Page 75 of Cooking Up a Christmas Storm
Dressing as an elf was not Jodie’s idea of a good time but she was a very long way away from anyone who knew her – given that the Lowbridge locals were very unlikely to put in much of an appearance at the McKenzie place – and she was supposed to be getting the inside track on the set up here. Appearing to be a committed team player was exactly what she needed to do. ‘Of course I will.’ She beamed. ‘Can’t wait.’
‘Great stuff. John was right. You are turning out to be precisely our sort of person.’
Pavel had arrived home from lunch with Jill to find his mother sitting in her garden. He had started to tell her that the grand romance was off. She’d stopped him with a wave of her phone. ‘Save your breath. Jill already texted me.’
‘Sorry, Mum.’
‘Don’t be sorry. If there’s no spark, there’s no spark.’ She’d left him with one thought. ‘I just hope you don’t miss it when there is one.’
A week ago Pavel would have said he didn’t believe in sparks. He believed in being a good person and doing what you could and had assumed, he supposed in so much as he’d ever thought about it at all, that at some point he’d do those things alongside someone else who thought the same. He’d have thought that anyone he might fall for would be easy and would fit into the life he had. He’d have imagined someone open and relaxed. He’d never have imagined he could experience a moment where actually nothing happened at all, with a woman he sometimes felt he barely knew at all stuck in his head like a scratched record.
He told himself that the fact that she was the only one who knew what he was doing at the coach house wasn’t the real reason he was spending so much time here at all. He was spending every spare minute after, and even before, his regular work at the coach house. The job was bigger than he’d acknowledged and he was exhausted. But it needed doing. Having proper guest accommodation would give his friends the best chance of holding on to the estate. He was determined to continue. And some evenings, if Bella was teaching a class, or was too tired to talk about work, Gemma would sneak over to see how he was doing.
She would sit cross-legged in the corner of the room he was working on, notepad open in front of her, phone in her hand, scribbling down details for Hogmanay and making notes on her day at the McKenzie estate. Most evenings they didn’t even chat, but he was constantly aware that she was there.
This evening he was alone. He could see the light from the castle kitchen, telling him that the household was awake. Bella and Gemma would be at the kitchen island deep in conversation.
Pavel’s phone vibrated on the floor alongside him. He checked the message – Tom confirming they’d got the McKenzie job and asking if he could start in a couple of days. Pavel fired off a reply. The idea of working for the McKenzie estate had made him uneasy from the start but now there was a fizz of excitement too. Gemma was at the McKenzie estate, wasn’t she?
He’d probably done enough for tonight. He picked up his stuff, and opened the door to the outside world a crack to check nobody was around.
Adam was standing right in front of him. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I erm… I thought I’d left something here last time I was over, but no. Can’t find it.’
‘What? I’ll help you look.’ He started towards the door.
‘No. It’s fine. Just some tools, but they’re not here. I probably left them at the pub.’ He pulled the door closed behind him and strolled as casually as he could out into the dark. ‘How’s everything with you?’
Adam shrugged. ‘Apart from adding a baby to the list of things we can’t afford right now? Well, it’s full steam ahead with the Hogmanay Gala. I figure we might as well just commit at this point.’
Pavel shook his head. ‘How do you do that?’
‘Do what?’
‘Dive into stuff.’
Adam leaned against the coach house wall. ‘Not got much choice. People are coming whether there’s a party or not at this point.’
Pavel didn’t reply.
‘Why do I think this talk might not be about a party?’ Adam asked.
What was it about? Pavel had never questioned his life. He was needed in Lowbridge. He fit into a Pavel-shaped hole. It had never felt like a cage before. ‘Why did you move to Edinburgh?’ Adam had left at eighteen and only returned earlier in the year when he’d inherited the barony, rather earlier than anyone had anticipated.
‘What?’
‘I mean, you were the heir to the manor and you upped and left.’
‘For university.’
Pavel shook his head. ‘You didn’t go for three years and then come home. Youwentwent. I didn’t think you’d stay even… even after your dad died.’
‘I didn’t plan to.’
‘So what happened?’
Adam leaned back and stared up at the ceiling for a moment. ‘I fell in love.’
