‘Oh! How horrible for her. Is she okay?’
‘Yes, Louis was no match for her. She kneed him in the nuts.’
‘Well, I’m glad that she was able to defend herself and that she reported it straight away. And I’m sorry for being angry with you, but I didn’t know. You didn’t tell me.’
He got up and gave her a hug. ‘I’m the one who’s sorry, I should have phoned you to let you know what was going on, I just got caught in everything. This competition seems to be taking over my life.’
‘Our lives.’ Emma felt whatever energy she had left drain from her. ‘Look, Jay, I’m shattered. I’ve done a full shift at the hotel today, as well as Liz’s function, and I’m on early tomorrow. I think I’ll just head to bed.’
‘Sure.’ He kissed her gently on the lips. ‘I’ll be in in a bit.’
Emma drifted into sleep long before Jay came to join her.
* * *
Jay trembled as he stood with the other chefs, waiting to find out which of them would proceed to the next stage. He prayed he wouldn’t be among the ones going home. His fingers were crossed so tightly behind his back that he wondered if he’d ever be able to uncross them.
Angela and Philip walked into the room. Rav, who was standing next to Jay, nudged him. ‘Here we go, buddy. Good luck,’ he whispered.
‘And to you,’ Jay replied.
‘Good morning, ladies and gentlemen,’ Angela said. ‘Today is a big day for you all as we announce who is going through to the next stage of the competition.’
‘But before we go any further,’ Philip said, ‘We have another announcement to make. Unfortunately, Louis can no longer be here as he...’ Philip paused. ‘Has other commitments.’
Jay, Rav and Chloe glanced at each other knowingly. Earlier Chloe had told him that Louis had been charged with assault. At first Louis had tried to deny it and claimed that it had been Chloe who had assaulted him, but the evidence on Chloe’s phone had proved that he was the aggressor, so in the end he’d pleaded guilty.
‘So from now on, you’ll have to put up with just Angela and myself.’
The competitors laughed nervously before Angela took over. ‘I’m afraid only eight of you will be lucky enough to go through to the next stage. It’s been a really tough decision and you certainly haven’t made it easy for us — you are all excellent chefs.’
‘Now, to those of you we have selected,’ Philip said. Jay listened anxiously as both Rav and Chloe’s names were called out. He smiled at them, pleased that they were on the list, but an anxious knot formed in his stomach as he realised he might not be joining them. And then he heard his name and his breath rushed out in a whoosh of relief. Rav clapped him on the back and Chloe grinned at him. The three of them were going to stay together for the time being and Jay couldn’t have been more delighted. They watched sympathetically as the four people who hadn’t been selected shuffled out of the kitchen, their disappointment plain for all to see.
‘Congratulations to all of you,’ Angela said. ‘But now the hard work really starts. Next week there will be a series of tests across the week. You’ll be split into two groups of four. The first task is to demonstrate your ability for mass catering — providing lunch for the staff at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. After that you’ll be going head-to-head with the starters and fish dishes you have already cooked for us, andfinally it will be the same with mains and desserts. You will be scored on each task and the chefs with the highest points for each course will be going through to the banquet.’
Philip smiled. ‘I know that’s a lot of information to take in again. But we are striving for perfection here. Now, I’m going to let you know who you are going to be in groups with and after that you’ll have one hour to decide on a menu for the first task. We’ll give you the remit and the number of dishes we want for each course. Then you’ll need to put together a list of ingredients for us to put your orders through. Make sure you don’t miss anything off the list because what isn’t ordered today won’t be available to cook with on the day. Right, now, here are the groups.’
Jay was relieved to hear that both Chloe and Rav were on his team, along with a young Chinese chef, Chen, who fused his Chinese heritage with modern British cooking. He knew they’d work well together and that would make things much easier in the long run.
The two groups sat either side of the kitchen as they planned what they would cook.
‘I think I’d like to have a go at the fish course,’ Chloe said. ‘With my training I can add a classic French twist to regional ingredients.’ They all agreed and settled on Chen doing the starter, Rav the main and Jay the dessert. Each of them then went through the ingredients for each dish, checking with each other to make sure that nothing was missing from the list. It was going to be a long week, but, after that, they’d all know who’d be cooking at the banquet. The ultimate winner wouldn’t be decided until the day of the banquet, but after the heats were over it would be a relief to get back to work and concentrate on real life until the big day. If he got through, that was.
Chapter Twenty-One
Emma came home to find Jay in the living room. He’d sent her a brief text to say he’d got through to the next round, but that was all she’d heard from him. ‘Congratulations on getting through.’ He looked up from his laptop.
‘Thanks.
‘You must be really pleased.’
‘I am.’
‘You don’t sound it.’
‘There’s still a lot of work to be done. Where have you been?’
‘I went for a drink with people from work.’
