‘Perfect.’
A quick prep chat later and Harry and Issy had divided the cooking tasks between them. A lot of people might find making a hollandaise sauce intimidating but Harry had made so many, he could practically do it in his sleep. There was a lot of bumping of elbows and laughing apologies but he found it easier than he’d expected to relax and just accept a bit of help rather than trying to do it all. Fifteen minutes later and everyone had either eggs royale or a bacon sandwich on their plate – or both in Ed’s and Matt’s case.
There wasn’t room for everyone at the table, but Matt had insisted on surrendering his seat to Kat and was happy to lean over the kitchen counter as he ploughed his way through his food like a man possessed. ‘Damn, I definitely invited the wrong brother to move in with me,’ he said with a laugh as he mopped up the last bit of egg and hollandaise sauce with a corner of toast.
‘Hey, I heard that!’ Ed called out around a mouthful of food. His colour was looking a lot better than it had when they’d arrived, Harry was pleased to note.
‘You were supposed to,’ Matt replied, not batting an eyelid. He turned his attention back to Harry. ‘Hey, Ed said something on the way home last night about the shop next door? He wasn’t making a lot of sense though.’
Harry polished off the last bite of his sandwich then placed his plate in the sink. He hadn’t expected Matt to put him on the spot like this and he wasn’t sure how to respond. The reason he’d been awake so early was because he’d tossed and turned most of the night. In between replaying that kiss with Kat a hundred times, he’d gone over a list of pros and cons in his head about the school. Though his brothers had made a lot of encouraging noises when he’d spoken to them about it, there was a reason he’d waited until their dad was gone before he’d mentioned it. Having grown up without it most of the time, Harry wanted to believe himself free of needing his father’s approval. But the way he’d lit up at just a handful of nice words about his cooking last night, it had been a painful truth to learn that somewhere inside, the boy he’d once been still yearned for it. Maybe he was biting off more than he could chew with the cookery school and he should simply be content with his lot. Trying to run his own business would bring all the stuff he’d spent the last ten years desperately avoiding straight back into his life. In the cold light of this January morning, he was already having doubts about his ability to pull it off. ‘It was just an idea I had. It might not come to anything.’
Matt studied him for a long moment. Unlike his sister Chloe, who was all instant reaction and worry about the consequences later, Matt liked to take his time and think things over before he voiced an opinion. ‘Well, if you do want it to come to anything I’m happy to view the shop with you and talk over what you need to do in terms of building work.’
‘I honestly don’t know where to start with it,’ Harry admitted. ‘It was just something that came to me last night.’
‘It’s a big step. I thought I knew what I was doing with the cottage but I swear every problem I fix throws up something else.’
Matt had moved into a beautiful though very rundown cottage near the beach after the owner, Mrs Jenkins, had found it too much to cope with and moved into Blue Horizons, the village’s retirement complex. Having lived there all her life, Mrs Jenkins had found it a struggle to part with the cottage, so he had stepped in and offered to look after it for her while she made up her mind. They’d worked out a deal whereby he lived there for free and spent the money he would’ve used on rent to refurbish the place. Ed had moved in with him and they split the utility bills and he gave Matt all the free labour he needed. Harry knew Matt harboured hopes of buying the place once Mrs Jenkins finally agreed to let it go, so, although it was a bit of risk, Matt was hopefully investing in his own future with the work he was putting into it. He crossed his arms over his chest and grinned at Harry. ‘It’s a lot more than I expected but, honestly, I’m loving the challenge of it.’
Satisfaction all but glowed out of Matt’s pores and it made Harry hungry all over again for a challenge of his own. He loved working at the restaurant, but he also knew he was starting to tread water. Perhaps the cookery school idea would prove a non-starter but there was only one way to find out. ‘If I request the keys for next door, would you help me take some measurements and stuff like that?’
‘Absolutely.’ There was no hesitation in Matt’s response. ‘You walk me through your ideas and I’ll be able to sketch up some plans for you and then we can work out some prices. I could ask Dad to join us; he’d be more than happy to give you some advice.’
If his Uncle Ryan got involved then his dad would know about his plans straight away and Harry wasn’t ready to havethat conversation. Not until he’d actually figured out if there was a conversation to be had. A knot twisted in Harry’s gut and he tried to ignore the heat on his face as he leaned closer and lowered his voice. ‘I, uh, look, maybe we can just keep it between us first time round, yeah?’
Matt patted him on the shoulder, his eyes full of sympathetic understanding. ‘Yeah, ’course, mate. Whatever you need. Sort out a viewing and I’ll make sure I’m there.’
‘What are you two plotting?’ Ed asked as he carried over a stack of dirty plates and placed them in the sink. He turned on the tap and added a generous squirt of washing-up liquid to the water, plunging the first plate in and beginning to scrub it almost immediately.
‘Matt’s going to have a look at the shop with me sometime. Help me get an idea of what I can do with the place,’ Harry told him as he picked up the tea towel Issy had discarded earlier.
‘No, you don’t,’ Liam said, as he took the cloth from his hands. ‘You’ve done enough already.’ He began drying the plates. ‘Did I hear you talking about a visit to the shop? If so, count me in.’
‘I don’t even know what I’m doing with it yet,’ Harry protested with a laugh.
‘Then I can help you figure it out. Rick will want to come along too, see what you need in terms of planning permissions.’ The steady look he fixed on Harry said he’d better not even think about arguing with them about it.
‘Count me in,’ Ed chipped in. When they all turned to look at him, he raised his shoulders in an embarrassed shrug. ‘Look, I know I know the square root of eff all about anything useful, but I want to be there. If this is going to be Harry’s thing then it’s my thing too.’
And that was why Harry would forgive Ed for all the stupid things he did, because at the end of the day they always had eachother’s backs. ‘I wouldn’t dream of doing it without you, bro.’ He looked between Liam and Ed. ‘Let’s keep all this between us for now, until we can figure it out.’
‘Of course,’ Liam assured him. His expression brightened from serious to soppy and Harry didn’t need to turn around to know Issy was behind him.
‘What are you all plotting amongst yourselves?’ she asked with a smile as she edged around Harry to stand next to Liam. It was like a magnetic force connected them and they couldn’t bear to be separated for more than a few minutes at a time.
‘We were just working out the logistics of bringing Kat’s stuff over,’ Liam told her, and while he appreciated his brother’s quick thinking, Harry didn’t like the idea of his brother lying to cover for him.
‘We were also talking about an idea I have for the shop next door,’ Harry told her.
‘The shop next door?’ Kat was on her feet, her face pale, her eyes wide. ‘What about it?’
‘I’m thinking about setting up a cookery school and thought it would be the perfect location,’ he told her.
‘Oh! Oh, okay.’
Harry closed the small distance between them. ‘What’s the matter?’
‘Nothing.’ She smiled as she shook her head and repeated it. ‘Nothing, I think it’s a great idea. Ignore me, I’m just tired and not thinking straight. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.’
