Chapter Thirty-Five
The puddle of puppy pee was slowly moving towards Ethan across the shiny studio floor.
‘Don’t stand in it, little dude,’ he said, and scooped the puppy into his arms. He was trying to bring the movie star energy, activate his ‘on’ switch, but that morning his brother had sent him a text with the words ‘RAIN GIRL’ and a link to a review of a brand-new restaurant in Sydney, and he hadn’t been able to focus on anything since. He must have opened the article twenty times already, just to see the photo of Hazel, her blonde hair now completely pink, her sexy brows serious and her arms crossed as she leaned back against a steel counter in her shiny new kitchen, which he knew would have been turning her on. They hadn’t seen each other for over six months, but his heart still thudded every time he thought of her. Which was pretty much all the time.
One of the studio crew ran forward with paper towels and mopped up the wet patch.
‘Okay Ethan,’ the director called out. ‘Whenever you’re ready.’
Ethan rolled his shoulders, dug up his best Vegas-level bright smile, looked down the barrel of the camera and said, ‘Hi, I’m Ethan James and I’m here with PopMyFeed to answer your burning questions while I play with puppies!’ He lifted the pup he was holding up to the camera, then pulled a question from the bowl on the floor beside him.
‘How did you get over your fear of dogs?’Of course the first question would be about dogs. It was pretty much the first question in every interview he did now. He smiled, dimples popping.
‘It wasn’t easy. It took some doing, but I got there. A good friend helped me, and my dog Harry, and cute little guys like this help too.’ He put his nose to the puppy’s and was rewarded with a lick. Ethan pulled out another question as a brown puppy clambered over his legs and into his lap.
‘Can you tell us anything about your next movie?’He grinned; this was more like it.
‘I can’t tell you much, but it’s an action movie. I’ve just wrapped up five months of pretty intense filming. Lots of car chases and cool stunts, and yes, there’s some romance.’ He waggled his eyebrows. ‘I’m super proud of it. I think you’re going love it.’ A puppy tugged on his shoelaces, while another chewed on the sole of the shoe.
‘You go ahead and chew those,’ he said to the pups. ‘They’re loaners. I’m sure Tom Ford won’t mind.’ He chuckled and pulled another slip of paper from the bowl.
‘If you could choose only one type of food forever, what would it be?’The pain that shot through his heart didn’t surprise him. It had been happening more and more lately. An ache, a yearning that seemed to grow instead of diminishing the longer he was away from home. He’d done his best to put Hazel from his mind, to focus on his new life and his flourishing career. He had everything he’d ever wanted. Except, it wasn’t everything he wanted. He wanted more. He wanted her.
Ethan’s head dropped to his chest and he tussled with the puppy on his lap, eliciting a tiny playful growl from the equally tiny dog. He had two choices. He could forget about his feelings, which wasn’t very healthy, but certainly less terrifying. Or he could throw caution and fear to the wind and do something crazy. Ethan took a shaky breath, anxiety-tinged excitement causing his pulse to race.
He looked up, forcing his lips into his famous, carefree, lopsided grin.
‘That’s easy,’ he said. ‘Italian. Italian for the rest of my life.’
Hazel tasted the sauce and nodded.
‘It’s good,’ she said to her sous chef.
All around her, pots clanged and pans sizzled as her team worked together to create fresh and modern Italian food. They’d only been open for two weeks, but ‘Yes, Chef’ was already booked out nearly every night. The reviews had all been five stars, and some evenings customers queued up the street just to get a seat at the bar.
Her time at Molti Pesci was great, she learnt so much, but as soon as she took over the kitchen there, she knew she was ready for more. She wanted her own restaurant, her own menu, her own brigade, and she was confident enough to go after it now. That’s when Meredith had an idea. Marco would finance a restaurant with Hazel. It was what his company did, after all: finance small businesses. He’d helped Hazel get a loan, and then put the rest of the money up himself. She’d never be able to thank her friends enough for what they did. They’d helped her achieve her dream. Well, most of the dream. Part of her dream was on the other side of the world and would never be hers. But she was slowly coming to terms with that. Very, very slowly.
‘Hands please,’ she called, wiping a splash of sauce off the edge of the oversized white bowl and adding three large fresh basil leaves as garnish.
Mel, one of the waitstaff, burst through the kitchen doors. ‘Excuse me Chef, there’s a customer who’d like to see you.’
‘Oh really? What did they eat?’ Her heart sank as the memory of being berated in front of a whole restaurant went crashing through her mind.
Mel shrugged. ‘I have no idea.’
Hazel puffed out a couple of tense breaths, then took off her apron, squared her shoulders and made her way out of the kitchen and into the restaurant.
Mel pointed. ‘The table in the far corner.’
Hazel nodded, her fists clenched as she got ready to smile politely regardless of what the customer said. She stepped out of the way of one of the other waitstaff then glanced towards the corner table and froze, her entire body rigid.
Silence enveloped her. There was no cutlery hitting plates, no customer chatter, only her heart in her ears and the sound of her breath.
Ethan stood and started to move towards her.
The world dropped into slow motion, just as it had the day she’d watched him undress on the beach. His sculpted body, his immaculate hair and perfect stubble, his tight black dress shirt open at the neck, hugging his arms and chest as if it didn’t dare let go, and his all-caps blue eyes, twinkling, crinkles fanning out from their corners. He gave her a little wave.
‘Hi, Chef.’
She blinked about ten thousand times, then her knees buckled.
‘Whoa!’ He stepped forward, collecting her elbow. ‘I’ve got you.’
It was Ethan. Ethan was in her restaurant. What the hell was happening? She started to laugh and couldn’t stop.
‘What?’ he asked, laughing with her.
‘Why are you here?’ It wasn’t quite the greeting she’d intended, but it was all her shocked brain could come up with. He frowned briefly, then tilted his head back with a throaty chuckle.
‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘That came out weird. Hi.’
‘Hi,’ he said.
‘Hi,’ she said again, then winced.
‘Are we going to keep saying hi?’ he asked with a wide grin, complete with those dimples she used to duck.
He nodded towards his table. ‘Shall we?’
Hazel glanced around and saw the entire restaurant beaming at her. Every single customer, their food forgotten, smiles stretching across their faces.
‘Oh god,’ she whispered.
‘Just ignore them,’ he whispered back.
He took her hand, his warm fingers lacing through hers, and her heart skipped and tumbled. Pulling out a chair, he said, ‘Chef at the head of the table’ and her skipping heart nearly exploded.
‘So… I read about this new restaurant in Sydney,’ he said, as he sat opposite her. He reached across the table and took her hand again, studying it as if he’d never seen it before. ‘And I thought I’d better come over and check it out. You know, I’ve got to keep up with the trends. Be seen at the hot spots.’
‘Right. Of course.’ Maybe he wasn’t there for her. Maybe she was reading everything wrong again. ‘Are you in town for work?’ she asked, fighting to keep a lid on her emotions.
‘Nope.’ He grinned and shook his head slowly, his eyes so blue she wasn’t sure there was even a word to describe them. ‘Just to see…’ His lips twitched. ‘Your new place.’
She took a deep breath, then another, a smile lifting her cheeks. She felt like her heart was smiling too, because he was there for her. Ethan had flown in from LA to see her.
‘Welcome to Yes, Chef,’ she said, beaming.
‘Please tell me you named it in memory of me standing to attention in front of you, naked, in my kitchen.’ He smirked.
Heat flared deep between her thighs at the memory of him in all his naked glory, standing before her as she lay back on that gorgeous marble countertop. It was one of the best memories of her life. Of course she’d named her restaurant after that perfect moment. But how was she supposed to explain that?
She settled for simply saying, ‘Yes.’
His eyebrows flicked up, his tongue gliding over his full bottom lip. She locked eyes with him, her own grin playing on her lips.
‘Well, I love it,’ he growled. ‘And I love how you’ve fitted the place out. It feels familiar.’
‘It’s based on the backyard of my house up the coast, with the big wooden tables, tropical plants and hanging jasmine. It had good memories.’
‘Like that first night you cooked for me?’
‘When I discovered Kevin had a heart, and that you were an oversharer.’
Ethan laughed. ‘How is my favourite lucky black cat?’
‘Still lucky, and still semi-affectionate, when he chooses to be. I think he pined for you for a couple of months.’
‘Was he the only one?’ He tilted his head. ‘That reminds me.’ He reached into his pocket, pulled out a tiny felt mouse and placed it on the table in front of her.
‘That’s Kevin’s favourite toy,’ she said. ‘I wondered where it had gone. I thought I must have forgotten to pack it.’
‘I found it under my bed. He must have lost it the night of his sleepover,’ he said. ‘I thought I’d better return it.’
‘You took it to America with you?’
‘A keepsake. Because I knew how much I’d miss…’ He took a breath, his Adam’s apple bobbing. ‘You,’ he said. ‘You, Hazel. I’ve missed you.’
Her lungs froze, as though she’d forgotten how to breathe. All she could process was that Ethan was there, right there in front of her. She didn’t care if it was for an hour, a day or a week. She was just happy he was there, and that he was there for her.
‘I think you’d better bring it to Kevin yourself,’ she said.
‘Can I bring it tonight?’
‘Tonight sounds good.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘I’m really, really sure.’
They stared at each other, their faces glowing in the candlelight, their smiles stretching wider and wider. He squeezed her hand, then cleared his throat.
‘So what’s good here?’ he asked.
‘Everything, of course,’ she said.
‘But what would you recommend?’
‘What do you feel like?’
‘I think you know the answer to that.’ His eyes travelled over her face, lingering on her lips. ‘Oh, right, we’re talking about the menu.’ He grinned, and her toes curled in her safety boots.
‘It’s nice to see you haven’t changed,’ she said.
‘Why mess around with the classics?’ he said, his eyes sparkling.
‘Oh my god.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘You’re so extra.’
‘Admit it, Hazel Conor, you like it.’ His eyebrows challenged her, but she just smiled, because he was right. ‘Why don’t you surprise me with dinner?’ he said.
‘Okay. Leave it with me.’ She went to walk away, then turned back. ‘How long are you in town for?’ she asked.
‘Only a few days. But I’ll be back at Christmas, and I’m thinking of staying. LA’s not working out for me.’
‘Can you do that? What about your work?’
‘I’m tired of doing what everyone expects me to do. Besides, I’ve already got my next three movies locked in and none of them shoot in LA. I want to live where I want to live. And I want to live here, because this is home. Everything about here is home. Besides, I miss… good Italian food so fucking much.’
She laughed, pressing her hand to her heart.
‘So I’ve got you for a few days?’ she said.
‘If you want me.’
‘Hmm. Then I’d better make you something with plenty of carbs, movie star. Because you’re going to need your energy.’
Ethan’s face lit up.
‘Yes, Chef.’