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‘Did I hear my name?’ Xavier appeared, with a bag of wet fish and a basket of fruit and veg. ‘What happened to the bread?’ he asked, looking at the baguette I’d decimated.
‘Erm… I had a small piece with my cheese sample,’ I tried.
‘I’ll get another one and then we need to get back,’ he said, exasperated. Rachael handed over the box of profiterole shells, beautifully packed in a red box.
‘There you go. Take a pic when they’re done; I’d love to see them.’
I wandered back to the baker via the cheese man and tried for another sample.
‘You have already had some free cheese,non?’ Le Grand Fromage said in an accusatory tone.
‘Non?’ I said, innocently, clutching onto my bread.
‘Oui,’ he said, with irritation, passing a sample to someone over my head. I turned around and it was Xavier, with a fresh baguette in his basket.
‘Merci, Laurent,’ he said to the big cheese man, steering me out of the market with our foodie wares. I felt happier than I had in months. What a place. And I could come here twice a week for the next four months. Xavier gave me his free cheese and I mushed it into another wedge of French bread and popped it in my mouth. Is there anything better in the world than the right cheese with the right bread?
*
I put my work pinafore on and straightened my hair. The red worked well with my blue uniform, so I didn’t completely hate it. Liv was lying on her bed reading a magazine, still fully dressed in her snowboarding gear.
‘Are you not boiling hot?’ I was overheating just looking at her. ‘At least take your helmet off?’ Liv flicked her eyes up at me and released the catch on her helmet to reveal two sweaty plaits. She untangled them one by one and gave her head a rub.
‘I can’t stop reading this article about a woman who married her horse,’ she said, pouring herself a green juice and taking a swig, before pulling her foot in to give it a massage. Liv’s legs seemed elasticated as she put her feet on her thighs to knead them while readingTake a Break.
‘Are you ready for your first dinner then?’ Liv asked, eyeing me up and down. ‘The uniform suits you. You’ve got that sexy nurse meets serial killer vibe going on.’
‘Have I?!’ I said, peering at myself in the mirror. ‘I didn’t know that was a vibe.’
‘Hmm… and don’t let Luca put you off; he can be quite aloof. Don’t worry if he ignores you, that’s kind of his thing.’
‘OK, good to know, thanks.’
Liv half nodded and went back to reading about the bride and horse groom.
*
The kitchen was a-bubble with Bouillabaisse and Xavier was perfecting the terrines, with tiny green dots of the mint and rosemary paste, the apple jelly, and the rosemary jus.
‘There’s some extra brioche to go with the starters over there,’ he said, pointing at a basket full of crispy breads, ‘and the balsamic fig jam is in the fridge. You can take it all up when you go.’
‘No problem,’ I said, gathering everything together.
‘Which wine have you chosen?’ he asked.
‘It took me forever to decide, but I eventually settled on a 2001 Chardonnay.’
Xavier nodded. ‘Very nice.’
I opened the wine cooler to grab it and show him, but there was something wrong. I felt the bottle all over like a sick child; it wasn’t anywhere near cold enough.
‘Is everything OK?’ Xavier asked, sensing my panic.
‘The wine isn’t chilled?’ I said in alarm, ‘I don’t understand. I put it in here yesterday lunchtime.’
Xavier stopped mid-sprinkle and came over, putting his hand in the fridge and checking the other bottles.
‘They are all the same,’ he said with a frown, ‘that’s very strange. You didn’t switch the under cupboard lights off at any point, did you?’
