The Secret Ingredient (33 page)

‘I should be paying you more,' she said as she got ready to leave.

‘One day I'll call in the favour,' said Jess.

‘Oh, what did you want to talk to me about?' Andie asked, remembering. ‘You mentioned it when I first arrived.'

But Jess waved it off. ‘It'll keep. You won't have any time to clean the apartment before the Love Chef gets there.'

Andie pulled a face. ‘That's not going to become a thing, is it?'

As it turned out, there was plenty of time. Andie cleaned every square inch of the place, carpets and tiles and woodwork, inside and out of every cupboard, she even washed all the windows and polished the mirrors, but the place was so small it only took her a couple of hours. She finally had a nice long, cooling shower in her shiny clean bathroom, dressed in the change of clothes she'd brought with her, dabbed on a little makeup, and it was barely five o'clock. Dominic had said to give him a call when she was done, but would she seem too eager?

Bugger it. In for a penny . . .

‘It's . . . compact,' Dominic remarked when he arrived, looking around.

Andie smiled. ‘It is, but it's all I need,' she said. ‘And look at this view.'

‘That is quite a view,' he agreed, stopping in front of the window. ‘But how are you going to fit all your stuff in here?'

‘All what stuff?'

‘Well, you sold up the family home, didn't you say?'

‘Yeah, but I'm not bringing anything from there, we gave most of the contents to charity, anyway.'

The kitchen setting was going into storage along with Brendan's things; Andie had thought about bringing it to the apartment, considering her weirdly sentimental attachment to it, but it was too big for the space.

So she really only had her own personal items and clothing, which all fitted into her huge wheelie case and an overnight bag. The remaining bits and pieces she would take from the house – some linen, and things from the kitchen, the albums – would be lucky to fill a few boxes, so Andie would simply bring it all over in her car on Saturday.

‘It's pretty impressive that you can fit all your worldly possessions into the back of a car,' Dominic said when she explained the situation.

Andie frowned. ‘Why is that impressive?'

‘Maybe I used the wrong term,' he said. ‘I just mean that most of us are weighed down by all the stuff we own. It must be nice for your life to be so . . . portable.'

‘Well, it's not any more. I just weighed myself down all over again buying furniture online. But what can I do? I need a bed and something to sit on, at least.'

‘Of course,' he agreed. He was gazing down at her with an odd look on his face. ‘I hope you don't mind me asking . . . but is everything okay, Andie, are you okay?'

She felt a little uncomfortable. ‘Sure, what are you getting at?'

‘Look, it's none of my business . . .' He took a breath. ‘But I know your husband was well-off, and now . . . Well, when you told me you needed the job, I didn't realise things were quite so bad.'

Andie glanced around the apartment. This tiny, empty space said nothing about her. How could it? It was the proverbial blank slate. She had felt as though she didn't know much about Dominic, but it occurred to Andie that Dominic knew very little about her. As Jess had suggested, it was time to let him get to know her.

‘There's something I'd like to show you,' said Andie.

A short while later they pulled up outside The Corner Gourmet. Dominic looked at her expectantly. ‘What are we doing here?'

‘You'll see.'

He stood behind her as Andie unlocked the front door.

‘You have a key to the place?' he said.

She smiled, standing aside for him to pass. He gave her a curious frown as he stepped inside. She followed him in and closed the door again.

‘Am I supposed to guess?' he said, turning to look at her.

Andie smiled. ‘This belongs to me.'

‘You own this shop?' he said, surprised.

‘Lock, stock,' she nodded. ‘So, hungry?'

Andie proceeded to make up an antipasto platter while she filled Dominic in on the history of the place. Or at least her history with the place.

‘So that's how I ended up running a shop instead of being a chef,' she said finally, setting the platter down on the table in the back room and offering him a seat.

‘This looks superb,' he said, pulling out a chair while Andie fetched them plates and forks and napkins.

‘Try the olives,' she said over her shoulder. ‘We have this supplier in the Southern Highlands, the lemon and garlic are my favourite.'

‘They are good,' he agreed, after tasting a couple.

She sat down opposite him. ‘And this La Luna cheese is to die for,' she said, picking up the knife to slice him a piece. ‘Oh, I better get you something to drink.'

‘Andie —'

But she was already up. She grabbed some Italian mineral water out of the fridge, and a couple of glasses and rejoined him at the table.

‘Are you going to stop now?' Dominic asked.

She smiled. She did feel a little flushed, she supposed she was trying to impress him.

‘The cheese is very good,' he said to her. ‘It's goat's cheese, right?'

She nodded. ‘One of the few made in Australia in the soft-curd style.'

‘Where does it come from?'

‘Tasmania,' she said. ‘It's quite a small family operation. They're not very well known on the mainland.'

‘You'll have to give me their details.'

Andie imagined telling the supplier that the executive chef from Viande in Sydney was interested in his cheese.

‘You mustn't get a chance to spend much time here now,' said Dominic. ‘Not with your hours at the restaurant.'

‘My best friend, Jess, is virtually running the place,' Andie explained. ‘It's in very good hands.'

‘And you don't miss it?' he persisted.

She shook her head as she bit into a stuffed bell pepper.

‘Not even the hours?' said Dominic. ‘There's something to be said for working nine to five.'

Andie shrugged. ‘But then I couldn't cook.'

‘It means that much to you?'

She nodded.

‘Then why did you give it up in the first place?'

‘Like I told you earlier, my husband didn't like the hours.'

‘He sounds controlling.'

‘I suppose he was, but it didn't seem that way to me at the time,' she explained. ‘I mean, it's not as though he ever used force, or temper, he did it all with charm. I always thought he wanted me to be happy, I didn't realise that was only if it suited him. I was naive, I guess.'

‘You were a lot younger,' said Dominic. ‘Do you mind me asking . . . when you first came to the restaurant, wasn't it your husband who organised the trial for you? What made him change his mind?'

‘He was suddenly very keen for me to be occupied at night.'

Dominic frowned. ‘Oh, that's right, he had an affair, you said. I'm sorry.'

Andie looked at him. ‘You remember my first night at the restaurant, when I ran out of the place like a teenage girl?'

‘Oh, vaguely,' he said, but she could see the smile in his eyes.

‘Well, Ross didn't expect me home so soon, obviously,' said Andie, ‘and I walked in on him with the woman.'

Dominic looked confused. ‘Wait a minute, you mean they were in your house?'

‘Apartment, actually. But yes.'

‘Bloody hell,' he exclaimed. ‘That's . . . well, I mean . . . fuck.'

‘Hm, I believe that's what they were doing at the time.'

Andie smiled at Dominic, and his face relaxed into a smile as well. And suddenly they were both laughing.

‘At least you can laugh about it now,' he said. ‘That shows resilience.'

Andie shrugged. ‘What do they say, if you don't laugh you'll cry. But really, I was so naive, and too ready to believe anything Ross told me. I needed the shock of seeing it with my own eyes.' She didn't have to mention right now that she'd actually needed an aftershock as well to finally be convinced.

‘So it's over now, between you and your husband?'

Andie nodded. ‘We can't actually get a divorce until twelve months have passed, it's only been about six or seven. But the property settlement has gone through the court, and I elected not to take anything of his, which is why my life looks so “portable”. But he can't touch this place, or my inheritance from my father.'

‘Oh, of course, your father died in the middle of all that as well.' Dominic shook his head. ‘I take it you have no other family, because you sold the house?'

‘I have a sister,' said Andie. ‘We're not very close, unfortunately. I was close to my brother, but he died young, and then my mother died a year later.'

Dominic looked astounded. ‘My God, it's a wonder you're still standing.'

‘It was a long time ago,' she shrugged, sliding an olive into her mouth.

He was watching her. ‘Seriously, Andie, the way you've managed to carry on with your life, well, it's quite . . . inspirational.'

She gave a little cough to clear her throat as she transferred the olive pip onto a napkin. ‘I think that might be overstating it.'

‘Cosmo mentioned to me that he thinks you're ready to move up.'

Andie looked up suddenly. ‘I don't think that's such a good idea.'

‘Why not?'

‘Why do you think?'

‘It has nothing to do with you and me,' he said firmly.

‘Yet that's the first thing that came into your head,' she pointed out.

He sighed. ‘Andie, I can understand why you want to avoid the appearance of favouritism, but I won't allow you to end up worse off because you're seeing me. I'm going to instruct Cosmo and Tang to go ahead and move you up as soon as they see fit.'

Andie went to protest but he kept talking.

‘By the time everyone knows about us, you'll be established in your own right, just as you deserve. Seriously, Andie, after everything you've been through, I'd like to be one thing in your life that isn't negative.'

She was just staring at him. Her throat had gone dry.

Dominic dropped his head, rubbing his eyes with his hand. ‘Oh, God . . . I didn't mean to assume . . .' He looked up at her again. ‘I'm sorry, Andie. I was making the assumption that we – you and I – will continue to see each other . . . socially, that is . . . which is an assumption I have no right to make.'

His accent became more pronounced when he was flustered, his language more formal, Andie found it quite endearing. She had to put him out of his misery. She reached across the table and squeezed his hand, smiling at him. ‘I think it's a pretty reasonable assumption . . . at least for the foreseeable future.'

He met her gaze then, smiling faintly as he squeezed her hand in return. Andie was suddenly distracted by the curve of his mouth, imagining what it would be like to kiss him, really kiss him, to have him hold her close in his arms . . . It occurred to her that she might not have to wait long to find out. She'd just agreed that they would keep seeing each other, and that was bound to involve some kissing. And probably more . . . Her heart started to race.

‘Andie?' Dominic prompted. ‘What do you think?'

She stirred. ‘Hm?'

‘I was just saying, this was a perfect appetiser,' he said, glancing at the almost empty platter. ‘Shall we move on to mains somewhere else?'

‘Yes, sure. Of course.' Andie wasn't as sure she could eat, but she didn't want the night to end now. She reached for the platter, but Dominic picked it up first.

‘I'll get it.' He stood up and crossed to the sink to rinse off the platter. Andie was still a little mesmerised, watching him. She had to snap out of it.

She flicked off the lights as they walked out to the front of the shop. The streetlights shone through the glass door as Andie fumbled with the keys. She couldn't stop thinking about the very real fact that there would be kissing later on, and wondering how she was going to get through dinner staring slack-jawed at his lips the whole time. She could feel him standing behind her, quite close, she would only have to turn around . . . Her heart was thumping now.