Scarred Survival (Scarred Series Book 5) Read online

  Amy nodded.

  “We could showcase all our different talents at the event and see if there is any interest in training schemes or even just coming for treatments. Have you ever thought of setting up fitness sessions for the public. Geraldine’s brother, Jules, would be perfect for any exercise classes.”

  Patrick looked over at Ellen. It was a big step. The château hotel was meant to be for the exclusive use of disabled service men and women, somewhere they didn’t feel awkward or self-conscious of anything. Bringing in people from outside would change that dynamic dramatically.

  Ellen was about to speak and voice her concerns when Aaron leaned forwards.

  “I don’t want to put any dampers on Amy’s enthusiasm, but I think you need to set one thing up before attempting another. If you want to gauge how the cakes or other recipes will sell before investing a ton of money in building a restaurant, why not take the dishes out into the local market places after a dry run here at the charity event. Think how that could work alongside the rehabilitation centre. The guys would have to make and sell their products, but a market stall would be a lot less pressure than a full scale restaurant with all the overheads and possible problems that come with it. That has to be in line with the ethos of what you are doing at the rehab centre without stretching yourself or relying on men and women who may not always feel up to working immediately.

  Going into the wider, but less demanding community first will help them meet people, boost their confidence and learn another language too while leaving them with a safe haven to return to. The men would obviously have to talk about the ingredients, discuss with buyers what had been supplied locally, that sort of thing. I’m sure that a fly pitch market stall doesn’t cost a huge amount. You would only need containers for the food to be sold in so there would be a relatively small outlay. The other activities you can include in part of your charity day to see what reaction you get there, but can be left on hold until you have seen how the food stall gets on. Jules could do a couple of exercise routines and the beauticians could set up therapy stands after they have removed all our hair. You could even set up a proper marquee for light lunches or to serve the cakes if you want, to give the idea of a more formal restaurant setting a go.”

  Gemma stared up at the man sitting beside her. He was leaning forwards with a look of interest and determination on his face and she was almost shocked to hear how reasonable his suggestion sounded. It was as though his whole character had shifted by degrees from the impatient, short tempered man she had met only a few weeks previously to someone far more caring and thoughtful.

  While everyone sat silently waiting for Ellen’s opinion, Gemma backed him up immediately.

  “That sounds like a really good idea. Has anyone ever looked into the markets around here, what they charge and if stalls are available?”

  Ellen glanced at her brother to see if he had any opinions. David had been listening intently but he now looked back at Ellen and shook his head.

  “Something like this has never crossed my mind before, but I like Aaron’s plan. As it’s our money that will fund any building costs it makes sense to experiment before leaping in blindly. At least we’ll soon know if our food isn’t to the taste of the French palate, though I’m absolutely sure all of these dessert dishes will be. Our chef, Michael could perhaps do a special day in the restaurant in town using all the dishes you guys came up with. We could see what’s best received and if the meals can command a high enough price.”

  Ellen nearly laughed as she wondered how they would persuade their temperamental French chef, who ran their restaurant in town like a modern day Napoleon, to do anything where he wasn’t in complete control, but she put the thought aside. Aaron’s ideas were sound and would give them some breathing space. Things were moving forwards, as she knew they would have to one day, and her heart lurched at the thought of the changes, but burying their heads in the sand wouldn’t help their long-term financial position. She and David couldn’t keep up with the running costs forever as more men and women needed their help, unless they upped the corporate days and she wasn’t happy doing that either. Testing out other avenues was the way to go forward and the charity event would be a perfect start.

  The rest of the afternoon was spent with them all deciding how to showcase their talents and depending on the reaction other decisions would be made from there.

  Amy disappeared into the office as soon as they returned to Roscoff. She immediately began to write up a cooking rota for the next week’s event, bearing in mind whose desserts could be kept the longest, while Gemma helped compile a full list of ingredients needed to make the various desserts.

  She looked down at the list.

  “I’ll go into town tomorrow to buy this lot. It’s market day and I want to see if I can get hold of the local farmers for some of the ingredients as that will make for a good sales pitch for the products. If we decide to carry on with the idea then we’ll have to bid on prices or contact wholesalers, but for this initial experiment it’s just not worth it. I can’t wait to see what the French think of my chocolate dessert. They make such fabulous mousses themselves that I wonder if they will find my quick and easy recipe up to their standards.”

  Aaron leaned against the door frame watching her. Gemma looked up as he spoke quickly.

  “I’ll come with you if you like as there’s going to be a load to buy and I speak better French than you. I might be able to work out some keener prices with the stall holders if I’m lucky. We could maybe offer them a free cake as an incentive. There’s no doubt about the French loving your chocolate mousse...It’s delicious and definitely easy to make, but we don’t have to tell anyone that. I can’t imagine why anyone would bother going to all the effort of making the stuff any other way.” He gave her a wink.

  Gemma smiled at him as warmth touched every cell of her body. Every time he opened his mouth he gave her more confidence.

  “Why don’t we take the sail boat round into town. We can pull right up to a mooring. Maybe some of the others will want to come too.”

  Amy looked up from her computer and shook her head.

  “I doubt that any of them will want to go. Joe’s offered to take them all up to have a muck about on the zip-wire tomorrow. I don’t think you are going to talk any of them out of it now, but that’s no reason for you two not to go shopping as I don’t think Aaron would be able to manage anything that adventurous with his hand still healing.”

  Aaron looked at his palm and flexed his fingers.

  “Not a hope in hell, I’m afraid. It was actually quite hard to hold onto the whisk for the chocolate dessert the other day. I can’t imagine a zip-wire doing it any good at all. Damn shame, I would have loved to have had a go. Maybe another time.”

  Gemma folded her list and walked over to him. She took his hand in hers and turned it over.

  “Why didn’t you tell me about the whisk? You didn’t have to do that part.” She peeled back the glove and stared at his tendons. She narrowed her eyes. The plastic covering his wound didn’t look quite so transparent. It was cloudy and she couldn’t see the raw flesh any longer. “My God! This looks weird. It might even be infected. Are you in any pain? You should have said something sooner. I need to get you to hospital now.” The panicked words tumbled from her mouth as she ran back to the desk to find her car keys.

  Aaron chuckled as he shook his head.

  “Stop, Gemma. There’s nothing to worry about. I told you that it was an experimental treatment. The transparent cover is loaded with my own skin cells. We’re trying to grow back my own skin rather than grafting it, which, as Joe will tell you, is painful and disfiguring on other parts of your body. It didn’t look like it was taking, but low and behold, it is.” He peered down at his hand. His skin was growing by the hour. “Thank goodness. I wasn’t looking forward to having any more skin peeled off by backside.”

  Gemma took a calming breath and went back to look again. His hand was a lot less grisly than
it had appeared before. She held it up to the light and looked closely.

  “I am so impressed. Maybe it’s because you have been getting lots of rest and good food. I bet the sea air helps too. How wonderful. This means you might be able to go back to work sooner than you think.” She wished that she hadn’t said anything. His eyebrows came back down and he shifted from the doorway.

  “I’ll have to wait and see about that. I haven’t heard anything positive yet.”

  She waggled her finger at him.

  “And you’re the one trying to keep my spirits up all the time. Sounds to me like you need a dose of your own medicine.”

  Aaron grinned and caught her finger in his hand. He clasped his fingers around hers and squeezed gently before he let go.

  “You can give it to me when we’re out shopping tomorrow.”

  Amy looked up from her computer.

  “I’m going to put you two down for cooking Friday next week. Your mousse is the one that needs to be freshest. The cheesecake will be fine for at least two days and the snowball pudding needs to be made and left to mature for at least a day or two before it can be served. It can be covered with cream at the last minute, so that’s no problem. The others will fit around them. Brilliant! I think that’s all organized then.” She sounded very pleased with herself.

  “Did you remember boxes or greased paper for people to take portions away? I think that’s what they mostly use here.” Aaron reminded Amy.

  She slapped her own forehead.

  “Blast, you’re right. They package all their cake portions in boxes tied with ribbons. Makes you want to eat them just looking at the box. Just as well you were here. I completely forgot. I think this baby has made my brain peculiar. Hmm, I wonder how the guys are going to fare with the ribbons to tie the boxes. I may have to think of something more manly and make it part of the branding. We could use stickers with an emblem of the château instead maybe. I can probably run those off on our own printer.” She turned back to her computer screen, once again engrossed in her task as Aaron tilted his head at Gemma and indicated for her to come outside.

  They walked around towards the pool area where some of the men were splashing about in the late afternoon sunshine.

  “You up for a swim?” He asked as they watched a one sided game of water volleyball. Gemma shook her head as she viewed the game going on in front of her. Will could clearly see nothing and Jason’s yelled instructions from the poolside were not helping him at all.

  “No, your other left!” He bellowed when Will dived to the right. “Jump now! Twerp! Higher next time...no, not that high, it’ll smack you in the face! Oops! Too late.” He covered his eyes as William grabbed for a towel at the side of the pool and staunched the flow of blood from his nose.

  Ben wasn’t faring much better. Hopping about on one leg was not as easy as he had initially supposed. He panted and jumped and generally thrashed around until Karl told him that he looked like a demented dolphin. Ben leapt high in the water, quicker than anyone would have thought possible using his one leg and bounced the volleyball off Karl’s chest. Karl retaliated immediately, propelling his legless body forwards using only his arms. He grabbed his friend around the waist and dragged him beneath the water, holding him there while Ben thrashed and splashed everything within twenty feet of the poolside. Gemma ducked behind Aaron as Jason bellowed when the cold spray covered his stomach and general mayhem ensued.

  Aaron gave a good natured laugh as he brushed the droplets of water from his shirt.

  “Bloody idiots! Are you sure these guys need rehabilitating? They look as though they are having far too good a time to me.”

  Gemma peered out from behind his broad shoulder, but jumped back as another deluge of water came her way. She laughed at their antics.

  “Is that such a bad thing? They’ve all been through hell and back. A few week’s fun and games won’t hurt them. It’s probably just what they need. I think that’s part of the recovery process. Knowing that you can still have a good time, that most things haven’t really changed that much, makes you feel good right from the word go. I wish now that I’d had the chance to do something like this. I probably wouldn’t be so hung up about things. This lot are going to be impossible after the zip-wire tomorrow. David still goes on the thing nearly every day. It’s like he’s hooked on it. Joe is fed up with mending his legs when he smashes them at the bottom.”

  Aaron snorted with laughter.

  “Sounds like it’s a scream. I haven’t done a zip-wire for years.”

  Gemma looked up at him.

  “I never heard of a pilot doing that sort of training in the first place.”

  Aaron looked back at the men in the pool as another shout went up and Paul suddenly bombed the lot of them and bounced back up with a grin. He disappeared in an avalanche of splashed water as Aaron glanced down at the woman at his side.

  “We all go through basic training, but I had to do one of those new obstacle courses a few years back. Not easy. I think some of the instructors would have been quite at home in the Gestapo.”

  Gemma looked up at him quizzically.

  “I thought you joined up as soon as you were old enough? Isn’t that what you said when we first met.”

  Aaron coughed into his hand.

  “Well, yes, that’s right, but I wanted to keep myself fit. Hitting thirty was a big thing for me so I thought I would do some extra sessions...What time are we heading out tomorrow? I might see if I can fit in an early morning gym workout.”

  Gemma plucked an apple from a tree as they walked through the orchard. She picked at an insect hole that marred the surface of the fruit as her mind drifted over Aaron’s words. She could tell that he was trying to change the subject, but something niggled at her brain and she wasn’t ready to let it go.

  “That must have been for your five year check up then? The obstacle course training I mean. Your Birthday must be soon.”

  Aaron nudged her.

  “I’m not telling you when my birthday is, besides you already looked up my paperwork so you probably know exactly when it is anyway. Celebrating another year closer to middle age is not going to happen.”

  Gemma raised an eyebrow.

  “You should celebrate every single year. As we well know, a lot of people don’t make it to our age. I intend to make all my birthdays count.”

  Aaron let out a breath.

  “You’re right, Gemma. I should think myself lucky what with the career path I chose. Looking at all this,” he waved his hand back to the chateau, “I’m wondering if this flying lark is really worth it. I mean, it’s not like I can’t fly outside the forces. There are lots of opportunities. I could do commercial or private work. I only need to do a few hours to update my licence to carry the general public. I could do tours or private hire around here. The coastal scenery is fabulous and there are plenty of small airstrips. All I need to have is access to a helicopter.”

  Gemma stopped dead on the path, the shock of his words rolling over her in waves.

  “You are kidding me? Are you really looking at other opportunities or are you stringing me along?” Her heart began to pound beneath her breast as she wondered what he really meant by his words.

  Aaron pulled a pear from the tree and rubbed it on his thigh. He inspected it closely before taking a bite. Juice ran down his chin and he grabbed his handkerchief from his pocket to wipe it away. He swallowed the piece of ripe fruit before he spoke.

  “It’s only an idea. I’m trying to keep positive and I’ve been looking at the options. There’s only one problem as far as I can see it and that’s actually buying the craft. They are not cheap and I wouldn’t want a second hand one that I wasn’t one hundred percent sure of. I’d want to know exactly where it’s been and what it’s been used for before I took it up with any passengers.”

  Gemma shuddered uncontrollably.

  “You can count me out as a guinea-pig. I hate flying. I’m sticking to land and water from now on. It’
s just me and the way I think about things now. I know I can swim but I also know that I cannot fly. Airborne stuff is a definite ‘no-no’ for me.”

  Aaron shook his head.

  “I’m not going to be able to persuade you, am I?” He didn’t wait for a response. “Gemma, do you plan on staying here long term? I mean here, at the château.”

  Gemma looked up at the beautiful building and then back to him.

  “Can’t think of many better places to work, can you? I mean, just look at it. It’s fabulous and so are all the things that go on here. Beats working in any office, that’s for sure.” She threw out her arms and twirled along the path.

  Aaron watched her as her hair spun out, glistening with health and vitality. He looked back to the pool and the men messing about in the sun.

  “Yeah, that was crossing my mind too.” He spoke softly as he took in the tranquil gardens, the fresh smell of fruit and the tangy scent of the sea.

  Gemma stopped and watched the emotions play across his face before she spoke again.

  “Lucy says that the weather can be a bit wearing in the winter. It rains a fair bit and it can be quite cold apparently, but I don’t think I’m going to mind that. There’s such a lot to do all the time.” She glanced back to the pool as another huge shout went up. “We’re not up to full capacity yet. Can you imagine what it will be like when we have twelve of them here? Amy and Paul are going to need all the help they can get.”

  Aaron laughed.

  “They certainly are. I wonder what you are going to do on dance nights. You ladies are going to be outnumbered and worn out.” He didn’t let the wrench in his gut change the expression on his face.

  Gemma grinned.

  “I don’t think so. Ben and Karl didn’t seem to have a problem dancing with each other the other night before you came down. You know what the guys are like on base. Anything for a laugh, though I expect that there might be a couple of women through our doors too.”

  Aaron nodded.