The Little Paris Patisserie

by Julie Caplin

  ‘No,’ growled Sebastian not even turning around.

  She shrugged at the driver, picked up Sebastian’s laptop bag and followed him, glaring at his back and muttering under her breath. She was so out of here. Rude bastard, not even waiting for her. He was already halfway to the lift.

  He dropped a crutch as he fumbled for the lift button and cursed vehemently. Nina sighed under her breath, amazed that it was possible for him to be even more bad-tempered.

  When she picked it up and handed it to him, he almost snatched it from her hand. Biting her tongue, she kept her face impassive. Only ten more minutes. Ten more minutes before she walked out of here and never had to see him again. All she had to do was accompany him in the lift, open the door for him, give him his laptop – and the jury was out as to whether she might wrap the bloody thing round his head – say goodbye and leave. She’d had it with him. He was on his own from now on.

  As soon as the lift doors opened, he was off, his crutches rattling as he ploughed his way straight to the room with his head ducked down as he waited for her to catch up and put the key card in the slot.

  ‘Thanks,’ he growled. ‘See you tomorrow.’ And he was off without a backward look.

  For a moment Nina stood, clenching her hands into fists. How dare he treat her like this? Ungrateful git. Yes, she’d made a couple of mistakes today, but no one had died and everything was ready for tomorrow. She might not be perfect but she deserved better and she shouldn’t let him get away with this. Simmering fury began to bubble up. It took a lot to make her mad. She didn’t like confrontation but … this time she had nothing to lose. Sod it.

  She marched three full strides down the hallway of the suite into the lounge. There was no sign of Sebastian but anger propelled her towards his bedroom where she heard one of the crutches clatter to the ground.

  Pushing open the door with an angry shove, she was about to call his name when the sight of him stopped her dead in the doorway.

  He’d collapsed onto the bed, laying diagonally across it, one arm flung over his face. She paused as he let out a low moan. All the bubbling anger, threatening to explode, leeched away in an instant. Stupid, stupid, stupid man. Now she could see the pallor of his face, the tight jaw where his teeth were gritted, the reluctant movement of his lower half.

  ‘Sebastian?’

  He stilled.

  ‘Are you…?’

  ‘Go away.’ His voice was gruff and he kept his face hidden behind his arm.

  Yeah right, as if she was going to leave him in this state. She crossed to the bedside table where she could see a couple of boxes of tablets.

  Nina narrowed her eyes and took a more careful study of him. He was holding himself very still and he’d definitely turned even greyer. The stupid sod was trying to be brave. It hadn’t occurred to her that he’d still be in pain but then she’d never broken anything.

  ‘How much pain are you in?’

  The answering silence told her enough.

  ‘Sebastian?’ her voice was gentle.

  ‘Yes?’ He lifted his arm and looked up at her, as wary as a small boy caught out in a lie. There was a suspicious watery glint in his eyes.

  For a moment, she felt racked with guilt, he looked so beaten and vulnerable. It was horribly disquieting when he’d never seemed anything but invincible.

  ‘When was the last time you had any painkillers?’ Occasionally having brothers paid off. All four of them had played rugby and shunned painkillers. It was a man thing. Jonathon had broken his leg once and had moaned continuously about how itchy the cast was until her mum gave him a knitting needle.

  Sebastian lifted his chin looking mutinous. ‘A while ago.’ Now she could see the chalky whiteness around his mouth and the tension in his body.

  ‘Are these them?’

  He nodded, wincing as he did so.

  ‘When was the last time you took one?’ she asked again.

  ‘Breakfast.’

  ‘Oh, for goodness’ sake.’ She hid her worry in the chiding tone as she snatched up the pack of tablets. ‘How many are you allowed to have?’

  ‘Two every four to six hours but they’re very strong. They make me feel like hell.’

  ‘And being in pain is preferable?’ snapped Nina, cross with him now. No wonder he’d been so bad-tempered all day.

  Sebastian didn’t say anything but shook his head weakly, his eyes closed, and suddenly she realised how completely helpless he was and how much pain he must be in. Popping a couple of pills from the blister pack, she bustled into the bathroom to get him some water, giving herself a wry look in the mirror. Subdued Sebastian was a lot easier to deal with, but it wasn’t nice seeing him like this and she knew he wouldn’t want her pity either.

  ‘What did the hospital say about after care?’ she asked, as she put the glass of water and tablets down. She needed to get him sitting upright to give him the pills.

  ‘Rest. Keep it elevated.’ His flat tone suggested that he knew he’d been an idiot and he didn’t need her to reinforce it.

  ‘Right. Can I help you to get more comfortable? If you sit up, I can arrange the pillows and then put some under your leg to raise it a bit. Then painkillers.’

  Sebastian gave her a bleak look and the grim line of his mouth wavered. When he blinked with a weak nod as if he was too exhausted to speak, she moved forward and started shifting pillows.

  ‘Do you think you can lift yourself up?’ she asked.

  ‘Give me a minute. Sorry, that car journey…’

  She didn’t say the obvious – and being on your feet all afternoon and not taking any medication.

  Once he was nestled into the pillows and had taken the painkillers, she spoke again. She’d been trying to keep things strictly impersonal but she wanted to make him comfortable.

  ‘Do you want me to take your shoe off?’

  He gave her a baleful glare.

  Now she rolled her eyes. ‘Look Sebastian, accept that you need help.’ Moving to the other side of the bed, she unlaced his black brogue and eased it off. ‘See, that wasn’t so hard was it? I’m here. Able and willing. I haven’t got any other plans for the rest of the evening. Why don’t you have a sleep? And then I can order room service later.’

  He nodded and closed his eyes, which she took as a small triumph. At least he was listening to sense, although she suspected that was more because he’d given up trying to fight the pain. For a moment, she stood over him fighting the urge to smooth his hair from his forehead and a strangely insistent impulse to press a quick kiss there.

  With a start, she felt his hand slip into hers but he didn’t open his eyes. With a gentle squeeze of her fingers, he whispered, ‘Thanks Nina.’

  Pulling the door to, she went into the suite. There was no way she could leave him in the lurch now. She could have kicked herself for not realising how much discomfort he was in. No wonder he was so damned irritable. Despite saying he didn’t need a carer, he clearly did need someone around to look after him.

  Pursing her lips, she pulled out the notes he’d prepared in readiness for the next day. According to the recipes they were going to be making choux pastry, crème pâtissière, chocolate profiteroles and coffee éclairs. Her mouth watered, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten for quite a while, but she decided to wait another hour before ordering anything, then when it arrived she’d wake him up.

  The discreet knock at the door signalled the arrival of room service. Nina had played it safe for Sebastian and herself and ordered both of them burgers and chips. Peeping in on Sebastian as she went to open the door, she found him still sound asleep. For a moment she studied him. In sleep his face had softened, the dark hair flopped down over his forehead and his mouth relaxed. He looked much younger, more like the Sebastian she remembered and she was horrified at the unexpected ping of her heart. Quickly she turned and headed towards the door, almost wrenching it open.

  ‘Someone’s hungry,’ teased a laughing Scot’s brogue.

  �
��Alex, hi. You do room service?’

  He grinned at her. ‘Normally no, but the staff are primed to let me know if Sebastian needs anything and if I’m around, I pop up. How is he?’

  Nina grimaced as she backed up to let him in with the tray. ‘Not great, to be honest. Silly idiot has overdone it today.

  ‘Sounds like Bas. Complete workaholic.’

  Nina raised an eyebrow. ‘And you’re a slacker?’

  ‘I’m not like him. He’s driven.’ Alex shrugged. ‘I work hard—’ his cheeks dimpled ‘—and play hard, but man, he’s super motivated. Determined to prove his dad wrong.’

  Nina frowned as she followed Alex into the suite where he deposited the tray on the dining table overlooking the window and pulled back the curtain to peer out at the lights of Paris shining in the dark.

  ‘I don’t remember his dad, I’m not sure I ever saw him but then that’s not surprising. Sebastian seemed to spend all his time at our house. Mum gave him free reign in the kitchen when she realised he could cook better than she could. It was always a bit of trial for her, she found cooking for four palate-indifferent, human dustbins a bit monotonous. At that age my brothers weren’t terribly fussy and quantity over quality counted every time.’

  ‘Sebastian’s dad is…’ Alex trailed to a halt. ‘Bas! Brought your supper up for you, you lazy sod. Sleeping on the job, I hear.’

  ‘You try getting around on crutches. Bloody knackering.’ Nina turned. Sebastian stood in the doorway looking marginally better – but they were talking the slenderest of margins. ‘What’s on the menu?’

  ‘Burger and chips.’ Nina gave a self-deprecating shrug. ‘I wasn’t sure what you’d want.’

  ‘Perfect. Thanks.’

  She noticed he moved very slowly as he moved across the room as if he’d used up all his energy earlier in the day and still wasn’t fully recharged. How would he feel if she suggested he ate and went back to bed? She caught Alex’s eye who frowned as he watched Sebastian’s laboured progress.

  ‘Dear God, it’s like watching the walking dead. Good job I upped your chip ration.’

  Nina noticed that despite Alex’s teasing words, he was casually helping Sebastian to sit down and taking charge of his crutches. She picked up the tray of food, took off her plate and handed it to Sebastian to eat on his lap.

  ‘More bloody chips are the last thing I need. You’ll be able to use me as the ball when I get back to playing five-a-side again.’

  ‘It’s alright, we’ll stick you in goal,’ said Alex, stealing a chip and throwing his lanky frame onto the opposite sofa. He looked as if he could eat chips all day without any problems.

  Nina rolled her eyes as she sat down next to him, perching her plate on her lap.

  ‘I saw that,’ said Alex kicking off his shoes, pinching another chip and making himself comfortable.

  ‘You two sound like my brothers. Mmm, these are good.’ She munched on a chip, realising that she was starving.

  ‘Ha! Except Nick can’t kick a ball to save his life.’ Sebastian gave her a rare grin. ‘Nina’s brothers are rugby men.’

  ‘I seem to recall you played a mean fly half,’ said Nina, responding without thinking, and she took a quick bite of burger hoping her slight blush wasn’t obvious as she recalled all the matches supposedly watching her brothers, hanging around like a lovesick groupie. God, she really had made a fool of herself.

  Sebastian sighed and a look of regret flashed across his face. ‘That was a long time ago, but I miss it.’

  ‘Why did you give it up then?’ asked Nina, intrigued. Sebastian wasn’t the sort of person to back off from a challenge or not do something he wanted. It was a shame, he’d been good. She had to wait a second as he swallowed down a mouthful of chips which, despite his protests earlier, he seemed to be enjoying with relish.

  ‘Unfortunately, doing the Sunday lunch shift when you feel like you’ve been put through a blender got old quite quickly. And working seven days a week didn’t help.’

  ‘All work and no play makes Bas a dull boy,’ said Alex, his hand snaking in for one of Nina’s chips this time. ‘‘Although that blonde ba… Katrin from the interiors company looks like she’s enjoying mixing a bit of business and pleasure. What’s going on with her?’

  ‘Early days,’ said Sebastian, suddenly very interested in a patch on his cast which he rubbed at with his palm, making his tray wobble precariously. ‘She travels a lot. We’ll see.’ Lifting his head, he looked over at her. ‘What about you, Nina? Boyfriend on the scene? What happened to that Joe guy you were seeing?’ His clipped questions made it sound like an interrogation, a fact-finding mission without any real interest.

  Nina dredged up a non-committal smile. ‘You’re well out of date. Joe and I stopped seeing each other about four years ago and he’s just got married. I was bridesmaid.’

  ‘Ouch,’ said Alex, pulling a face and shifting on the sofa towards her as if in reflexive support. ‘I bet that was uncomfortable.’ Despite his blunt words, sympathy shimmered in his eyes and she was able to look at him rather than Sebastian as she responded.

  ‘No, I introduced him and Ali, she’s a good friend.’ The words came out blasé and unconcerned. She’d been genuinely delighted for them but she wasn’t about to admit that their relationship assuaged her guilt that she could never love Joe the way he wanted her to. Someone else had first dibs on her heart. ‘I couldn’t have been happier, especially as Joe and I were always more friends than anything else.’ Nina prayed that her face gave nothing away.

  ‘So, no one on the scene at the moment?’ pressed Sebastian.

  Nina shook her head. ‘Too busy,’ she said crisply, irritated that he had to highlight that she was steadfastly single. He was clearly being bloody minded.

  ‘Well, you must have some downtime while you’re in Paris,’ said Alex, with a sudden cheery stridency to his tone. ‘Sebastian can be a slave driver. Don’t let him take advantage. You need to make sure you see some of the city. In fact, I know some great places.’ He delved in his top pocket. ‘Here, take my card, I can never remember my mobile.’

  Sebastian glared at him. ‘Nina is here to work! I’ll need her to be flexible as things come up.’

  Alex gave her a cheerful shrug and a discreet wink. ‘Let me know if he’s being a difficult boss. I can withdraw his food rations.’

  Nina grinned back at Alex who promptly helped himself to another one of her chips. ‘That sounds like a plan.’

  Sebastian’s mouth tightened. Nina only felt a tiny bit guilty ganging up on him but he’d been such a grumpy git all afternoon and it was nice to have the light relief of Alex’s cheerful good humour.

  When they’d finished eating, Sebastian yawned rather noisily. ‘Right Nina, I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t be late. You’ll have to do the meet and greet in the shop.’

  ‘Me?’

  ‘I’m not risking those stairs and you’re more than capable. You’ve got all their names and … you’ve clearly met one of them already,’ he added with a cross expression. ‘All you need to do is wait for everyone to arrive and then bring them to the kitchen.’

  ‘OK.’ She nodded and gathered up her things. ‘See you then. Night Alex.’

  To her surprise Alex jumped up, and quickly rounded up the plates, relieving Sebastian of his tray with a speedy turn. ‘I’ll see you out and put these in the corridor.’

  ‘Alex,’ Sebastian said quickly. ‘I need a word.’

  ‘Be right back,’ he replied, ignoring the implicit request that he stayed put. Sebastian’s frown darkened. Nina wondered anew at how it was humanly possible for his expression to be any blacker.

  Once at the door, having deposited the tray on the floor outside the room, Alex paused. ‘Sorry about his nibs in there. Never known him quite so contrary. Don’t let him get to you. Ignore him and if you want some light relief I was serious about the offer of a guide around Paris. You’ve got my card. Text me your number … well.’ He blushed. ‘If you want to,
that is.’

  ‘Thanks, Alex. That would be really nice.’ She gave him a cheerful smile, as her heart sank a little. He was lovely… friendly, kind, absolutely the perfect antidote to Sebastian and – she felt ashamed to even think it – too reminiscent of Joe. Getting tangled up in a friendship where one party wanted more was something she wanted to avoid at all costs. And wasn’t that a huge irony? No wonder Sebastian kept her arm’s length.

  ‘Alex,’ came a bellow from the other room. ‘I haven’t got all day. And Nina has important things to do.’

  ‘Something is really bugging him,’ whispered Alex. ‘Better go. See you soon.’

  Chapter 10

  ‘Hey, Nina.’ Maddie bounced through the door first, shaking her head and dappling the floor with drops of second-hand rain, bringing in with her a tail wind of chilly spring air.

  ‘Morning. You’re the first one here.’ At the sight of her, Nina immediately felt brighter especially as for the last half hour she’d been subjected to Marcel’s rather apathetic help as she set up a coffee station at one of the tables in readiness for everyone’s arrival. He was definitely on a go slow – in fact, any slower and he’d go backwards. As if that wasn’t enough, there was no sign of Sebastian yet and he hadn’t responded to her last text.

  ‘I’m always early. Comes of having a big family. Trying to get everyone out of the house is always like herding cats.’

  ‘I know that feeling. My dad used to threaten to get one of the sheepdogs to round us all up. Help yourself to coffee and take a seat. We’ll wait for everyone to get here and then we’ll go through to the kitchen. I’ll be back in a minute.’ She left Maddie helping herself to coffee and nipped downstairs, ignoring Marcel’s impenetrable stare as she passed him.

  The kitchen was all set, but where was Sebastian? She gave her watch an anxious look before returning to join Maddie as Marguerite arrived at that very moment with a middle-aged couple in tow. ‘Bonjour Nina, look who I found on my way here. Monsieur and Madame Ashman.’