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‘Jones,’ she said, finding it. She clicked her fingers, remembering something. ‘When he rang, he wouldn’t leave a number; he said I wouldn’t need it. So when I came off the phone, I one-four-seven-one’d and the number had been withheld.’
‘Interesting,’ said George.
‘But not definitive proof, is it? I’ll have to sit back and wait to see if I’m going to be sued,’ said Teddy, sounding glum.
‘He was very loud and damaging,’ said Sabrina. ‘I think he was a plant.’
It was a hunch but, she felt, an informed one. She remembered standing in front of an audience, giving a talk to a roomful of people about combatting deliberate attempts to sabotage businesses, such as contaminating foods, the wrecking of professional reputations by both rival firms and individuals seeking freebies and compensation, holding companies to ransom.
In the car on the way home Teddy was quiet, things obviously turning over in his mind. Sabrina presumed it was to do with the events of the evening. When he parked outside his mother’s house he said, ‘You don’t think I should be worrying about legal action?’
‘I really don’t,’ she said.
And it was beyond odd that he believed her.
In last Monday’sDaily Trumpet, we apologised to Ren Dullem Bake Off Champion Janice Micklethwaite and her family for the misleading wording that appeared underneath their photo. We would like to point out that the winning buns are called Fat Rascals and not Fat Bastards as stated.
Chapter 30
When, after a week, no solicitor’s letter arrived, and no newspaper reporter turned up on the doorstep to get the inside scoop on glass in their puddings, Teddy finally let himself believe that it wasn’t going to happen. But bookings were down and for the first time they hadn’t been full on Friday and Saturday night. Teddy couldn’t help feeling the negative impact of bad reviews was starting to kick in – was this the beginning of the end of everything he had worked for? And there had been a few hoax bookings too, one for a party of nine who didn’t turn up. If that wasn’t bad enough, that Monday morning the street was filled with builders working on the premises next door. They were parked on the double yellow lines outside, although they had council clearance for being there, and dust was blowing everywhere and coating the windows. No one would be sitting at their outside tables and having lunch today.
‘I bet Ciaoissimo have got one of those hotshot business firms in to advise how to make them a massive success story,’ said George when they were all sitting around after their lunch customers had left: a record low of fifteen people. Sabrinareally liked George; he was the quietest of the crew but had the driest wit. He became much smilier when Marielle was there, she’d noticed. He was always the one who brought her a coffee over, a biscuit sharing the saucer with the cup. He more or less leapt to the machine to be the first to make it for her.
‘Maybe you should get someone in as well, then,’ Sabrina said to Teddy.
‘Have you any idea how much they cost?’ he threw back.
‘Yes, actually, I do.’
He smiled then and he wondered again if she was what she said she was. The disbelieving part of him had reasoned that the few ideas she’d given him so far to improve his business could have been thought up by anyone with a modicum of common sense and a reasonable interest in interior design. But she was certainly right about ‘glass man’ not pressing charges, and he would have, surely, if he had a genuine grievance.
Teddy wanted to believe her because he liked her; she fitted into his team well. George had taken to her and he was the most difficult to please. He’d even entertained her with some of his table magic and practical jokes one night. She’d shrieked with genuine delight when he ‘spilt’ the cup of fake coffee over her after pretending to trip. The coffee was a lump of plastic moulded to the cup which was attached to the saucer by a chain. Teddy took George as a benchmark because he was always the last to melt. Sabrina didn’t try and court anyone’s approval; that was the interesting thing about her: she just got on with her duties, was last to stop for a break and first to start work again. Niccolo and Roberto were two daft pups who liked everyone but Sabrina was the first one they’d tried to teach Italian to, most of it dodgy. She would think she had just learned how to say, ‘Where is the beach?’ but really she’d be asking, ‘Where are the hot studs?’Teddy knew that she knew they were taking the mick but she played along. Flick adored her, it seemed, and that was unusual for her because she was always more comfortable with male company, apart from his mother. Cilla had done a real number on her daughter, constantly letting her down, putting her fancy men first. Flick was drawn to Sabrina’s light, he could tell. And there was light in her and kindness and he really wanted proof that it wasn’t an illusion.
As for himself, his guard was up and then it went down again on a continuous loop. When it was down though he felt sorry for her, because she seemed like a nice person, gentle and uncomplicated, and she intrigued him, possibly because almost every other woman he’d been involved with was anything but and he was expecting to be hit from left field with a nasty surprise.
‘Okay then,’ said Teddy to her, unwrapping a biscuit. ‘You’ve been here long enough to study the place, so tell me what else you’d alter apart from the lighting and the table arrangement and knocking down half the kitchen wall so people can see my head.’
Sabrina laughed.She has a laugh like a tinkly bell, he thought, and deep dimples that appeared when she smiled. And really beautiful eyes, light brown with golden flecks in them. He hadn’t ever seen anyone with eyes that colour before and it added to the mystery surrounding her.
‘Okay, well…’ said Sabrina, trying to make it sound as if she hadn’t been chalking up a mental list since she’d started here. ‘You’re always booked up so far in advance so you miss out on customers who might just be here for the day. Why not set aside a couple of tables for walk-ups?’
‘Why would I keep tables empty when I could fill them?’ Teddy asked her.
‘The amount of people who come in and have to be turned away? They won’t be empty, trust me.’
‘I’ve had plenty of room for walk-ups this week,’ said Teddy with a grumble.
‘Normal service has been interrupted, I know. It’ll recover but you may have to recalibrate.’
Teddy tilted his head. ‘What do you mean?’
‘If this other restaurant does open, you’ll have to give your customers something they don’t.’
‘Like?’
‘Like… I’ve been thinking. Those pizzas that George makes, they’re incredible.’
‘My darling,’ said George, blowing her a kiss across the table which made her smile.
