Thank you.’
He looked pleased. ‘I expect you’re ready for an end of the day drink.’
‘Yes, please.’
Neither of them noticed the door opening, or the young man who stood on the threshold, stiffening at the sight of their smiling closeness.
‘Hello,’ Lorenzo said.
Erik went to shake Lorenzo’s hand. ‘Good to see you back,’ he said. ‘Everyone is extremely pleased with Martelli produce.’
‘That’s what I wanted to hear,’ Lorenzo said at once. ‘I couldn’t resist dropping in before I return home, just to see how it’s faring in your restaurant.’
‘We were going to go for a drink,’ Erik said easily. ‘Why don’t you dump your things in your room then come down and join us in the Empire Bar?’
‘Great. I’ll be right down.’
But when he returned a few minutes later he found Helen sitting in the bar alone.
‘Erik was called away,’ she said. ‘He says I’m to entertain you.’
She spoke coolly. It was two weeks since his last email, and then he just walked in as though he owned the place.
‘We eat in the restaurant here,’ she went on, ‘so that the chef can discuss your produce and how he wants to increase his orders.’
‘Oh, do we? Get your coat.’
‘What?’
‘We’re going somewhere else. I want to talk to you not the chef.’
‘But your orders-’
‘They can wait until tomorrow.’
They found a small bar near the river. Spring was here and it was still light enough to see the water and the surrounding life. Helen realised how much she had missed him. With Lorenzo away there was nobody to talk too, and he would be leaving again so soon.
‘How have you been?’ he asked. ‘Are your parents giving you grief?’
‘A bit, but I had a stroke of luck. I took Mamma on a shopping trip, and we finished with tea at Elroys, and Erik came and joined us. She’d met him before and she knew I’d been seeing him, so when he’d gone she got very cross on your behalf and asked what I was playing at. I told her I couldn’t decide between the two of you. That made her really mad. She demanded how could I behave so badly to “that nice boy”, as she insisted on calling you.’
He grinned. ‘You didn’t disillusion her, did you?’
‘Nothing would disillusion her. Telling her what you’re really like would be a waste of time.’
‘So when you announce your engagement to Erik she’ll be partly prepared for it?’
‘If I ever do.’
‘Well, the two of you made a very cosy picture together when I walked in.’
‘He was explaining something to me.’
‘Sure, sure. I should congratulate you on getting him where you want him.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘C’mon, Helen. A guy doesn’t leave his special lady alone with another guy unless he feels pretty safe.’
‘Well, maybe he doesn’t think of you as another guy,’ she said nettled. ‘He knows what good friends we are-’
‘Just good friends,’ Lorenzo muttered.
‘What?’
‘Nothing, nothing.’ He looked at her sharply. ‘You look tired. What is it? Is life giving you a hard time?’
‘No, I’m just snowed under with working for my exams.’
‘What exams?’
‘Elroys has its own exam system. The people who come out top get the best jobs. I’ve simply got to be one of them.’
Her vehemence made him look at her sharply. ‘Hey, steady on,’ he said. ‘Helen, don’t take everything so seriously. You’ll wear yourself out. Ease up.’
‘But I can’t ease up. It means so much-my whole life-and it all turns on doing well now. I told you-’
‘Yes, you told me, about your family and needing to escape, but let me tell you something. Sometimes escape doesn’t lie in the direction you think.’
‘I don’t know where it lies. It’s a bit like being caught in a maze and you don’t know the way out, but you know there is one.’
‘And sometimes it was right behind you all the time, and you overlooked it because it was so obvious.’
She eyed him suspiciously. ‘What does that mean?’
‘It’s not a proposal, so stop bristling.’
‘I’m sorry. Am I that bad?’
‘Yes,’ he said gently. ‘You are that bad. You need looking after.’ He gave her an intent look. ‘And you can’t tell them at home, can you? Because they’d try to use it as a weapon to make you give up.’
She nodded. ‘That’s exactly how it is. You’re the first person who’s understood that. It’s lonely.’
‘But you don’t have to be lonely any more. We can talk. Look, tomorrow night-’
‘I have to stay in tomorrow night. Dilys will be out so I can work in peace. I’m sorry.’
‘Don’t be sorry, we’ll still be seeing each other.’
‘But I’ve told you-’
‘I’m going to cook your supper, like a good friend. Then I’ll clear the table and melt into the background while you work. At various intervals I’ll bring you coffee, then melt again.’
She looked up at him and spoke with wicked relish. ‘And wash the dishes?’
He gulped. ‘I’ll even do the dishes.’
She only half believed that he meant it, but the following evening he was waiting, laden with bags, when she left her office. As soon as they were in her apartment, he said, ‘You get on with what you want to do, while I cook.’
He brought her some coffee in the first few minutes, then started his preparations in the kitchen with the concentration of a maestro. He moved so quietly that once she looked up to make sure he was there. He smiled briefly and ordered her ‘back to work at once’, with a severity that made her smile.
The meal was a delicious creation of tender meats, beautifully cooked. But an incredible suspicion was overtaking Helen.
‘This meat-?’
‘Angolini’s finest. I went to your father’s shop this afternoon and asked him what you liked. He told me about this. He said when you were a little girl it was your favourite, and he’d make it for you himself sometimes.’
‘Yes, he did,’ she said, remembering. ‘He used to say, “My best meat for my best lady.” He could be lovely. I’d forgotten that.’
‘I wish you could have seen his face this afternoon as he showed me how to cook it the way you like.’
‘But it’s years since-’ She broke off.
‘It may be years but he remembers every detail of what his “best lady” liked,’ Lorenzo said. ‘Now you get back to work. The next course is going to take a while if I’m to get it the way your mother showed me.’
Having rendered her totally speechless he retreated into the kitchen.
He served her peaches stewed in wine, with cream, washed down with the best coffee she had ever tasted.
‘Did you say my mother?’ she asked at last.
‘Poppa sent me upstairs to get her advice, and later he joined us. I think she’d told him how you’re playing me false with Erik, because he assumed I was laying myself out to win you back. He advised me against it. He said it gave a woman improper ideas about having power. Mamma told him to stop talking nonsense.’
‘Mamma said that to Poppa? I don’t believe it.’
‘It’s different when their kids aren’t around, Helen. All that bossy stuff is for your benefit. When he’s in her kitchen he practically stands to attention if she talks to him. And he was fetching and carrying things from
