Page 35 of New Beginnings on Railway Lane

‘And Italian food was always your favourite type to cook?’ she asked.

He nodded before turning to take the softened tomatoes out of the oven and drain the pasta before mixing it with all the ingredients. Finally he separated the mixture onto two plates and grated some fresh Parmesan on top.

‘There you go,’ he said, before carrying the plates to the sofas whilst Katy brought the utensils.

She sat down and looked at the dish he had made in a surprisingly short period of time.

Then, suddenly hungry, she tucked in. Her taste buds immediately exploded with the amazing flavours. ‘Wow,’ she told him after the first mouthful. ‘That’s delicious.’

‘Thanks.’

For a moment, Katy thought that he looked almost embarrassed by her praise which was strange considering he must have cooked so many meals in the restaurant over the years. He certainly looked discomforted and she couldn’t work out why.

But Ryan just said, ‘It’s easy when you know how.’

‘Well, I think if you saw any attempts by me to cook, then you’d know that simply isn’t true,’ she told him.

He smiled at her but she noticed it didn’t quite reach his eyes. There was a sadness there and she had a feeling that it was to do with the meal that he had just cooked for them.

They finished the rest of the meal in a comfortable silence.

‘Thank you,’ she told him, once her plate was empty. ‘That was amazing. I can see why your restaurant is so popular. It’s a shame that they can’t keep your job open for a while longer. I’m not sure they’ll find another chef as good as you.’

He didn’t reply, just stood up and offered to take her plate.

She wondered why he never spoke about his cooking when he was clearly talented. In fact, he didn’t talk about the restaurant either.

She had a feeling that he was hiding something about his work, which obviously wasn’t her business, but still she felt concerned for him. He had had a tough time with his mum walking out and his dad being so upset by it all that she found herself wanting to know more about him.

She just felt sorry for him, that was all. Wasn’t it?

19

Katy woke up the following day, wondering what on earth she was going to do for the next twelve hours or so.

She had a whole free day to herself which she hadn’t had since she was made redundant. But whereas she had spent that time scrolling for jobs, what was there to do in Cranfield in the meantime whilst she waited for Bob to come home from the hospital?

Ryan laughed when she told him how she felt over breakfast.

‘Haven’t you figured out that there’s nothing to do around here?’ he said.

‘Maybe there’s something I should be doing downstairs,’ replied Katy, frowning. After all, when was the last time she had a full day off?

‘There’s not much more we can do before Dad comes home and that’s not until after the weekend,’ Ryan told her, standing up to take his plate into the kitchen. ‘So relax. Enjoy the countryside.’

Katy blanched. Enjoy? ‘You mean go outside?’ she asked.

He grinned at her horrified face. ‘Yeah, outside,’ he teased. ‘You know, wide open skies, the sound of nature.’

Katy wasn’t feeling particularly reassured by any of this.

‘Listen,’ he told her. ‘If you need to see a bit of life, then head down the path towards Cranbridge. That’s like New York compared to Cranfield.’

He left Katy to head out to do some food shopping and was then going on to the hospital later to visit his dad.

For the next hour, Katy reverted to type and scrolled through her phone, checking for any job vacancies that may have arisen. But the hotel sector had been enduring many redundancies in recent times and no more jobs had come up.

Standing by the upstairs window, she glanced out towards the back of the station and the fields beyond. The long straight path stretched out towards the horizon, where she could just about make out a church spire. Perhaps Cranbridge would be worth visiting, if only to get her step count up.