Chapter 1
Stamping her sore and tired feet on the gravelled surface trying to get some warmth into them, Nina looked at her phone for the ninety-fifth time in ten minutes, almost dropping it. Where the heck was Nick? Fifteen minutes late already and her fingers were about to snap off, adding to her general sense of misery. Standing here at the back entrance to the kitchens in the staff carpark there was little protection from the biting wind whistling around the sandstone manor house and certainly none from the bleak thoughts in her head.
‘Hey Nina, are you sure you don’t want to come to the club?’ asked Marcela, one of the other waitresses, in her heavily accented voice, winding her car window down as she backed with some speed out of one of the spaces. ‘Say goodbye to Sukie with some dancing and fun?’
‘No,’ she shook her head, ‘it’s alright thanks. My brother’s on his way.’ At least he had better be. Nina wished she was in the little steamed up car with Marcela and the other two staff members, and almost laughed at the rather annoying irony. Mum had insisted Nick pick her up so that she’d know Nina was safe and here she was standing on her own in a car park in the pitch black about to be completely on her own.
‘OK then. See you in eight weeks’ time.’
‘Ha!’ Piped up a gloomy East European voice from the back seat, Tomas the sommelier, a perennial pessimist. ‘You think the builders finish on schedule.’
A good-natured chorus shouted him down.
‘See you soon, Nina.’ They all waved and shouted their goodbyes, Marcela winding the window back up as the ancient Polo roared away as if she couldn’t wait to escape the end of her shift and put up her feet. Which was exactly what Nina was hoping to do, if her brother ever got here.
At last she spotted the headlights speeding down the drive towards her. This had to be Nick. Nearly everyone else had gone. With a speedy gravel-crunching turn, the car pulled to a halt in front of Nina.
She yanked the door open.
‘Hi Sis. You been waiting long? Soz, sheep emergency.’
‘Yes,’ snapped Nina scrambling in grateful for the heat of the car. ‘It’s bloody freezing out there. I’ll be so glad when my car’s fixed.’
‘Tell me about it. It took me all the way here to thaw out. Friggin sheep. There was a ewe stuck in the wire fencing up on the moor road. I had to stop and help the stupid creature.’
Was it really churlish to think that the sheep had a nice woolly coat while she was in a skirt and tights on a cold February evening?
‘So how was it? The last night,’ asked Nick, leaning down and turning the radio off, which had been blaring football commentary at full blast. ‘And did your mate get a good send off?’
‘Fine. Bit sad as we all won’t see each other for a while. And Sukie will be in New York.’
‘New York. That’s a bit of change.’
‘She’s a brilliant chef. Going places.’
‘Clearly. To New York. And what’s everyone else doing?’
‘The regular staff are being redeployed and having lots of training.’
‘Seems a bit unfair. Why not you?’
‘Because I’m just on a casual contract, I guess.’
‘Well I’m sure we can find you a few extra hours at the farm shop as well as in the café. And Dan can give you a bit of work at the brewery. Gail might pay you for some babysitting and George can ask in the petrol station, they’re always needing extra staff. Although that’s late hours, so possibly not.’
Nina closed her eyes. She was absolutely certain that everyone in the family would pitch in to find something for poor Nina to do while the Bodenbroke Manor Restaurant was closed for refurbishment, whether she liked it or not. It wasn’t that she was ungrateful, they all meant well, but she was a grown up, she was quite capable of finding work without the vast tentacles of her family network spreading their reach on her behalf. She loved her family to bits, she really did but…
‘What’s with the huffing and puffing?’ asked Nick, turning his head to look her way.
‘Nothing,’ said Nina, closing her eyes. ‘Holy moly I’m tired. My feet feel like they’ve been stomped on by a dozen elephants.’
‘Wuss,’ teased Nick.
‘I’ve been on the go since nine o’clock this morning,’ said Nina. ‘And the restaurant was rammed. I didn’t even get lunch.’
‘That’s not on. You should say something.’
‘It’s not that easy. Everyone’s busy. There wasn’t time for a proper break.’
‘Don’t tell me you haven’t eaten anything today?’
Nina shrugged, she’d rushed out without breakfast, much to her mother’s consternation. ‘A little.’ Her stomach rumbled rather inconveniently at the very moment as if to dispute her answer. Clearly it didn’t think that a bread roll and a slice of cheese constituted enough.
Nick frowned heavily. ‘Even so. Do you want me to say something to the manager, when they re-open?’
‘No, it’s fine. We’ll be having dinner when we get home.’
‘Well it isn’t–’
‘You don’t work there, you don’t understand.’ Nina’s voice rose in heat. Typical Nick, assuming that he knew best.
‘I don’t need to understand. There are labour laws. You’re entitled to breaks. It’s-’
Whatever he was about to say was interrupted by the timely horn fanfare ringtone of his phone booming out through the radio on his handsfree set up.
‘Nick Hadley,’ he said pressing the accept call button on the dash board.
Nina slumped back in her chair, relieved at the interruption, it gave her the perfect opportunity to close her eyes, tune out and pretend to doze for the rest of the way home.
‘Hey Shep, how’re the socks?’ Her brother was often referred to as Shep, short for shepherd.
Nina tensed, every sinew locking into place at the sound of familiar mocking voice.
‘All good. How are you Knifeman? Still supporting that shite excuse for a rugby team?’ And apparently Knifeman was the not-so clever nickname for a chef.
‘No words mate. They were a bloody shout against France. And I paid good money for tickets.’
‘What you went to Stade de France? You jammy git.’
‘Not so jammy when the buggers lost.’
‘Fancy coming over for the Calcutta Cup? You don’t want to be too long in France you might pick up some bad habits.’
‘Slight problem there.’
‘What?’ asked Nick.
‘I’m laid up. That’s why I’m ringing you.’
Nina pressed her lips together in what some might call a snarky smile. Sebastian clearly had no idea she was there and she didn’t want him to either. Listening to this ridiculous conversation, no one would ever know they were grown men rather than a pair of adolescents, which would be the obvious inference. She definitely did not want to remember Sebastian as a teenager or how she’d made a complete dick of herself over him. Unfortunately having a teenage crush on your brother’s best friend is possibly the worst thing you could do because ten years on, even now, someone in the family would occasionally bring it up.
‘What’s happened?’
‘I’ve only gone and broken my leg.’
‘Shit man, when?’
‘Yesterday. Taken out by one of those bloody cabin bag pull along fuckers. Twisted as I fell.’
‘Ouch. You Ok?’
‘No,’ Sebastian growled. ‘Everything’s gone tits up. Turns out one of the new places I bought in Paris has a metaphorical sitting tenant. It’s a beautiful little patisserie but the previous owner ran cookery courses and forgot to tell me that there’s a six-week course coming up that’s all booked and paid for.’
‘Can’t you cancel?’ asked Nick flicking the indicator and turning the car off the main road towards the village.
‘Unfortunately, I committed to it. I thought I might as well because I can get my French contractors to start work on the other place first and they’ll take a couple of months, so I might as well keep this going. Which would have been fine if I hadn’t broken my sodding leg.’
In the darkness, Nina pressed her lips together. She wouldn’t normally wish misfortune on anyone but somehow Sebastian just irked her. It wasn’t his success she begrudged, lord knows he’d worked hard enough to become a top chef with a small chain of his own restaurants. Too hard if you asked her. No, it was his superior, dismissive attitude. Over the last ten years whenever she’d seen him, she’d always managed to appear at a disadvantage. And the last time had been truly mortifying.
‘Can’t you get someone else to do it?’
‘I’m not sure I’m going to find anyone at such short notice. The course starts next week. Besides, all I need is a spare pair of legs for the next six weeks. Until I get this cast off.’
‘Nina could help. She’s just been laid off at the restaurant she works at.’
Nina shot up in her seat, narrowing her eyes at her impossibly stupid brother. Had he had a brain fart or something? Seeing the movement in the car, Nick turned and she saw the flash of his teeth in the dark as he gave her a great big grin.
‘With respect Nick, your sister is the last person in the world I’d want helping me.’
Nick’s grin faded. There was a lengthening silence in the car.
Then Sebastian muttered, ‘Oh shit, she’s there isn’t she.’
With an icy smile, Nina drew herself up. ‘Oh shit indeed. But don’t worry, with respect Sebastian, I’d rather help castrate the lambs on the farm using my own teeth.’
With that she leaned forward and disconnected the call.