‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Yes, Robbie told me that, too.’

There was another silence. ‘Well, I’d better go,’ he said. ‘Thanks again. I’ll see you around?’

‘Yeah,’ Anna said. ‘I’m sure.’

She held the phone in her hand for a long time after he’d hung up. Outside, the wind had dropped to barely a whisper.

Anna had been true to her word to Rhona, and had been trying to interest her friends in the industry in her pottery. It was a tricky proposition: chef-patrons were notoriously picky about what they chose to serve their food on, especially when setting up a new venture. In Anna’s experience the process was a long one and required extensive testing, usually at the premises involved and alongside other pieces for comparative purposes. Rhona’s style would also only fit a particular type of establishment. Still, Anna had faith in her friend’s work and knew several chefs who were in various stages of opening or refurbishing eateries, so it couldn’t hurt to encourage them to include Rhona’s work in the mix.

Late on the Sunday morning following Anna’s decision to help keep Douglas McKean fed, she was sitting on the sofa with a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich, wondering whether Glynn and David were going to come by, when the phone rang. She assumed it would be Cathy – they usually chatted at some point on a Sunday – and was surprised to hear a voice she recognized only vaguely.

‘Anna?’

‘Yes?’

‘It’s Brigitte March. You emailed me a few weeks ago about your friend’s handmade flatware?’

Anna sat up straighter, putting her bacon sandwich down on the table and licking grease from her fingers. She’d met Brigitte at the filming of ‘A Chef’s Table’ for MasterChef a few years before – Geoff had been one of the chefs, of course, and Anna had been invited along because the producers wanted more women’s faces in the room. She and March – an up-and-coming head chef at that time – had been seated next to each other and the two women had chatted easily. When Anna had been contacting chefs on Rhona’s behalf, Brigitte had been one of the first on Anna’s list. When they had met Brigitte didn’t have her own restaurant, but Anna had seen that it was surely only a matter of time.

‘Brigitte! I’m so sorry, I didn’t recognize your voice.’

Brigitte laughed. ‘There’s no reason you should. Look, I don’t want to bother you for long – and I must apologize that it’s taken so long for me to answer. The thing is that when I saw the review this morning – congratulations, by the way – it all came rushing back. And seeing Rhona’s plates in action in the photograph made me realize that they’re exactly what I’ve been trying to find for my new place.’