Page 116 of Cooking Up a Christmas Storm
‘That doesn’t mean he didn’t hanker for somewhere else as well, but, like I said, he pushed it down, kept himself busy didn’t he? Running around after everyone else.’ His mum gave him one of her more pointed looks. ‘Seems to be what the men in this family do.’
He stared at his mum, with her Christmas Lights committee, and her parents and toddler group, and her shifts at the pub. ‘Not just the men,’ he muttered.
Jodie came downstairs on Boxing Day morning to find her dad and brother drinking coffee in front of the breakfast news.
‘Strong winds battered the west coast of Scotland last night, reaching gusts of up to one hundred and ten miles per hour, leaving hundreds in communities along the coast without power this morning. Falling trees and debris continue to pose a threat to life.’
Jodie stared. The pictures on the screen changed from the reporter framed neatly by a camera operator to shaky mobile phone footage.
‘These pictures, sent in by a member of the public, show the impact on the village of…’
Jodie didn’t need to hear the name to know exactly what she was looking at. The roof of Anna and Hugh’s garage shop was flapping violently in the winds. A boat, usually beached on the shoreline, was lying on its side in the middle of the road.
The reporter continued. ‘…where injuries have been reported and villagers are still trying to assess the damage to property.’
‘Dad?’
‘Yes, love?’
‘Can I take the car?’
He turned towards her. ‘You don’t like to drive.’
‘I don’t. There’s no trains on Boxing Day though and I have to go.’
‘Go where?’
She pointed at the screen. ‘There.’
Pavel ventured out – when the rain had stopped and wind had dropped to merely inconvenient rather than actually dangerous levels – on Boxing Day afternoon to check on the damage. Some things were easy. Pavel nodded a greeting to a gaggle of Strachans who were carrying a garden trampoline back down the main street to its proper home. Garden benches and fallen gnomes were righted easily enough. Pavel stopped outside the shop.
Hugh was surveying the damage. ‘Water’s got in, so most of the stock is gone. And the freezers all shorted out so that’ll all have to go too. Plus the cost of actually fixing the roof.’
Pavel shook his head straight away. ‘No charge for that.’
‘Don’t be silly. You’ve got to earn a living too.’
His granddad would never have charged a friend in these circumstances. ‘It’s fine. The village needs a shop.’
Hugh opened his mouth to object.
‘No charge,’ he insisted. ‘I’ll get that tarp properly anchored down right now so you can start cleaning up inside and I’ll come over tomorrow to look at it properly.’
‘You’re a lifesaver, Pav.’
He headed back through the village, promising to come back and fix Mrs Timberley’s gate later in the day. The power was back on, and the shop roof had got the worst of it that he could see so far.
He jogged over the bridge to the castle. From what he could see the coach house still had most of its roof tiles. That was a relief. He headed inside. Bella was in the kitchen. ‘What’s the damage?’
‘Couple of panes in Adam’s greenhouse. He’s out driving the rest of the estate to check things over.’ She paused.
‘Not too bad then.’
Her face told a different story. ‘And the backup generator failed so we lost all the food for Hogmanay when the power went off.’ Her tone was bright but the smile was glassy. ‘So yeah. I don’t know what we’re going to do about that at all.’
Darcy came into the kitchen. ‘Did it all magically get better while I was away?’
Pavel could fix this. ‘So we need food?’
