September
Sadie Grassman
was a very successful chef, and she was well respected by fellow professionals
and was highly regarded by everyone who knew her, but her success didn’t extend
to her personal life, she may have had the Midas touch in the kitchen, but she
was more like Medusa in the romance department.
She was living
in Pipershaven with her family when her career took off, which began in a very
small way when she was still at college in Abbottsford.
It all started
when one of her teachers, a kindred spirit Jane Donald, who employed her as
sous chef in her home dining enterprise.
Jane felt an
affinity with Sadie because she was doing the same college course at the same
college that Jane had, and at the same time her love life was also a total
disaster.
Sadie’s bad
luck in love continued after she left college and got a restaurant job under
Jane’s uncle at his own restaurant where she fell heavily for a gorgeous
waiter, who alas turned out to be gay.
And that was
the crux of her problem, she kept falling in love with the wrong guys.
After three
years at the Faustino’s in Abbottsford, Jane Donald asked her to join her at La
Florenza in Purplemere and after two years of that Sadie became Chef in
residence after Jane fell pregnant.
The only
downside being that she had her heart broken in twice over the next two years
before she decided to strike out on her own and got the job of head chef at the
Pheasant in Quarry Hill.
After having
her heart broken once too often Sadie finally swore herself off men, which she
managed to keep to for more than five years before cupid struck again.
It was while
she was at the Pheasant that she first met Charlie and Toddy Phelps, although
they weren’t married at that point.
The Phelps
became regular patrons and when the retreat became a reality they approached
Sadie to be their Chef de Cuisine at St Adelaide’s
Reflection and Healing Retreat.
She wasn’t sure
at first but like many people before her she found it really difficult to say
no to Toddy.
When she moved
to the Retreat in Pepperstock Green at the end of May to take up her new
position she wasn’t looking for love.
She was there
to evaluate the kitchens, and produce a list of equipment she required, so she
could do what she did best, cooking.
Sadie also had
the responsibility to interview and employ her own staff, she had already put
out feelers among the staff she had worked with in the past and Toddy had
invited applications herself, but the final choice was down to Sadie.
As Sadie was
head Chef she was entitled to one of the staff cottages located on the other
side of the River by Carpenters Farm and had only been in the Cottage for two
weeks when she met and fell for one of the maintenance team, Tom Webb.
It took her
completely by surprise in several ways, firstly she wasn’t looking for anyone
and she had her feelings locked squarely away, but most of all he wasn’t her
type in any way shape or form.
He was older
than her for a start, quietly spoken, socially awkward, nervy and a bit gawky
looking to boot.
Tom for his
part found himself attracted to her as well, despite the fact she was loud,
feisty, and outspoken, and very much not the type of woman he was looking for,
but the heart wants what the heart wants, and his heart wanted her.
As it turned
out they weren’t the only ones to think Sadie and Tom were mismatched, but
despite the misgivings of all concerned they soon found themselves going out
together and then confounded the sceptics by becoming an inseparable couple.
And all was
going well but at the back of Sadie’s mind was the fear that it would all go
wrong, bound to go wrong, because her relationship always went wrong.
All her adult
life she had failed in the art of love, every time she would fall for someone
in a breathless passion, she would suffer the hoppy skippy heart when she
looked at him, and feel that desperate longing when they were apart, and she
would give herself completely, only for it all to fall apart.
Year after
year, several times a year, she found herself falling again, helpless to
resist, in fact it was like reliving a bad dream when she was forced to make
the same mistakes over and over again.
However, she
managed to break the cycle, after having her heart broken once too often and
managed to keep love at bay for more than five years before she fell for Tom.
Sadie had her
reservations about dipping her toe in the water but after they had been going
out together for the best part of three months she began to lower her guard,
and that was when she started to hear the rumours which left her cold.
There were some
in the kitchen who delighted in the fact that they could bring bad news to her
door but there were many others who only had her welfare at heart and sought to
comfort her.
But no matter
how many positives she heard from friends and staff she only remembered the
negatives.
That was
because the rumour that she kept hearing was that Tom was not going to be part
of the maintenance for very much longer and what gave credence to the rumour in
Sadie’s mind was the fact that Tom had been quieter than normal and was clearly
distracted, so she feared the worst.
Everything came
to a head on the 2nd of September when she was in the kitchen at the Retreat
prepping for lunch with her Sous Chef Madelaine Colgate when he knocked on the
door.
This just in
itself threw Sadie into a blind panic and seeing her reaction Madelaine made
herself scarce.
The reason
Sadie was so fearful was that he never visited her before lunch because he knew
how busy she was.
Sadie’s sense
of foreboding was like the day signified the end of one chapter and beginning
of another, with particular emphasis on “the end” and in her case “the end”
meant having her heart broken.
She took a deep
breath summoned up a smile and opened the door.
“Hello hon” she
said, “this is a nice surprise.”
He walked past
her without speaking and he was wearing a grave expression, which quickly
removed the smile from her own face.
He sat down at
the table, and she joined him.
“Sadie! I need
to say something” he said abruptly.
“Oh God you’re
leaving the retreat” she snapped.
“And you’re
breaking up with me.”
“No” he said
impatiently.
“What part?”
she asked.
“What?”
“What part is
no?” Sadie asked, “the leaving or the dumping.”
“Neither” he
replied, “I mean both.”
“Then I don’t
understand what’s happening, you come here wearing the face of doom saying you
need to say something, there are rumours flying around the village about
changes at the Retreat and you have been very distracted lately and I don’t
know what’s going on, so if you’re not leaving the Retreat and you’re not
dumping me, what then?”
“Sadie
Grassman, will you please stop talking long enough for me to ask you to marry
me” Tom said.
“What?” she
exclaimed.
“Will you marry
me?” he asked,
“So, you’re
staying?” she quizzed “at St Adelaide’s.”
“Yes” he
confirmed “I’m to be head of maintenance.”
“So, it’s the
Vicar who is leaving?” she mused.
“Yes, to
pastures new” he said.
“Wow that’s a
relief” Sadie exclaimed and sighed.
“So?” he said.
“So, what?”
“The marriage
thing?” he pointed out and only got a blank look and silence until she screamed
and threw her arms around his neck.
“Yes, Yes, and
Yes” she said punctuating each affirmative with a kiss.
“Of course,
I’ll marry you.”
