Page 58 of Cooking Up a Christmas Storm
She read the message back and deleted the finalDon’t worry.Of course they would worry. Caring about Jodie was nothing but worry. No need to make it worse by giving them any sort of idea of the mess she was actually in right now. She could channel Gemma on that front as well. Stay calm. Don’t be a cause of stress.
She blanked the tablet screen and buried it back in the depth of her suitcase. Then she turned on her work laptop instead, and opened her Lowbridge email. The first message was from the ceilidh band leader. She tapped to open and scanned the first line.
I’m really sorry…
What? She read on.
Double-booked… impossible to turn down… huge apologies
The list had gone: music, people, venue, refreshments. Music had been ticked off. Music was sorted. Whatever else was going on, Jodie knew she had one thing covered. Her mental tally of one thing done, two things in progress, and one thing that had become her great white whale tipped back to two in progress and a pair of massive angry sea mammals.
She was about to reply – possibly not a very professional Gemma-styled reply – when someone banged loudly and insistently on her front door. She opened it to find Darcy and Bella both talking at once. ‘Have you heard?’
‘About the band…’
‘What about the band?’
Chapter Twelve
Darcy thrust her phone into Jodie’s hand. It was open on Facebook, on a very prominent ad for Hogmanay at the McKenzie estate. A wonderful evening of Scottish tradition and local food, the text promised.
‘Isn’t that what we said?’
‘It’s exactly what we said,’ Bella hissed.
Jodie scrolled down. Something else caught her eye.Double-bookedindeed. She pointed at the details of the musicians. ‘That’s our band. Was our band. They cancelled us.’
‘They stole our band?’ Bella asked.
‘Yeah.’ Jodie scanned the advert again. It was basically the evening they had been planning but glossier and more expensive. ‘You said they didn’t usually do a big Hogmanay thing?’
Darcy shook her head. ‘They didn’t. It was just an invitation party for McKenzie’s rich mates. They invited me and Alexander.’ She glanced up at Jodie. ‘My husband,’ Darcy explained. ‘McKenzie invited us for Hogmanay back when he was trying to persuade Alexander to sell.’
‘So what?’ Jodie read the advert again. ‘Are they just doing this because we are?’
‘You bet they are.’ Bella spat the words out.
‘But why?’
‘Cos they want us to fail so Adam has no choice but to sell up.’
Darcy nodded. ‘More than that though. It’s personal because you turned him down. John McKenzie won’t have liked that.’
The Hogmanay Gala was their idea – well, Gemma’s idea – and they’d been doing it first. Competing was one thing, but competition was fair. There were rules to competition. This wasn’t competition. It was sabotage.
‘What are we going to do?’ Bella looked uncharacteristically defeated.
What would Gemma do? Sensible, capable Gemma would take some time and make a new plan and think things through. Sometimes being Gemma didn’t quite cut it. ‘We’re going to carry on regardless,’ Jodie announced. ‘We’re not giving up because someone offered the band more money. We’ll find another band. A better band. And we’ll have your incredible food, and we’ll make the ballroom look amazing. We won’t just put on a Hogmanay party. We’ll put on a party that puts theirs to absolute shame.’
‘Really?’ Bella didn’t look sure.
Jodie didn’t feel sure, but that wasn’t the point. ‘Really,’ she insisted.
After Bella and Darcy had headed back to the castle, still bitching about the evils of the McKenzie dragon on their doorsteps, Jodie paced up and down the hallway of the Dower House. An hour ago everything had been going all right. She’d been starting to feel at ease at Lowbridge. She’d been starting to think she might be able to make Hogmanay happen. She’d even wondered about sending a cheeky email to Elton John’s people.
Now that was all going to be taken away from her. She had no idea how she was going to turn their Hogmanay plans around. The risk of being exposed was still there at every turn. She could only put off the payroll question for so long, and then what?
Without even realising she’d made a decision, Jodie was in the bedroom stuffing clothes and possessions back into her case. It was the best thing to do – accept her failure and move on before she let everyone down even further. She picked up her laptop. She would leave that, of course. It wasn’t hers to take. And realistically she couldn’t go anywhere right now. Setting off at midnight would be worse than trying to find public transport on a Sunday afternoon.
