Page 83 of Cooking Up a Christmas Storm
Jodie thought it through. What Gemma would do was no help to her here. And being Gemma was feeling more and more like a straitjacket rather than an escape. That was why she’d prodded at Pavel in the van. She was who she was. Maybe it was all she could be. And she did have an idea. It was crazy but it was all she had. ‘I think we should steal them back.’
Chapter Fourteen
Before Jodie could put any flesh on that plan there was the small matter of not one, but two separate sets of Christmas light switch-ons to deal with. Both of which she seemed to be responsible for organising, and both of which were rapidly merging in her increasingly confused Gemma/Jodie brain.
She checked the notes in her phone.
McKenzie – Saturday afternoon, Jay from Redd Level, elf costume,overpriced mulled wine.
Lowbridge – Sunday. White lights – unless Anna goes rogue. Carols.Candles and lanterns for walkers? No celeb – Anna is definitely stillexpecting Elton John.
Today was Saturday. Her elf suit was hanging on the back of her bedroom door. Darcy had threatened to pour black paint over it, but Jodie had pointed out that that was most likely to get her fired and then they’d have no access to what the McKenzie lot were up to. Looking at the corporate McKenzie purple tartan monstrosity, Jodie wished she’d let Darcy do her worst.
She folded the costume neatly into a bag and headed outside to meet her lift. Since the first night Pavel’d driven her home Jodie hadn’t mentioned the kiss that wasn’t in the ballroom, or the second kiss that wasn’t in the van. She’d thought about both of them. A lot. When she was alone. When she was supposed to be talking about work with Fiona. When she was supposed to be talking about work with Bella. And every day for the forty minutes in the morning and the forty minutes at night she spent sitting next to Pavel Stone watching the way his forearms tensed slightly when she leaned closer to him.
‘Are you working today? It’s Saturday.’ Jodie would have expected the building work to be suspended for the weekend.
‘Wasn’t planning to, but Fiona marched over at five o’clock yesterday and announced that the building site needed to be tidy before the lights switch-on.’
‘Tidy?’
Pavel nodded.
‘But it’s a building site?’
‘Apparently today it needs to be a pristine and festive building site. She kept saying that Mr McKenzie wanted things just so.’
Jodie almost growled at the mention of the big boss’s name.
‘You’re not a fan?’
‘I am not.’ She squeezed her thumbnail into her palm and breathed deeply for a second. ‘He’s a bully. I know men like that. There’s only one way to treat them.’
‘Knee to the balls?’
Pavel’s deadpan suggestion relieved some of the tension in her body. ‘It’d be a start.’
Saira was absent from reception when Jodie signed in and made her way past Fiona’s office and on to the open-plan area where she had a desk. Saira was standing at the printer, eyebrows knitted together. ‘You OK there?’
Saira jumped slightly at the sound of her voice. ‘Sorry. Didn’t hear you come in.’
‘Printer playing up again?’
‘Yeah. No. It’s fine. I better get back.’ Saira scurried away.
Something in the back of Jodie’s brain tingled. Was Saira acting strangely? Jodie went over to the printer. The lights were on but the screen was blank. She powered it off and on again and waited for it to sputter back into life. The screen finally lit up.No pending jobs. Damn.
‘Morning, Jodie.’
Jodie turned back to greet her boss. ‘Hi, Fi. How are you?’ She asked the question before she’d seen Fiona’s face. She looked pale, her usual glossy make-up absent and her hair was scraped into a messy ponytail rather than twisted and pinned into its usual perfect chignon.
‘I’m fine.’ Fiona smiled glassily. ‘Absolutely fine. Very excited for this afternoon.’
‘Are you sure you’re OK?’ Jodie moved forward and touched Fiona’s arm. ‘You can tell me if there’s something you need to talk about.’
There was a pause before Fiona answered. ‘What would I need to talk about? Everything’s great.’
‘OK. Well, I’m here if you need anything.’
