Page 70 of Cooking Up a Christmas Storm
Pavel was preparing for his date with Jill for the second time. He’d put two different shirts on and taken them off again. And then put a T-shirt on because it was lunch with Jill. And then changed back to a shirt because it wasn’t just lunch with Jill. It was a date with Jill, and that made everything feel so much more complicated.
Finally time made the decision for him. If he didn’t leave soon, he’d miss the tide to take the boat over and driving down to the bridge would make him even later. Black T-shirt under open denim shirt won the day by default. He slung his trainers into a backpack, pulled his wellies on and hurried down to the shoreline. Taking the boat was always his favourite way to get to Raasay or Skye. The drive over the bridge was still beautiful, but going over the water was something else. Even close in to shore the sense of scale and being alone in nature instantly gave Pavel a frisson of excitement and possibility, as though life was suddenly big and uncertain and could be anything at all he chose it to be.
As he drew nearer to Portree itself he radioed ahead for permission to moor and was directed to a spot on the old berth. Then it was a short walk up into town. He saw Jill standing outside the pub they’d arranged to meet at. She was looking from side to side, her big blonde curls swinging as she moved her head. He held up a hand in greeting as he approached.
‘Hi.’
‘Hi.’ She laughed slightly and then stopped too abruptly. ‘I didn’t know whether to go in. I don’t know why. I’d normally go in, and then I thought maybe this was different and I should… I don’t know.’
He wasn’t sure if her nerves were making his better or worse. ‘Shall we go in now then? Or, you know, we could go somewhere else if you prefer? There’s a seafood place down…’
‘This is fine.’
‘Right. Good.’
They went into the pub, which was unexpectedly quiet for a weekend.
‘Drink? What do you want? You can have wine. Or a beer. Or whatever you want.’ Pavel willed his mouth to stop talking. He’d bought Jill hundreds of drinks and he’d never turned into a wreck doing it before.
‘Wine. White. Just a small one. I drove over.’
‘OK.’
‘I mean, I know you would have given me a ride back, but I didn’t want to assume. Or for it to look like I was assuming I’d come back with you. I don’t mean back with you, like back with you. But…’ She took a huge breath in. ‘A small wine.’
Pavel headed to the bar. It was possible that he was actually in hell.
It was possible Jodie was actually in hell. The reception area for the McKenzie estate’s corporate office was so covered in tartan that Jodie could still see the lines and squares when she closed her eyes. She feared she might never stop seeing them. That garish purple, blue and brown pattern was going to haunt her dreams.
Adam had dropped her at the end of the access road, not wanting to drive further into enemy territory and risk being spotted, which meant she’d walked a good kilometre in the very stylish, but also massively too big, boots she’d borrowed from Darcy. Skirts could be taken up. Shoes were somewhat harder to shrink.
‘Miss Simpson?’ The woman calling her name was perfectly made-up, perfectly manicured and perfectly dressed in corporate purple. She held out a hand to shake. ‘Come on through.’
The décor inside the office was slightly more neutral but still leaned heavily on the purples.
‘Have a seat.’ The woman gestured towards two low chairs set around a tinted glass coffee table. ‘I’m Fiona MacCellan. So today is just a few informal questions to find out about you. I’m going to be asking everyone the same questions so it’s fair. You don’t mind if I take a few notes, do you?’
Jodie nodded. ‘That’s fine.’
‘So what attracted you to this position, Jodie?’
She’d rehearsed this answer with Bella at some length and agreed that honesty was absolutely not the best policy so rejected ‘I want to spy on you on behalf of your main rival with the bonus of you paying my salary while I do that.’ Instead she arranged her hands neatly on her lap and smiled in a way she hoped was approachable and warm. ‘I love this part of the world, so being part of an organisation so committed to the Highlands and building a modern business without losing the traditional charm appeals.’ She also remembered Adam’s sole contribution to the interview prep. Fiona was lovely, he said – despite the raised eyebrow from his fiancée – but also a little insecure. She’d respond well to flattery, he thought. ‘And also,’ Jodie continued, ‘it would be so exciting to work for such a well-respected female executive. I’m so impressed with everything you’ve achieved here. I’m sure I could learn so much from you.’
Was that too much? Fiona’s instant smile suggested not. ‘Oh, you’re very kind. Of course, John, Mr McKenzie, is really the power behind all this. I just help out where I can.’
Jodie’s hackles rose slightly. Another of her mother’s regular snippets of life advice rang in her head. Men who liked to be seen as the source of power while the women around them ran around and did the work were not to be trusted. You were much better off with a laird who was happy to be told to butt out and shut up.
‘We are in quite a remote area here. So I’m asking everyone as well, how they feel about that? It can be a bit hard if you’re not used to it.’
Jodie smoothly trotted out her practised soliloquy in praise of the Highlands and the wildlife and the undiscovered beauty. ‘Honestly, I don’t know why anyone who came here would ever leave.’
‘Can I ask,’ Fiona put down her pen, ‘not officially, but what brought you up here?’
‘Honestly,’ partly honestly, ‘I had a relationship end and I needed to get away so I took a break from work and set off travelling. My plan was to head overseas when my passport came through, but then I landed here and I don’t know.’ Jodie could feel the beginning of a tear stinging the corner of her eye. ‘I felt at home.’ The tears were still threatening to fall and something about what she’d said wasn’t quite right. ‘Not at home exactly. Maybe I felt more myself.’
She blinked hard against the tears.
Fiona seemed oblivious. ‘I know exactly what you mean. That’s why I didn’t leave when…’ She shook her head. ‘I just couldn’t be anywhere else.’
