The Ingredients for Happiness. Lucy Knott

Francisco Beat with Sabrina and his bandmates, but his opinion on her new place was paramount. She clutched his hand tighter; her body had an automatic reflex to her brain thinking about his departure – it did not want to let him go either.

      As if reading her mind, and her body, Dan suddenly pulled Amanda into a little side street they were passing and within seconds his hands were in her long, wavy hair and his lips were on hers. Amanda kissed him back with a smile permanently playing at her lips. Since they had both admitted to their feelings for each other in Italy over the holidays, Amanda had come to find out that moments like this happened often when she was ‘more than just friends’ with Dan. His reasoning behind his grand public displays of affection was simple; he couldn’t get enough of her and he told her so. With Amanda not being so great at relationships and her last one being a total wrecking ball, Dan’s ways of showing he clearly only had eyes for her were a welcome change and soothed old rumbling insecurities.

      Dan pulled back slowly, biting Amanda’s bottom lip gently as he did so. He had one hand up against the wall and his other still entangled in her hair. When his chocolate eyes met hers, they smiled as bright as his lips, causing dimples to appear in his cheeks. If the kiss hadn’t made her knees buckle, just looking at him would have. As casually as it had started, Dan took her hand and they were back on the pavement heading to their eighth possible café of the day.

      Chills surged through Amanda’s body and goose bumps rose on her arms as they neared the building on the corner of the street. One look at Dan and she knew he felt it too; he looked at her and nodded. Past the book shop and next to the tattoo shop was the perfect-shaped building. The worn-down door stood side by side with the tattoo shop to give way to a beautiful bay window that wrapped around the corner of the street.

      ‘Dan!’ Amanda gasped, clasping her hands together. She wasn’t one to get giddy but then again, she hadn’t believed she would ever be looking to purchase her own café, and here she was.

      ‘Let’s look inside,’ Dan replied. His face was joyful, but he would not get ahead of himself like Amanda. He was the calm to her storm. He opened the rusty door with a creak and gestured for her to go first.

      Amanda’s eyes grew wide as she took in the open square space. Tucked into the left-hand corner at the rear was a built-in bar area. Next to this, two swinging double doors led to the kitchen. Amanda spun around on the spot, catching the estate agent’s eye as she did so.

      ‘I do apologize for being so rude. Hi, I’m Amanda,’ Amanda said, sticking out a hand. The estate agent took it without making eye contact, and gave her a one-sided smile. He was clearly not too bothered by her rudeness; he seemed quite happy with the other half of her party and couldn’t take his eyes off Dan. Of course, Dan would never be so ignorant as to ignore a person and had not missed a figure in the room upon entering. But Amanda had been sucked into the charm of the building. She didn’t wish to be rude by not joining in the conversation Dan and the estate agent were currently engaged in, but she made her way to the double doors, unable to wait for them to finish talking. She knew that the estate agent would be lost to Dan’s raspy voice for a good fifteen minutes, or for life, and that was a seriously long time to wait when the kitchen was calling her name.

      Another gasp escaped Amanda’s lips when she walked through the ‘enter’ side of the double doors. The kitchen, too, was square and in the centre stood a considerable island. It was Amanda’s dream kitchen. Immediately her mind began bursting with visions of where each piece of machinery would go, where Grandpa’s special knick-knacks and tools would be stored. Amanda wondered for a moment why the previous owners had had to give the place up and her stomach gave an uncomfortable lurch. This is not the time for doubts Amanda, she thought to herself. You’ve come this far. Just then Dan walked through the door, very, very closely followed by the estate agent. Amanda watched him as he looked around the room and did a double take at the island before giving her his all-encompassing grin. The worry lines on her forehead smoothed out.

      ‘I love it,’ they said in unison. Amanda walked over to Dan and tip-toed to give him a kiss on the cheek. ‘It’s beautiful,’ she added. From the corner of her eye she could see the estate agent eyeing her up and down and longingly glancing back to Dan.

      ‘If you love it, it’s yours,’ Dan said softly, giving her a disarming smile and bowing to kiss the top of her head. The estate agent practically melted before them. If Dan knew he had this effect on people, he never let it show. His ego was still very much non-existent and the attention and kindness he gave to everyone never faltered, even after three years of the media being infatuated with him and his every move.

      ‘I really love it,’ Amanda said softly, staring into Dan’s soulful eyes, before turning on her buckled boots and scanning the kitchen once more. There was an enormous amount of work to be done, but she felt in her bones that this was her place; this was where she was going to build her café. She greatly appreciated Dan’s generous gesture and she would let him do what he wanted for now, because arguing with him over this matter would be like drawing blood from a stone. But she had her own money saved for this such occasion – she had simply been too frightened to use it before now. But with her former sous-chef Jeff, ruining her reputation and giving her the kick up the backside she needed to finally walk away from Rusk, and with the death last year of her grandpa – her role model and the man that inspired her cooking – she had known it was time to take a giant leap of faith and make her and her grandpa’s dream a reality.

      She walked in a circle around the island and back through the swinging doors. A single tear rolled down her cheek as she willed her happy thoughts to get to her grandpa, hoping he could see her now, finally going after the dream that had eluded her and scared her silly for years. She had been secretly squirreling away every bit of pocket money he had given her since she was eight years old, ready for this moment. Her heart squeezed in her chest at the thought that this was as much her grandpa’s as it was hers. Taking a deep breath and wiping at her face, she drew her shoulders back and pulled out her phone. She hadn’t had time to think about the time difference; she just hoped that both her sisters were available.

      *

      After a brief, but positive FaceTime with both Sabrina and Louisa, who both saw the place’s potential and encouraged Amanda to follow her gut, and an excited phone call with her parents, Amanda was ready to give Dan the go-ahead. She would of course email the estate agent and make an appointment to go over the payment plan, but for now Dan could be in charge. If he wanted to read through long pages of contracts, Amanda was more than happy to let him. She had never been one for the fine print and Dan had experience where this was concerned. She more than appreciated his help. He too had shared in this vision with her during the course of their four-year friendship. Besides her family, Dan was her biggest supporter.

      With a nod of her head and a pep in her step, Amanda walked over to the estate agent and Dan, who had followed her back out through the double doors, and expressed her keen interest in the vacant café. She saw a twinkle in Dan’s eyes, and he beamed with pride at her.

      ‘We’ll take it,’ Dan said to the estate agent. The estate agent puffed out his chest and his smile widened. He shuffled through some papers and had Amanda sign a few, just as a security deposit, then reached out to shake their hands. His handshake with Dan was far more enthusiastic than hers, Amanda noted.

      It seemed the sky was trying to celebrate with her as they stepped back outside into the January chill; there were a few scattered sun rays lighting up the little establishment overhead and Amanda felt her grandpa’s approval. In her wave of happiness, she hugged the estate agent in thanks, which garnered an actual smile and eye contact. Then Dan handed him his card and told him to message if he ever fancied coming to one of the boys’ shows when they were next in town. With the giddy, slightly unprofessional handshake that followed, Amanda worried for a moment that the estate agent was not going to let go.

      The knot in her stomach that had been there all morning had finally untangled and as they walked back to Amanda’s house, she felt a thrill of excitement for this new beginning. The past few months had been tough on her family, with the sudden passing of Grandpa. Louisa had opted to stay in Italy with Nanna and Sabrina was preparing to move back to