Page 12 of Suddenly Beck

‘That’s right,’ Melanie answers contemplatively. ‘Where’s Judith? Is she on the lunch shift or the evening?’

‘Um.’ Rachel shifts uncomfortably. ‘She doesn’t work here anymore.’

‘What?’ Melanie frowns in confusion.

‘Scott fired her a couple of months ago.’

‘What about Charlie and Joe?’

‘I don’t know who they are.’ Rachel shakes her head.

‘How long have you worked here?’ Melanie’s eyes narrow.

‘About six months.’

‘And who else works here?’ Melanie asks suspiciously.

‘Um, well, other than Scott, there’s me. I usually cover the lunch shift. Then there’s Lucy, she covers the lunch shift on my days off and sometimes an evening shift. There’s also Ben and Stacey who work evenings. Penny does alternates and weekends.’

Melanie blinks as she rounds the bar to stand in front of her. ‘That’s it?’ she replies incredulously as Rachel nods. ‘But there’s usually at least fifteen members of staff. There’s the head chef, plus two other cooks, three bar staff and a full complement of wait staff, not to mention the cleaners, and that’s not even at the height of the season when we usually take on summer workers.’

‘Not anymore.’ Rachel shakes her head. ‘There’s no cleaning staff. Scott said it’s part of the waitresses job description. He put it in my contract when I started, and there’s a cleaning rota. There isn’t any bar staff anymore, we serve the drinks ourselves, and there was only one chef.’

‘How the hell did you manage?’ Melanie bursts out, confusion etched into her face.

‘It just doesn’t get that busy.’ Rachel shrugs.

‘It doesn’t get that busy…’ Melanie repeats faintly, sinking onto the bar stool next to me. She sits silently for a moment before turning her purposeful gaze on Rachel. ‘So, if I’m understanding you correctly, there are only four other members of staff other than yourself.’

‘Yes,’ Rachel confirms.

‘Okay.’ Melanie draws in a breath. ‘I want you to call them all and tell them to come in now.’

Rachel fumbles in her bag, withdrawing her phone. ‘You got it, Mrs Ainsley.’ She nods as she heads toward a door labelled ’Staff’, already dialling the first number.

‘I know what you’re thinking.’ Melanie turns toward me with a frown. ‘How can she not know her own staff if she owns the restaurant.’

‘That’s not what I was thinking at all,’ I say sympathetically.

‘My husband died last year,’ she says quietly, and I can hear the grief in her voice, still so fresh. ‘It was… very sudden, and in the end, it felt like we had no time. Scott began managing the place when Sully fell ill. After the…’ she hesitates, and I see her swallow back another wave of grief. ‘After the funeral, it was just too hard to be here. For me and the kids. So, I left Scott in charge of what was, at the time, a thriving business. I thought I could trust him. I just…’ She shakes her head with a frown. ‘I needed to take a step back and try and figure out who I was without Sully. We’d been together since we were teenagers, and suddenly, he was gone… This is my fault; I should’ve kept a closer eye on things.’

‘This is not your fault.’ I know I don’t know her, but I can feel the pain radiating from her, and it tugs at something deep inside me. ‘Is there anything I can do to help?’ I offer impulsively, feeling the urge to soothe her in some way.

‘Pfft,’ she huffs out a frustrated laugh. ‘Not unless you can magic me up a chef in the next hour.’

‘A chef?’ I swallow hard.

‘Yes, a chef. Scott wasn’t just the manager, he was the bloody head chef, and as it seems he fired the other two cooks, he was the only one we had.’

‘I can cook.’ My heart starts pounding, and I can’t believe what just came out of my mouth.Everything happens for a reason…

‘You’re a chef?’ She looks at me sharply.

‘I, um.’ I swallow again my stomach jumping with nerves. ‘I have the current hygiene certificates.’

Which is true, I do hold valid certificates. I’d managed to sneak in some evening cookery classes without my father finding out and taking the health and safety, and food hygiene certificates had been mandatory. I also wasn’t lying when I said I can cook, I can. It’s my passion. I’ve been obsessed with it since I was a kid. I may not technically be a fully trained chef, but I learned from Carmella, our family cook. She was incredible. Her food was on an entirely different level, but more than that, she’d been so kind to me and Sophia. I would’ve loved nothing more than to train as a chef and open my own restaurant. It’s always been my dream job, but there’s no way in hell my father would have ever let me work in the service industry.

‘I can cook.’ I nod emphatically. Warming to the subject, now the idea has taken root. I’m surprised at just how much I want this opportunity. Okay, so I’ve never actually worked in a restaurant per se, but from what the waitress, Rachel, said it doesn’t get really busy at the moment as it’s off season, which will give me a chance to acclimatise. ‘I can do this. I can help you out until you find someone else, just let me… let me cook something for you,’ I suggest to Melanie who is studying me carefully. ‘It can be like an audition.’