Chapter 16
A truck honked as it passed the car parked on the side of the road.
Zoe jumped and turned around. She almost flipped the lorry driver off but he was already too far ahead of her.
Zoe sat in her stopped car on a small winding road in the Belgian countryside, somewhere between her hotel and the racetrack.
Nicki’s voice came through the speakers of the rental car.
“What was that?”
Zoe took a calming breath, resting her forearms on the steering wheel. Her heart rate had gone up too fast. “Just a prick driver. I’m parked on the side, there was no reason for him to do that.”
“Do you miss having me there to drive you around?”
“You know it.”
Nicki had finally come back from her Swiss vacation.
She was still taking time off, but for whatever reason she’d called Zoe, and Zoe couldn’t not pick up.
She’d missed talking to her assistant, maybe a little more than she should have for someone who worked for her.
“So, you were telling me about the race track event?”
“It’s going well. I met up with the catering team from Antwerp and we found a way to set everything up at the race track yesterday evening. They were excited to work with me.”
“It’s not just happening at the track, right? I remember seeing another location on the spreadsheet.” The line cracked a little at the last word. Network reception was not great in the area.
“Indeed, I’m also doing private catering afterwards for a little soirée in a castle that the client rented.” Zoe said quickly before changing the subject. She didn’t want to talk about work with Nicki, who was still technically on holiday. “How was Switzerland? Did you two have fun?”
“Do you have everything you need for the castle? If you need a different hotel that’s closer to the location, I can book you one.”
“Nicki! You’re supposed to be off work!”
“Fine. Sorry.” Nicki chuckled. “Switzerland was great! Alma and I had loads of fun. My legs are still sore from all the hiking though.”
“That’s good to hear. Did you visit or see anything in particular?” Zoe felt less bad about not knowing a lot about Nicki’s personal life, considering how vague Nicki was about it.
“Yes. We went to the mountains, near St-Moritz. Beautiful place. How did the hen do go? I saw your message but didn’t have time to reply. Julie had a crush on you!?” Nicki said, sounding both delighted and scandalised.
“Oh god.” Zoe put her forehead on the steering wheel. “Yes, she did. That’s why she was being so weird to me all these years. She was scared of getting hurt and ended up hurting the both of us.”
“Oh! That actually sort of makes sense, even if it still wasn’t cool. How do you feel? Are you mad at her?”
“Of course not! I’m more than happy to leave it in the past. We hung out the entire weekend and it’s just so nice, Nicki. It’s exactly like I remembered it to be. Thanks for making me do it.”
“You were the one who made the decision. But I’ll take the credit.”
Zoe smiled.
“You have to give me more details, though. How did you find out she had a crush on you?” Nicki was too invested in this.
“We had a conversation and I just asked her.” Zoe bit her lip. Should she tell the whole truth to Nicki?
“That’s it? You asked her and she said that?”
“Well, I told her that I was incredibly hurt and sad that we weren’t friends any more, then she told me. Julie cannot lie to save her life. That’s a nice thing about her.”
“Wow. Okay. I don’t think I would tell anyone I had a crush on them twenty years ago. It takes some courage.”
“It was ten years! We had this conversation already.” Zoe paused to think about her next move. Maybe this was silly, maybe she hadn’t meant it, maybe it was just wedding stress… “I confessed to Julie that I had a thing for her back then as well.”
A deafening silence filled the car, except for the distant sound of cars on a nearby highway.
“Sorry, what?”
“Forget about it. It was silly. It was very late at night and we went clubbing-”
“No, Zoe.” Nicki took a deep breath. “You can tell me. I won’t judge.”
Zoe spoke before she could overthink it. “I told Julie that I also had a crush on her back then. But it’s all in the past now. It’s fine. I told you it was silly.”
“What did Julie say?”
“Nothing. She’s definitely over it. We’re friends again now, it’s all good.”
“So you were both into each other ten years ago, then you kissed and never talked to each other again and now you’ve both met again for the first time in a decade and confessed your mutual crushes to each other?” Nicki sounded unimpressed.
“Well, when you put it like that, it sounds…”
“…like there might be some unresolved feelings?”
Zoe gripped the steering wheel tight. “Okay, I see where you’re going with this.
But we’ve really discussed it and we both agreed that it was ten years ago.
If anything would have happened, it was in another lifetime.
” A pause. “Besides, I’m very happy with Tom.
I looked at stuff that he sent me about the wedding and it looks exciting! ”
“Okay, okay. I believe you. I was just making sure I understood everything.” Nicki said apologetically. “It’s nice to hear that you’re excited about the wedding!” There was another lull in the conversation. “Am I holding you back and making you late for the race track?”
Zoe glanced at the clock on the dashboard. “Oh shit. Yes. I really enjoyed talking to you, Nicki.”
“Me too. Just call me if you want to chat. I promise we won’t talk about work things. Bye!”
“I’ll do that. See you.”
The line cut and the car rumbled as Zoe started the engine again. She just needed to get through this day then, Yasmine and Julie would arrive the day after tomorrow for wedding preparations. Zoe couldn’t wait.
* * *
A cold draft seeped into the pit box. Zoe was freezing in nothing but her chef’s whites.
How could this place be so cold? It was alright when she was standing next to the stove and the oven, but now that she was taking a break and walking around a bit, she could fully feel the damp chill emanating from the concrete walls.
Zoe had a hard time imagining that the room she was standing in used to be a completely bare and empty concrete box just yesterday evening.
The race team crew had decorated the entire place like it was a luxury car dealership, with dining and lounging areas.
Her “kitchen” was hidden behind two solid Plexiglas walls with sponsor logos on it.
It looked surprisingly tidy and cosy. The only thing missing was the heating, apparently.
Zoe ventured outside of the box. The event was coming to an end.
Her show cooking at lunch had gone very well, without any surprises.
Everyone had gasped when she set her wok on fire.
Her salmon en cro?te had been a huge hit as always, and now all that was left was to serve and entertain the guests during the closing cocktail.
She was very happy to take a twenty-minute break - she hadn’t even seen anything except for the pit box since this morning.
She wandered through the pit lane, where mechanics were running around fitting tyres to her client’s car.
A group of men - potential investors - were standing around, discussing with the driver.
These types of events, with rich fancy people, were always a good networking opportunity and Zoe already had two requests for catering at other events from some of the gentlemen.
The loud sound of the Porsche race car punched Zoe’s ears as it roared.
Her heart jumped and she staggered for a second.
She had heard the sound of the engine all day but hadn’t expected it to be that thunderous up close.
The driver broke away from the group of investors and headed toward the car.
He waved and winked at Zoe before putting on his helmet and getting behind the wheel.
Zoe groaned internally. She’d been unpleasantly surprised this morning to find that the mysterious rich race car driver looking for investors for his racing team wasn’t so mysterious to her after all.
Colin was an acquaintance of Tom’s that Zoe had met a couple of times.
He was an actor too, and had played in a small production with Tom when they were both starting out.
The email requesting Zoe’s services had been sent by his team manager, so she’d had no idea that he was the driver in question until she’d arrived this morning.
Zoe waved back, gritting her teeth a little bit. Colin had been much too nonchalant with her all day. She could sense his intentions when his hand hovered for a second too long on her back while introducing her to his guests, or when he leaned in just a bit too close to ask her something.
The problem with actors, she thought, is that they all knew they were charming and somehow thought that it made it acceptable for them to be unprofessional.
Zoe hated that. She was here to work, not to be seduced.
But to a lot of men, a woman like Zoe could never be taken seriously.
She sighed. She knew that a lot of women would love to be in her place, being wooed by a handsome actor, and it seemed like a silly thing to complain about.
She could imagine telling Julie about it and Julie jokingly answering “Whoa, it must be hard to be too pretty.”
Not because Julie thought she was pretty of course.
But because she would just make fun of her.
Did Julie think she was pretty? Did she think Julie was pretty?
Zoe walked back towards the kitchen area, nodding at a few of the Flemish waiters she hired who were also on a break.
Julie would probably not make fun of her if she’d told her how annoyed she was at those types of men though, Zoe was sure of that.
She would listen and take Zoe’s side. She sat on a high stool next to the kitchen island and took her phone out.
She smiled faintly as she read back the messages she’d been exchanging with Julie. She started typing.
“ I’m at the race track, no comfy sofas unfortunately and it’s so cold. I’m pretty sure the guy who hired me is hitting on me. Can’t wait until Yasmine and you get here.”
Zoe pressed “send”, then regretted it. It sounded so whiny. The event was going perfectly well, why did she feel the need to complain to Julie? An answer came almost immediately.
“ Are you alright, Zoe? Did this guy do something inappropriate?”
Oh no. Now she got Julie worried.
“No! He’s just… You know how men are. I feel like sometimes guys forget that I’m here because they hired me, not because I’m interested in them.” She double texted. “But everything is going alright! I’m just super excited for the wedding.”
Zoe tapped nervously on her thigh. Hopefully Julie was still next to her phone. She felt relief when she saw that Julie was typing.
“Whoa… Must be hard to be too pretty.”
Called it. Zoe smiled. Julie was still typing.
“I’m joking. That’s not okay, he’s your employer and he should act like it. Do you want me to fight him?”
Another message from Julie came directly.
“When I said I was joking, I meant that I was joking about not taking you seriously! I wasn’t saying you weren’t pretty.”
Zoe felt her cheeks colour. Before she could answer, Julie sent another message.
“By which I mean, you are objectively pretty. Like, scientifically, in a “golden ratio” type of way. Not in any personal subjective interpretation. Hope I’m being clear!”
Julie really knew how to speak to women. Maybe that’s the reason why she was still single. Zoe tried to repress a smile, in case somebody would walk into the kitchen and see her grinning like a maniac at her phone. She wanted to entertain whatever was going on in this conversation.
“You think I’m pretty?”
“Sorry Zo, gotta go. I’ll talk to you later.”
Classic Julie. Zoe knew the answer anyway.
If Julie had a crush on her ten years ago, there was no way she didn’t think Zoe was still good-looking now.
Zoe knew the years had been kind to her, just as they’d been to Julie.
Not that it mattered anyway, since any type of attraction between them was definitely a thing of the past. But still, it wasn’t a terrible thing to think about.