Page 55 of The Village Inn of Secret Dream

Thankfully she was spared having to think about her mixed emotions for Pete any longer as Dodgy Del turned up with his young nephew who was going to be interviewed as a commis chef.

Andre, the new chef, wouldn’t be returning until a fortnight’s time. Belle was secretly quite pleased. Her first impression when they had met briefly had been of a pretentious snob and she wasn’t sure that her opinion was going to change at all.

But Pete had tried to reassure her that Andre’s credentials were excellent, so perhaps his food would put pay to her concerns about his personality.

Dodgy Del’s nephew, however, was almost non-talkative as he stood there, arms crossed in front of his chest. He glanced up every once in a while, his eyes screwed up as if trying to suss out whether or not he could escape.

Belle recognised the look as one she had worn when she had first arrived in Cranbridge all those years ago. It was a look of total mistrust from the twenty-one-year-old Brad. Life had dealt him a hard hand and he didn’t trust anyone.

‘So, Brad, you want to be our commis chef?’ said Pete, in an amiable tone of voice.

Silence followed, so Del gave the lad a nudge in the ribs.

‘Ooof,’ said the young man, rubbing his torso. ‘Not so hard.’

‘Well, speak up,’ said Del, rolling his eyes at Pete and Belle. ‘They ain’t psychic, you know.’

‘Suppose I do,’ said Brad eventually.

He had dark hair which was almost hidden under his beanie hat and a beard which was concealed under the collar of his battered Puffa jacket. But Belle thought that it was a good-looking face which was still scowling back at them.

‘Excellent,’ said Pete, his tone faltering somewhat. ‘And where have you worked before?’

Brad gave a shrug. ‘Here and there,’ he mumbled.

Del sighed heavily. ‘Sorry about this,’ he told them, looking embarrassed. ‘The truth is that he’s struggled to get a job since he left college.’

‘And what course did you do?’ asked Pete.

Finally Brad came to life. ‘Commis Chef standard apprenticeship after Level Two Food and Beverage diploma,’ he replied. ‘Passed them both too.’

Belle could hear the pride in his voice and her heart nearly burst at the young man who was so desperate to be given a hand up in life.

‘Well, that’s great,’ she found herself saying, looking to Pete. ‘Isn’t it?’

‘Er, yes,’ he replied. ‘So if we give you the job, you’ll be working for a world-renowned chef. We’re planning big things for the restaurant here so you’ll need to work hard. The hours won’t be that sociable as it’ll be in the evenings.’

‘He doesn’t mind,’ said Del, quickly. ‘That’ll keep him out of mischief at night anyway.’

‘I don’t make mischief,’ said Brad. ‘It was all a mistaken identity thing, weren’t it?’

‘Yeah,’ said Del. ‘And the moon comes out during the day and the sun at night. Anyway, they don’t need to hear about all that. You keep your nose clean here otherwise you’ll hear about it from me.’

Brad shrugged his shoulders again. ‘Don’t care,’ he muttered.

Belle knew he was lying and looked at Pete with desperately pleading eyes. ‘Well, I think we should at least give him a trial run,’ she said. ‘Same time as Andre seems fair.’

Pete’s eyes widened, but he seemed to give in to some kind of internal struggle as he turned to Brad and said, ‘Well, the job’s yours if you want it.’

Brad looked up at them, shocked, with piercing blue eyes. ‘For real?’ he asked.

‘Absolutely,’ said Pete. ‘I’ll be in touch with a date and I’m sure Andre will want to meet you before the big opening, but yeah, welcome to The Black Swan.’

He held out his hand for it to be shaken, but Del stepped forward and shook it instead.

‘You won’t regret it, mate,’ said Del, shaking Pete’s hand so violently that Belle thought it may dislocate his shoulder.

‘Let’s have a drink to celebrate, shall we?’ asked Belle.