Page 10 of Cooking Up a Christmas Storm (Highland Cookery School #2)

‘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.’

Gemma had said that? Jodie fought to keep the surprise off her face. She couldn’t imagine Gemma coming off that cocky. Gemma was the sweet and kind one who always said the right thing. Jodie was the screw-up. She smiled as brightly as she could manage. ‘Sprout Day might test my abilities a bit.’

‘Is there anything else we can do with them?’ Adam asked.

Bella and Adam were both looking at Jodie. What did she know about sprouts? They were horrible. That wasn’t helpful. They appeared in Christmas dinner like evil little bitterness bombs. ‘Massive Christmas dinner?’ she asked.

Adam glanced at the beds behind him. ‘It’ll have to be really massive.’

Bella half smiled. ‘Maybe you need to stick “Imaginative uses for sprouts” on the to-do list, Gemma.’ She gave her fiancé a quick peck on the lips. ‘We’ll leave you to it. Gemma’s probably chomping to actually get to work rather than tag along after me all day.’

‘I don’t mind.’ Did that sound like she was putting off getting to work? ‘I mean it’s useful finding out where everything is. Efficient really to do all this first.’

Bella chattered all the way back to the castle about plans and ideas for making the estate profitable for the long-term.

The cookery school was clearly her baby and where her heart lay but her brain was going at a thousand miles a minute with thoughts about the stables and the walled garden and converting the coach house and opening a tea shop or a pop-up restaurant and offering regular guided tours.

‘That’s tricky with all the community groups though,’ she added.

‘With what?’

Bella sighed. ‘We haven’t even talked about that, have we?

The castle also runs as a kind of makeshift community centre.

So we have parents and toddlers here on Tuesday and Thursday – in fact I think Nina’s coming over to talk about that this afternoon.

Then there’s book club once a month. They bring a little bit in for the room hire and teas and coffees, but mostly we just do it for the community.

Make sure the locals know we’re not just another big estate who don’t give a crap. ’

Something Pavel had said on the way over rang a bell. ‘Like the Mc… McKenzie, is it?’

‘Exactly. If you tried to hold your meeting there they’d charge you an extra fee for breathing the air.’ Bella pulled a face. ‘Not that any of our groups would stand for that anyway. I’d sort of love to see what the Ladies’ Group would do if we tried.’

‘Who?’

‘Ladies’ Group. They meet here most weeks. AKA the people who actually run the village. You should probably come to that.’

Jodie was instantly picturing a room full of Hyacinth Buckets, pearls clutched, lips pursed, disapproval ready to deploy at the slightest provocation.

‘Seriously, worth starting on the right foot with them. Next meeting is…’ Bella frowned for a second.

‘Not the first week of the month, not a green bin week, not a fish delivery day or the mobile library, but Anna’s sister is visiting at the weekend so…

Thursday. At Nina’s house. You’d be very welcome. ’

Jodie reminded herself that the Gemma she was trying to be was endlessly amenable. ‘Sounds great.’ She beamed.

‘Good. Tea?’

‘Great.’ Jodie was not a tea drinker. Or a coffee drinker.

It was a great social faux pas on her part, she knew, and probably evidence of the extent to which she wasn’t a proper grown-up.

Gemma, she thought, loved tea. The Gemma she was creating would be the warm, capable type who was forever popping the kettle on and sorting out other people’s woes over a nice hot brew.

This resolve was weakened slightly by the first sip of sad brown water.

‘Do you take sugar?’

Sugar had to help, surely. Jodie chucked two heaped teaspoons of sweetness into her mug and stirred. It did help. It didn’t help enough to make the ubiquitousness of tea drinking in anyway explicable. ‘Mmmm,’ she murmured. ‘Lovely.’