Page 28 of Cooking Up a Christmas Storm
Jodie nodded. On the one hand that was another afternoon that she could pass off as work time without her having to do any of the things Gemma was apparently expert in. On the other, she had twenty-four hours to work out how she was going to be a social media star without actually appearing on social media.
‘Shall we get on then? Let’s talk Hogmanay.’
Jodie dutifully turned to a new page in her notepad. Making notes was a good worker sort of thing to do, wasn’t it?
‘So from your plan I think the key thing to remember is nothing cheesy. Like Scottish obviously, but authentic. So we can have a piper. It’s traditional and people expect it, but we don’t want pipe music playing in the elevators the whole time, you know?’
‘Do we have elevators?’
‘No.’
‘I don’t think that’ll be a problem then.’
Bella laughed. ‘You know what I mean.’
Jodie neatly wroteHogmanay Plansat the top of her paper and addedNo Cheeseon the next line. She underlined it twice for good measure.
‘You didn’t have to give us a lift over, darling.’ That wasn’t what Pavel’s mother had said when she’d been setting out for Lowbridge Castle. At that point she’d been quite adamant that, since Pavel’s date was cancelled, he really had nothing better to do.
‘No problem,’ he laughed.
‘Are you coming in?’
He followed Netty and Nina towards the kitchen door, turning at the sound of another vehicle pulling up beside them. Flinty, the castle’s allegedly retired housekeeper, and Anna from the village shop jumped out. ‘Just bringing Bella’s order for tomorrow over,’ Flinty announced.
Pavel helped unload boxes of ingredients from the back of Flinty’s antique Land Rover, and carried them into the castle kitchen. Bella and the new girl were sitting together, heads bent over a notebook. The new girl looked up as they came in. Pavel caught her eye. Something tugged at him. He’d felt it when she’d jumped out of the van in a panic. He’d even felt it, pricking at his irritation, when he’d caught her trying to do a runner. He wanted to wrap himself around her and tell her everything was all right.
He helped Bella and Flinty unpack the delivery into the castle pantry, and followed them back into the kitchen. Gemma was still sitting at the kitchen island. Now she looked considerably less guarded and significantly more flustered with Pavel’s mum, Netty and Anna opposite her. He hoped for a fruitless second that they weren’t giving the poor woman the third degree.
‘Where’s Richmond?’ Anna asked.
‘West London,’ Gemma spluttered.
‘North Yorkshire,’ his mum replied at the same time. ‘It’s where that Rishi feller was MP for.’
Anna narrowed her eyes. ‘She can’t be from London and North Yorkshire.’
‘I’m not,’ Gemma offered. ‘I think there’s two places called Richmond.’
Nina shook her head. ‘Well, that’s going to cause confusion.’
Anna nodded. ‘Shouldn’t be allowed.’
‘I was living in Reading though.’
The three women exchanged a look. ‘I went to Reading once,’ Netty offered. ‘For a wedding. Gareth’s cousin married a girl from there. It didn’t last.’
The older women nodded.
‘And what were you doing in Reading?’ Anna was still asking the questions.
‘I was working in a…’ Gemma seemed to start and then stop herself. ‘I was in marketing for a restaurant chain.’
Anna nodded. ‘Marketing. That’s what this place needs. Get some more people in.’
‘That’s the idea.’
‘Good. Lots of people coming to see the Christmas lights.’ Anna nodded approvingly.
