Page 28 of A Chef's Kiss for Christmas

Pulling out his phone, he opened his preferred review website and found the list of reviews for the restaurant. He scrolled through the latest ones with his jaw tight. He only relaxed when he saw they were all positive. Lots of them referred to the food as exceptional or excellent.

Previously, the food and the reviews were all Lewis seemed to care about as far as the kitchen was concerned, so Warren wasn’t sure what had provoked Lewis’s lecture on the way the kitchen was run. The fact that he probably had a point didn’t make it easier to swallow.

He turned when the door opened behind him.

“Sorry,” Liam said. “I have a question about the new specials... if you have a minute.”

The sous chef looked nervous, and for once, that didn’t sitwell with Warren. “Sure,” he said, and gestured for him to go back into the kitchen. “Just give me a minute.”

“Sorry,” Liam said again and disappeared back inside.

Warren spent a few minutes staring out across the frosty car park before he pulled himself together and went back inside. Calmly, he got everyone together and talked them through the specials again, then set Liam and Tom to work on the evening prep while he sat at the counter at the back with his laptop and went through the food order for the weekend.

As usual on a Wednesday, they weren’t overly busy at dinnertime, but had a steady stream of guests. He’d just sent out desserts for a table of four when Lewis wandered in.

“Hey,” Warren said. “I thought you’d left ages ago.”

“No. I’ll be in London for the next couple of days with Erin, so I wanted to make sure I was on top of everything here.”

“It’s Erin’s work Christmas party, is it?” Warren remembered him mentioning it, but hadn’t registered when it was happening.

“Yeah.” Lewis glanced awkwardly around the kitchen. “We’re good, right?” he asked quietly. “I feel weird about before.”

“We’re good,” Warren said.

Lewis nodded nervously. “Great, because I would like to switch fully back into friend mode…”

Warren chuckled, assuming he was so uncomfortable because he wanted to ask a favour. “What is it?”

“Nothing really, just that Carla has been messaging me all afternoon. She says Anna’s stressed about seeing Hayden at the weekend.”

Warren nodded. “I’ll look out for her.”

“Yeah?”

“Of course I will. By the way, I heard it being referred to as a ball. I take it I shouldn’t go in jeans?”

“It’ll be fancy. Trousers and a shirt, at least. Possibly a tie and jacket too.”

“Good to know.”

Lewis smiled widely. “Have fun at the weekend. Thanks again for looking out for Anna.”

“No worries.” After what he’d heard about Anna’s ex-boyfriend, he was actually looking forward to being her date for the evening.

Chapter Eleven

Warren didn’t ring the bell on Friday, just messaged Anna to say he was outside. As she put her coat on, she glanced around, sure she’d forgotten something. She was about to open her bag to check when the impatient blare of a car horn stopped her. Considering how many times she’d been through her bag, she probably hadn’t forgotten anything. Nothing vital anyway. She was just stalling.

Warren’s car blocked one lane, and his hazard lights flashed, illuminating the layer of frost that covered the road.

Anna opened the back door and set her case on the seat before getting into the passenger seat.

“Did you really need to honk the horn? Couldn’t you just try being patient?”

His eyes sparkled. “I’m blocking the road – and I’m not blessed with patience. Besides, I knew it would annoy you, so I couldn’t resist.”

“Fairly sure it annoyed my neighbours too,” she told him.