Page 20 of Cooking Up a Christmas Storm
‘Could do. There’s the large dining room as well or the small hall, and the courtyard, and the church if people want that.’
‘In the village?’
Bella shook her head. ‘No. We have a chapel here.’
Jodie’s eyes widened.
‘I know. It’s insane.’ Bella looked around. ‘Come on.’ She led the way down the corridor and into the hallway Jodie had been through before – she recognised it from the suit of armour. ‘Don’t mind Colin.’
‘You named the suit of armour?’
‘Adam’s dad did, I think. I like it though. He sort of looks like a Colin.’ Bella stopped. ‘I was going to go to the kitchens but once we’re in there we might as well get settled with a cuppa so shall we do the rest of outdoors first?’
‘Sure.’ The idea of sitting down was far more attractive, but Gemma, Jodie had decided, was naturally amenable. And the longer she followed Bella around nodding politely while features of the castle were pointed out to her, then the longer it would be before she was expected to actually do any of Gemma’s job.
They made their way out of the opposite side of the castle, and along the side of the building. Bella pointed out a pathway that they passed at the end of the castle wall. ‘So that takes you down to the Dower House. Well, your house now.’
Well, obviously it did. The castle and its immediate grounds were a bit ragged at the edges but the shape of the thing made sense. There was an order that appealed to Jodie. The castle was wrapped around that central courtyard. At the corner Jodie thought of as bottom left was the coach house and the gates from the road. At the top left was the pathway through to the paddock, presumably also reachable around the outside past the coach house, so that ye olde coachmen didn’t have to lead their horses right through the middle of the castle complex. The top right was closed off, so far as she could tell, and the bottom right brought you out near the Dower House and then up along a high wall she could see in front of her towards whatever Bella was about to show her.
‘This place does my head in,’ Bella muttered. ‘I still get lost looking for the under-butler’s second pantry.’
‘You have a butler?’
Bella shook her head. ‘No. We have Flinty but she says she’s retired. Although I don’t think it would go down well if we said we were hiring a new housekeeper. And the stables get mucked out somehow and I’m bloody certain Darcy isn’t doing that herself. Hey. Maybe we do have a stablehand.’ She shrugged. ‘It gets done though so I’m not going to worry about it.’ She shrugged again. ‘It’s all a bit hand to mouth, I’m afraid. Which is why your starting salary is a little bit basic.’ She continued towards the corner of the wall in front of them. ‘I’m sorry about that. We know it’s not what you’d expect to be earning.’
Jodie’s last job had been minimum wage with a boss who she suspected of being a little less than meticulous about dividing up their tips, so technically Bella was right – any sort of regular salary was not what she’d been expecting a week ago at all.
‘Hopefully with the cottage you won’t need to spend too much though day-to-day. And you can eat with us whenever you want to.’
If Jodie was smart she could probably live at Lowbridge without spending anything at all. That would mean no shopping in the small hours of the morning when she found herself wide awake with only her thoughts. She could do that. She could take the apps off her phone. Or she could get one of those blocker apps that don’t let you spend more than five minutes on a particular app and then give you electric shocks or something if you try to log back in. She was hazy on the details of how these things worked.
And somewhere like Lowbridge must offer lots of low-cost activities she could take up. She could start hiking. Jodie took a deep breath in. Good seaside air. It was probably doing her the world of good already. She would go for long walks up the hills and along the clifftops and get fit and full of inner calm. Which was all very Gemma. ‘The salary’s fine,’ Jodie reassured her, despite not actually knowing what the salary was.
‘No, it’s not, but it’s all we can afford.’ Bella grinned. ‘At least until you transform our marketing and we’re overrun with customers.’
Jodie forced a laugh. ‘I’ll get right on that then.’
They’d come to the corner of the walled area they’d been walking towards. Bella pushed open a small wooden door in the wall and made her way through. Jodie followed and found herself in an expansive walled garden. Deep into autumn, most of the soil was bare and there were a few sections still covered in green, apparently waiting for harvest. ‘A vegetable garden?’ Jodie hoped her tone sounded more confident in that guess than she felt.
‘Yeah. Adam’s pride and joy. And the first place to check if you’re ever looking for him.’
On cue, the very bouncy chocolate Labrador bounded towards them from the greenhouse that seemed to run most of the length of the far wall.
‘Hello, gorgeous.’ Jodie bent and rubbed the back of the dog’s neck.
‘Dipper!’ Adam’s voice carried from across the garden as he followed the dog over to them. Dipper, overwhelmed by excitement, dashed back over to her master and then back to Bella and Jodie and then back again, until Adam finally closed the space between them, and Dipper could run happily in small circles around the group, ensuring her flock were properly herded together. Adam looked back over the garden. ‘So what do you think?’
‘It’s great.’ The looks on her employers’ faces suggested she was expected to say more. ‘Very green and also brown.’
‘Yep. It is that.’ Adam grinned. ‘At the moment it’s mostly what my father planted before… Yeah, but I’m already thinking about next year. And we’re still harvesting carrots obviously.’ He gestured towards the nearest set of beds, which were covered in a sea of thin vibrant green leaves. Jodie tried to nod like someone who wasn’t expecting to see orange cylinders hanging off a carrot tree. ‘And I’ve barely started bringing the sprouts in yet.’
‘Ugh,’ Bella sighed. ‘I’ve got a mass of them from Hugh already.’
‘I thought you liked sprouts.’
‘I do, but not everyone else does. I don’t know how I’m going to use them all. I can’t imagine a sprout-themed cookery school day being a massive draw.’
Adam shrugged. ‘I’m sure our new business and marketing guru could sell it. You did say you could sell anything.’
