Page 40 of Wild About You

Jamie returned later, because people expected to see the lord of the manor, but he skirted round my stall. Probably for the best, I thought to myself, as Jim wrangled several fistfuls ofcandy floss onto a stick for a beaming four-year-old and I took payment. I couldn’t get over how much these people loved candy floss!

Are you coming for candy floss?I messaged Callum.

Sorry, I’m busy. Save me some though.

A couple of hours in and Dorrie on the front door had clicked in 150 people. I didn’t even know 150 people lived in the village. ‘I was good with the hashtags,’ said Fi, as she whizzed past with a clipboard. ‘And people will come from miles around just to visit without paying the entrance fee. Everyone loves a free nose around a stately home.’

‘But the other rooms are locked off, aren’t they?’ I said, gazing at Jim’s violent churning of the candy floss.

‘Yep, but that doesn’t matter for some people, as long as they can say they’ve been here. And if they meet the earl, they get bonus points on social media.’ She nodded in the direction of a group of thirty-something women who were taking a group selfie with Jamie.

Richard appeared in the doorway carrying two bulging shopping bags. ‘I told her not to click me in, because I don’t count,’ he said, smiling. ‘Jam doughnut and sticky bun delivery for the tea stall.’

‘Thank you, thank you!’ cried Fi, embracing him. ‘We’re completely out of carbs. And of course you count.’

They went off together. It was still raining, but someone had turned the lights on and it gave the room a warmer feel, helped by the low-level sound of people chatting and laughing, the clink of teacups, and a few excited children’s voices (all hopped up on candy floss). It was a large, grand, austere space, but it suddenly felt cosy, as if it had been waiting for all these people to fill it.

A few minutes later there was a brief lull in candy floss sales and I noticed Tally had drifted into the room. She stopped to speak to Pat, who uncharacteristically gave her a disrespectful two-finger salute. I stifled a laugh – Tally’s captive workforce were rebelling. I caught her eye and beckoned her over.

‘See,’ I said. ‘It’s going fine.’

She looked a bit sheepish. ‘Maybe.’ She took a breath. ‘I’m sorry I bailed on you, Anna. I may have overreacted.’ She always went extra posh when she felt uncomfortable. I felt a twinge of affection for her that I expressed through a playful shove.

‘Well, I’m glad you’re here. You can take over for ten minutes while I have a break. Or longer, if you like.’

She shook her head. ‘No, I don’tdocustomer-facing.’

‘Yes, you do. I’ve been on my feet for hours and I need a break.’ I took my apron off and put it on the table, then nodded my farewell to Jim. ‘I’ll be back in ten.’ I charged off before she could say another word.

I cadged a cup of tea from the refreshments stall and slipped down one of the staff corridors that came out at theorangery. Phyllis, one of the volunteers, was lying down with her legs up the wall. ‘Don’t mind me, love, my ankles are a bit swollen,’ she said when I stopped dead on the threshold.

‘I can go, if you want some privacy?’ I said.

She said not to and we chatted a little whilst I sipped my tea. Phyllis was usually a tour guide and she knew Stonemore inside out. She told me about the history of the orangery – a Neo-Gothic construction one of the Victorian earls had built for his wife.

‘Really?’ I said. ‘It seems strange to have an orangery. Not quite the climate for it.’

‘She wanted one, so he built it for her,’ she said. ‘Romantic, isn’t it? You should see their tomb in the mausoleum. The inscription on it is wonderful.Here I lie, beneath grey forbidding skies/Lost in the eternal present of your eyes.’

I bit my lip, and looked at the rain, drumming against the windows. ‘Hmm,’ I said. ‘So much to learn about this place.’

She said she’d be happy to tell me more at any time, and left me to finish my tea (‘I’d best get back to name the teddy bear or Joy will have my guts for garters’).

I glanced at my watch. Ten minutes and counting. But it felt so luxurious to be here, the rain rattling against the windows, the pale light streaming through the Neo-Gothic tracery. I sat down on one of the Victorian cast-iron chairs and savoured my last few sips of tea.

‘Don’t tell me you’ve sold out of candy floss.’

I almost dropped my cup. It was Jamie. Standing in the doorway, his hands in his pockets.

‘You almost gave me a heart attack,’ I said. Obviously, I was in flight or fight; I was so used to arguing with him, I went on high alert the moment he walked into a room. I made a mental note to re-institute the meditation practice I’d been attempting to establish.

‘It’s good to have a break, in the quiet,’ he said, with feeling.

‘Too many selfies with visitors?’

‘Yes.’ He smiled. ‘The last one told me she would make an age-appropriate countess.’

I couldn’t help myself. ‘I suppose you are getting on. What are you, thirty-five? Maybe she thought you might be open to offers.’

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