Chapter 7

Ally’s heart starts thumping in her chest. Meg cannot take that dish to a world-renowned chef’s house! Ally was sworn to secrecy.

Ally turns to Ralph with a worried look on her face.

“When was Meg here?” Ally asks urgently.

“She left minutes before you arrived.” Ralph answers in a confused tone.

Ally turns her back on Ralph. She takes her phone out of her pocket and dials Meg’s number. The phone rings twice before Meg answers.

“Hey! Thank you so much for this beautiful dish. You outdid yourself, once again.” Meg rambles without pause.

“Meg, …” Ally tries to tell her that she took the wrong dish, but Meg interrupts her.

“I have just arrived here. Thank you, again. I will let you know how it went.” Meg tells Ally before hanging up.

Ally stares out in front of her, not really seeing anything. This is really bad. What if the Chef asks for the recipe? Ally feels sick to her stomach. She dials Meg’s number again but the call is ended after a few rings.

Ralph clears his throat behind Ally. Ally turns around to look at Ralph, she is slowly returning back to reality. She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. Today is going to be busy, especially with one less person in the kitchen. She needs to focus.

*******

Meg is welcomed into the home by the butler. He takes her coat and the dish from her and leads her to a large dining room. There are placements at the table for six people. A lot more people can be seated at this large table.

At one of the seats. Eric is sitting, waiting for the rest of the guests to arrive. Meg does not recognise Eric from the night she picked Ally up after her horrible date. She remembers Eric from the charity event she attended with a friend. She could not take her eyes off Eric for the whole night. She tried very hard to get close to him but he was just not interested. She ended up talking to Eric’s mother.

His mother is a very kind lady. She has made a great name for herself in the culinary world and has built an empire that now belongs to Eric. While they were talking, she told Meg that it is time to choose a wife for Eric. She wanted him to fall in love and choose his own bride despite it being their family tradition that the mother usually chooses the bride. Eric is in his forties now; it is time he marries.

This grabbed Meg’s attention more than anything. She immediately turned on all her charm to impress this elderly lady. She had to tell a few lies. Meg did not think that the lies were all that bad either. She only amplified her accomplishments a little. She told her that she is the head chef where she works. It is not a complete lie. She often helps out when Ally is not there. She knows what needs to be done. She can do the job if it is expected of her.

Her lies seemed to impress Eunice and while she saw that it was working, she just went along with it. She was very excited when she got invited to this lunch with Eunice and her son. She knew it was the way to get accepted into this family. Although she basically told everything as if she was Ally, she felt that there were enough resemblances in both their lives that it could very well be the truth.

Eunice comes into the dining room and welcomes Meg warmly. She leads her to the chair next to Eric. Meg takes her seat gracefully and greets Eric politely. Eric closes his eyes and presses his lips together. He seems very irritated. Meg is a little take aback by his behaviour and gives Eunice a worried look. Eunice smiles and takes a seat opposite them.

It is very late when Meg bids her goodbyes and leaves the beautiful mansion. She takes a ride back to their apartment. She cannot wait to tell Ally everything that happened.

 ********

It is almost midnight when Ally walks into the apartment. She sees Meg and heaves a heavy sigh of relief.

“You took the wrong dish.” She tells Meg promptly.

“Wait before you get into it. I made dinner. I want to tell you all about the day I had.” Meg waves her over to the kitchen island where they usually have their meals.

Meg tells Ally how beautiful the mansion is where the lunch was held. She then told her about the awkward son and how he barely greeted her. They enjoyed lunch immensely. The company was wonderful and the food was delicious.

“When the butler brought out the dish I prepared, you should have seen the look on her face!” Meg exclaims.

“You mean the dish that I prepared” Ally interrupts in a dry tone.

“Yes, yes,” Meg waves her off. “That woman could not believe her eyes. She was really shocked and very, very impressed.” Meg continues as if she didn’t even notice how unhappy Ally was about this whole ordeal.

“She asked me a few questions about where I grew up and how I got into the culinary world. At some point she asked me if I go by any other names. It was an odd question.” Meg takes a sip of her wine and then continues. “I told her my second name is Alicia. She smiled and excused herself from the table.” Meg takes another sip of her wine.

“All this time you have not spoken once to the man sitting next to you?” Ally prods.

“No,” Meg continues. “He was very rude from the first moment I got there. He was very irritated by his mother and kept telling her that he cannot enter into any sort of agreements right now. She just kept telling him that it is nonsense and that he needs someone to look after him. Especially now.”

“Why especially now?” Ally asks again.

“Oh, he was on a business trip for his father when something went wrong. He got injured and now he is completely blind.” Meg rambles on.

“That is unfortunate” Ally says unenthusiastically.

“Yeah, so now his mother is searching for a wife for him. Apparently in their family the mother chooses the bride. There has also never been a divorce in the family so it is a quite serious tradition and it seems to work for them.” Meg tells her.

“Just because they do not divorce, does not mean they are happy.” Ally tells Meg honestly.

Meg seems to be getting a little irritated now. She puts her plate away and clears the counter.

“I just don’t need your negativity right now Ally. Can you not be happy for me? I can finally get out of this whole orphan charity life I have been living.” Meg is thoroughly irritated now.

“Orphan charity life?” Ally asks shocked.

“Yes. I know full well that I would not even have a job right now if you did not pull strings. I grew up next to you in the orphanage and I could see how people preferred you over me. You received more opportunities than I did. You could cook before we finished school. Then you left! And you left me there alone!” Meg’s voice increases in volume with every sentence.

“Meg. I am a year older than you are. I left because I finished school. I got a bursary for Chef School and I took it.” As soon as Ally finished that sentence, she knew why Meg was feeling the way she did. Meg did not receive any bursaries when she finished school. She could not go study anything. Ally took her under her wing when she started working and she got her a job at the restaurant where she worked. Meg had to start very low in the ranks and work her way up. She did not even work her way up very far. Ally gave her enough opportunities but Meg just didn’t have enough ambition to follow through. Ally had to be fair with promotions. She could not favour Meg and Meg seems to think that she should have.

“Well, it doesn’t matter anymore. I finally got the opportunity of a life time.” Meg is suddenly indifferent. “You do not have to tolerate me at work anymore and you do not have to make sure I have a roof over my head anymore. I will not be your problem any longer.” Meg says as she finishes clearing the counter and putting things away.

“What do you mean by that Meg?” Ally is very confused. “I love having you here and at work.” Ally tries to soothe Meg.

“Yes, that is the problem. I am there because you have me there. I am not there because I belong there.” Meg wipes her hands on a towel. “I am getting married in two weeks. I will be moving into the mansion tomorrow to start with the necessary arrangements and I will also not be able to work for you any longer.”

Meg tosses the towel onto the counter and walks out of the room angrily.