There was silence in the room apart from the whirring and churning of the machine next to him, which seemed to emphasise his meaning.
Mina was too surprised by his directness to say anything at first, but then she said. ‘Are you talking about Luke?’
‘Ah, you do understand, then. I’ve seen the two of you. I know you think I’m a grumpy old unromantic, but I see more than you think. Bernhardt’s keen, you know, but that’s practicality over anything else. You’re a good-looking girl, know how to behave in company, so he’s decided you might be a suitable candidate – and also there’s a little bit of competition there, so he’s prepared to throw his hat into the ring.’
Mina burst out laughing because he’d summed it up perfectly.
‘Whereas Luke…’ He tilted his head. ‘Most people never find that.’
‘Did Amelie tell you what happened before I came here?’
‘No, she wouldn’t betray your confidence, but I can see that you’re trying to find your direction.’
‘Exactly, and I’m not sure Luke is part of that direction. Not at the moment.’
‘Don’t make the mistake of waiting for the right moment. If I were you, I’d seize it, everything else can work around you.’
Mina shook her head. ‘I’m not sure it’s that simple. And I’m going home in four days’ time.’
‘That doesn’t have to be the end, does it? There are planes and trains. Jobs in Switzerland. Jobs in England. Jobs all over the world.’
She suddenly gave him a brilliant smile. ‘You’re right.’ Plenty of people survived long-distance relationships.
She looked down at the moving mass, slightly beguiled by the silken chestnut river swirling in the giant mixer, savouring the rich, sweet smell rising up. ‘So what do you do with the chocolate once it’s made?’
He stared at her for a moment, his deep set eyes narrowing with thought, and then he laughed, a deep, throaty belly laugh which stopped just short of him slapping his knee. ‘I sell it, of course… When I was made redundant, put out to pasture like a good Swiss cow, I sulked for a little while. Then I looked for another marketing job, and started work for a small packaging company, specialising in confectionery. They produced very high-class designs, works of art, and I enjoyed the work, but I realised that a lot of the products didn’t actually live up to the packaging. Felt it was a missed opportunity, and I had a redundancy cheque burning a hole in my pocket. I invested my redundancy money and here I am.’
‘In secret.’
‘It’s not such a secret, but I don’t want to be disturbed every five minutes by people. I’m not sure I really like them.’
Mina pulled a sceptical face. ‘I’m not sure you’re really as curmudgeonly as you like to make out.’
‘And how do you come by that conclusion?’
‘You come for cake most days.’
‘I like cake.’
She raised an eyebrow.
‘And Amelie chooses her guests with care,’ he added grudgingly. ‘Although I’m not sure she’s ever going to knock young Kristian into shape. I think that one was born under the klutz star.’
Mina giggled, remembering that he’d been quite kind to the young man in question.
‘Now I suppose you’d like to try some,’ said Johannes with a mock weary sigh.
‘Well, if you don’t mind. Let’s see if it lives up to the hype.’
‘Come upstairs, I have a little tasting room, although it’s more trouble than it’s worth and I could do with the space for storage.’ He scowled. ‘Sometimes these dumb fool executives want to visit…’ He paused and the scowl deepened. ‘…The siteand they want to talk to me. Amelie suggested I set it up. I can ill afford the space or the time. But she was right, I’ve sold far more chocolate that way. I really need a retail outlet but I don’t have the time or the resources to run one.’
He led the way back upstairs and in the hallway turned left into a tiny showroom. Mina hid a grimace. The room was dark and the shelves crammed with boxes of chocolate, none of which displayed the pretty packaging to its best effect. Johannes yanked out a box and handed her a bar.
‘This is made with candied rose petals and the beans are from Sur de Lago in Venezuela. I made them for a hotel chain that specialises in unique properties, they wanted something unique to them. Try some.’
She unwrapped the matt cream wrapper, embossed with pale pink roses – the design really was stunning, it sold itself – and bit into the tiny block. Immediately she sighed with pure pleasure at the subtle rose flavour offset by the smooth dark richness of the chocolate. ‘Oh, that is lovely.’
‘Should be, took a lot of work that one. But they can’t get enough of it. They want me to come up with something for their after-dinner coffee. I’m thinking a single estate in the Esmeraldas in Ecuador with a very light peppermint oil.
