Page 95 of The Village Inn of Secret Dream

‘Right,’ said Pete, quickly collecting his goods off the counter. ‘I’ll get Brad started on some meals. Pizzas and lasagne for the families. Maybe some kind of pie for the elderly.’

‘I’ll organise a team to deliver them,’ said Tom.

‘We’ll add milk and bread to each order,’ said Josh.

‘Excellent,’ said Pete. ‘I’ll check back with you in a couple of hours when we’re good to go.’

As he left the shop and began to walk over the narrow bridge to the inn, despite the circumstances, Pete felt lighter in spirit than he had done for days.

He realised that it was because he could actually help someone out who was worse off than himself, for once. And he realised how selfish he had been over the last few years. And how determined he was that things definitely had to change.

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Belle was just finishing restocking the bar when Pete strode in, carrying a shopping bag.

‘Hey,’ she said. ‘That took a while.’

He had left almost an hour previously.

‘I stopped in to check on Ned,’ he told her as he crossed the floor towards her.

‘How is he?’ she asked.

‘Not good,’ said Pete, shaking his head. ‘Have you got a minute?’

She followed him towards the kitchen, where Brad was still conjuring up his taster menu, full of delicious flavours.

‘Right,’ said Pete, when they were all standing inside the kitchen. ‘I’ve had an idea and I need both of you to give me a hand.’

Brad, who had been chopping up some vegetables, finished his work and then looked at Pete in surprise.

‘So,’ began Pete. ‘I need some individual meals to hand out to some villagers who are struggling.’

Belle looked at Pete. ‘Who?’ she asked.

‘Ned, for a start,’ he told her, his mouth set in a grim line. ‘But it turns out that he’s not alone. Apparently there are about a dozen pensioners and families who are struggling to feed themselves this winter.’

‘That’s terrible,’ said Belle, shocked.

‘The weather’s awful, so a lot of them haven’t been able to venture too far,’ said Pete. ‘I’m going to grab some of our logs and get them delivered, but they’re going to need hot, nourishing meals that they can heat up easily without it costing too much.’

Belle and Pete both turned to look at Brad.

‘What kind of thing did you have in mind?’ asked Brad.

‘For the elderly, I don’t know,’ said Pete, with a shrug. ‘Something plain, I guess.’

Brad frowned. ‘I don’t do plain food,’ he said.

‘Okay,’ said Pete. ‘But what do you cook for your grandparents? That’s the kind of thing I’m talking about. Oh and if you’ve got anything going spare, you know, like the trial meals you’ve been cooking, that would be great. We need to get some hot meals in some empty stomachs today, if at all possible.’

Brad tapped the worktop, deep in thought. ‘Right,’ he said finally. ‘We’d better get to work.’

Whilst Pete headed outside to load up some logs into a wheelbarrow, Belle stayed in the kitchen to help Brad.

As her cooking skills weren’t up to scratch, she was happy just to dash about and grab whatever ingredients he needed and do the washing-up as required.

It was quite incredible to watch him whizz up so many meals so quickly. They still had some empty microwave dishes that Aunty Angie had used, although not quite so skilfully and certainly not as deliciously. But at least that meant that individual portions could be easily divided up.