunk she’d told Katie that her family were estranged to her and she didn’t want anything more to do with them. But then had added how she thought of her and Sarah as her own little family, which of course was why she was so fiercely loyal and protective towards them both.