The Worst Case Scenario Cookery Club by Chrissie Manby

Author:Chrissie Manby [Manby, Chrissie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: 2017-08-23T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty

At eight o’clock, Alex’s party was already jumping. Liz was more than slightly nervous as she approached the room, which had been decorated with balloons marked with ‘30’. It was a long time since she’d been to a party and it was hard to walk in on her own. When she and Ian were together, they had each other to talk to. Alone, she would have no choice but to make conversation with strangers. She hoped John and Bella would turn up. This crowd looked intimidating. Liz had no idea where Alex had found so many hipsters in Newbay. He must have had them bussed in.

When she saw the rest of the guests, Liz was pleased she’d dressed up. She felt pretty good in her little black dress, accessorised as per Saskia’s instructions. The lip gloss, though it was hard to keep her hair out of it, made her feel properly polished and glamorous. She was sure she caught a few appreciative glances as she made her way towards the birthday boy.

‘Chopper!’ Alex greeted her warmly. Liz returned his big smile with one of her own. ‘I was really hoping you would make it.’

That seemed genuine, Liz thought.

Alex turned to the woman standing next to him. ‘Liz is one of my star pupils on the beginners’ cookery course.’

The woman nodded appreciatively. ‘He’s been telling me all about it. There’s nothing Alex doesn’t know about cooking,’ she said. And she said it in such a way that Liz wondered what she knew about Alex’s other life skills and whether they were worth investigating too.

Alex was looking edgier that evening than he did when he was dressed in his white overalls for teaching. He was wearing tight black jeans and a dark blue shirt, unbuttoned to reveal an attractive amount of chest hair. Liz liked chest hair. Ian, who was very fair, didn’t have an awful lot. She’d always pretended it didn’t matter but there was something very primal about it. Masculine.

‘Well, I need teaching a thing or two,’ said Liz with a wink. Alex’s friend gave her what Liz’s mother would have called ‘an old-fashioned look’.

‘Can I get you a drink?’ Alex asked.

Liz plumped for a glass of white wine. She couldn’t see any spirits on the drinks table so she decided that the closest she could get to sticking to the advice about not mixing your drinks was not mixing the colours. Gin and white wine. Close enough.

‘You’ve got a choice,’ said Alex. ‘My friend Joe is a wine merchant and he’s brought along quite a selection. Are you a Sauvignon blanc or Chardonnay sort of girl?’

‘Whatever makes me Sauvignon blanc out the fastest,’ said Liz.

Now it was Alex’s turn to give her a funny look.

‘Oh! I get it.’

He poured Liz a glass of Sancerre. Though a half-glass was what it looked like to her.

‘This is from a small vineyard in the Loire run by two brothers who are really into biodynamic wine. I think you’ll find it’s a little bit different.

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