Ella greeted everyone then began to take their drinks orders. She felt a sense of importance as she jotted their order on her brand-new pad in her best handwriting, which was silly, but Ella desperately wanted to give a good impression.

Once the orders were taken, she noticed that Tiffany’s voice was carrying across the restaurant. It seemed she was already rattled about something.

‘I’ve been waiting a while to be served and I don’t appear to have a drinks menu.’ Tiffany’s tone was short and sharp.

Whilst Amy was apologising profusely, Ella hurried over. ‘Sorry for the delay, Amy! I’ve just printed an up-to-date drinks menu, here you go.’ Ella handed a drinks menu over to Amy, who looked relieved.

‘Thank you,’ replied Amy, handing over the list to Tiffany, who immediately began to look it over.

‘What would you recommend for a Monday lunchtime?’ asked Tiffany, staring up at them both before Ella could escape.

Ella noticed that Amy looked a little flustered but didn’t want to step on her toes. ‘I do like a glass of Chablis – how about you, Amy?’ shared Ella, who had a little bit of wine knowledge after spending nearly a year with Alex. He was always buying expensive wines which, of course, she’d now discovered, had been paid for mainly with her credit card.

‘I love a good Chablis too,’ joined in Amy, taking Ella’s lead.

Ella noticed that on the wine list there was a short description next to each drink listing the ingredients and the origin. Ella held the menu in her hand and discreetly pointed to the next one on the list, so Amy could see that all Ella was doing was reading what was printed. ‘Or we have Sancerre,’ suggested Ella.

‘Produced in the eastern part of the Loire Valley in France,’ continued Amy. Between them they talked their way through the bulk of the wine list, leaving Tiffany looking suitably impressed.

‘You pair seem to know your stuff. I think I’ll go for your first recommendation – a small glass of Chablis.’

‘That’s the perfect choice,’ acknowledged Ella, who thought for a fleeting moment that Tiffany had actually cracked a slight smile.

‘I’ll get that for you right away,’ replied Amy, writing it down on her pad and hurrying towards the bar.

Ella was just about to walk away when Tiffany picked up the food menu. ‘Can you talk me through today’s specials too, please?’

Ella looked over towards the bar, but now Amy seemed to have disappeared out of sight. She didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes, but it would have looked unprofessional if she’d called Amy back over to cover her own table, and Ella didn’t want to leave Tiffany waiting longer than necessary.