Page 26 of Cooking Up a Christmas Storm
The women had already moved on though. His mum took Netty’s arm. She cast a glance back towards Pavel. ‘These are your choices, pet. Reverend’s wife or lonely old cat woman.’
‘I don’t even have a cat.’
‘See,’ his mum stage-whispered to Netty. ‘Can’t even hold down a pet.’
‘I thought you were going over to see Bella this afternoon.’
His mum grinned. ‘We are. Plenty of time to torment you first, love.’
Chapter Six
‘Something with ragu or something with sprouts?’ Bella asked. ‘Or there’s bread and cheese and salad and stuff.’ She was standing in front of the fridge, having suggested that they take a working lunch break. Jodie had been unable to find a reason to object.
‘Whatever’s easiest.’
‘Bread and cheese is easiest but that doesn’t get any sprouts eaten up.’ Bella pulled a face. ‘What am I going to do with a pantry full of sprouts? Do you like sprouts?’
For the first time since she arrived Jodie decided honesty was the only way forward. She was already stuck dutifully drinking gallons of tea. Never-ending sprout soup would be too much. ‘Not really,’ she admitted apologetically.
‘No. Lots of people don’t.’ She frowned. ‘I can’t just give you a cheese sandwich. I’m a professional.’
‘You don’t have to cook fancy lunches for me,’ Jodie insisted.
Bella shook her head. ‘Not fancy. Just something with a bit more to it than cheese between two slices of bread. How about a sort of Italian-inspired cheese on toast?’
‘OK.’
‘Great. I’ll sort that out. You work out what we’re doing with a massive glut of sprouts.’
Jodie nodded. Sprouts. Right. She could do things with sprouts. She pulled her notebook in front of her and wroteThings To Do With Sproutsat the top of the page. Number 1 was easy. Number 1 they’d already discussed.
1. Massive Christmas dinner
What else could you do with sprouts?
2. Fun With Sprouts TikTok series
3. Sprout-based sports and games. Sprout tennis???
4. Sproutapalooza
5. …
Five was a challenge. She glanced back over her list. Five was blank. Four didn’t technically mean anything. Sprout tennis was insane. So she had two ideas. Two.
Bella put down a plate laden with ciabatta rubbed with garlic and then gently toasted before being topped with pesto, slices of tomato, chicken and cheese and heated under the grill in front of her. ‘This looks incredible.’ Jodie took her first bite. The flavours danced around her mouth. She hadn’t had food like this since… well, ever. Her mum had loved to cook but her ingredients were frugal and her time was short. Gemma, the real Gemma, was a great cook. Of course she was, but she’d never served anything that tasted half as good as this. Even though they’d broken up the thought felt disloyal. Gemma had always tried to encourage Jodie to eat better. She took a second bite of the happiness sandwich. ‘This is better than Pret,’ she murmured.
‘I should bloody well hope so.’ Bella was smiling. ‘Do I take it you’re not a big cook?’
She’d applied for a job as events manager for a cookery school. And Gemma cooked. Gemma cooking had been the only way any sort of vegetable had got into Jodie in the last couple of years. ‘I mean, I do like to cook…’ She needed to make this a little more convincing. She looked around the kitchen for inspiration. ‘Boiling things, you know, frying them.’ What else did you do? ‘Putting them in the oven…’
Bella laughed. ‘It’s fine. Everyone exaggerates a bit at job interviews.’
What had Gemma said? ‘Sorry if I talked myself up a bit.’
‘Only a touch. It’s fine. We didn’t hire you to cook, did we?’ Bella chewed her very fancy sandwich thoughtfully. ‘Although, you will still have to help with the cookery school. Maybe you could film some stuff for socials?’ She looked up at Jodie. ‘If you think that’s worth doing. I mean you’re the expert.’
‘Yep. I’ve got that on my list!’ Jodie felt a little surge of pride. ‘We could make an online series of things to do with sprouts. You know, like people think they don’t like them but here are some fun alternative ways to cook them?’ Doubt crept in. ‘Are there fun ways to cook them?’
