Page 94 of A Recipe for Love
Brilliant. ‘Right. You can be our official publicity photographer then.’
Darcy smiled. ‘Really? I mean I’m not that good and I don’t want to get in the way, and…’
Bella shook her head. Since they’d started getting busy at the castle Darcy had changed from the shadow of a woman Bella had met a few weeks earlier. Clearly she was still grieving, but having distractions and some sort of purpose was helping. ‘It would be so useful,’ Bella insisted. ‘Let’s get on with it.’
Adam checked the clock. Paying one invoice and opening the rest of the mail had taken him over an hour. Like everyone Adam had had the dream where he was in an exam and suddenly realised that he hadn’t revised, and not only that, but the paper was in an unknown language. All he could hope for at that point was that he woke up before the whole exam hall noticed that he was also naked. Right now Adam was living that nightmare every time he had to look at a row of figures.
He went back to the computer and opened his personal email. The top message in his inbox was from Ravi, with a link to a new housing development to the south of Edinburgh, and a note that the developer was planning low rise blocks of flats and wanted to put roof gardens on top to raise the value of the units.
Straight away Adam grabbed a notepad and pencil and started sketching, roughly at first, and then filling in more detail, noting names of plants and possible materials. After less than half an hour he was ready to snap a picture of the sketch on his phone and message it to his business partner as a starting point for a fuller design. Drawing, thinking about being outside, imagining how the plants he selected would grow and mature, mapping out one idea and then swapping it for something more appropriate for a roof top location – all of those things physically made Adam’s shoulder’s drop a little and the tension in his chest start to ease.
‘It’s a lovely day.’ He looked up to see his fiancée in the doorway. ‘Seems a shame that you’re stuck in here.’
‘Lots to do.’
She came and looked over his shoulder and the hand-drawn plan in front of him. ‘Is this for Ravi?’
‘Potential new client.’ He glanced over the design. It was rough, but he knew it was good. And thinking about planting made him think Bella was right. ‘It would be nice to get outside for a bit.’
‘OK. What do you want to do?’
He grinned. ‘What about that riding lesson we talked about?’
‘Oh.’ Her face tensed.
‘What?’
‘I mean, what doyouwant to do? I’m snowed. Darcy’s taking photos for the new website and I need to plan for the first proper sessions, and…’
‘Of course. It’s fine. I should probably get on here.’
‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘I can make time.’
The landline phone on Adam’s desk rang. He glanced at it. It hadn’t done that once since he’d been back at Lowbridge. ‘Hello?’
The voice on the other end of the phone sounded young, female and slightly stressed. ‘Is that the cooking place?’
The what? ‘Erm…’
‘The cooking school?’
‘Oh. Yes. Hold on.’ He held the phone out to Bella. ‘It’s about the cookery school.’
She frowned and took the receiver. Adam could only hear Bella’s half of the conversation. ‘Yes it is… Yes, we do… We could… Tomorrow?’ He tracked the rising panic in her voice. ‘Tomorrow tomorrow? Like tomorrow?… Right.’ He watched her take a deep breath in. ‘Tomorrow. That’s fine. Let me grab a pen.’
He handed her a pencil and a used envelope and she scrawled down some details.
‘OK then. We’ll see you then.’ She hung up the phone. ‘We’ve got a booking. For tomorrow.’
‘I gathered.’
‘Hen party. They were supposed to be going to the McKenzie place but it fell through.’
‘How come?’
‘I don’t know. But I’m making cookies and cupcakes with them from seven until half nine tomorrow. They’re glamping near…’ She peered at her scribbled notes. ‘Ardarrock?’
‘Ardarroch,’ he corrected.
