West End Girls by Jenny Colgan

Author:Jenny Colgan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Published: 2020-10-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

The sun came up huge and warm as Lizzie paced her bedroom. She couldn’t believe she’d agreed to this. And she realized, picking up the phone at seven-thirty, that she hadn’t spoken to Georges for weeks. Not properly, nothing beyond “we need extra peppers” or him passing over a recipe before he sped out the door. Not since the stupid night of the party when he’d made her feel like the world’s biggest, most introverted idiot. Which, she noticed, she’d managed to change about herself, by doing nothing but staying in and sulking for the last two months.

Well, she had to do it. Her sister needed help.

“Yes?” He sounded gruff on the phone, harassed. She wondered what on earth he did when he wasn’t in the café. Maybe some weird European thing she didn’t understand, like marching in a saint’s parade.

“Georges, it’s Lizzie.”

His voice softened straightaway.

“Hello, Lizzie. How are you? I feel I hardly see you, no? But you are doing a very good job of looking after my restaurant.”

Well, restaurant was pushing it. Sandwich bar just about passed muster.

“I’m fine.”

“You know, takings are up. I think the customers like you.”

Lizzie couldn’t help but feel pleased. She thought of her old job where, as far as she could tell, nobody at all had liked her.

“You gave me some good recipes.”

“Good food is not hard, Lizzie. Just some good ingredients, you know, a little bit of love . . .”

“I don’t know about love,” said Lizzie, feeling herself go slightly pink.

“No,” said Georges. Then his voice grew hearty again.

“Are you still using your microwave? And going to parties all night?”

“I’m not actually.”

Seeing as she was welcome to take home the leftovers, Lizzie had been eating from the café every day.

“No? You are eating better? Ah, you will look beautiful. The tomatoes will make your skin bloom, and the spinach will clear your eyes and enrich your blood.”

“You talk a lot of rubbish,” said Lizzie. But it was true. She was looking better. The mirror kept hinting at it, and her waistbands were loosening. The other day she’d bought a smaller size in tights. From extra large to large, but it had given her a huge frisson nonetheless. And she wasn’t sure, but she thought she was losing her microwave pallor a little too.

“Normally I am very serious,” said Georges, but he didn’t sound serious when he said it.

Lizzie steeled herself and dived in.

“Georges, I need to take a few days off.”

Immediately Georges’s light tone ceased. “I see.”

“I need to . . . it’s a family matter.”

“Your sister is in a scrape?”

“No! Well, ish. Well, it doesn’t matter, I just wondered if you would mind. Like, having a holiday.”

“I understand ‘a few days off.’”

“Uh-huh.”

“Well, I think. Do you mean a few days off, or do you mean bye, bye, Georges, I am gone never to see you again?”

“The first one,” said Lizzie. “I just need to help Penny for a few days.”

Georges made a pff sound with his mouth. “This is not very convenient to me right now.

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