Page 48 of Cooking Up a Christmas Storm
The scale of the job wasn’t the thing holding her back though. Well, it was, but not the scale of the whole job, more the scale of walking to the ballroom, opening the door and looking at what needed doing.
‘That’s next on the list,’ was the best she could come up with.
Veronica nodded curtly. ‘Very well. I’m sure you’ll let us know if any assistance is required.’ She glanced at the bubbling pot on the stove. ‘Those must be nearly done.’
The group jumped to attention. Flinty prodded a potato with the tip of a knife. ‘Yes. Good for mashing now.’
Bella nodded. Jodie shrugged. There was no recipe, so how on earth were you supposed to know?
Flinty strained the potatoes into a bowl, and grabbed a bottle of milk and butter from the fridge. ‘You can mash them, pet.’
Jodie picked up the masher.
‘Not yet. Give them a minute or two to dry out a touch. You can’t do scones with a soggy mash.’
Once the potato was mashed, initially by Jodie, but very quickly by Flinty who took over with an exasperated, ‘Don’t just tickle it, girl,’ they added flour and mixed the whole lot into a dough, which Flinty then rolled out and fried in neat triangles in a hot pan. ‘Try that.’
Jodie, Bella and Veronica all took small nibbles of a finished scone. Bella nodded. ‘These’ll be great for canapés.’
Veronica nodded. ‘They need a pinch more pepper.’
Flinty glowered at her partner. ‘I don’t think they…’ She took a bite and sniffed. ‘Maybe a touch.’
Any crowing Veronica might have allowed herself over this small victory was curtailed by Pavel’s appearance at the door. ‘Oh. Sorry. I didn’t realise you had a crowd in.’
‘We always have a crowd in,’ Bella laughed.
‘True. I was just checking…’ Jodie caught something in his tone. Pavel was floundering. ‘Oh, it doesn’t matter.’
Bella frowned. ‘Really?’
‘Yeah. It’s nothing.’
He was definitely masking something. But what?
Bella stopped him as he turned to leave. ‘Are you free tomorrow?’
‘I was going to…’ Again Pavel hesitated. ‘I can be.’
‘Any chance you could spare an hour to give Gemma a hand in the ballroom?’
‘What sort of hand?’
Any sort of hand you want to offer, Jodie thought.
‘Just clearing it out. Bit of muscle with the bigger stuff.’
Pavel frowned. ‘Not like you to need a big strong guy to help with the heavy lifting.’
‘I’m doing cake decorating with a baby shower but, yeah, actually I’m not feeling a hundred per cent.’
Jodie hadn’t noticed that her boss was under the weather. That was typical. Jodie didn’t notice things. She didn’t take care. She didn’t think. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing. Just keep having these mad waves of nausea. I threw up yesterday morning, but I was fine after.’
Veronica and Flinty exchanged a look.
‘Nausea?’ Veronica asked.
