Page 76 of The Village Inn of Secret Dream

‘I’ll be right back,’ she said, giving him a wink.

She headed into the inn lounge, checking that Lucy and Tom were okay behind the bar, before going on to the kitchen.

The atmosphere in the kitchen was frantic, borderline hysterical. Brad was rushing around, trying to ensure everything was prepared, but Andre was fussing over every plate to ensure that it looked like an artistic masterpiece.

‘It doesn’t matter what it looks like,’ she said, as he wiped off a swirl of some kind of sauce and replaced it with yet another swirl which looked almost identical. ‘The customers are getting restless out there.’

‘Have you got the order for table five?’ asked Cassie, as she joined them. ‘They say that they’ve got to get back to the babysitter at 9 p.m.’

Andre gave a huff of irritation. ‘They’ll have to wait,’ he snapped.

Cassie raised her eyebrows at Belle but didn’t reply.

Belle also noticed that with Andre fussing over the presentation of the plates Brad had been left to juggle various pans and was actually doing the majority of the cooking.

‘I need you to check this wild boar,’ said Brad, looking down at the pan. ‘I don’t know how it should be done.’

‘Oh, leave it to me,’ said Andre, abandoning the plate he was working on and going over to the smoking hob. ‘You’ve charred the edges, you stupid boy.’

‘I don’t know how to cook it,’ said Brad, walking over to the plates. ‘They’re good to go,’ he told Belle. ‘That’s table five.’

‘I need to check the look of everything before it goes out!’ said Andre, rushing back over and abandoning the wild boar once more.

‘Too late,’ said Belle, picking up the plates and handing them over to Cassie. ‘Go,’ she said softly. Then she turned back to Andre. ‘Please hurry up,’ she urged him before leaving.

But as the evening wore on, Andre appeared to have totally ignored her instructions and more and more customers were looking at their watches before asking when their food was likely to be appearing.

Belle fixed a smile on her face as Pete headed towards the kitchen to see what was going on.

At least some of the food had been served, she thought, walking over to where Stanley, Frank and Logan were sitting and eating their fancy food.

‘How is everything?’ she asked, smiling down at them all.

‘Very, er, interesting,’ said Frank, after swallowing hard. ‘I’ve never tried wild boar before.’

He didn’t sound as if he would be wanting it ever again.

But at least he was eating what had been served, as opposed to Logan who still had an almost full plate.

‘Is everything okay?’ she asked him.

Logan looked up at her with a grimace. ‘It’s a bit rare for me,’ he said.

‘Oh dear,’ she said quickly. ‘But perhaps that’s how it’s supposed to be served. It’s gastronomic cuisine, I’ve been told.’

‘It’s not rare when pork is not cooked properly,’ he said, showing her the raw meat inside his steak. ‘It’s officially classed as food poisoning.’

Belle was aghast. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she told him, picking up the plate and praying that nobody else had eaten the undercooked pork.

But as she carried the plate towards the kitchen, she was stopped by another customer on the next table.

‘Have you any water?’ asked the man. ‘My wife’s just swallowed what tastes like half a pound of salt. There’s something wrong with that sauce.’

‘Of course,’ said Belle, looking over to where the woman was sitting, holding her throat and with watering eyes. ‘I’ll get you a glass.’

She asked Aaron to fetch the glass of water for the lady and was about to head back to the kitchen again when the critic called her over. Feeling she had no choice, she went up to him.

‘How can I help?’ she asked, fixing a smile on her face.