Lorraine
Olson had lived in Mornington for two years, in the room above the restaurant
at the Old Mill Inn.
Originally
she was employed by landlady Helen Andrew as the sous chef but after only six
months, Francois, the temperamental French chef, stormed out after a heated dispute
with a customer who had had the audacity to criticize his sea bass.
He returned
the next day in a much calmer frame of mind but landlord Peter Andrew wouldn’t
have him back under any circumstances and Lorraine was made up to chef until
they could find a suitable replacement for Francois.
However
once Lorraine was given her chance she made the most of it and thrived in the
role but after three months the Andrews were still looking for another Chef
with similar experience to the Gallic Francois and weren’t quite ready to give
her the reins permanently.
Despite it
only being temporary it was still a dream come true for Lorraine.
She had
been fortunate in that as part of her job she also lived as part of the Andrews
family.
Polly
Andrew was the same age as she was and so they became like sisters and she
thought her brother John, who was a couple of years her junior, fancied her.
But after
two years she was ready to move on which meant if she couldn’t find somewhere
to live in the village she would have to move to another restaurant as well.
But fortunately
things were changing in the village, because the Mornington Estate had
exercised its option to purchase Mornington Field back from the MOD and along
with it they also acquired all the buildings and infrastructure on the airfield as well as 29 houses in the
village formally used as quarters for military personnel.
Lyndon-Sanders
Properties of Shallowfield had been instructed to find tenants for them but priority was to be given to local people or
people with ties to the area or those who worked in some capacity for the
estate such as agriculture or the brewery.
So Lorraine applied for one of them, but she was told that she might not
be successful, being a single woman and the new housing stock all being 3 and 4
bedroom homes.
But then she
had some good fortune of a sort due to events that had occurred some distance
away in Abbottsford.
The Olsen
family were originally from Abbeyvale but Lorraine’s older sister Hannah moved
to Abbottsford after she had married Mick Hill.
Mick
however deserted his wife and family after the birth of their second child
leaving huge debts behind him including 6 six months of mortgage arrears.
As a result
Hannah lost her home and she and her children ended up living in a two bedroom
flat in a dingy part of town.
However
what was once dingy and undesirable was, after five years, suddenly up and
coming, and so her landlord decided to sell out to a developer.
It just
happened that her eviction notification came within a few days of Lorraine
meeting with the agent about one of the newly acquired Mornington houses.
So with her
sister about to be made homeless it meant she could make a new application for
herself, her sister Hannah and the children and this time they qualified for a
4 bedroom house.
Lorraine
got word from the agents that she was being given the tenancy of number 6 The
Close on Friday September 26th, the day before the wedding of Harry
Topliss and Jenna Newman, which was the biggest wedding in Mornington for 30
years or more.
It was big
for Lorraine as well because she was catering the wedding breakfast and the
reception with the assistance of Jane Cooper and Emily Goff from Shallowfield, which
meant that she and Hannah couldn’t move in until the following weekend.
But even
when the weekend arrived Lorraine couldn’t take any time off because the
restaurant still hadn’t replaced Francois and the other problem was that
between her and her sister they had little or no furniture and number 6 the
Close was unfurnished.
However
help with that came problem came from an unusual quarter in the shape of
Gabriel St George who was having lunch at the Old
Mill Inn with his girlfriend Chantel.
“I’m sorry
we’re having to push service back half an hour” Helen Andrew said when Gabriel
and Chantel sat down
“That’s
fine, we’re in no hurry are we?” he said and squeezed Chantel’s hand
“Absolutely
not” she agreed
“Well thank
you for that” Helen said
“Is
everything ok?” Gabriel asked
“Lorraine
and her sister moved into the Close this morning” she explained “and she was a little
late”
“Oh moving
house is horrible” Chantel said “Not that little lord Fauntleroy here would
know anything about that”
When they
had both finished laughing at Gabriel’s expense Helen went on to explained that
the sisters had no furniture and that they would be sleeping on the floor in
sleeping bags.
“Oh I think
we might be able to do better than that for them” he said
After lunch
Gabriel phoned his friend Jonathon Springthorpe who lived in the village at The
Old Forge but despite the fact it was a Saturday he was in the office at O’Sullivan and Springthorpe Auctioneers in Shallowfield.
Apart from
their normal business as one of the premier Auctioneers in Downshire, the firm
were also required rather more often than they liked to do house clearances.
On many
occasions they would turn up a few choice pieces to at least cover the cost of
the clearance but that still meant there was a lot of serviceable items that weren’t
worth auctioning but still had value.
Apart from
the Auction House they also owned and operated second hand shops across the
county but even they couldn’t sell all the goods they had amassed which had to
be warehoused.
And of
course among the warehouse full of unsold goods was furniture of every
conceivable colour and style.
“O’Sullivan and Springthorpe”
a female voice said
“Jonathon
Springthorpe please”
“May I say who
is calling?” she asked officiously
“Baron St
George”
“I’ll
connect you immediately” she said
“You never
use your title” Chantel said quietly
“I do
sometimes with particularly officious receptionists” he said
“You’re
terrible” she said “I’m shocked”
“Well when
we’re married you’ll be able to call yourself Baroness”
“Well I won’t,”
she began “What do you mean when we’re married?”
“Oh didn’t
I mention it?”
“Hello Gabriel”
Jonathon said “What can I do for you?”
“Hi Jon,
I’m looking to relieve you of some stock”
He then
proceeded to detail what he was looking for from a hand written list Chantel
had prepared and the address it needed to be delivered to and then he
disconnected.
“Well
that’s sor…” he began but was prevented from finishing his sentence by Chantel
wrapping her arms around his neck and planting a kiss on his mouth, and this
was not done in appreciation of his generosity.
Gabriel St
George put his head around the kitchen door and spoke to Lorraine
“Lorraine I
must apologize” he said “the furniture should have been delivered yesterday”
“What
furniture?”
“Well you’re
renting number 6 the Close” he said
“Which is
supposed to be furnished”
“Is it?”
Lorraine asked
“Yes” he
said “and it will be delivered this afternoon between 3 and 4”
After he
had convinced Lorraine that it was a clerical error that it didn’t mention
“furnished” in her tenancy agreement he and Chantel went back to the Manor to
tell the family that they were engaged.
Lorraine
wasn’t fooled for a moment by Gabriel St George’s performance but she was very
grateful to him so she played along.
Almost the
moment the kitchen door closed she was on the phone to Hannah to warn her of
the impending delivery.
It wasn’t
until 4.30 in the afternoon that she managed to slip off her whites and hang
them up.
Once she
had, Lorraine took the green bandana from her head and let her carrot coloured
hair cascade onto her shoulders before she went over to the house.
When she
arrived the shutter was just being pulled down on the O’Sullivan and
Springthorpes truck and she could see Hannah stood on the doorstep.
It was
obvious from a thousand yards that they were kin, both of them possessed of
freckled cheeks and open smiling faces and the flaming red hair.
The only
difference between them was that of stature, Lorraine was tall and slim while Hannah
was shorter with a fuller figure but then she had given birth to two children,
7 year old Nick and Joe 5, and they too had the carrot coloured hair.
As she got
closer Hannah ran to meet her she said
“You should
see what they sent us Loz”
“Well show
me then” she replied
They settled
in to The Close quickly and with the children enrolled at school Hannah worked
hard making the house a home but Lorraine was still bearing all of the burden
at the Old Mill Inn because try as they may finding a replacement Chef to come
to Mornington was proving difficult.
The
restaurant was closed on Monday’s and apart from that one day a week she hadn’t
had any time off since Francois flounced out in a Gallic huff.
She had no
time for a social life, no time to spend helping Hannah around the house and
there’s wasn’t a second to spare for a love life.
And as she
was running the kitchen virtually on her own from prep to clean down, she was
completely frazzled, and noticeably so.
Helen
Andrew could see that Lorraine was being pushed too far, and even with Helen
her husband and the children mucking in when the need arose Lorraine was still
near breaking point.
Helen knew
that things were only going to get busier as they counted down the weeks to
Christmas and she realized that if they didn’t do something soon they would
need to find two new chefs in the New Year.
So on
Halloween she took decisive action.
Halloween
was one of the few nights of the year apart from Mondays when the restaurant
was closed to diners, instead they did the hot dogs and burgers for the
Halloween party at the village hall and for Lorraine it was like having a
holiday.
And it was
at the end of the evening when Lorraine, Helen and Polly were packing up that
Helen said her piece.
“You know
that we think you’ve done a brilliant job Lorraine”
“But you’re
going to go back to being the sous chef and take orders from some arrogant
French ponce”
That was
how Lorraine imagined the conversation going.
“But…”
Helen continued
“Here we
go” Lorraine said in her head,
“You can’t
go on the way you are, you need help”
“That’s not
what I was expecting” she continued in her head “I expected better”
“We want
you to take the Chefs job” Helen said
“Me?” she
asked
“You’ve
been doing it for weeks and the number of covers is up” she went on
“Me?” she
repeated
“Unless you
don’t want it” Helen said
“Yes” she
snapped “I do”
“But…” Helen
began
“Why was
there always a “but”?” Lorraine asked herself
“It’s going
to get busier, Helen continued “we’re already taking bookings for Christmas and
some days are fully booked already so you do need help”
“A sous
chef” she was going to suggest but then she had a thought.
When she had
catered Harry and Jenna’s wedding she had some help, one of whom was Emily Goff,
as her sous chefs and when they were chatting Emily told her that there were
two girls living in the village who were on the same catering course as her and
they were both very capable.
Now ideally
she would have liked Emily to work with her but she was already kept very busy
by Jane Cooper, the Chef at the Brown Windsor in Shallowfield.
So she
would have to settle for one of the two young girls but even that would be a
very big help.
And as it
turned out the girls lived in The Close, either side of Lorraine, Tegan
Crockford was at number 5 and Cally Wilson at number 7.
And having
chatted with her new neighbours during the course of October she knew that the
girls still hadn’t found anything permanent.
So she made
the suggestion to Helen and she agreed to interview them.
“No
promises mind” Helen said
Three days
later the two girls sat quietly together in the bar of the Old Mill Inn.
It was a
strange feeling for them as they were actually best friends.
They had
even walked to the interview together, it hadn’t seemed to dawn on either of
them that they were rivals.
Maybe they
knew something no one else did.
Cally was
the older of the two by about two weeks and she was significantly larger, not
fat but very definitely cast from a bigger mold.
She stood
six feet tall with short curly auburn hair, and a very large bust.
Tegan on
the other hand was a foot shorter and at least six stones lighter.
She was
small with delicate features and bobbed strawberry blonde hair.
And was
small enough to shelter beneath the bust of her friend if it rained.
The anomaly
with the pair wasn’t their physical appearance it was their personalities.
The giant
Cally was quiet and reserved while tiny Tegan was feisty and forthright.
Tegan was called
first and was on her feet immediately but Cally grabbed her hand and said
“Good luck”
And she
meant it too even though getting a job in a restaurant kitchen was her dream
and doing it in her own village would have been perfect.
Because Cally’s
mum had MS and everyone in the family had to do their bit.
Tegan was
only gone for about 15 minutes and when she came out Cally asked
“How did it
go?”
“I’m not
sure” the normally ultra-confident Tegan replied “But they said to wait”
That reply
didn’t fill Cally with an ounce of confidence but then she was called and this
time Tegan squeezed her hand.
Cally was
also only gone for 15 minutes and she too was told to wait and then after about
10 minutes Helen and Lorraine both walked into the bar to where the girls were
sitting and sat opposite them.
“Well we
have made our decision and we thought it was only fair to tell you immediately,
rather than keep you waiting” Helen said
“We have
decided to offer you the position of trainee chef”
The two
girls looked at each other and then at Helen and then and Lorraine who was
grinning.
“Which one
of us?” they said in unison
“Both of
you” Lorraine said and the two friends hugged each other and just at that
moment the landlord Peter Andrew walked in to the bar with his son John close
behind and said
“What’s
going on here then?”
“We have
just offered Cally and Tegan the trainee chef positions” Helen said
Introductions
followed and then John shouted down the bar to his sister Polly
“Here Poll,
come and see Lorraine’s started her own Ginger coven”
Tegan
turned and gave him a look and said
"I’m actually a strawberry blonde"
"And I’m auburn" Cally said
“and I” Lorraine began, but then paused
“Ok I am actually
ginger” and everyone laughed
The two
newbies started work two days later which was a Monday so the restaurant was
closed and she could see what they could do.
Lorraine
had to forgo her only day off but she thought it would be worth it in the long
run.
Almost
immediately the three of them gelled and worked extremely well together and
with having the extra pairs of hands to do the prep it meant Lorraine could try
out new dishes to add to the menu and almost from day one Lorraine was visibly
more relaxed as the two trainees proved to be every bit as good as Emily Goff
had indicated.
The three
girls soon settled into a comfortable routine, Cally came in later in the
mornings than the other two because she had to help her mum get ready for the
day but then she made up the time in the afternoon while the other two took a
couple of hours off.
The newbies
were both very different characters, Cally was steady and dependable, precise
in her application and never strayed from the task.
Tegan on
the other hand was a bit more adventurous in the kitchen as well as in life.
But there
was one thing they had in common and that was that they were totally reliable.
Cally
Wilson was a “steady Eddie” who had commitments so she couldn’t put in any
extra hours but every minute she was in the kitchen she made every second
count.
Tegan
Crockford was a bit of a firecracker and loved the banter with the pub staff
but she was also an eager beaver and ambitious and she wanted to absorb as much
as possible, Lorraine didn’t doubt for a second that she would have her own
kitchen one day,
Cally
wasn’t ambitious but because of her work ethic she would never have a problem
getting work.
As November
drifted seamlessly into December the girls all new things were going to get
really busy.
Apart from
being fully booked in the evenings there was also a full calendar of seasonal
lunches so as Christmas approached Lorraine was leaning more heavily than ever
on Cally and Tegan, particularly the latter because they had a lot more prep to
do after service was finished and there were a number of early starts which
Cally couldn’t participate in because of her mum.
As they
worked diligently through the tasks Lorraine had become quite close to Tegan
and was growing increasingly fond of her, it was so nice to work with someone
she liked, not that she didn’t like Cally but Tegan had become a friend as
well.
As the
weeks slipped by Lorraine found herself really looking forward to her four days
off, the first proper break she’d had since Easter.
The
restaurant would close on the afternoon of Christmas Eve and would not reopen
fully until the following Tuesday.
On
Christmas day the pub was closed, on Boxing Day the pub was open but the
restaurant wasn’t and on Saturday and Sunday there would only be bar food, hot
and cold sandwiches and such, so Lorraine was leaving the girls in charge while
she, Hannah and the children were off to Abbeyvale to spend Christmas with
their mum, Irene.
It was the
first time in four years they would all be together.
Lorraine
and Hannah had been prevented by their abusive stepfather from contacting her,
but Irene had finally had enough after 9 years of being used as a punch bag and
hit him in the face with an iron and broke his jaw.
Lorraine
was so looking forward to spending time with her mum, and having a family
Christmas all under one roof, but most of all she was looking forward to no
cooking, but she would however miss the strawberry haired slip of mischief Tegan
and her sparky presence.
On the
afternoon of Christmas Eve the pub was still open but there weren’t many
customers left but those that were made enough noise for a crowd.
The kitchen
was cleaned down and pristine and Cally had just finished putting the clean
cutlery back in the trays in the dining room.
“Anything
else you want me to do?” she asked Lorraine
“No you get
off home now” she replied and gave her a hug and kiss “Happy Christmas lovely”
“Happy
Christmas” she said in response and Lorraine went back into the kitchen.
Tegan was stood up on a chair writing up Saturday’s menu.
“Oy what about me you ginger bint” she shouted
“I’m auburn” she shouted back and went over a picked Tegan off the chair
and got her in a bear hug.
“I give in,
I give in” she said laughing loudly
“Now give
me a kiss” demanded Cally
After
exchanging kisses Cally then deposited her back on the chair.
“Happy
Christmas Cal” she called as her friend walked away
Lorraine
came out of the kitchen and Tegan was still stood on the chair in front of the menu board.
“Haven’t you finished that yet?” she said
“Just” she replied and crouched down ready to jump down
“Can you give me a hand” she asked
“Ok” Lorraine said and walked over to her
With Lorraine’s height and Tegan crouching they were roughly the same
height and as she reached the little elf on the chair Tegan moved towards her
and stole a long lingering kiss which lingered long because Lorraine reciprocated.
“Oh I
didn’t even know that was on the menu” Lorraine said
“It’s a new
addition” and kissed her again
“Is it a
Christmas special or will I be able to have it anytime of the year?”
“Whenever
you fancy it” Tegan replied and then Lorraine lifted her down to terra firma
and kissed her again.
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