Sea Glass (WAYHAUGHT)

Sighted

Waverly raised her glass. "To Meva." Her eyes fell on the scarf.

Nicole caught her looking. "There's a restaurant in London," she said, as though peering into her mind. "Dans le Noir."

"Dans le Noir," Waverly repeated, making a mental note to google the name.

"You eat in complete darkness. The servers are blind."

Waverly pondered the concept, before her brain registered what Nicole was saying. "Don't they..." Waverly's fingers mimed someone walking then tripping.

"Okay, there's a lot of shouting. Trust me, it works."

"If you say so."

"You don't believe me."

"I do."

"You so don't."

"Fine," Waverly conceded. "How do they know which table to serve?"

"They know. The service there is exceptional."

Waverly gave her a look to say she wasn't convinced.

"Settled. I'm taking you. You'll be able to see for yourself."

"Or not," Waverly teased. She placed her hands over her eyes. "Excuse me, who ordered the garlic bread?"

Nicole managed to catch the spray of wine from her mouth with the scarf now in her hand. Composing herself she narrowed her eyes. "So taking you, after that. Abi took me there once. Said I needed to get out of my head and into my body."

"Abi?"

"Abigail Atherton. My boss."

Waverly's gasp was enough of an acknowledgement. She had no idea Nicole knew her. She guessed Nicole must have trained with the best, but Abigail Atherton, as in the Abigail Atherton. Of course it would have to be someone like her. The way Nicole managed the kitchen, the way Robin looked up to her. He adored Nicole, even if he pretended she was the worst boss ever.

"Gordon Ramsey's favourite protégé."

"You've heard of her?"

"Who hasn't," Waverly replied, wondering why Nicole hadn't mentioned Abigail before. "She's brilliant on MasterChef."

"You watch MasterChef?"

"Of course." She could see the suspicious look. Admittedly, she'd only recently started watching after Shae mentioned it. "Smoky eggplant tagine," she blurted, for no other reason than to appear knowledgeable. "With lemon and apricots."

"I'm impressed."

"Spill. What was it like working with her?"

"Tough," Nicole replied. "She pushed me to go solo. Said I needed to find my own wings."

"Have you?"

Nicole stared straight into her eyes. "Not yet."

From the expression on Nicole's face, Waverly had a sneaky suspicion there was more to her relationship with Abigail than she was prepared to reveal. "Is that why you came here?"

"Nearly didn't," Nicole replied. "Had an offer to go to Dubai."

"You chose here over Dubai."

"Err...yes. You make it sound bad."

"I mean of course you'd choose here. Seriously, why? Too much sand in the other place."

"Shae was keen to go. Abi said I should do what Nathan's done first."