Page 24 of Slow Simmer

“Speak for yourself,” Carlo drawled, and she shot him a suppressing glance.

“Do they have specific things they’re asking us to do? Or will they be selecting from our menu?”

“Unknown,” Luke spread his hands. “I wish I could tell you. The production assistant I’ve been talking to says B-Rex will arrive on the island on Tuesday, Myst and the director on Wednesday. There’s a whole entourage coming along with them, as you can imagine. I’ll leave a message that you’d like to consult with someone who can make decisions on that as soon as possible.”

“Possibly forward a copy of the menu through to them?” Carlo suggested, and Luke agreed that was a sensible idea.

“I realise you two will basically have to neglect responsibilities here for a couple of days to fuss over a pair of spoilt celebrities,” he said wryly, “but… I have to ask you to do exactly that. It’s important for the resort as a whole, and I swear it’ll be worth your while.”

It wasn’t as though they had an awful lot of choice, but they would both relish the challenge. Luke nodded and said he’d keep them in the loop and get them any information he could, as it came in.

“Anything you need, it’s yours,” he said in parting. “Up to and including express airfreighting produce from wherever you need it. Just say the word.”

Suzannah thanked him, and he nodded as he rose to his feet.

“I’ll leave you to work.”

The door closed behind him, and Suzannah and Carlo looked at each other.

“Won’t this befun?” Carlo said after a moment.

“Thanks for the sarcasm,” Suzannah said, giving him a cynical look. “Come on.” She got to her feet. “The only thing we can do right now is get lunch on track. After lunch, though, we need to sit down and work the roster out and plan for how we’re going to arrange things. Everything will have to be prepared here, transported and made up on site in the villa, which means either you or I will have to be on site at all times to make sure the presentation is spot on. I just hope it’s got a usable kitchen or we’ll be trying to cook on a barbecue or something.”

“We’ll worry about that when we know the layout, and the menu,” Carlo said. “Hey, maybe we’ll get lucky and it’ll be right next door to Jace’s villa. I’m sure he’d let us stage out of his kitchen.”

Suzannah brightened. “And we can probably find that out, at least. Luke will know which villa it is. I’ll drop him a line.” Reaching for her computer, she started typing rapidly.

Back to business it was, then. Tempted to lean down and snatch a kiss, Carlo decided not to push his luck.

“I’ll get to work,” he said, keeping his tone light.

Suzannah didn’t look up. “Tell Julie I won’t be long, please,” she requested. “I’ll fill her in on what we’ll need to do… and Edouard, too, he’ll probably have to select wine…”

Mention of Edouard set Carlo’s teeth on edge instantly. It wasn’t going to go over well with the sommelier when he found out Carlo and Suzannah were sleeping together; Carlo wouldn’t put it past him to try to sabotage them somehow, or rat them out to Luke. Although Carlo was pretty sure Luke wouldn’t care at all as long as it didn’t affect their work.

Heading out into the kitchen, he left Suzannah’s office door open and paused to speak to Julie briefly, just letting her know that there was a special event coming up which would require some extra effort and Suzannah was working on details. Taking it in her stride, Julie nodded, her confidence that he and Suzannah would manage everything and just tell her what her role would be was obvious… and heart-warming.

Back in the pastry kitchen, Carlo got to work, putting the imminent disruption out of his mind. He was planning to film for his YouTube show later that afternoon; Gemma the resort photographer was coming in to do the camera work. He needed to have all the dinner prep and whatever Suzannah needed him to do finished before three so they could have a clear couple of hours before the staff came back in for dinner.

He was rapidly cracking and separating eggs when a shriek of utmost horror had him dropping everything and scrambling for the cold room.

Samira stood in one corner, hands to her cheeks. As Carlo rushed to her side, she turned to him with an utterly devastated look on her face before bursting into tears and throwing herself into his arms.

Looking over the head of the stricken young woman, Carlo’s eyes widened. In the corner of the cold room, carefully sheltered from accidental knocks, was the wedding cake he had made and Samira had slaved so long and hard over decorating. Every one of her delicate sugar roses had been crushed and mangled, and the formerly perfect pink and white cake was streaked with ugly dark green smears and drips. Carlo could only surmise an entire bottle of food colouring had been poured over it.

“What thehell?”

Carlo turned his head to find Suzannah glaring at him and Samira, sobbing heartbrokenly against his chest.

“Someone’s sabotaged the cake for today’s wedding,” he said flatly, hardly able to believe it had happened.

“What?” Her expression morphed from angry jealousy to shock. “No… it must have been an accident.”

“A bottle of green food colouring isn’t an accident,” Carlo said grimly.

Shock turned to disbelief and then to rage as he moved aside to give her a good look at the damage, and then she let rip with swear words in half a dozen languages, practically turning the air blue with her fury. Abruptly, she turned on her heel and stormed back out into the main kitchen.

He’d have to trust her to find out who would do such a thing. There were no surveillance cameras in the cold room, though, and literally every staff member would have been in and out multiple times in the last couple of hours. With the cake not in open view unless someone walked to the very back corner and looked behind the stack of egg boxes, any of them could have done it at any time.

---