Page 42 of Cooking Up a Christmas Storm
‘We’re very lucky to have Mr McKenzie leading on all of this,’ Fiona gushed.
‘No doubt.’ Pavel had lots of doubts, but with Adam unable to pay him for the coach house refurbishment he couldn’t turn down potential work.
Finally they arrived at the proposed spa site. Pavel let Tom lead on the questions. The plans were ambitious. ‘Nothing but the best,’ was Fiona’s instruction on materials and finishes.
‘Does he have a budget in mind?’
‘He does but he’s not sharing that at the moment.’ The voice that cut across Tom’s question was smooth and confident. He held a hand out. ‘Mr Stone.’
Pavel shook John McKenzie’s hand.
‘And Mr Barclay, I presume.’ He turned quickly back to Pavel. ‘Surprised to see you here. Thought you were well and truly Team Lowbridge.’
Pavel stumbled to find a response.
‘Don’t worry. I’m joking. We know there’s no real competition there.’
Did he mean there was no need for the two estates to be in competition or that he didn’t see Lowbridge as competition? Pavel bristled silently.
McKenzie turned his attention away. ‘Could I borrow you for a moment, Miss MacCellan?’
‘Excuse us.’
‘New Year? I don’t think so.’ Fiona’s voice drifted towards him. She was still deep in conversation with McKenzie.
‘I’m not having them out…’
Pavel’s eavesdropping was interrupted by his phone.
‘Pavel!’
‘Hi, Jill.’
‘Look, I wanted to say sorry properly for the other night. It was a real emergency.’
‘I know.’ He’d never doubted it.
‘I just didn’t want you to think I’d got cold feet, you know? About us… going out. Cos I haven’t.’ She paused. Pavel didn’t answer. ‘Unless you have?’
Why would he have? The memory of Gemma brushing his arm at the cookery school flashed into his mind. He shut it down. That was nothing. He’d told Jill he’d take her out. Of course he would do what he’d promised. ‘Course not.’
‘Great. Do you want to try again then?’
They fixed a date for Saturday lunchtime. ‘I’ll see you then.’
Fiona was standing unobtrusively at his side when he hung up the phone. ‘That must have been your nice clergy lady?’
‘What?’
‘Sorry. You know what gossip’s like round here. My dad was in the Lowbridge shop last week. Apparently Anna told him all about it. I think she’s pretty much bought a hat.’
Pavel sighed. ‘We’re mates. It’s one date.’
Fiona’s face was blank for a moment. ‘It’s nice that everyone approves though. That must be…’ She stopped. ‘Anyway, did you have any more questions about the site?’
If the Hogmanay Gala was definitely happening, and Gemma was definitely planning it, and Jodie was stuck being Gemma, then there was no option but to crack on. The key, she decided, was not to look at the whole seven-page event plan. The key was to tackle one thing at a time.
First up, booking musicians for the ceilidh. Actually, that was second up. First up was googling precisely what a ceilidh was and what sort of band she would need to engage to play at one. That was a simple task though – a quick check and then on to actually looking for a band.
