This part was always the hardest. You had to get a feel for the temperature of the audience and the mood they were in. At least he was on after noon, when a few beers and the odd glass of wine had been consumed.

But there was a definite buzz. The dry weather helped and there were a few familiar faces throwing out the odd comment that he could banter with.

‘Right. Let’s get cooking,’ he said and slipped behind the counter. Immediately he was into his stride, working with the ingredients, making the fresh hake dish he was preparing seem so easy that anyone could try it. Which was what he wanted the audience to think. No point making something they couldn’t relate to and didn’t want to eat.

He dropped butter in a frying pan and it sizzled instantly. Two fillets of hake dusted in herby flour went in next, fresh off a boat that morning. While they were browning, Gabe took a knife and started to chop fresh spring onion and carrot into tiny matchsticks. The buttery hake smelled glorious and he could imagine mouths watering in front of him. He kept up the banter as he chopped at lightning speed to laughter from the audience.

He glanced up, took another spring onion, laid it on the chopping board and raised his knife when he spotted Ryan at the back of the crowd.

‘Shit!’

His heart pounded. The audience let out a collective gasp. Gabe glanced down. Red liquid oozed onto the plastic board around the scallion. Cuts happened from time to time and usually looked worse than they were, but here in public, with blood oozing from his thumb over the food, it must seem like a horror movie.

Gabe was aware of a pulse of pain in his hand and put the knife down. ‘Sorry for the language. My top tip for this dish, be careful not to chop your fingers off,’ he said, trying to laugh off the mishap while he scanned the crowd for Ryan again, expecting Sam to see him too.

As people murmured and muttered ‘yeughh’, Gabe grabbed some paper towels and pressed them to his injured thumb. It was probably a shallow cut but he couldn’t continue without getting it cleaned. There was no sign of Ryan but that didn’t mean he wasn’t there. Gabe was one hundred per cent certain he’d seen him at the back, smiling.

Gabe spotted the St John Ambulance team at the side of the stage, already poised to come on and help him.

He forced a smile to his face, even though he was all over the place. ‘Occupational hazard. Sorry, guys, I’ll have to get a plaster on it and restart the recipe as soon as I can. Back soon. If anyone wants to clean up and restock with fresh ingredients, I’d be grateful.’