Page 38 of The Village Inn of Secret Dream

‘Good evening,’ said Del to Frank and Stanley, who replied in kind.

‘Hello,’ said Belle. ‘You’re early today.’

It was only just past six o’clock and Del didn’t normally come in for his pint until later on in the evening.

‘Coach tour got cancelled,’ said Del, coming to stand next to her by the fireplace. ‘So I thought I’d come in here and drown my sorrows instead.’

‘What’s up?’ asked Belle. ‘Still got family troubles?’

Del nodded. ‘My nephew got himself into trouble over the weekend,’ he whispered to Belle. ‘Messing about with his friends out on the streets. Police came along. Only gave them a caution, but I just know it’s going to lead to something worse.’ He sighed heavily. ‘Trouble is, there’s just no jobs out there at the moment.’

‘This one’s the chef, isn’t he?’ she asked.

Del nodded. ‘Got his certificates from college and all that. But he’s only managed to get a job in McDonald’s over in Aldwych so far and he only lasted a month there. It was pretty grim, apparently.’

Belle thought back to the conversation she had just been having with Pete.

‘You know, Pete’s looking out for a new chef for this place,’ said Belle in a loud voice.

Del’s mood immediately brightened up. ‘Is he? That’d be great,’ he said, looking over to where Pete stood.

‘Hold on,’ said Pete, shooting Belle a glance. ‘Unfortunately we’re looking for a Michelin-starred chef.’

‘A what?’ said Del.

‘It’s a fancy chef,’ explained Belle, as they walked towards the bar. ‘But if business is going to take off like Pete’s expecting it to, then this chef will need some help in the kitchen.’

She and Del both looked at Pete with expectant faces.

Pete shifted from foot to foot, looking as if he was caught between a rock and a hard place. ‘I’m not sure—’ he began.

‘Listen, the lad’s desperate,’ said Del, leaning forward on the bar. ‘He’s all right. I’ll make sure he doesn’t cause any trouble around here.’

‘Trouble?’ Pete looked startled.

‘It doesn’t matter,’ said Belle quickly, shooting Del a warning look to keep quiet about his nephew’s recent brush with the law.

Del nodded. ‘He’s a very hard worker.’

‘Which we’ll need for the Christmas rush,’ added Belle, coming to stand next to Pete behind the bar. ‘Who else is going to help the chef? I’ll be too busy serving all the drinks to the many new customers.’

They both continued to look at Pete, who finally nodded his head. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘I’ll meet with him, all right? But I’m not making any promises.’

‘You won’t regret it,’ said Del, breaking into a winning smile. ‘I’ll give Brad a call to tell him the good news.’

As he wandered away to make his call, Pete turned to look at Belle.

‘Why do I think that you just engineered that whole thing?’ he asked, raising his eyebrows at her.

Belle smiled. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she told him.

To her surprise, and pleasure, Pete laughed. ‘Yeah, right.’

‘But surely we’ll need some help in the kitchen,’ she reminded him.

‘I’m not sure what kind of help anyone from Del’s family would be giving us,’ said Pete, with a grimace.

‘His heart’s in the right place,’ said Belle.