‘Hi,’ she said, before opening her arms wide. ‘Welcome to Tutto Mio.’
Amber stepped out of the huddle to stand beside her.
‘Isabella, before I introduce you to your team, can you tell them a bit about what you want Tutto Mio to be?’ Isabella felt a surge of excitement at the words ‘your team’. It was a real ‘pinch me’ moment. A team of people to help bring her dream to life. They were looking at her expectantly, and she clasped her hands together under her chin.
‘I want Tutto Mio to feel like being at home with your family,’ she began and saw the raise of an eyebrow from one woman. She smiled and carried on, sure of the image she had in her head.
‘I don’t want tables pushed through in an hour and a half if they’re not finished. Your mother wouldn’t shoo you away from the dinner table, would she? She’d want you to linger, to talk. To have another glass of wine, or a coffee, or the dessert you didn’t think you wanted earlier. That’s what I want for our diners. I want them to have time to be together.
‘We’re going to have the best homecooked Italian family food there is. You can be sure of that. And I want everyone who comes in here to leave with a full tummy, a happy heart and a smile on their face.’
Nobody cringed at the sentiment of it. There were in fact nods and smiles in response. There was an energy in the air; she could feel the buzz already.
‘So, let me introduce you to everyone,’ Amber said. ‘It might seem like we have a large team, but you’ll understand why in a while. I’ll be managing the daytime shift, and Sinead will manage the evening shift.’ Sinead, a woman who looked to be in her fifties, waved cheerfully at Isabella.
‘Hello, so,’ she said in a lilting Irish accent. ‘Pleased to meet you, Isabella. This is an opportunity, to be sure.’
‘Nice to meet you too,’ smiled Isabella. ‘Tell me about yourself?’
Sinead smoothed her dress over her thighs.
‘Well, I’ve five boys.’ She glanced at the woman next to her, bringing her into the conversation. ‘Great hulking lads they are now. And the last one, Aaron, recently moved out– he’s gone to London to join his brother Tony. The others are in Dublin, Dubai and Derry can you believe?’ The woman next to her smiled sympathetically. ‘And Barry, that’s my husband,’ she clarified to the man in a suit on the other side of her, ‘well, he works evening shifts so I’m on my own.’ She turned back to Isabella as if that answered everything.
‘And where have you worked before?’ Isabella asked, wondering if she’d not been clear with her question.
‘I worked in the school kitchen for a while.’ Sinead nodded, as if that clinched the deal. Her smile was so wide, you couldn’t help but like her. But was she waiting staff material?
Isabella flicked a look at Amber, who nodded encouragingly and said, ‘The other staff will have regular shifts, a mixture of daytimes and evenings working with either myself or Sinead. We’ll sort the rotas out around their needs.’
Did Amber mean she’d sort the rota out around the restaurant’s needs? That would surely make more sense.
‘So, let me introduce the rest of the team. Paul, would you like to start?’
Next to Sinead, Paul lifted his hand. Wiry, white-haired and impeccably dressed in a suit, he must have been early sixties. His moustache was finely tuned into a curl on either side of his mouth. He tugged his waistcoat straight and cleared his throat.
‘I’m Paul Metcalfe, and I’ve lived in Honeybridge my whole life,’ he said in a rich tone, deeper than you’d expect from his slight frame. ‘I’ve got a deep love of wine, Italian wine being the finest in the world.’
‘I agree!’ Isabella said, adding it to her mental to-do list. Sort the wines. Maybe he could help with that.
‘And where have you worked before?’ Isabella asked.
‘I’ve not worked since my wife was wheelchair-bound with multiple sclerosis twenty-five years ago,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘But the house is too quiet now that’s she’s passed away and I’m a fast learner.’ Sinead leaned over and clutched his arm, making a clucking sound, while someone else put a hand on his shoulder.
Isabella nodded, taken aback by this but unsure of the direction this was going. Amber just nodded again, as if she knew something that Isabella didn’t. Isabella held her tongue and waited for the next person to introduce themselves.
The youngest girl stepped forward. Probably eighteen.
‘I’m Harry, short for Harriet,’ she said, daring a peep from under her fringe. ‘I’m in my second year at college. I’ve done my Duke of Edinburgh award. You have to do volunteering, physical challenge and learn a skill.’ She glanced more confidently at Amber and Isabella caught the encouraging nod from her friend. Harry took a deep breath and continued: ‘For my volunteering, I helped at the Heart of Honeybridge nursing home. I went in at mealtimes.’
‘Ah, great,’ Isabella said, smiling in relief. Someone with waiting experience. ‘Were you serving the meals?’
Harry bit her lip. ‘No, I wasn’t allowed in the kitchen to collect the trays, some kind of training rules. But I sat with the older people while they ate and talked to them. They were lovely.’ Isabella started to wonder what on earth was going on.
Next it was Meryl, a single woman in her twenties. She stepped forward confidently and shook hands. Please, Isabella silently prayed, please have some kind of serving experience.
‘I was abandoned as a baby,’ she said. She said it matter-of-factly, but Sinead’s eyes filled up immediately. ‘I was in the care system until I was adopted at the age of five.’
Isabella’s eyes widened.
