24

Liv found Fraser in the kitchen scowling at his phone. ‘Something interesting?’ she asked.

‘If you think my ex getting in touch is interesting then yes.’

‘Actually I do. What does she want?’ she asked, coming closer and snatching a look at his screen before he rapidly put his phone away.

‘It doesn’t really make sense, perhaps the message wasn’t for me.’

She sat on the worktop and Fraser shook his head at her. ‘What did it say?’ she asked.

Fraser busied himself with getting out pans and then changing his mind and putting them away again and choosing different ones. ‘Something about me looking cheap on the internet.’ He dropped a pan with a loud clatter, making Liv put her hands over her ears. Fraser spun in her direction. ‘You didn’t take a photograph of me earlier when I was…’ He waved a hand up and down his body.

It took Liv a moment to cotton on. ‘Oh, when you were naked you mean?’

‘Shhh, voice down,’ he said. ‘If Granny hears you she’ll start asking awkward questions. Anyway stop dodging the issue. Did you take a photo?’

Liv gave him a look. ‘Do you recall what I was wearing at the time?’

Fraser looked to the ground for a second then looked up. ‘Not a lot.’

‘Exactly. I didn’t happen to have my Nikon with the paparazzi super magnifying lens on me.’

Fraser’s expression changed to one of thunderstruck. ‘There’s no need to be rude.’

‘I wasn’t,’ said Liv. Then she went over what she’d said. ‘I didn’t mean I’d need a powerful lens to see your… um…’ She pointed at him, making them both look down at his trousers. Liv whipped back her finger and folded her arms to stop herself doing anything similarly embarrassing. ‘I didn’t mean it like that. There were no size issues that I witnessed.’ Fraser blinked. ‘Not that I was looking obviously,’ added Liv hastily. ‘Anyway let’s tiptoe out of this minefield. To answer your question. No, I did not take any photographs of you naked or otherwise.’

‘Then I don’t know what she’s going on about.’

‘Did the intensive care work on my phone?’ she asked.

‘Dunno, have a look.’ He got out the jar of rice and passed it to her. She hoicked out her phone. It seemed okay.

‘I’ll get my charger,’ she said getting off the worktop but Fraser didn’t reply.

A few minutes later she returned to the kitchen and plugged in her phone. They both watched it and waited. At last a red battery sign appeared. ‘Yay! It works. You’re a star,’ she said automatically throwing her arms around his neck. There was a tricky moment where they both froze as if suddenly remembering they were mortal enemies. Liv let him go and they both became intensely interested in staring at her phone.

The staring was interrupted by the beep of Fraser’s phone. He snatched it from his pocket and his eyes pinged wide as he looked at the screen. ‘Bloody hell.’

‘What?’ said Liv trying to get a look over his shoulder.

‘How on earth…’ He appeared stunned as if he’d been whacked in the face with one of his heavy-based pans but at the same time he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off his screen.

Liv was more than curious. ‘For heaven’s sake what?’ Fraser turned his phone around so that she could see. There was a photograph of a muddy Fraser with Shanie Cortina stood right in front of him pouting. It was surprisingly flattering given the situation. Fraser looked ruggedly handsome and Shanie only had the tiniest mud splatter on her cheek, making it look almost strategically placed and you couldn’t see the mess the rest of her was in. ‘What’s wrong with that?’ she asked as he whipped his phone back.

‘It’s got over twenty-one thousand likes and the caption reads: Got saved by a real-life hero today. He’s handsome, fit and the best chef ever. Check out Bonnie Scott’s restaurant at the Lochy House Hotel. Things are looking up for me.’ Fraser looked up from the screen. ‘And then she’s put a heart emoji.’ He shoved his phone in his pocket and went back to banging pans.

It was Liv’s turn to look like she’d been smacked in the face with a pan, which was also exactly how she felt. How those two had slipped under her radar she wasn’t sure. ‘What did I miss then?’ she asked feeling and sounding narked. There had been that odd moment when Shanie had said something when she’d seen Liv and Fraser together. Had Liv inadvertently got herself in a love triangle?

‘Nothing. She’s deluded.’ He ran his hands through his hair and left a bit sticking up.

‘Is she?’ asked Liv, feeling strangely defensive on Shanie’s part. ‘Or did you also kiss her under the mistletoe?’

‘What? No. Is that what this is about? You’re jealous. Jeez.’ He threw his head back and blew out a breath. ‘I don’t believe this.’

‘Nor do I,’ said Liv. ‘Why do you lead women on and then deny everything? What is your problem?’

‘I didn’t do anything. Shanie has got it all wrong. She said a few things and maybe there was some flirting.’

‘Is that all?’

Fraser looked sheepish. ‘She came knocking on my door the other night and her intentions were pretty clear.’

‘What did you do?’ Although Liv wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

Fraser looked embarrassed. ‘I pretended to be asleep. There really is nothing going on, so I don’t know why she put a heart or why she thinks… Heavens, I don’t know what she thinks.’

Liv made a heart shape with her hands.

‘She doesn’t love me; she doesn’t know me,’ said Fraser.

‘Did you exchange phone numbers?’

‘Yeah.’

Liv gave him her ‘there you go then’ look.

‘Come on.’ Fraser was looking exasperated. ‘That is not the universal sign for “I love you”.’ That was the moment Effie chose to walk in.

‘Yay! My two favourite people are in love! Well, apart from Jedward, David Tennant, Taylor Swift and Dolly – and Jock’O, who technically isn’t a person so doesn’t really count. Oh and Sharleen Spiteri.’ Fraser and Liv were both staring at her aghast. ‘But yay two of my top-ten people are in love.’

‘Na-huh,’ said Liv shaking her head so fast it made her ears ring.

‘Definitely not in love with her,’ said Fraser stabbing a finger in Liv’s direction.

‘Hey!’ said Liv. ‘You don’t need to be mean.’

‘I wasn’t being mean; I was simply agreeing with you.’

‘But you said you loved her.’ Effie looked beyond sad.

‘No, he meant Shanie Cortina,’ explained Liv.

Effie’s sad expression instantly evaporated. ‘Yay! Shanie would be in my top ten too. And she’s famous. This is the best news. Wait ’til Granny hears.’ Effie turned to leave.

‘Stop!’ Fraser held up his palm. ‘Please can we stop all the madness – it’s making ma heid mince. Let’s keep this simple and get something very clear.’ He glanced at Liv and then focused on Effie. ‘I am not in love with anybody.’

‘Except maybe yourself,’ muttered Liv, seeing if her phone had a smidgeon enough charge for her to use.

‘Hang on,’ said Fraser. ‘Can you please stop sniping at me for one—’

‘Bloody hell,’ said Liv. ‘You’ve gone viral. Look at these numbers. Instagram. TikTok. Thousands and thousands of likes and going up all the time.’ She showed them both her phone where she’d been searching on social media.

Fraser ran his hands through his hair. ‘How do we make it stop?’

The phone in reception started to ring and all three heads turned in that direction.

‘I’m not sure we can,’ said Liv. She was left wondering if this was Shanie’s response to her asking if she’d give Fraser a good review or had there been something going on between them all along?

The next hour was quite wild where the hotel phone was constantly ringing with people asking to book a table or speak to Fraser about his relationship with Shanie Cortina. Dolly was fielding most of the calls and was taking their details if it was for a booking and saying ‘no comment’ for everything else. When it got too much they put on the answerphone.

Fraser had been hiding in the kitchen for the most part. Robbie had turned away one local reporter at the front gates and had pulled them shut in anticipation of the masses of paparazzi, which had made Fraser go a little pale and Effie squeak with excitement although it turned out it was purely a precaution and thankfully there were no photographers. Another definite benefit of living in the wilds of the Scottish Highlands.

They all convened at reception with Fraser the last to join the group.

‘At least we’ll be fully booked for the showcase dinner,’ said Dolly. ‘In fact we could probably do two – we’ve had that much interest in bookings.’

‘Slight problem,’ said Fraser.

‘What now?’ Dolly sounded exasperated.

‘I’ve just had phone calls and two text messages…’ He was frowning as if struggling to know how to finish the sentence.

‘From who?’ asked Liv.

Fraser looked at her for a moment before he spoke. ‘All my kitchen team and waiting staff. They’ve all said they’re not coming back. Every single one of them.’

‘Are they all sick?’ asked Effie. ‘Do you remember when Donald’s diarrhoea did the rounds?’

‘They’ve quit, Effie. Left. Resigned.’

‘That’s more than fishy,’ said Dolly.

‘Donald’s diarrhoea wasn’t fish; it was out-of-date Scotch eggs that…’ Effie noticed everyone was staring at her and she stopped speaking.

‘Did they give any reasons?’ Liv asked Fraser.

‘I didn’t think the first one was anything odd. He said he’d got a new job so I wished him well. But by call number five I knew there was something up.’

‘Number five?’ queried Liv.

Fraser scowled at her. ‘Kitchen and waiting staff.’

‘Got it. Sorry, you were saying?’

‘I asked her where she was going and she said Lairds and put the phone down.’

Effie gasped. ‘That’s Lizzie’s restaurant.’

‘And you think they’ve all got jobs there?’ Fraser wobbled his head. ‘Blimey, she knows how to get revenge,’ said Liv. Perhaps she could give her a few pointers.

‘Revenge for what?’ said Fraser throwing up his hands. ‘I didn’t do anything wrong. It was her and Callum who were off shagging behind my back.’

‘She’s trying to scupper the showcase dinner. That’s what she’s doing,’ said Dolly.

‘I think it’s fair to say that she has,’ said Fraser. ‘There’s no way I can get enough staff in and trained by tomorrow. In fact I doubt I can get anyone at all. That’s it. I’m screwed.’

‘We’ll help, won’t we,’ said Effie, grinning at Dolly and then at Liv.

Liv felt a wave of something unpleasant come over her as she realised what Effie was suggesting and wondered for a moment if she’d got Donald’s disorder. ‘Oh no, I can’t stay any longer. I have to get back for… um…’ What did she have waiting for her at home? She thought of her sad little single bed at her sister’s. ‘My sister! And my mum. I need to—’

‘It’s okay,’ said Fraser. ‘There’d still not be enough of us.’

‘We could stagger the service,’ said Dolly, pushing out her lip. ‘Surely we have to try.’

‘We’d definitely need Liv and even then it’s probably impossible,’ said Fraser in a small voice. He turned to face Liv. ‘I know we’ve not always seen eye to eye. Because quite honestly I don’t know what you’re going to come out with from one moment to the next. But that aside, you’re a good worker, you know the dishes and I’ll need your help if we’re even going to consider going ahead.’

‘Err…’ Liv looked at the hopeful faces of Effie, Dolly and Fraser all waiting for her reply. At that moment her mobile sprang into life and she’d never been so relieved for the interruption. Even if it was a scam call she’d be forever grateful. She looked at the screen. ‘It’s my sister. I need to take this.’