There was a pan sizzling on the hob. Bastian, in his baggy designer sweats over his running gear, was frying… something pink and square.
‘Lorne sausage,’ he told her. ‘And get this, the woman in the Post Office shop called thesemorning rolls, not baps, not just rolls, but morning rolls. It’s all so wonderfully Scottish.’
‘You went out?’
‘You didn’t have any meat, or anything really, in your fridge. Your freezer’s empty too, did you know that?’
‘Of course I did.’
‘Here.’ He’d made coffee and poured her a cup into steamy, frothed milk.
‘I have a cafetiere?’ Alice opened cupboards, wondering what else was hiding in here that she hadn’t discovered yet.
‘No, I bought it at the hardware counter in the animal feed store.’
‘We have a hardware counter?’
‘It’s right beside the pig pellets.’
Alice took the coffee and drank. It was perfect.
Bastian served up the flat sausage slice onto the soft white, buttered bread roll and presented it to her alongside a bottle of brown sauce held against his arm like a sommelier presenting the vintage champagne. ‘The woman in the shop recommended a bottle of this to accompany our breakfast.’
She shook her head at it, then, thinking again how it might be just the thing to sort her out, took the bottle and splodged a brown blob onto the sausage. The first bite was a sensation. She couldn’t help smiling back up at Bastian who was grinning at her as she chewed.
‘You look famished,’ he said.
‘You’re not eating?’
Bastian hadn’t even tried to sit at the table with her. ‘You said I should go first thing, so…’ He hiked a thumb over his shoulder to the door.
‘Oh, for God’s sake, sit down and have some breakfast. It’s miles to Manchester.’
‘Thanks,’ he said, hopping straight into a seat at the little Formica table and assembling his own sandwich.
He looked so contented Alice almost forgave him for storming into her special party.
‘After this, you could show me your surgery?’ He took a wolfish bite.
‘What? Really?’
‘I’d love to see where you work. Your dad showed me the picture of you with your name plate on your door. You really deserve it, you know? All this. You worked harder than any of us.’ He took another big bite and threw his eyes wide. ‘Woah, what do they put in this stuff?’
Alice had to agree, it was delicious.
For a few moments they ate in silence, like old times.
‘You see Dad a lot, then?’
Bastian’s jaws slowed in their chewing. ‘Umm, I wouldn’t saya lot.’
‘What’s she like? Kimberly?’
Bastian made a face that asked if she was sure she really wanted to know.
‘Tell me.’
‘OK. She’s super-smart, and destined for the very top.’
