A Winter Affair (10 page)

‘Some,' he said. ‘You may have to provide lunch sometimes,' he paused, regarding her carefully as though she might refuse. ‘Do you mind doing that?'

‘No,' she said, though she meant yes and she guessed Lawrence knew it too for he smiled at her, lifting the frown lines on his face, suddenly making her feel drawn to him and almost as if she wanted to confide that she'd seen her ex-husband on the slopes and it had thrown her. But she kept quiet. The last thing Lawrence wanted – or needed – was his latest cook to be suffering from a broken heart.

‘Don't worry,' Lawrence said. ‘We'll make sure you escape to the slopes occasionally.'

‘Let's wait and see,' Eloise said, realizing that she would be going home not long after the guests left. Second week in January, he'd said on the telephone, though he hadn't mentioned it again. What about New Year? Would there be an extravagant party she would have to cater, or would the millionaire guests have left to party somewhere ritzy with a real chef? She didn't want to ask him now, put a time limit on her stay, though she'd always known it would not be for the rest of the season. He'd wanted someone to cook for Christmas and once that was over he had no more need of her. A proper
chef
was coming and perhaps he had friends to stay instead of clients, or Aurelia would keep him going with her ‘Tempting Delights'. She was hit with a sudden sadness that it would all be over so quickly and she'd be back home, coming to terms with her new life as an independent woman again.

*

Her shoulder was worse the next morning when her alarm went off, calling her to the kitchen. As she struggled to get dressed, she told herself it was just because she'd slept on it and it would loosen up during the day. She cooked and served breakfast, saying nothing about it, biting her lips against the pain, but Lawrence came into the kitchen and said, grimly, ‘You are injured, aren't you? How did it happen, did you fall skiing?'

She had to confess. ‘Yes, I was skiing on that moguly slope down to the gondola and someone knocked me down. It will be fine though.'

‘You better go and see Pascal, the physio we use, he'll deal with it, strap it up or something, and if he can't…' he sighed.

‘It will be fine,' she repeated without much conviction.

‘I'll ring him now, get you an appointment, he's near the swimming pool, Sports Aid, you'll see the sign flashing on and off. You can park there.' He frowned. ‘Can you drive with it?'

‘Yes,' she said, wondering how much the appointment would cost.

As if he could read her mind, he said, ‘Tell him to put it down on the Jacaranda account. I'll ring him now.' And he swept out of the kitchen.

The appointment was made for mid-afternoon so she spent the morning poring through her recipe books. Bert lay under the table, his head on her foot, every so often sighing mournfully. He often went skiing with Theo, who carried him on his back in a rucksack, but after letting him out for a short run this morning, Theo had gone back to bed and Bert no doubt guessed that he'd be confined to the basement when the new guests arrived.

‘Don't be sad, Bert.' She fondled his ears and he snuffled his nose into her hand. ‘We'll go out for a walk later.'

She planned to buy the non-perishable items now, then at least the bulk of the shopping would be done. The turkey and the meat for the stuffing had been ordered and she could send Theo down for those. She wished he were free today to help her, but he'd come back at dawn and she wouldn't disturb him. She'd done the same with Kit and Lizzie. There was such a hole in her heart without them now, but she had to set them free and they would come back, she remembered a friend telling her. In her friend's case, holding a grandchild that had landed her daughter back home.

Eloise drove the jeep down to the village and found Pascal's practice. The waiting room was small and rather dark, lit by a pinkish glow from a lava lamp with its mesmerizing blobs of oil gently belching shapes. A young woman sitting at a desk confirmed her appointment, telling her Pascal was running a little late but would see her as soon as he could.

If she wasn't in so much pain she'd leave it and come back another time, but she sat down on one of the straight-backed chairs that discouraged slouching and leafed through some old magazines.

Pascal obviously wasn't the only practitioner here for there were two other women waiting who were soon called into other rooms. The time ticked past, the outside door opening to let in other people, and just when Eloise thought she really couldn't wait any longer Pascal's door opened and a woman dressed in a blue tracksuit came out.

‘Thank you Pascal,' she drawled, bending back to kiss him, ‘much better now, I'll come back for another session soon.'

At the same moment the outside door opened and she heard Harvey's voice, ‘See you later.' The door closed and a woman in a shocking pink ski jacket came in. Eloise was rooted to her chair, her feelings in turmoil. Pascal had come out of his room and now leant over her, speaking quietly, apologizing for keeping her waiting, asking if she needed help getting up.

She shook her head and struggled up, following him into his consulting room. His voice was soothing in her ear, saying that Lawrence had sent her to him and what bad luck it was to be injured on her first day out. He ushered her into a light peaceful room scented by a large candle that glowed on a table, and she sat down where he showed her, opposite his desk. He shut the door, cutting off the scene outside, of Harvey's woman.

She realized he was watching her intently and she pulled herself together. He began to question her on her injury and she forced herself to focus on the matter in hand, her injured shoulder that must be cured so that she could cook over Christmas. Harvey and his sexpots were not her concern any more. She concentrated on Pascal.

She imagined he was much older than he appeared; he was lean, with a healthy look about him, his face baby smooth without a line anywhere.

The pain from his manipulation was agony, but it took her mind off the pain in her heart. After a while her shoulder felt looser, and he strapped it up to give her more comfort whilst still ensuring she could use her arm.

He suggested she came to see him again. ‘It's not so bad, but I'll give you some painkillers,' he said, writing a prescription, ‘it shouldn't keep you off the slopes for long.'

‘That's a relief.' She didn't say that Lawrence was more concerned about her being able to wield heavy pans than skis.

As she left his room, she walked tall, determined to inspect Harvey's woman, but she was not there. She went out into the street, afraid now of bumping into Harvey. How could he be here just when she was getting over him, doing something different with her life?

She struggled round the shops, wishing she had Theo to carry and heave things for her but relieved she hadn't bumped into Harvey or his pink lady. At last, with everything in the jeep and feeling slightly woozy from Pascal's wrestling and the painkillers, she drove back up to Jacaranda.

To her relief she caught Theo, who was on his way out. He told Bert to wait and carried everything inside for her, dumping the boxes on the island in the middle of the kitchen. She took off her boots and headed into the kitchen.

Aurelia was sitting in the window seat, drinking coffee with Lawrence. There was a shiny brochure on the table between them.

‘Why, hello, if it's not your little cook,' Aurelia greeted her. ‘Been shopping, what have you bought?'

Her heart fell – first Harvey and now Aurelia. She was looking so… smug, at home, whatever. Saskia's words – ‘it's Jacaranda she's after' – buzzed in her brain.

‘Just stuff for Christmas,' she muttered.

‘I hope Pascal sorted you out.' Lawrence eyed her intently as if he were worried she'd tell him she'd been forbidden to cook.

‘Why, what's wrong?' Aurelia perked up as if she hoped that something serious had happened to prevent Eloise cooking so Lawrence could order his whole Christmas banquet from her.

‘I'm fine now, thank you so much for suggesting the appointment,' Eloise smiled at him.

‘Good, now don't get knocked down again,' Lawrence sounded relieved, ‘we need you here and next week will be a hard one.'

‘Do you really think you can manage?' Aurelia's tone of voice suggested that she thought she could not and that she was surely the better choice to ensure these exclusive guests were served the kind of food they were accustomed to. She leant closer to Lawrence, her hair brushing his face as she pushed the shiny brochure towards him. Eloise had a glimpse of luscious photographs of succulent meats and colourful vegetables all beautifully arranged on silver dishes.

‘Of course I can,' Eloise said, not looking at her. She had hoped to have a lie-down before she tidied her shopping away but she didn't dare leave now. Left alone with Lawrence, Aurelia would no doubt try and persuade him that it would be wiser to count on her, if she hadn't been trying already, coming here with her shiny brochure to tempt him. She started to unpack the shopping, picking up two tins of sweet chestnut puree that she'd bought as a filling for a meringue vacherin.

‘Oh, tinned, they really have no flavour compared with cooking them from scratch. Anyone who's a serious cook on the continent makes their own,' Aurelia said disdainfully, shoving her brochure into Lawrence's lap before springing up and coming over to the boxes and picking through the contents. ‘And this chocolate.' She held up the bar by the tips of her fingers. ‘I wish you'd asked me. It doesn't have nearly as much flavour as the 80 per cent one, and this butter's not the best. I suppose you can just get away with it if you use it for cakes or pastry, but it burns too quickly to fry with.'

‘I'll take you with me next time and you can point out the best things,' Eloise said sharply. She didn't want her here in her kitchen she didn't want her to have anything to do with Jacaranda. She thought back to the good times when she, her parents and Desmond and Maddy were here. Then later Harvey, Kit and Lizzie. It had always been a noisy, chaotic, happy place, and now with this cold, designer kitchen and Aurelia hovering like a bird of prey waiting to pounce, she felt that something was missing.

Aurelia sat down again on the window seat close to Lawrence. She picked up the brochure, which lay untouched on his lap. ‘You can buy chestnut puree from me, you know,' her voice was seductive as if she was offering him something more intimate. She flicked through the pages.

‘Eloise has bought it now,' Lawrence said, trying to get up from the seat but somewhat trapped by the table and Aurelia.

‘Pity, but there's plenty more in my brochure. Let's see what other things I can tempt you with,' she purred, snuggling even closer to him.

The past week's guests left in the minibus for the airport with Theo. To his dismay, Bert had to stay behind, in case, ‘the new lot are dog haters,' Theo muttered to Eloise before he left.

Lawrence and Eloise went outside to wave the guests on their way. There were effusive yet rather staged goodbyes, except from Celia and Neil who scurried into the bus, heads down as if terrified that Eloise might produce a town crier's bell and finally expose their bedroom antics.

With any luck Harvey too would have left today, Saturday being changeover day for most of the chalets.

It seemed to Eloise as she went back inside Jacaranda with Lawrence that the parting guests had taken the relaxed atmosphere of the chalet with them. He seemed preoccupied. He opened the door for her to go back inside and then disappeared downstairs to his office without a word to her, making her feel discarded. She scolded herself, he had so much to think of, namely to chase up the Christmas tree that should have arrived last night, and after all it was not his role to boost her ego.

She went upstairs to her room. She hadn't had time to sort out her clothes, just jammed them into the cupboard, so she took everything out now and began to sort them, jerseys one side, shirts and jeans the other, and the one skirt and smartish dress she'd shoved in her case as an afterthought, she hung up.

In the wardrobe, there were some books on the top shelf and a faded dark red box pushed at the back that sparked some long-ago memory. She pulled the box out, put it on the bed and opened it, and there, wrapped carefully in tissue paper, were Christmas decorations for the tree.

She unwrapped one, a tiny house with a red shiny roof and the black boots of a mini Father Christmas sticking up from the chimney. She smiled as she remembered it and the Christmas she had spent here as a child. Opening this box with the spun-glass decorations evoked the joy of that time; she'd take them downstairs and get Theo to help her decorate the tree when it arrived.

There was no one around when she went downstairs, so she left the red box in the kitchen and got ready to go out.

Lawrence had agreed on her menus and Eloise drove down to the village to buy the fresh food for the dinner this evening. It was a dull day, very cold, the sky heavy with snow, like a grey blanket bearing down on them. She parked the jeep and went into the butcher's to place her order and almost bumped into Aurelia, who was just coming out.

‘Oh, it's you,' Aurelia said dismissively. ‘Hear you've got those terrifying new guests arriving today. Lawrence is frantically worried that it won't work out and they'll complain to the agency and they will only send him the dreggy clients, if any, in the future.' She glared at Eloise as if Jacaranda's ruin would be all her fault.

‘I expect they'll be fine,' Eloise said coldly, though her stomach churned with anxiety. She moved to go into the shop but Aurelia barred her way.

‘I do hope so; Lawrence cannot afford to lose money over it. I mean,' she laughed disparagingly, ‘I don't know if you are aware but Jacaranda needs a complete makeover, it's wiring must be a fire risk by now, it's so ancient, and the plumbing…' She raised her eyebrows. ‘It must be done soon too and that will cost a fortune, which I don't think he has.'