Page 34 of Cooking Up a Christmas Storm (Highland Cookery School #2)

He pulled the van in in front of the Lowbridge coach house, and turned his head towards her.

This was it. They’d acknowledged the nearly kiss.

They’d established that the barrier was out of the way.

She leaned towards him. She was an inch away from him, and now half an inch.

Her lips broke into a smile. ‘Well, that was a sad missed opportunity then, wasn’t it? ’

She grinned as she hopped out of the van and waved as she walked away. What was that? Was that a brush-off or was that flirting? And how on earth was Pavel expected to know?

Why hadn’t she kissed him? She’d wanted to.

She’d raised it. She hadn’t intended to when she’d got in the van.

She’d intended to sit silently, or at most make polite chit-chat about the weather.

She hadn’t intended to pick at a healing wound.

But as soon as the question was in her head there was no version of Jodie who could have resisted asking it.

And now the moment in the ballroom was something real.

They’d shone a light on it and there was no more pretending that nothing was going on.

And yet, technically, nothing was going on.

He’d definitely leaned in that time, and she’d pulled away.

Why had she done that? Jodie wasn’t a backing-down-and-walking-away person.

Maybe she really didn’t know who she was any more.

Bella was waiting for her in the kitchen.

They started with an update on Lowbridge’s own plans – some positive, some not so good.

Adam had opened up accommodation bookings for New Year on the estate website, apparently after a nudge from Pavel to up the price a notch.

Jodie bit back her explanation for that.

Three new groups had booked for the party.

And one more had cancelled because they now had ‘other plans’.

‘I wish we knew for certain that they were going to McKenzie.’

Jodie hesitated. So far everything she’d done at the McKenzie estate had been ethically dubious but not actually illegal.

She had, she reminded herself, saved that honour for Lowbridge.

Was taking a job on false pretences a form of fraud?

She was telling herself not really. Data protection breaches were definitely against the law though.

This was new territory. ‘I’ve got something I can’t give you. ’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Like if I’d found a partial list of their ticket holders on the printer it would be really dodgy to show that to you.’ Jodie pulled the folded sheet of A4 out of her bag and dropped it on the kitchen island. ‘I’m going to the loo.’

When she came back the paper was neatly folded at the other end of the table. Bella smiled innocently. ‘Oh, I think you left something over there.’

‘So do you think McKenzie really is stealing our customers?’

‘I’m bloody sure he is. Those two highlighted lines – they were both booked with us.’

‘But how?’

Bella shook her head. ‘I don’t know. There’s only you, me, Darcy and Adam who have access to the bookings here. And I know none of us would tell them.’

Jodie bit her lip. This was another scab she couldn’t stop herself picking at. ‘Why don’t you think it’s me?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean you’ve only known me a month. Why do you trust me?’

Bella stared at her. ‘Heart or head?’

‘What?’

‘Do you want the heart answer or the rational head answer?’

Jodie wasn’t sure she wanted either, but she needed something true. ‘Heart?’

‘Then I trust you because I do trust you. You’ve really mucked in since you got here. You’re part of the team. Part of Lowbridge. I don’t believe you’d lie to us.’

Jodie felt like she’d been given a huge hug and a massive punch in the guts all at the same time. ‘What about the head reason?’

‘I can see who’s logged into the ticket system. Your login hadn’t been used between the first customers who cancelled booking with us and then pulling out, or since this last lot booked.’

Jodie nodded. ‘I really wouldn’t do that.’

‘Good.’ Bella rubbed the small of her back. ‘I went to the GP today. I’ve got booklets to read about NCT classes and midwife visits and goodness knows what. I feel like I’m officially pregnant.’

‘The three tests you did didn’t tell you that?’

Bella laughed. ‘I guess I’m going to have to take some time off soon then.

’ Her brow furrowed. ‘So you better bloody be part of the team. We’re going to need you more than ever.

’ She rubbed her eyes. ‘Oh, Hogmanay. I think this is our last chance to cut our losses and cancel now. We haven’t spent for the food and drink yet or staff for the night.

If we cancel now it’d be a horrific loss rather than an absolutely catastrophic one. ’

‘Do you want to cancel?’

‘No. Honestly, I don’t think it’s enough for us to just not lose money at this point anyway. But mostly, I don’t want him to beat us.’

Neither did Jodie. Cancelling would be giving up.

It would be admitting that she didn’t have what it took to hold down a proper job.

It would be accepting that no matter how hard she tried – no matter how Gemma she tried to be – Jodie Simpson always messed things up.

And it would be letting John McKenzie get away with one more thing.

‘He’s really horrible. Have you met him? ’

Bella nodded. ‘He came to Adam’s dad’s memorial service.’

Jodie shuddered. Nobody deserved John McKenzie coming to see them off.

‘Made Adam an offer to buy this place at the actual wake.’

That didn’t even surprise her. ‘We can’t let him win.’

‘So what do we do? He’s stolen our band and half our customers.’

Jodie thought it through. What Gemma would do was no help to her here.

And being Gemma was feeling more and more like a straitjacket rather than an escape.

That was why she’d prodded at Pavel in the van.

She was who she was. Maybe it was all she could be.

And she did have an idea. It was crazy but it was all she had. ‘I think we should steal them back.’