The Secret Ingredient (35 page)

Andie lay in her bed, staring out the window to the arc of blue sea, visible beyond the rooftops. She had been woken at some ungodly hour by the sun as it rose up out of the ocean, above the rooftops; to shine right onto her face. She would have to close the blinds in future if she had any hope of sleeping in, but she couldn't bring herself to close them last night when she had finally fallen into bed, exhausted. She wanted to gaze out at the sky, and listen to the faint roll of the waves, just audible above the hubbub of the surrounding bars and restaurants, doors slamming and cars coming and going, voices in the street, loud, laughing, sometimes even singing – it was a Saturday night, after all, and this was Bondi. It was a lot noisier than Roseville, but Andie didn't mind. She felt a deep sense of contentment, of being home, that she hadn't felt in a very long time. And although she'd woken at daybreak, she had drifted easily back to sleep, after burying her head under a pillow to block out the light.

She rolled over and looked around the apartment. She loved that she could see it all from this vantage point – well, all but the bathroom. It was little more than a cubicle comprising a sink, shower and toilet, but it was clean and functional and it was all she needed. A bath might have been nice, but Andie was not going to dwell on what she didn't have. What she did have was a place of her own, finally. She supposed the apartment she shared with Ross should have felt like hers, but it never really had. Ross had always had very strong opinions about what went in it, and Andie had never quibbled, he was paying for it all, what right did she have to impose her taste on him? But sometimes it felt like she was staying with Ross in his apartment . . . That had never really occurred to her until now, gazing around at this space that was totally hers. She felt like queen of her very own, very small castle.

Toby had insisted on finishing the rest of the furniture last night, and fortunately, they did not run into any more allen key glitches. Two more dining chairs, a coffee table, and the second bedside table had all been assembled with a minimum of fuss, and not one swearword, probably because Max was within earshot. The dear little boy had eventually fallen fast asleep on Andie's new bed, giving Toby time to take all the cardboard packaging down to his ute to dispose of later.

‘You've done enough,' Andie had tried to protest.

‘Job's not finished till the cleaning up's done,' was all he said in response.

They finally left, a sleeping Max slung over his father's shoulder as they whispered their goodbyes, and then made their way down the stairs to the street. Although she was bone-tired, her brain was too revved up, and Andie couldn't think about sleeping. She unpacked her clothes into the built-in wardrobe, arranged her things in the bathroom, and put away the few kitchen items she had brought with her. Along the way she found a couple of Stan's things, a jumper stuck right up the back of the top shelf in the wardrobe, and a plastic container in the kitchen cupboard. She could drop them off to him tomorrow; she would have to go shopping for more crockery and glasses and cutlery, food of course, and she might just check out some of the funky little homewares shops in the area, buy some scatter cushions, storage baskets . . . whatever took her fancy, really. It was going to be fun.

Finally, when there really was nothing left to do, Andie had collapsed into bed and slept like a dead person.

Her phone started ringing now, and she shimmied over to pick it up from the bedside table, where it sat beside two framed photos, the one of her and Brendan, and the one of Ross's children. Andie smiled when she looked at the screen of her phone. It was Dominic.

‘Good morning,' she said.

‘Good morning to you,' he replied. ‘I was just about to leave for work, thought I'd call to see how the big move went.'

‘It went great, thanks,' she said. ‘Toby was amazing, he put together every stick of furniture, and even took away all the packaging. The place looks almost normal.'

‘Great, so maybe you can make it into work after all?'

‘Oh . . .' Andie hesitated. ‘I do have a few more things to organise . . .'

‘I was joking,' he assured her. ‘So do you think you'll be ready for a break tomorrow?'

‘Why, what did you have in mind?'

‘I wanted to ask you over for dinner.'

Her heart skipped a beat. ‘Over where?'

‘Over to my house.'

‘Oh.' His house . . . the two of them alone . . . he wasn't mucking around.

‘I thought you might enjoy having dinner cooked for you after all your hard work,' he said.

‘But you have to cook all day every day,' said Andie. ‘You don't want to do it on your day off.'

‘I haven't cooked for you. And I'd like to have you over . . . here.'

Hm. ‘Then I'd like to come.'

‘Good then,' he said. ‘Is six too early? We both have to work the next day.'

‘Six should be fine,' she said. ‘I just have to call in to the shop after closing, so I might be a little later.'

‘No rush, I'll see you when you get here.'

‘And exactly where is here?'

‘Pardon?'

‘I need your address.'

Andie got on with her day, and her shopping spree. She had fun for a while, but she flagged after a couple of hours. She found shopping malls overwhelming – the artificial lighting, the piped music, the crowds. She had planned to do more, but she had bought all the essentials on her list. Most importantly, she had a new kettle, and she really just wanted to go home and make herself a cup of tea.

When she got back to the car, she saw the plastic bag on the front seat and remembered she needed to go by Elliot's and return Stan's things. She might as well get it out of the way, as she'd be driving right past. She parked the car around the corner and walked back to the restaurant. She thought about knocking at the side entrance, but that might be a little presumptuous, so she went around to the front like a regular patron, and pushed open the main door. The place appeared to be pretty full, she hoped this wasn't a bad time. She was fishing in her bag for her phone to check the time when Stan walked up to her, dressed in his waiter's garb.

‘Hello, Andie.'

‘Hi, Stan,' she said.

‘Is there a problem with the apartment?' he asked, looking worried.

‘No, no, it's great,' she assured him. ‘I'm all moved in, it feels like home already.'

‘That's a relief.' He smiled. ‘So, what can I do for you?'

‘Oh, you left some stuff behind,' she said, passing him the plastic bag.

Stan shook his head, peering into the bag. ‘Sorry, I was in such a hurry. It was good of you to come and drop it off specially.'

‘I was passing,' Andie dismissed.

‘Well, you better come say hi to the boss while you're here.'

‘Oh, no, I don't want to interrupt, it's obviously busy.'

‘Service is finished for the day,' said Stan. ‘And he'll have my hide if he finds out you were here and I didn't bring you back to say hello.'

She followed Stan out to the kitchen where Elliot was sitting back on a chair with his hands clasped behind his head and his feet propped on the edge of a bench – service was clearly over – obviously sharing a joke with the rest of the kitchen staff. He jumped up as soon as he saw her.

‘Hello, Andie,' he said warmly, coming over to give her a kiss on the cheek like they were old friends. ‘This is a nice surprise, what brings you here?'

‘I had to return some of Stan's things,' she explained.

‘Are you hungry? We could rustle up something —'

But she was already holding up her hand to stop him. ‘No, no, I'm fine, I've eaten,' she assured him.

‘Hey guys,' he said to the rest of the crew, ‘this is Andie. She's my best friend's girl, as the song goes.'

They responded with a haphazard chorus of ‘Hey Andie'.

‘Hi everyone,' she smiled.

‘Coffee?' he said. ‘I was just about to make myself one.'

‘Oh, I don't want to interrupt.'

‘You'll give me an excuse to get out of cleaning,' he winked at her. ‘All right you lot,' he said loudly, ‘enough slacking off and get on with it. Andie and I are retiring to the courtyard.'

There were some good-natured groans as the staff dispersed to their work stations. When Elliot had made the coffee he showed her out to the tiny courtyard. There was just enough room for a small wrought-iron table and two chairs, tucked inside the U formed by three high brick walls, lined top to bottom with shelves of potted herbs.

‘This is great,' said Andie.

‘Yep, the only way to ensure really fresh herbs is to grow them on-site. And,' said Elliot, indicating for her to sit, ‘it's a nice little oasis from the heat of the kitchen.'

‘I imagine it is.'

‘How come you're not at work today?' he asked.

‘I had the weekend off to move into the apartment.'

‘Of course,' he nodded. ‘How'd it go?'

‘Great, I love it,' she said. ‘I've just been shopping for supplies – nesting, you know.'

He smiled. ‘So how's my man Dom?'

‘He's fine, I think,' she said. ‘He sounded fine on the phone this morning.'

Elliot nodded. ‘So you're hanging in there, I didn't put you off altogether?'

Andie smiled. ‘No, you didn't put me off.'

‘Good, Sal will be relieved. She's dying to meet you,' he said. ‘You know, I've been thinking about it ever since. Dom must be pretty serious about you, bringing you to meet me, because he knows what I'm like, he knows I'll push him to keep seeing you. It was like he wanted a witness so that he'd go through with it.'

Go through with it? Was it that hard for him?

‘I'm doing it again, aren't I?' said Elliot, watching her.

Andie shrugged. ‘I'm just beginning to wonder about his deep dark past.'

‘It's not that deep or dark,' he said. ‘A marriage break-up is pretty normal these days.'

‘He was married?'

Elliot looked at her. ‘He hasn't mentioned it?'

She shook her head. ‘Was this recent?'

‘No, it was a long time ago, he was barely more than a kid,' he said. ‘But are you saying it's never even come up that he was married?'

‘Nope.'

Elliot was rubbing his jaw, frowning. ‘I don't know how much I should say.'

‘You don't have to say anything, really.' This felt a bit weird.

‘Oh look, there isn't really anything much to say,' he assured her. ‘He married young, in haste, and he's repented at leisure.'

‘And he still hardly ever dates after all this time?' said Andie. ‘Sounds like he never got over her.'

‘Oh, no, he got over her all right,' said Elliot. ‘She was just a bit . . . full-on. I think she scared him off relationships.'

Andie wondered exactly what ‘full-on' meant. ‘She must have scared him pretty bad if he's been single all this time.'

‘If you want to know the truth, I think Dom's married to his work. He wouldn't be the only chef who is,' he added. ‘But it's not good for him. All I can say is that you're the best thing that's happened to Dom in a very long time.'

Andie was at once flattered and a little overwhelmed.

‘I should get going,' she said, standing up. ‘I've still got so much to do at the flat.'

Elliot showed her out via the side exit. ‘I hope we see you soon.'

‘Me too,' she waved, as she headed down the alley to the street.

Andie walked through the front door of the shop, setting the bell off and summoning Jess from the back.

‘Hello!' she said, surprised. ‘Two weeks in a row, this is a record.'

‘I promise you now that I've moved you're going to see a lot more of me.'

‘I'm seeing a whole lot more of you right now in that top,' Jess remarked.

Andie glanced down at herself. The top she was wearing was made of a filmy fabric that draped loosely over her, held up by a pair of gossamer-fine straps, so she couldn't really wear a bra. She supposed it was pretty revealing. ‘Oh, is it too much?'

‘No, it's definitely not too
much
,' said Jess. ‘Where are you off to, anyway?'

‘I have to go out,' she said, ‘and I was just trying to find something cool to wear, it's so hot out there.'

‘Oh, you're going out?' Jess pulled a face. ‘I was just about to give you a call actually. I was hoping I could come around and check out your new digs.'

‘Sorry,' said Andie. ‘You'll have to come soon though.'

‘So why are you here?'

She walked around the counter. ‘Toby told me you had him around to measure up —'

‘You said it was all right.'

‘I know I did, and it is.'

‘I was going to tell you.'

‘But you couldn't get a word in, right?' said Andie with a sigh. ‘All I do is talk about myself lately. And I'm sorry about that.'

Jess smiled. ‘Listen, I manage to get plenty of words in,' she said. ‘Telling you what to do with your life, imparting all my worldly wisdom.'

‘Which I couldn't do without,' Andie insisted. ‘But enough about me, are you going to show me what you've been up to?'

Jess quickly locked the front door and turned over the closed sign before leading her out the back to the computer. ‘I'll show you Toby's preliminary plans,' she explained.

‘They're on the computer?'

‘It's all done on computer now,' she said. ‘He emailed them to me.'

Jess sat beside her at the desk as she took Andie through the plans. They weren't extravagant changes, but they were enough to make a big difference to what could be achieved in the kitchen. They included the installation of a new double oven and professional cooktop, and a range hood with a commercial-grade exhaust duct system; a large island bench unit incorporating a pastry-making slab; and there were plans to replace some of the older style kitchen cupboard units with more serviceable shelves and wire racks.

‘So will this have to go through council?' Andie asked her.

‘No,' said Jess. ‘Nothing's being changed externally, or to the structure of the building. I've been madly checking that everything meets commercial standards and complies with health and fire regulations, that kind of thing, but Toby's up on all that anyway.'

‘And so what do you hope to do once this is all in place?'

Jess sat back to look at her. ‘Well, I'd like to start by offering a limited range of restaurant-quality takeaway meals. It'll work best in the winter months, with casseroles, pasta dishes, pies, that kind of thing. We could see how it goes and take it from there.'

Andie was nodding slowly. ‘You've really put a lot of thought into this. And it sounds completely doable, but you have to realise, Jess, I'm not going to be able to be very involved, I only have one day off a week.'

‘I know that, Andie. But I think I can manage this myself, with the support of the regular staff, of course.'

‘What if you get more restaurant shifts?'

She sighed. ‘I really haven't been doing much of that for a while now, I'm here most of the time.'

‘And you don't mind that?'

‘That's the whole thing, Andie, I don't mind at all,' Jess said plainly. ‘In fact, I'm enjoying it. I know you're loving working in a kitchen right now, but I've been doing it for over ten years. If I had a permanent, ongoing position somewhere, even just a couple of nights a week, I could make my own mark,' she said. ‘But as it is, I'm only ever filling in someone else's shoes. This is a chance for me to do my own thing . . .' she hesitated. ‘Sorry, Andie, I shouldn't presume. I know you have to think about this, the expense involved. But I've been doing some costing of my own, and if it works out, it's going to pay for itself, and hopefully turn a profit before long. Plus the renovations are a tax write-off for the business.'

Andie was just sitting staring at the computer screen.

‘I don't mean to push you,' said Jess. ‘Toby should have the quote ready any day, and then you'll have more information to help you decide.'

‘No, I want you to go ahead with it,' said Andie.

‘What?'

‘I think it's a great idea, and if you want to do it —'

‘Just like that?' Jess blinked.

‘It's not just like that,' said Andie. ‘You and I have talked about this kind of thing before, perhaps not on this scale. But now I have the money to do it.'

‘You mean your inheritance?'

‘That's right.'

‘But, Andie, that's your future, your security,' said Jess. ‘You have to buy your own place, put some away in super —'

‘I'll still be able to buy my own place,' Andie assured her. ‘But this is my place too, and my security, and I should invest in it. I haven't spent anything on the business in a very long time, and this seems to me to be a pretty smart move.' She looked directly at Jess. ‘Seriously, what have I got to lose? Toby's doing the renovations, so that's in good hands, and where would I get someone of your calibre and experience to run something like this?' She paused. ‘You know, the more I sit here and think about it, the more I realise I'd be a bloody fool not to go ahead with this. It's a brilliant opportunity.'

Jess's eyes were glassy. ‘So that's it? You're happy for us to run with it?'

‘Yep. Keep me posted, of course. But you and Toby are the two people I trust most in the world, so I think I'm in safe hands.' She glanced at her watch. ‘Now, I really have to get going.'

Andie stood up and Jess jumped to her feet. ‘I don't know what to say. Just . . . thank you.' She threw her arms around her.

Andie hugged her back. ‘It's my pleasure. It might make up a little for everything you've done for me.'

Jess drew back, giving her eyes a quick wipe with the back of her hand. ‘So you didn't say, where are you off to, anyway?'

‘Dinner with Dominic.'

‘Ooh, where's he taking you?'

‘His place.'

Jess raised her eyebrows. ‘Dominic Gerou is cooking you dinner? That's not too shabby,' she said. ‘And that explains the saucy top. So tonight's the night, or has that ship already sailed?'

‘Not yet,' said Andie. ‘But let's just say we've pulled up the anchor and we're ready to go.'

Jess winced. ‘Okay, let's not take that metaphor any further. So have you got protection?'

‘Against what?'

‘Don't play dumb.'

‘I'm still on the pill,' Andie shrugged.

‘Andie, honestly, do I have to spell it out for you? The pill doesn't ward off an STD.'

‘I know that.' She screwed up her nose. ‘But isn't it his responsibility?'

Jess walked over to her handbag, shaking her head. ‘You really have been out of the game for a long time. It's your body, your responsibility.' She fished around in her bag and pulled out a strip of condoms.

Andie grimaced. ‘I don't know if I feel comfortable taking your condoms.'

‘It's not as if they're used!' she said, slapping them into Andie's hand. ‘Besides, I hate to bring this up, but have you been tested yourself?'

‘What? I haven't been with anyone but . . . Oh shit.'

‘Exactly,' said Jess. ‘Did Ross use condoms with you?'

‘No, that would have been a bit of a giveaway.'

‘Don't worry, he probably used them with her, married men having affairs tend to be careful,' she said. ‘But you can never be too careful. You should make an appointment to get tested.'

‘Way to put a downer on the evening,' Andie said glumly as Jess walked her to the door.

‘Oh, come on, don't let it spoil it for you,' said Jess, giving her arm a rub. ‘Now let me look at you.'

Andie turned to face her.

‘Gorgeous,' Jess declared. ‘He won't be able to keep his hands off you. Go, enjoy yourself.'

Andie knew Jess was only looking after her best interests – and she certainly appreciated that someone was – but she felt a little sleazy on the drive to Dominic's, packing condoms in her purse and wearing a top that left very little to the imagination. She was glad she'd brought a light cardigan with her, she would put it on before she left the car, despite the sweltering conditions outside. She hoped Dominic's house was cool.

What made things worse was that the exchange with Jess had brought Ross back into the forefront of her mind, at a time when she really didn't need Ross anywhere near her mind. Especially not the image of him with that woman. She found herself trying to remember if she'd noticed a condom, which was patently ridiculous, considering the position he was in at the time. But Jess was right, married men were likely to be cautious; Ross had used condoms early in their relationship, until he actually physically left Joanna. Andie had not really thought about it at the time, but that probably meant he was still having sex with Joanna, when he'd claimed they hadn't had sex in years.

She groaned inwardly. She'd been in a good mood on the way to the shop, anticipating the night ahead, excited. Now it felt like a tawdry rendezvous. But it wasn't that, was it? She was formally separated, Dominic was single, they were adults . . . Whatever, she was going to have to tell him she hadn't been tested, it was the right thing to do. Bloody Ross was still somehow managing to have control over her life when he wasn't even in her life any more. Remote control.

Andie turned into Dominic's street in Paddington and inched along until she spotted the number of his house. It was a neat, restored terrace in a row of similarly neat, restored terraces that stepped their way down a gentle incline. Dominic's was about halfway along. Andie found a park nearby and pulled on her cardigan before getting out of the car. She was feeling jittery as she walked back up to his house and in through the front gate, past the pocket-handkerchief front garden. She stepped up onto the porch and pressed the buzzer. Her heart seemed to be thudding in time with the footsteps she could hear approaching up the hall. Then the door opened and Dominic was standing there smiling at her, and Andie felt seventeen different emotions just seeing his face.

‘Hi, come in,' he said. ‘Did you find the place all right?'

‘Yes, no problem.'

He sounded a little nervous as well, which oddly made her relax as she walked inside. Then he bent to kiss her, just softly, one hand resting on her cheek, and Andie felt jittery all over again, but in a good way.

He straightened. ‘I missed you . . . at the restaurant, you know. I'm used to seeing you there.'

She smiled. ‘I missed being there.'

‘Well, come on through,' he said, leading the way. She followed him past a narrow staircase on the right, and what looked like a sitting room on the left, though she only caught a glimpse as they passed. The floor had been stripped to timber, and all the walls were white, but the original features remained – deep skirting boards, ornate plasterwork. They walked through into a large open space that was obviously a new extension. It comprised a large kitchen and eating area, with a wall of glass facing the courtyard off the back. It was all white and stainless steel, sparsely furnished with a white glass-topped dining table and white chairs.

‘This is stunning,' said Andie. ‘How long have you lived here?'

‘A few years now,' he said, as he walked around the long, sleek island bench topped with white marble. ‘It was mostly as you see it when I bought it, I just put in a new kitchen. Hazard of the profession, though I don't get to use it much. Can I get you a drink?'