how it was supposed to be. This was supposed to be her showing everyone that she could stand on her own two feet.
‘Look, I’m sorry. It’s my first day here. I was rushing. I can take your shirts back and wash them. It’s not the end of the world.’
‘No, it’s not,’ he agreed with a wince. ‘It’s inconvenient. It means I have to get housekeeping to do them for me and I’m already pushing it on the favours front with my mate Alex, who’s the general manager here.’
‘He must be a really good friend. This looks expensive.’
‘Like I said, he’s doing me a favour. He keeps an eye on me, otherwise I’d still be in hospital, so I don’t like to take advantage. He’s a busy guy, with this place to run. I told him the cavalry was on its way, which is why I was keen for you to get here.’ He looked pointedly at his watch.
‘I’m sorry. Have you been on your own all day?’ Now she felt bad. ‘When was the last time you had anything to eat or drink?’
‘Last night,’ he said curtly. ‘But it’s fine, it’s a hassle to pee.’
Ah, so that explained his surliness. That, Nina, could cope with. She knew what hangry men were like.
‘Information I could do without,’ said Nina crisply. ‘However, you probably need to eat something to keep up your strength.’
She picked up the room service menu. ‘What do you fancy?’
‘Surprise me. I don’t really care. I’m bored with hotel food.’ His listless sigh made her stop and study him more carefully. He didn’t look great at all.
She sat down on the sofa opposite with the menu in her hand and even at that distance there was a distinct whiff of unwashed male. A part of her could have revelled in seeing Sebastian at such a disadvantage for once in her life, but the good part overruled all the petty, stored-up grudge-y stuff.
‘You need to eat,’ she said, softening her voice. ‘I know you probably don’t feel like it and I’m hardly medically trained, but I do think it will help. How about an onion soup? That’s quite light.’
‘I don’t need a nursemaid,’ he snapped, the listless droop vanishing in seconds. ‘I need some practical help. I’m not that hungry but you can order some food although it would be more helpful if you could unpack my stuff for me.’
‘Wow, these look great,’ said Nina studying the mood boards propped up on two flip chart stands, relieved to find an impersonal opening topic. She’d unpacked Sebastian’s clothing as quickly as she could, hanging up the crumpled shirts and hoping the creases might drop a little.
She looked closer at the various designs for restaurant interiors.
‘The first two are coming along.’ Sebastian scowled. ‘Although, we still haven’t quite got it right for the bistro I’m putting into the patisserie site.’
‘It all looks very chic and trendy.’ Not quite her cup of tea but judging from the success of his restaurants in England, Sebastian knew what he was doing.
‘That’s the plan.’
Nina nodded and was relieved to hear the knock at the door announcing room service.
Taking the tray from the waiter, she awkwardly realised she needed to tip him when he loitered for a second. Dumping the tray on the coffee table she got out her bag and fished out a couple of euros handing them to him. When she turned around Sebastian was wriggling like a worm on a hook, trying to reach the tray but unfortunately he had slid too far down the cushions to get enough purchase to push himself up again.
‘Here, let me,’ she said unable to bear watching him struggling any longer.
‘I told you, I don’t need any help,’ he said, swiping at the sheen of sweat on his forehead.
She ignored him and went around the sofa and hooked her arms underneath his and around his chest to help him sit upright again. As soon as she touched him, her heart bounced uncomfortably in her chest as a flood of memories collided in her head, leaving her with a familiar sense of inevitability. It seemed as if Sebastian still had the physical power to affect her. She gritted her teeth. In future she’d be sure to keep her distance.
Despite his protestations that he wasn’t hungry, the soup disappeared pretty quickly. No sooner had he put the soup bowl aside, he picked up his laptop and the papers she’d brought.
‘Right. We might as well get started. Do you have pen and paper?’ he barked.
‘No, I arrived today. You said the job would be two days a week. The course doesn’t start until Wednesday. I thought you just wanted me to bring stuff over today.’
His mouth snapped shut as if he’d thought better of what he was about to say.
‘Count this as the clock starting from now. Take one of those.’ He nodded at a foolscap pad. ‘There’s a lot to do before the course starts and unfortunately, I’ve been busy with the plans for the first two restaurants, so I hadn’t done anything before…’ He indicated the cast, his face signalling disgust. ‘You’re going to have start from scratch. It’s a seven-week course, which will be a full day every Wednesday but I’m going to need you to work the day before to get everything set up. Over the seven weeks we’ll look at different pastries and the techniques – except, I’m still thinking about the final day. I might do something a bit different then.’
Nina scribbled notes frantically for the next half hour, her heart sinking. This wasn’t quite what she’d imagined. In her head she was the theatre nurse to a clever consultant, handing him his scalpel and suction at exactly the right moment, demonstrating how efficient and supportive she was while soaking up his brilliant skills. None of her daydreams involved the equivalent of prepping the patient, making beds, disinfecting the theatre or swabbing down the wards.
‘Hello, Nina. Are you listening?’
Nodding fervently, she sat up straighter. Concentrate, Nina.
‘I’ll get my usual suppliers to deliver the fresh ingredients, eggs, butter and cream but there should be plenty of the basics – flour, icing sugar, caster sugar – in the kitchen already. You’ll need to get the more specialist items from a wholesaler I know. We won’t need them on the first day as we’ll be covering the basics. I’ll give you the account details. We’ll need things like rose petals, pure vanilla extract, crystalized violets, pistachio paste, freeze dried strawberry pieces and mango powder later on.’
She perked up. This was more like it. The fun stuff. Baking for the farm shop wasn’t exactly challenging, she could rustle up a Victoria sponge or a coffee and walnut cake in her sleep. You could make some amazing things with the ingredients Sebastian had just listed.
‘Er, hello. You still with me?’ Sebastian’s irritated voice cut through her daydreams.
‘Sorry, it’s—’ she nibbled at her lip again ‘—patisserie dirty talk. I can’t wait to see what you do with all those ingredients.’ She’d watched the pastry chef at the restaurant for months, intrigued and delighted by her creations but too shy to ask too much about how they were made.
‘It’s like all these secret spells you have to master, you have to be a
