‘Did you say that on purpose?’ she said. ‘Are you expecting some kind of a rise out of me?’
‘I’m sorry?’ he said.
‘Oh, come on, it’s not like you don’t know. I’d have thought someone in your position would be taking more care with your words right now. Don’t forget who I am.’
‘Poking the bear,’ murmured Malcolm from the corner of the room. ‘Braver man than me.’
Tad rubbed a hand across his cheek. What on earth were they talking about?
‘It’s true then?’ Ron said from his station on the far side of the room.
‘None of our business, Ron,’ said his wife quickly as Billie swivelled on her stool to glare at them.
‘No. You’ve got that right. It is absolutely none of your business. It’s nobody’s business, but the whole world knows – well, everybody except our dozy chef – and nobody can possibly know what it feels like to be me right now.’
‘Where’s my tiny violin?’ said Kathleen, rather loudly. Then to the room in general, she added, ‘Not one to suffer in silence, is she?’
Billie looked fit to burst, colour rising in her cheeks as she moved her glare to Kathleen.
‘I think what Kathleen is trying to say?—’
Hugh’s attempt at mitigation was firmly squashed by Kathleen. ‘I’m nottryingto say anything, Hugh. What Iamsaying is this… OK, so your bloke ran off with another woman – that’s tough to deal with, and I sympathise. So did mine. But do you know something? You’ll survive. And you might even find you’re better off without that two-timing, no-good, son of a?—’
‘Yes, thank you, Kathleen.’ Hugh rested a hand on her arm.
‘Well, I think there are other people in the room, it’s our last lesson and I don’t think it’s right for it to be spoiled by?—’
‘Yes, Kathleen. I agree.’ Hugh patted at her arm, and she shook her head, then fell quiet.
Tad felt utterly behind the curve. Was he to understand Billie and Kelly Straker had officially broken up? Maybe that explained her change of mood the previous evening. Perhaps the entire shift in energy last night had been because of Kelly Straker. It didn’t explain Amy’s change of heart, but perhaps it was all interlinked, somehow.
‘As Kathleen says, maybe we should do our best to concentrate on the food,’ Tad said. Should he say something sympathetic to Billie, or would that stoke the flames further? He needed this lesson to go smoothly – well, as smoothly as was now possible – but as he explained stage one of the creation of their lemon tarts, he knew he should somehow acknowledge her situation.
When the room seemed to settle, and Billie pummelled at her pastry as though it was Kelly’s face, Tad opted to wait, instead making his way around the space, ensuring Kathleen was making a better job with her pastry than she had with her pizza base the day before, helping Hugh as he lifted the pastry into its case, praising Laura and Ron on the speed and ease with which they completed their tasks.
As he returned to the front of the room, he caught Amy’s eye. He smiled, couldn’t help himself – she might not want him, or rather might have had from him all she wanted – but that didn’t stop him from continuing to want more from her than she was willing to give.
His smile gained traction when she smiled back, then faded when she looked past him, towards Billie, and her face fell.
‘This pastry is too warm,’ Billie was saying, poking at it with a finger. ‘I can’t do anything with it.’
‘Here, let me.’
With a deft hand, Tad coaxed the overworked pastry onto a rolling pin and into Billie’s pastry case, easing it into the creases and suggesting she cut off the excess. With that done, he turned to the rest of the room, doing his best to sound upbeat.
‘Right. Parchment paper into your pastry cases, pop in your ceramic beans and while Matteo gets the cases into the oven, we can grab a coffee before we make the filling.’
26
The lesson was a disaster. Although Amy knew she wasn’t without blame for the downturn in Tad’s mood today, Billie was doing her best to make everything as difficult as possible for him. It was as though she was taking her anger and frustration about her situation with Kelly out on Tad.
Amy wanted nothing more than to wrap Tad up in a hug and tell him it would all be fine. But there was no way she could do that, seeing as she’d treated him as though she couldn’t care less about him and that all she’d ever wanted from him was a quick shag. She was the last person he’d be looking to for support.
The situation was doubly frustrating because he’d obviously put a lot of thought into today’s menu – the lemon tart had been something Billie had been adamant about including in the itinerary for the week. Alongside the dessert, he’d also taught everyone the tricks behind producing an amazingcacio e pepe– another of Billie’s requests – and they’d created a stunning beef carpaccio with pickled pears and a mayonnaise flavoured with subtle hints of parmesan as the starter.
Billie managed to ruin all three of her dishes, loudly and with complaints, which spoiled the final lesson for everyone in the room. Once the rest of the guests had left the room in search of a coffee, or some fresh, Billie-free air before lunch was served, Amy could see Tad had also had enough. Although Amy couldn’t hear the words, Tad shook his head as he muttered something under his breath, unaware Billie was right behind him. Whatever it was must have been rough, because the muscles in Billie’s jaw tightened as she untied the Casa del Cibo apron and threw it onto her work surface.
‘What did you say?’ she said, staring at him.
