Chapter 18
Dinner that first night in the flat together had been excruciating.
Harry had wanted to hide in his room, embarrassed he’d let his feelings get the better of him and put Kat in an awkward position where she’d had to reject him again within twenty-four hours of stepping away from their kiss on the beach.
But hiding would’ve been a coward’s move and whatever else Harry was, he wasn’t that.
So he’d fronted up and apologised, and somehow they’d got through a gut-squirming evening.
He’d put a film on the TV and suggested they eat dinner on their laps.
Kat had accepted his apology but there’d been little conversation other than that.
She’d excused herself almost as soon as she’d finished eating, saying it had been a long day and disappearing into her room.
He’d watched the rest of the film, a bog-standard action thriller with an ending he could see coming a mile off.
Still, he’d stuck with it until the credits – better that than lying in bed cursing himself for his clumsy behaviour.
He’d clearly spooked her. Making Kat feel uncomfortable had been the last thing he’d wanted, but she needed someone to show how special she was and his stupid heart had decided he was the one to do it.
Shame his feelings were clearly not reciprocated.
And he’d had the nerve to give Ed a hard time about being too impulsive.
Maybe they were more alike than just in looks.
Slowly, over the next few days, the atmosphere in the flat had eased. Harry had made sure to give Kat plenty of space and had been grateful when they’d both returned to their usual work schedule and he was either at work or asleep for most of the time when she was around.
It was the second Friday of January and Harry was working some of his frustration out by making bread in the restaurant kitchen when the back door flew open and Russ blew in on a blast of freezing air that sent a cloud of flour up from Harry’s workstation.
‘Shut the bloody door!’ His last word ended in a strangled cough.
‘Is that any way to greet a person!’ his boss exclaimed as he removed his coat and hung it up.
Harry grabbed the glass of water at his elbow and gulped some down to clear his throat. ‘Sorry, Russ. Did you and Marley have a good day yesterday?’
Things were quieter in the restaurant this time of year.
People were either tightening their belts after the expense of Christmas or weren’t keen to travel far from home on icy roads, or both.
Russ had offered Harry a few evenings off but he’d turned the tables and suggested Russ take some time to be with his wife instead.
Harry had taken responsibility for all the daily prep so this was the first time he and Russ had been alone together for a while.
‘We didn’t do a bloody thing and it was glorious,’ Russ said with a grin as he rubbed his hands together.
‘It’s brass bloody monkeys out there. I need a cuppa to warm me up.
’ He walked to the sink and washed his hands.
It was the first thing he’d ingrained into Harry when he’d started working for him.
‘Wash your hands before you touch anything.’ He filled the kettle then leaned his back against the counter and watched Harry pounding away at the ball of dough on the board in front of him.
‘That’ll be like rubber if you carry on like that, lad. ’
Harry eased off immediately. ‘Yeah, you’re right.’ He scooped up the dough, placed it back in the mixing bowl, covered it and slid it into the proving drawer to rest. He rolled his shoulders to loosen the tight muscles, then accepted the mug of coffee Russ plonked down in front of him. ‘Thanks.’
‘My pleasure. So, how’s Kat settling in?’
Harry’s head shot up at the question. Russ hadn’t done more than shrug when he’d first mentioned she’d moved in and Harry had assumed he hadn’t cared.
Perhaps he’d been annoyed that they’d done it without asking permission first. His boss had always left him to his own devices when it came to the flat, but Russ was technically still his landlord.
‘I hope you don’t mind that she’s moved in? ’
Russ shrugged. ‘I couldn’t give a flying f-uh-fig who you live with, lad. Your private life’s your own.’ He sipped his coffee and shot Harry a knowing grin over the rim of his mug. ‘You kept that one quiet.’
‘Kept what? Oh! No, it’s nothing like that.’ Well, it was something like that on Harry’s part. ‘She was feeling a bit in the way with Liam spending so much time at Issy’s so I said she was welcome to the spare room, that’s all.’
‘Ah, well, that’s a shame. She’s a good girl. Bit quiet for my taste, but a sweet-hearted little thing. Marley was only saying yesterday it was past time for you to be settling down.’
Harry shook his head. ‘Marley has been trying to get me to settle down since I was fifteen bloody years old, Russ.’
Russ laughed. ‘What can I say? My lovely wife just wants everyone to be as blessed in love as she is.’
‘I’ll tell her you said that next time I see her!’
‘Don’t be grassing on me. This is men’s talk and you know the rule…’ Russ gave him an expectant look.
Harry rolled his eyes but he repeated the mantra Russ had taught him when he’d been trying to get Harry to open up to him. ‘What’s said in the kitchen stays in the kitchen.’
‘That’s right. Now then, we’ve got an hour before the juniors arrive so let’s have a talk through the menu as there are a few dishes could do with a refresh.’
They worked through each dish on the menu, discussing the pros and cons.
Russ was an absolute data nerd, so he had software that tracked how many times each dish had been ordered in the past three months since they’d introduced the new menu as well as a breakdown of the cost of each dish.
‘You’d be better off with Liam crunching the numbers with you,’ Harry half-joked after Russ had reeled off a load of facts and figures.
He expected Russ to laugh but all he got in return was a scowl.
‘Don’t start that comparison nonsense, lad.
You’re not here because you can read a spreadsheet – I can do that for myself well enough – you’re here because your instinct for flavours and ingredients is second to none.
’ Russ pushed his tablet to one side and folded his brawny arms across his chest. ‘What’s got into you? ’
Harry sighed and scrubbed a frustrated hand through his hair.
He caught what he’d done and immediately headed over to the sink to wash his hands.
‘Sorry. I hate when I get in my head like this.’ Truth be told, Harry was glad his boss hadn’t been around much because he was still in two minds about the whole cookery school idea.
Matt and his dad had been tied up with jobs booked before the holiday break and Liam was full steam ahead with the hotel conversion, so they’d been struggling for a date to view the shop.
The delay had done nothing for Harry’s self-confidence and he’d been in something of a panic spiral about the whole thing.
They’d managed to sort out a day they could all get together next week so he owed it to Russ to keep him in the loop.
He returned to the central work area and rested his forearms on the sleek silver surface. ‘I had an idea on New Year’s Eve and I really think I might be on to something, but it’s going to be a massive challenge and that’s caused a few of the old demons to raise their heads.’
‘We’d better forget about the menus then so you can tell me all about it.’
Russ was silent as Harry talked through his idea for the cookery school.
His stomach was a mess of knots by the time he’d finished.
It was one thing to shoot the breeze with his brothers and his cousin, it was quite another to try and explain it to this man whose professional opinion he respected above all others.
‘I still don’t know if it can come to anything.
I haven’t got the first clue about the finances or even if the premises is suitable for converting.
’ He could count the number of times he’d been inside the Nicholsons’ shop on the fingers of one hand.
It had been geared up for the tourists more than anything else.
He’d certainly never seen anything more than the shop floor.
‘And how do you plan on figuring those issues out?’ Russ wasn’t giving much away and it was hard to tell from his demeanour what he thought about Harry’s basic idea.
‘Umm, well, I’ve made an appointment to have a look around next week.
Matt and Liam said they’ll walk around with me so we can take some measurements and talk over what we think would need doing.
Rick is coming because I’ll need his help with planning and what-have-you…
’ Harry trailed off. Ed had said he wanted to be included but they hadn’t spoken to each other since their argument on the beach.
Perhaps inviting him would act as an olive branch.
‘Would you like me to come along, too?’
It would be great to have Russ’s input, but there was a little bit of Harry that worried that if he let his boss in too early, he’d take things over.
He wouldn’t mean to, but Russ was a force of nature and Harry had deferred to him throughout his career.
While their relationship had progressed from boss and subordinate to something closer to colleagues these days, there was no doubt who called the shots, and if Harry was going to do this he wanted to succeed or fail on his own merits.
‘I’d love your feedback, but would you mind if I got my head around a few things first? ’
Russ was silent for a long moment and Harry was beginning to worry he might have offended him when he finally spoke.
‘Okay, here’s what we’ll do. You do all the investigation work you need and if you think it’s a viable prospect then you can present it to me and I’ll see about whether I think it’s something worth investing in. ’
Harry stepped back in surprise. ‘Oh, no, I wasn’t expecting you to invest, Russ, that’s not what this is about at all!’
‘But you’re going to need backers to get this off the ground, aren’t you?’
Harry nodded. ‘Well, yeah, I can’t fund it myself but I was going to try and get a bank loan.’
‘For which you’ll need to put together a proper pitch and a full business plan.’
‘Yeah, that’s the bit I’m not so sure about,’ Harry admitted.
Russ clapped him on the shoulder. ‘Well, if you want to abandon me to run your own business, lad, I’m afraid that’s the sort of crap you need to deal with.
What you really need is a partner. Someone who’s good at all the admin stuff so that you can focus on the practical side of things. One of your brothers, maybe?’
Harry shook his head. ‘I know they’ll help me out putting things together but Liam and Rick have got their own projects and passions.’
‘Have a think about it then, because you’re going to need someone.
You know I love you like you’re my own flesh and blood, lad, and this isn’t a criticism in any way, but we both know you don’t have a head for the business side of things.
The secret to success is putting a great team around you.
’ Russ grinned. ‘That’s why I wanted you to work for me in the first place, and now it looks like I’m going to have to find someone to replace you. ’
‘Not for a while,’ Harry assured him. ‘Maybe not ever.’
‘None of that, now! I’m not having you embarrass me by being a failure, I’ve a reputation to think of.’
They both laughed and Russ pulled him into a bear hug. ‘I believe in you, lad. Find someone you can trust who’ll work alongside you and I know you’ll be more than halfway there.’
Harry pulled back and smiled at Russ. ‘Thanks for the pep talk and the great advice.’
Russ was right about Harry needing a partner, and luckily he knew just the person to ask.