The Magic Ingredient by Cathy Bramley

Author:Cathy Bramley
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473541054
Publisher: Transworld

Chapter 7

When I joined them all on the deck, Pixie was leaning over the railings pointing out the wildlife below to a portly man with rimless glasses and a white coat. Tom and Mags were chatting to a girl wearing a cream and blue smock-style dress that reminded me of Cornish blue crockery. Her shoulder-length brown hair was tucked behind her ears, which stuck out just a bit more than the norm.

‘I’m sooo grateful to you for hosting us today,’ she was saying. She moved a lot when she talked, jiggling from foot to foot. Her arms were all over the place too. Mags flinched as the girl’s coffee slopped out of her mug and splashed Mags’s arm.

‘Our place was totally flooded out and our test kitchen has had to be ripped out and rebuilt. Total nightmare,’ she continued, shaking her head in despair. ‘You were lucky not to be affected, being on the river.’

‘Rachel, can I introduce Verity, our marketing director,’ said Tom. He placed a hand in the small of Rachel’s back and gestured towards me as I approached them.

Rachel turned, one hand resting on Tom’s arm. Her cheeks were rosy and her skin glowed with youth and health. She was standing far too close to Tom for my liking.

‘Hi.’ I smiled, which made me realize that I’d been clenching my jaw. I extended a hand, forcing her to remove hers from Tom. ‘Good to meet you.’

‘We’ve spoken on the phone,’ Rachel and I said in unison and then both laughed.

Rachel dragged her colleague from the railings of the deck to meet me. He was Leon, the company’s recipe developer and former fishmonger. What he didn’t know about fish wasn’t worth knowing, she announced proudly.

Leon and Tom fell into conversation about pin boners and filleting knives, and Rachel took Mags and me through her itinerary for the day.

‘The bloggers should be here any minute,’ she said, checking an enormous rose-gold watch.

‘Well, we’re all ready upstairs for them,’ I said. ‘There are fifteen, aren’t there?’

‘We’ve had two cancel at the last minute, so thirteen are coming.’ She pulled a face. ‘Hope that isn’t going to be unlucky for some. I need this event to go swimmingly; the last one I organized was a disaster. You heard about the food poisoning at our launch, I presume?’

Mags and I nodded.

Rachel lowered her voice to a whisper. ‘Thought I was going to get the sack. Especially when I heard your Tom was ill too. A Michelin-starred chef. The shame! I felt so guilty.’

Your Tom. My heart performed a somersault. If only. I liked her a lot more for saying it, though.

‘And a food journalist was poisoned too, wasn’t he?’ Mags put in.

Poor Rachel shuddered. ‘Don’t remind me.’

‘But it wasn’t your fault,’ I soothed, giving her arm a pat. ‘You shouldn’t feel guilty about it.’

Listen to me, doling out advice about shrugging off guilt. I felt quite proud of myself.

‘You’re too kind,’ Rachel beamed. ‘In fact, you’re all lovely.’

She cast a lingering look Tom’s way.

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