“Guess that answers more than one question for you tonight then, hey?” Gail gave her a winning smile which made Lena acknowledge her friend was right.
“Yeah, I guess it does.” So the reputation was still intact for now.
“So that leaves you wide open for a hot date then.” Gail rested her chin in her hand and looked at her with a smug smile on her face.
Maybe, maybe not just yet. “No! Just leave it, okay.”
“But you’ve just admitted you didn’t really love each other, not for the last couple of years anyway, so it’s not as if you’re jumping out of the fry pan into the fire.” Gail rocked in her chair, watching. “Nobody would think badly of you for dating now. I mean, who says there’s a time limit on this kind of thing. It’s not the dark ages you know.”
I have to feel good about myself first. Bugger anyone else. “I know and I understand what you’re trying to do, but I don’t know if I want another relationship. It’s too damned hard finding someone and hoping they don’t turn into a bloody snake or a frog.”
“Seriously, I’ve met Adam and there ain’t no scales on that body, let me tell you.” Gail fanned herself with the menu. “You need to let loose, my love and live, not stress over what might happen. You can only have so much bad luck in your life and I think you’ve kind of used up all your allowance if you know what I mean.”
“We don’t know that. Anyway, I have Kyle to look after. I won’t put him through that again. It’s not fair. He needs stability now.”
Chapter 10
“Tell me what you’re cooking, bella and what you want me to do for you.” Sofia poured them both a coffee and sat down at the table.
“For entrée we’re having venison roulades with blood orange salad. Adam offered us the meat at a reasonable rate and it’s been hanging in the chill room next door aging for Saturday night, long enough to tame down the flavor for an entree. I want to do charred rib fillet with crispy potato cakes and Adam has asked for ice cream sandwiches, gelati style, his payment for letting us use the dairy he said.” And he is getting it without a fuss.
“Sounds delicious, bella. We can prepare a lot of that the day before to save you some work too.”
Knew I could count on you, Mama. Lena took a sip of her coffee and reached for a spicy biscuit from the jar on the table. She dipped it in the coffee and sucked it dry before crumbling the coffee soaked crumbs on her tongue. “That’s why I chose those recipes. We’ll only have barbeques to cook with and a few gas rings, no oven. We can pre-cook the potato cakes and have them ready to go into deep fryers just to crisp up and heat through. The steak is okay on the barbeque and the flavors will speak for themselves.” She pondered a moment. “Can you let me have enough of your home made red wine vinegar for the dressing? I think with a little mustard and olive oil, it would set off the rocket salad I want to serve.” She could almost taste it now.
“Of course. There are gallon jars in the shed. Ask Papa to get you some out when you’re ready.”
Nothing like Mamas home-made vinegars to spark up a salad. “Thanks. I can make the brioche anytime as well as the gelati. Once that’s frozen we could slice it and lay it between grease proof paper, that would make it easier for serving on the night. I might even start those tomorrow so I don’t have to worry about them.”
“You do the gelati and let me do the brioche; something less for you to worry about.”
Nice. “Thanks, Mama. Are you going to be okay to help me on the night? You and Kyle can help barbeque and plate up.” I can’t think of two people I’d rather have at my back.
“Of course, bella. Goes without saying, I thought you would have known that.”
“I should have, but I wanted to ask anyway. Papa and Adam have said they’ll man the bar for the night and I have some of the grade twelve’s as wait staff so that’s covered.”
“It will be a night to remember, that’s for sure.”
Let’s hope it’s for all the right reasons too. “It will and probably would have been so much easier to have at the school, but I couldn’t see me cooking and serving in that place. Too many memories of school meetings and assemblies to make me want to be in there for the night.” She shuddered.
“Ah no. You couldn’t have it in the hall; no character that place. You will do much better in the dairy. Now, tell me, what are you going to call your restaurant for the night?”
A name? The thought hadn’t even crossed Lena’s mind. She’d been too busy thinking about the menu and the logistics of cooking in an old cow shed for two hundred people. “No idea. You come up with something for me, okay? You’re good at that. Look who came up with the name for the Sydney restaurant, Mama.”
“I’ll do that and I’ll make you a sign for the building too.”
* * *
What the heck is wrong with them? Adam frowned as he watched the deer huddled against the rail in their quarantine yard. The buck and two of the does seemed to be unsettled and more scattered than usual. Deer were timid creatures at the best of times and the mere presence of a stranger was usually enough to startle them and have them on guard, but this was different. They were used to him and even ignored Spencer now when Adam went down to feed them. It’d been three weeks since
