‘Okay,’ he huffs. ‘Fine.’
However it’s not fine, and both of us know it. Another weekend comes and goes, and I wrestle with frustration over our new living regime, and guilt over not feeling one hundred per cent delighted about it. After all, the doctor did say Dad had a lucky escape. ‘He’s made of strong stuff,’ he told me.
I lost my mum young, and I know I’m lucky that Dad is still here, rankling us. It should be an honour to look after him.
Yet I can’t help thinking: is this it? This really is my second act?
Chapter Twenty-nine
Eddie
‘We’ve got to be really on it this next couple of days, guys. New menu rolling out tomorrow. I think we’re all au fait, right?’ Near the end of a hectic shift, head chef and proprietor Marius is addressing his team in the restaurant kitchen. A bearded bear of a man, he is perpetually red-cheeked with jet-black hair slicked back, his chef’s whites immaculate.
‘Yep, we’re all set, boss,’ says Kim, his second-in-command.
‘Excellent.’ He beams around at the team. ‘And now I have some exciting news for you all …’ A respectful hush settles. All eyes are on Marius.
‘Spit it out then,’ Kim teases.
He grins. ‘Well, we’ve got someone very special booked in for lunch on Friday. Using a fake name of course. But we know who it is.’ He pauses, building the tension. ‘It’sJill Gilbert—’
‘Oh my God!’ Kim gasps. ‘How exciting!’
‘Yeah.’ Marius nods, brown eyes shining under bushy dark brows. ‘So tomorrow’s a trial run if you like. Five new starters, six mains. Not that I expect less than your best onanyday. But Friday lunchtime I need you all to be absolutely on it …’
‘Jill Gilbert,’ murmurs Paulina, the pastry chef.
‘Wow,’ Eddie breathes, trying to look as if he knows who they’re on about. But he’s bluffing again. Living a big fat fib, like he’s had to since Lyla’s announcement. Will this go on forever? Eddie wonders. Will his entire life be a lie until the day he drops dead?
‘… Need everything to be slick and on the money,’ Marius goes on. ‘No one shambling in late. No sneaky breaks. This is a big deal for us, I think you all know that …’
On and on he goes with the half-dozen team members all paying rapt attention. Apart from Eddie, that is. Eddie’s attention is wandering.Who’s Jill Gilbert?He’ll have to google her and get up to speed. But right now, as Marius starts on about their new supplier of fresh herbs – ‘You’ve never seen chervil like it!’ – it’s Lyla who is infiltrating Eddie’s mind.
They’ve started meeting up now and again, always on her instigation. And Eddie obliges, because he wants to see her and this is a way for it to happen. He doesn’t feelhecan suggest meeting, because it might sound like he’s asking her out on a date and they’re not dating.
How mental it all is, he reflects as Marius homes in on Paulina, suggesting a small finesse to her signature chocolate tart. Eddie and Lyla are having a child together, yet he doesn’t feel he can just call her, to askhow she’s feeling, and to check what size the baby is now and what it’sdoingin there, inside her. Because he should know this, shouldn’t he? He should know if his unborn child is the size of a pea, an egg or a Starbucks muffin. What he does know is that her belly is growing, her body softening in a way that causes an actual pain in Eddie’s heart.
Because pregnancy is making her …bloom, is that what they say? She is glowing, all soft and pink cheeked, her golden hair lustrous and shiny. And he wants to kiss her, every time they’re together. That’s what he’s thinking about now at 10.27 p.m. as Marius starts to wrap up his pep talk.
The first time Eddie kissed Lyla, when she’d slid a hand around the back of his neck to pull him close, rockets had gone off in his head. Because in all of his twenty-two years he had never been kissed like that. The actual sex part is a bit blurry now, and next morning Lyla had made it clear that she needed him to leave. She wasn’t rude exactly, just direct.I’ve got stuff to get on with, okay?She took his number, saying she’d text him – but she never did. Not until a few weeks later, when he’d given up hope of seeing her again.
‘I have something to tell you,’ she’d said. ‘Don’t freak out.’
Eddie freaked out.
‘Eddie!’ Marius fixes him with a hard stare. ‘D’you have any idea who we’re talking about?’
‘Er … sorry, what?’ He snaps to attention, sensing his cheeks blazing.
His boss’s shiny round face breaks into a grin. He’s nota bully, not at all. Marius took a shine to the new kitchen porter, teasing him when he went all pale and clammy at the sight of a bowl of liver and a side of beef, dripping blood. ‘Get used to it, mate!’ He did too, working hard and rising to the challenge. From day one, when he still couldn’t quite believe his luck, all Eddie wanted was to impress his boss. And now, in turn, it feels vital to impress the girl he’s besotted with. He’s going to be a dad, for fuck’s sake. It’s time to make something of himself.
‘Jill Gilbert,’ Marius announces. ‘She’s a critic, Eddie. You should know that. Don’t you read restaurant reviews?’
‘’Course I do,’ Eddie fibs. He’d no more read the ingredients list on a packet of Wotsits.
‘Then you know who I’m talking about, right? And the influence she has? I’ve met her, she’s bloody terrifying—’ Marius breaks off and laughs. ‘But we needn’t be scared ’cause we’ll be prepared, won’t we, guys?’
‘Yeah, ’course.’ Eddie nods as the team all murmur in agreement.
