‘That doesn’t sound very suitable.’
‘Everyone will love it and it’s better than chocolate mousse made from a packet.’
‘You decided to put on bread-and-butter pudding?’
Meg nodded, losing confidence but hoping it didn’t show. ‘We changed the menu.’
‘Who are you to change the menu?’ Their couple of moments’ truce was over. Justin was being overbearing again.
‘What’s going on?’ Louise said, having appeared silently on bare feet. Her voice had a certain authority, which was spoilt by the fact she was wearing a very pretty dressing gown with a ruffle round the neck and down the front. She looked more like a film star than a woman in charge of a small hotel.
‘Who the hell are you?’ said Justin, more confused than angry.
‘I’m Louise Sanderson. I’m the manager here.’
‘Since when did this hotel need a manager?’
‘Presumably since before I was offered the job. Now you know who I am, would you mind telling me who you are?’ Louise hadn’t worked in schools without picking up some of the authority of a schoolteacher. Meg felt proud of her.
‘Justin Nightingale.’
‘Oh.’ Meg saw this was a shock for her mother. ‘Andrew told me about you,’ Louise went on, sounding very calm. Although her mother was perfectly polite, something about her manner told Meg that some of the things she’d heard about him were not good.
‘On the other hand, my father told me nothing whatever about you.’
‘Sorry to interrupt,’ said Meg. ‘But the hotel is hosting a lunch for fifty people in a few hours. I need to get on.’
Justin turned towards her. ‘I said, I’m here now. You can go. I won’t need you.’
‘But if you didn’t know Geoff had left, why did you come?’
Meg caught a flicker of something, possibly a concession that Geoff wasn’t the efficient and experienced chef he’d implied he was. ‘It’s an important event for the hotel. I thought extra hands were needed,’ he said haughtily.
‘So why are you sending those hands – well, mine – away?’ asked Meg, acutely disappointed to be dismissed when she’d done so much of the work already.
He looked at her coldly. ‘I won’t have women working in my kitchen.’
Meg was ready to explode with anger but she forced herself to stay in control. She knew that many other chefs refused to work with women. ‘Don’t you think that idea is rather old-fashioned?’
‘Cooking is a serious business. It’s not to do with fashion. It’s hard work and tradition, learning skills, practising them in tough conditions.’
‘And you think women can’t do that?’ Meg sensed her mother wanted to intervene, but she really didn’t want her to.
Justin took a breath. ‘Look, I don’t want to be rude, but this lunch is very important to my father’s hotel, to the community, to people in the area. It cannot be left to chance and people who dress up as chefs and think that gives them qualifications!’
‘I don’t want to be rude either,’ said Meg. ‘At least I do, but I’m making a real effort not to be. My mother knew that Geoff was a disaster. He sacked the staff, people who’ve worked here for years, several generations of the same family. And he tried to get the whole meal catered and served by an agency, who pulled out at the last moment, possibly because Geoff didn’t offer them enough to cover their costs. Which is why my mother asked me to come down and help out.’
‘Why did she – you’ – he turned to Louise – ‘think it would be useful to bring – what did you say your name was?’
‘Meg.’
‘Meg, who is obviously about seventeen years old? This lunch is a big event!’
Meg opened her mouth to defend herself but not quickly enough. Louise jumped in.
‘Firstly, I know Meg looks very young, but she is twenty-two. Secondly, she’s been working in kitchens for years now.’ This was an exaggeration but Meg didn’t correct her. ‘She has a lot of experience and is very talented. Why else would a French chef, Michelin-starred, accept her as an apprentice?’ Louise let thissink in. ‘And your father left the hotel in my hands and I have done what I consider best for it!’
Meg broke in. ‘And I have worked extremely hard sorting out this bloody lunch. I am not going to just walk away because you can’t cope with the thought of working with a woman!’
