Eden’s Comfort Kitchen

Chapter Ten

CHAPTER TEN

Two weeks had passed since Eden’s first meal with Livia’s family. Since then, there had been four more, not to mention shared shifts with Livia at the Dolphin and lunchtime wanders along the beach, and all the while, assisted by Livia’s input, her plans for the community café had moved at pace. She was getting used to the expressions of surprise and some suspicion of her motives from locals she met along the way, but the one thing Eden could say she’d brought with her from a career of sales was that she knew how to persuade a person to see things from her point of view.

And so the day had come for the grand opening. Not so much grand, perhaps, but opening nonetheless. Nancy and Levi and some of their schoolfriends, with grown-up assistance, had put posters around the town to publicise it. Eden, with Ralph’s help, had devised a menu and a pricing system that meant she could cover the costs of any food she might have to buy – though a lot of it had been donated by Ralph and his contacts in the trade. The pricing was a cursory thing, really, and the cost of a meal was barely anything at all, and they kept the incentive that for anyone who wanted to pitch in and help, there would be free food.

Eden couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this nervous. She’d woken early that morning and had trudged down a rain-soaked pathway into the village to the scout hut, where the caretaker was to meet her with a set of spare keys, with a somersaulting tummy and thoughts like wasps in a bag. There was so much to go wrong, so many ways to fail that she wondered what had ever made her think she could pull it off at all, and the level of doubt was so alien to her that she almost felt she’d turned into a different person overnight. The funny thing was, since her arrival in Sea Glass Bay, she was beginning to sense that she was, slowly and surely, turning into a different person and wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She wouldn’t have been so nervous about something like this before and, if she was being entirely honest, she wasn’t sure she’d have cared this much about whether she succeeded or not. There was nothing material in it for her, so why did it matter so desperately?

Despite the plan to cover her overheads with small donations from diners, Eden had still spent a sizeable chunk of her own money on odds and ends like tablecloths, crockery and cutlery and glasses, vases and flowers and bunting to hang around the hall to make it look more inviting. She’d also had to buy cleaning products, because what the scout hut already had in their stores was OK for sweeping up and washing the odd teacup after a jamboree, but it was hardly enough for a whole sitting of diners and their mess. Wonderful Ralph had given her the use of his van to transport all the things she was going to need, and she’d been on site waiting for food deliveries all morning in a vague state of panic in case something didn’t turn up.

After many discussions with Ralph, Julia and Livia, she’d decided to make the inaugural day an evening sitting only, so that they could get everything in place and test the waters. If it proved popular and demand was there, she’d think about two sittings a day – one at lunchtime and one in the evening, on the three days a week the hut was available. But if she thought the rest of her time would be spent bored at home, she was going to be disappointed. Eden was quickly discovering that even a three-day week was going to make a lot more work than she’d imagined, and that most of her time – other than doing her paid shifts at the Dolphin – was going to be taken up dealing with the administration of her new venture.

But she didn’t mind that. In fact, in view of the – sometimes complicated – reasons she was doing this, any time taken up with its running was time she wouldn’t be dwelling on what a mess she’d made of her life so far. She felt useful and needed and good to be doing something for others rather than taking and taking like the woman she’d always been before.

Livia and her mum still had the ice-cream parlour to run and so couldn’t help until they’d closed up, but had promised to come as soon as they could. Ralph had given Eden and Livia the night off with pay, which Eden thought was sweet but unnecessary, but when she said this to Livia, she was quickly reminded that her friend didn’t take the gesture quite so much for granted. Livia couldn’t afford to lose even the few pounds she might earn from one shift at the Dolphin, and though she was tactful in saying so, Eden felt like she’d been chastised, and it wasn’t wholly undeserved.

The sun was still strong when Livia and Julia arrived to help. Eden had left the access door open, and as she heard voices, she shouted them through.

‘I’m in the kitchen!’

Julia and Livia appeared a moment later, Nancy and Levi with them, bouncing up and down with more excitement than standing in an industrial kitchen ought to cause any child.

‘You don’t mind…?’ Livia asked as Eden glanced down at them.

‘Of course not!’ She smiled at the children. ‘You want to help?’

‘Yes!’ Nancy cried, and Levi nodded agreement.

‘Cool. I’ve got flowers over there…’ Eden nodded at a spot beneath a worktop where a crate full of flowers she’d picked from her garden at Four Winds lay with their stalks wrapped in damp plastic bags – the only way she could think at short notice to keep them fresh. ‘And you see those tiny vases in the bag next to them?’

Both children gave a vigorous nod of understanding.

‘So I want one of those flowers in each of those vases. Can you do that? They’re to decorate the tables, so it’s very important they look nice.’

‘Yes!’ they both said.

Nancy raced over and pulled out a vase. ‘It’s small.’

‘Big enough for a flower, though,’ Livia said. She went to take a closer look in the bag.

‘Um, yes, I know they don’t match,’ Eden said with a light laugh as Livia took one or two out. ‘I got them in the charity shop. No idea where they got so many from. There were one or two out on the shelf, and when I asked, they had a whole ton more in the back.’

‘It’s nuts what you find in a charity shop sometimes.’ Livia handed the vase she was holding to Levi. ‘Lucky for you in this case.’

‘I like to think it’s a sign,’ Eden said. ‘Stupid, obviously, but still.’

‘I’d agree,’ Julia said. ‘A good sign for your project.’ She went over to the freezer and began to rearrange the shelves to make space. ‘I brought some ice cream down for dessert.’

‘We’re making rice pudding, aren’t we?’

‘Yes, but I thought for those who don’t want rice pudding.’ She turned to Livia. It was then that Eden noticed the bags on the floor where Livia was standing. She handed them to Julia, who took out the tubs and put them in the space she’d made in the freezer.

‘They’re from the parlour?’ Eden asked.

‘Yes.’

‘You can’t…Let me pay you for those?—’

‘Absolutely not,’ Julia said. She slammed the door on the freezer shut. ‘It’s our donation, and I don’t want to hear another thing about it.’

‘Thank you.’ Eden smiled and resolved to somehow surreptitiously get the money to them at some point, whether they liked it or not.

Half an hour later, the children had completed their task and the tables were dressed in cloths, also scavenged from various places, and the vases set on top, and there was a certain homely charm to the chaos.

‘It looks lovely,’ Julia said as Eden went through to look.

‘It does,’ Eden agreed. She smiled down at Nancy, who seemed to be waiting for her approval, while Levi had gone back to the kitchen saying he wanted a drink. ‘Thank you for helping.’

‘What else shall I do?’ Nancy asked.

‘How about washing the vegetables?’ Julia glanced at Eden as she said it. Perhaps she didn’t want to give the impression she was taking over, though Eden wouldn’t mind her taking over a bit. She was far better at this sort of thing.

Eden had to reflect that almost everyone here was better at this sort of thing than her. If only she’d taken more notice when her mum had been baking for charity or cooking at the old folks’ home at Christmas or any of the other good deeds she’d done over the years. All the times she’d asked for Eden’s help and Eden had refused. Only now did it dawn on her how much it would have enriched her life to get involved, and how much it would have meant to her mum, who’d been desperate for any opportunity for them to spend time together as mother and daughter.

‘Washing the vegetables sounds like a good plan,’ Eden said. ‘There are a lot. Think you and Levi can handle it, Nancy? It’s a big responsibility – they have to be super clean. Don’t want to serve any allotment bugs up with our dinners, do we?’

‘We’ll be careful,’ Nancy said, racing off to the kitchen to brief Levi on their new job.

‘Thank you,’ Julia said.

Eden frowned slightly. ‘For what?’

‘For letting them be involved. They love this sort of thing, and I think it’s good for them.’

‘I ought to be thanking you all for being here. I love that they want to be involved.’

When they went back through, Nancy and Levi were already sitting cross-legged on the floor, elbow deep in bowls of water, scrubbing so meticulously at a pile of carrots that it was all Eden could do not to stop and watch them with a daft smile on her face, because it was about the most adorable thing she’d ever seen.

Julia was on head chef duty because everyone agreed she was the best cook. Although it made sense for Livia to assist because she knew how Julia operated, at an impromptu supper-cum-planning meeting the day before, they’d decided that Eden ought to help. Eventually she’d have to take on a lot of the cooking, particularly on days when help was scarce. She’d freely admitted that her talents in the kitchen were lacking, and she relished the idea of learning from Julia, who was a great cook. Every meal Eden had shared with them at Sea Glass Parade had been as good as anything she’d been served in a restaurant.

‘Right then…’ Julia pulled out a notebook. ‘I’ve written down these recipes as best I can. Most of them I do from memory – it’s one of those things where you can do it with your eyes shut when you’re not thinking about it, but as soon as someone asks you what the steps are, you can’t for the life of you remember. But I think they’ll do the job for you.’

‘This is all brilliant,’ Eden said as Julia handed her the book. ‘Perfect. I’m sure they’ll be fine, though I can’t promise my skill in the kitchen will do them justice.’

‘They’re foolproof, honestly,’ Julia said. ‘Things I make all the time and mostly because they’re so hard to get wrong. Hopefully, everyone will enjoy them.’ Julia peered over her shoulder. ‘The most important thing with a lot of these dishes is just getting the timings right. If I were you, I’d make myself a little timescale on a bit of paper somewhere so you know when things have to be added or put into the oven so it all comes out at the same time – if you see what I mean. Then all you have to do is keep an eye on the clock.’

‘Good idea.’ Eden turned the page to the next recipe. ‘See, that’s why it’s so good to have you here. I need practical suggestions like that. I’d have been all over the place if I’d been doing this on my own.’

‘You’d never have been doing it on your own,’ Livia said as she pulled Nancy’s sleeves further up to stop them getting wet. ‘We’re excited to help.’

Eden took a moment to recall how keen her own mum had been for Eden to take an interest like this. It was just another one of those moments of torment, because she hadn’t been interested, even though her mum was a great cook and loved to create new things. She’d have given anything to have just one of those occasions back, where she could have stood at the stove in their kitchen with her and helped, if only to make Mum smile. But there was no going back, and it didn’t matter how big her regrets were – that wouldn’t change. All she could do now was move forward and try to imagine how proud her mum would be if only she could see it.

‘Without your help,’ Eden replied, ‘I don’t know what I would have done.’

‘Seems to me you’re the sort of person who would have found a way,’ Julia said. ‘Shall we make a start?’ She looked at her watch. ‘If we don’t get the stew in soon, we’re going to be running behind. Livia…would you rinse the lentils for the vegan chilli while I get started on the stew?’

Like a well-rehearsed military operation, Livia and Julia went to their tasks. They were so in tune with each other, so efficient, it was obvious they’d cooked together many times. For the briefest moment, Eden felt like a spare part and wondered if she ought to just slope off and leave them to it. She couldn’t help feeling she’d be more hinderance than help; even the children were doing a better job than she was.

As Julia turned on the stove, she called her over. ‘Could you brown the beef for me while I cut the onions?’

Glad to be off the starting blocks and feeling better already, Eden went to get the meat from the fridge where she’d stored it on her arrival. ‘Totally. What about the chicken?’

‘It won’t take so long to cook – we can probably get to that last, after everything else is in.’

Eden nodded as she rinsed the meat. ‘Timings…right. I must remember that.’

With Ralph’s advice in mind, they would be serving uncomplicated, virtually one-pot meals. It might have been the briefest of menus but, based on Julia’s recommendations, they’d opted for a hearty beef stew, a chicken and pasta bake, and a vegan chilli. While the guests were enjoying that, a rice pudding would be blipping away in the oven, ready for the second course. And now there was also a choice of ice cream from Julia’s own parlour for those who preferred it.

As they got stuck in, their volunteers began to arrive, starting with Debs, who’d come to the Darling Dolphin for a food parcel during Eden’s first shift. Livia and Julia greeted her warmly, and her appearance drew excited smiles and welcomes from the twins. Eden realised that the family knew her well, and she was glad to see that because it meant they already had an understanding that would help in the running of things. As Julia told Debs what needed doing, two more arrived: young Liam, who had also come to the Dolphin that first night for a parcel, and a much older man he introduced as his great-grandfather, Bilbo.

Eden stared at the old man, realising almost as soon as she found herself doing so that it was quite rude.

‘Sorry, what’s your name again?’

‘Bilbo,’ the old man said. ‘Bilbo Jones. Reporting for duty.’

‘Oh…Right…that’s brilliant, thank you. Julia, do you know where you want Liam and Bilbo?’

As Julia went to instruct them, Eden leaned in and lowered her voice to Livia. ‘Is that his actual name?’

‘Yes.’ Livia grinned. ‘And don’t make a fuss about it because he gets really precious if you do.’

‘Who calls their kid Bilbo?’

‘Mr and Mrs Jones, apparently. I suppose they’d just read the book or something – I don’t like to ask. Anyway, it might be that I’m used to it, but I think it sort of suits him. Can’t imagine him with a normal name. And you have to admit, he’s a bit hobbity.’

Eden tried to keep a straight face as she glanced across at Liam’s great-grandfather. He’d have been a very old hobbit, but he was small and slight, and he had a surprisingly thick shock of grey hair, and she could see exactly what Livia meant. But despite the fact that he must have been in his eighties, he was quick and sharp, and as he started to work to Julia’s instructions, Eden could already see he knew his way around a paring knife. She was also grateful for any help, no matter how it came.

She decided they’d got off on the wrong foot and went over. ‘Don’t let me disturb you. I just wanted to come and say thank you for your help.’

‘Glad to,’ he replied cheerfully. ‘Gets me out of the house and it’s for a good cause.’

‘You’ll be eating with us when it’s done, won’t you?’

‘Oh yes, looking forward to it. I don’t often cook at home – doesn’t seem much point for one, to be honest.’

‘What do you do instead?’

‘I get invited here and there, or I put a ready dinner in. I eat well enough, but there’s nothing like a good home-cooked meal. I used to enjoy doing a bit in the kitchen when my Kathleen was alive. She loved my roast chicken, said it was better than any restaurant.’ He tapped the side of his nose. ‘The secret’s in the basting, you know.’

‘I do love a bit of roast chicken myself – my mum’s was amazing.’

‘You lost her,’ he said. ‘Julia told me. Must be hard, a young ’un like you with no mammy.’

‘I miss her a lot.’

‘Well, my love, she’d be proud to see you doing all this.’

Eden’s eyes misted. Annoyed, she sniffed hard and swallowed her tears. This wasn’t the time for them.

‘I hope so,’ she said. ‘I never did much to make her proud when she was alive.’

‘Oh…I can’t believe that for a minute.’ He swept a knotted hand around the room. ‘You don’t suddenly become this person. Goodness like this has always been in you – must have been. Don’t be so hard on yourself.’

Eden tried to smile.

‘I’ll let you get on,’ she said. ‘I think Julia might need me. And by the way, I’m sorry if I offended…I think your name is very cool. Did it come from the books?’

He looked up in some confusion. ‘Books?’

‘Yes, you know, the hobbit books?’

‘I expect so,’ he said with a vague shrug. ‘But if it did, my mammy never said so, and my dad wasn’t around – died when I was a baby – so he wasn’t saying much about it either.’

Eden left him to his work and then went to speak to Liam and Debs, just to make certain they were aware of how grateful she was, and then she went back to Julia, who set her on making a simple pasta sauce for their bake while she saw to the stew. Bilbo began to whistle loudly, causing Nancy and Levi to start giggling and attempt to join in – though neither of them could do anything except make rasping sounds. So Bilbo started to teach them how to purse their lips and eventually a sound came from Levi, and then from Nancy, both children with looks of absolute delight on their faces once they realised they could do it. If Eden had thought them cute before, this was close to overwhelming. She had to force herself not to watch, because she might just spend the afternoon doing that and nothing else.

‘Oh… fudge it!’

Eden turned to see Julia frown at the dials on the oven. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘It’s been on the wrong temperature…see, the numbers are worn off and I thought it was lower. The meat will be tough as Livia’s old Doc Martens.’

‘I’m sure it will be fine,’ Livia said from across the kitchen. ‘Just turn it down.’

‘But it’s been on…well…’ Julia let out a sigh that Eden sensed was full of contained impatience. She could understand where it had come from. The old kitchen of the hut was far from perfect, but they were making the best use of it they could and working out systems as they went for getting around and using the less than ideal equipment. In a few weeks, they’d have it figured out, she supposed, but for now, it wasn’t causing tension exactly but making conditions less than ideal for their purposes.

‘It’ll be fine, Mum,’ Livia insisted.

‘I know, but I want it to be better than fine. It’s Eden’s first dinner, and we want people to enjoy it so they come back again next time.’

‘Your cooking is amazing,’ Eden said. ‘Of course they’re going to enjoy it.’

‘Yes, I’m sure it will be all right, but it’s just not going to be my best.’ Julia peered at the temperature dial as she twisted it to adjust. ‘It’s never the same using a kitchen that’s not your own because you’re used to your own, but I want it to be at least close.’

‘It will be.’

‘It smells wonderful,’ Bilbo said, shuffling over to pat Julia on the arm. She looked up at him, and he offered her a warm smile. ‘I’m sure I’ll be coming for seconds.’

‘Me too,’ Eden agreed. But she wished she felt as confident as she sounded. Not for a second did she doubt everyone’s efforts in the kitchen, but she did worry that this was doomed to spectacular failure no matter how the food turned out. What if nobody came? What if nobody enjoyed it? What if they all thought it was a waste of time? What if…?

There seemed to Eden so many things that could go wrong here, but she tried to put them out of her mind. She had to remember why they were all here, and that the most important thing in the end was intent. They could only try to give the community of Sea Glass Bay something good and important, something that would nurture those in need and bring people together, and as long as they concentrated on that, everything else would either fall into place or it wouldn’t. But at the end of the day, Eden had no more control about that than she did the tide rolling in and out on the beach. People would come or they wouldn’t, and they could do their best, but if people didn’t enjoy it, there wasn’t a lot she could do to change that.

‘Ouch!’

Liam held up a finger oozing with blood, and Bilbo dashed over with a tea cloth.

‘What happened, lad?’

‘Knife slipped…It’s going everywhere.’

‘Come here…’ Bilbo wrapped the cloth around his grandson’s hand and led him outside. Eden tried not to see it as an omen. As if she wasn’t already on edge.

‘I’ll take the first aid kit out to them,’ Julia said, hurrying to fetch the box from a shelf.

‘I hope it’s not bad,’ Eden said.

‘Didn’t look it. A good sticking plaster and I’m sure it will be fine.’

Eden glanced across the room at Livia. ‘Why do I feel like that’s a bad sign?’

‘Take a breath,’ Livia said with a reassuring smile. ‘Affirmation time – right? Say it after me: this will be a success.’

‘But—’

‘Say it!’ Livia insisted, pretending to grit her teeth.

Eden had to grin, the tension draining from her. She closed her eyes, the grin still fixed to her face, repeating the affirmation in a sing-song voice.

‘ Ohm … this will be a success .’

‘There you go. You’ve sent it out into the universe and so it has to manifest. It will be a total success.’

If only it was that easy.

A couple of hours later, as people started to arrive at the hut, Eden realised she needn’t have worried. There was such enthusiasm, groups of friends and entire families arriving in good spirits. Eden had expected perhaps a dozen at most, but once she’d greeted everyone and had time to take stock, she noted a full house and was then hit by a sense of panic that they’d underestimated how much food they’d need. But she trusted that the friends she had around her had steered her right and that somehow they’d make what they had stretch. In the end, she needn’t have worried about that either – there was plenty to go around, and there would probably be leftovers for people to take home.

Eden hadn’t planned to sit and eat with her guests. There were still things to do behind the scenes, and someone had to keep it all ticking over. Besides, she was too wired to be hungry. She flitted here and there, fussing about things that didn’t need to be fussed over, which wasn’t like her at all but perhaps an indicator – if she’d ever needed one – of just what this project was beginning to mean to her. From time to time, she’d stand at the doorway that led from the kitchen to the main hall and watch the room. Everyone had taken a seat at the table, including her little band of volunteers, and were laughing and tucking in with everyone else. Eden was happy with that. When she’d imagined this night, the scene before her was all she’d wanted to see.

Livia glanced up from her meal and beckoned her. ‘What are you doing there? Come and eat!’

Eden shook her head. ‘I’ll eat later. I have things to?—’

‘No you don’t! Julia cut in, noticing the exchange. ‘There’s nothing to be done in there that can’t wait. Come and sit with us!’

‘Honestly,’ Eden began, but then Bilbo looked up from his dinner and said the same thing, and eventually Eden gave in and joined them – if only for a quiet life. She helped herself to some of the pasta bake and was almost shocked to find that a dish she’d had a lot of input in was really quite good.

Not for the first time that evening, the strangely melancholy mood washed over her. While she was happy to see others happy and increasingly confident that her first night had been a success, she wished her mum could be here to see it. She could only imagine the look that would have crossed her mum’s face – bemusement and surprise and perhaps some pride. She had to wonder what her sister might have made of it. Would she take it at face value, or would she see some ulterior motive? Eden liked to think Caitlin would be pleased for her, but she couldn’t be sure of that.