Читать книгу Getting Organised - Carolyn Caterer - Страница 13

Serena stood in front of the delicatessen counter in Waitrose surveying the produce that was laid out before her. She smiled graciously at the middle-aged woman who was serving and pointed at a selection of cheeses. As the latest business guests were from a prestigious French bank she wanted to make a good impression with her choice of the finest fromage that she could muster at such short notice. Usually she liked to know a month in advance if there was to be a dinner such as this so she could source the best produce, even if that meant importing it from its native country at vast expense. But Charles had only told her two days beforehand that an important contract was in the offing and things were happening much more quickly than had been originally planned. And so Serena had, as ever, been the perfect wife and informed Charles that of course it was no problem at all and she would sort it all out.

Fortunately Serena had always loved to cook for the French since her chalet days and decided to do a ‘franglais’ experience with roast beef and Yorkshire pudding as her main course which followed pate as a starter and then a selection of cheeses.

As she passed the pattiserie section she looked at the beautiful array of cakes and pastries and selected three tarts and two éclairs reminiscent of the best that a Salon de The would have to offer.

She carried the box and the cheeses to the checkout and added a couple of bottles of vintage champagne as her crowning touch. Fortunately she had a decent budget from Charles’ company to cover the cost of entertaining senior executives and, no matter how much she spent she knew it was a bargain compared to them being wined and dined in a more upmarket restaurant.

Serena never really questioned her role in Charles’ business life. Maybe if she had hated cooking then it would have been an issue, but then again maybe Charles would never have married her in the first place had she been just average in the kitchen. He had always been an ambitious man and had made it very clear from the start of their relationship that he was intending to go places. In return Serena had never been at all ambitious when it came to work; her main ambition had been to have a family and enjoy a very nice existence at home, with a few classes here and there to keep her brain working.

She resolutely kept up to date with world news via the papers in order that she could make intelligent conversation with Charles’ colleagues and all in all had never put a foot wrong over the years. In fact Charles had always remarked that she was not only an asset to him, but to the company as well.

If Serena ever had feelings of dissatisfaction with her life then she chose not to show it. She wasn’t one to confide in her girlfriends. In fact she wasn’t one to have any close girlfriends; instead she chose to cocoon herself in a very nice world of domesticity and caring for her husband and children. She never had to worry about money as Charles always transferred a substantial sum each month into the household account and never seemed to baulk at the cost of anything extra that she wished to purchase, be it a holiday, a piece of furniture or a work of art. The fact that she had never known how much he earned or what he did with any money that wasn’t paid into her household account never really seemed to bother her. Serena was not really one for looking ahead and just accepted what came her way, after all she had nothing to complain about.

Serena’s greatest achievements were her children and she did wonder how she would cope when they left home, but as she had learned to manage when they went off to boarding school and then university, she knew that it really wasn’t going to be too much of a problem and she had always wanted to do a course in landscape gardening or the like. She felt sure that her life would continue as it had always done; in blissful upper middle class domesticity.

As to her relationship with Charles; well she knew that other women found him attractive and, if she were to be honest, she was surprised that he had never embarked on an affair as he had always had far more interest in sex than she did, but he had never shown any interest in another woman and, while always polite and accommodating to any female that crossed his path either professionally or personally, she had seen him on numerous occasions make it quite clear that he wasn’t in the market for playing around. This was one of the qualities she most admired in her husband and one which she also knew was a source of envy to many women of their acquaintance who had not been so fortunate with their own husbands.

In some respects she saw Charles more as an advisor and friend than as a lover, but wasn’t this what usually happened after a number of years of marriage? She felt they bumped along quite nicely most of the time and he was always one for whisking her off to various cities for the weekend, just so that they could go to the opera in Milan or enjoy the midnight sun of Stockholm. She enjoyed his company and he loved the way she basked in his success.

But lately she had begun to feel an indescribable sense of restlessness from deep within her. At first she had dismissed it as her hormones playing tricks on her, and wondered if perhaps she was having a mid life crisis. She put it firmly to the back of her mind as something to deal with later, but over the weeks and months that followed it had not gone away and it became more difficult to ignore. Yet Serena could not fully understand what this feeling meant. She liked order and didn’t like feelings that seemed to suggest her life wasn’t perhaps as great as she and everyone else thought it was. But what was it exactly that was troubling her?

Serena decided she didn’t want to know and shut herself off from the part of her that produced those feelings. And so her disquiet began to manifest itself in another way and Serena had to learn to hide it from those around her. The fact that she had been successfully doing it for the last three years showed how well she had mastered her behaviour and the perceptions of those around her. Anyone looking at Serena would think she had a very nice life indeed and that all in all she was blessed.

She got home and put the patisseries in the fridge. Then she began to prepare the beef and all the trimmings and made the Yorkshire puddings; this never failed with foreign guests and they always ended up asking for more.

She put the cheese to one side to keep it at room temperature and worked quietly for the next few hours. She had laid the table earlier in the morning and the cleaner had been, so the house was looking at its best when she welcomed Charles and her guests as they arrived just after six o’clock. She was almost amazed that they were prepared to come out from London for the evening, but then again she knew how much Charles loved his house and how good he was at persuading people and they of course were being chauffered so it was an easy journey back to their hotel later that evening.

The evening passed much as these events normally did, with good wine and conversation and endless comments about her prowess as a hostess and cook.

As they tidied up after the event Charles kissed her warmly and thanked her.

‘The Yorkshire pudding always does the trick and those cheeses were fantastic, though I did wonder if you might also offer a dessert.’

‘I thought about it but decided that with the Yorkshire pudding it would all be just a bit too much, so settled for the cheese instead.’ Serena smiled back at him.

‘Of course, well you know best and there was nothing but praise for you. I am sure they will still be raving about it at the meeting tomorrow and I will be able to seal the deal thanks to my wonderful wife. Are you coming up to bed?’ He touched her face and she knew that he wasn’t in a hurry to get to sleep.

‘Just let me do a final bit of sorting out down here and I will be up in the next few minutes when I have finished my coffee.’

‘Great, see you shortly.’ Charles turned and walked out of the kitchen and headed up the stairs humming to himself.

Serena topped up her coffee cup and then opened the fridge. Reaching into the back of it she took out a small plastic container, opened it and took out the coffee éclair that was hiding within.