Page 8 of Cooking Up a Christmas Storm (Highland Cookery School #2)

‘They asked loads of questions today.’ Bella started filling them in on the lesson she’d taught that afternoon. ‘What’s the difference between ragu and bolognaise?’

‘Aren’t they the same?’ Jodie was glad Darcy asked the question.

‘Well, technically a bolognaise has more tomato and less big bits of beef. A ragu is meatier. We’re in Lowbridge not Bologna though so I think it’s fine.’ She stirred the pot in front of her. ‘So, Gemma, what really made you apply for this job?’

‘Erm, well…’ What would Gemma say? ‘The place looked amazing and I was ready for a change.’

‘Something less corporate?’ Darcy prompted.

Was that what Gemma had told them? Her previous job had been for a restaurant chain, so maybe that was true. Jodie nodded. ‘Exactly.’

‘We’re so glad you’re here,’ Bella added.

‘Having another pair of hands is going to make everything so much easier. At the moment Darcy is all over our finances, so invoices and bookings for the cookery school, and Adam has a landscape design business so he’s in Edinburgh part of the time, but he still looks after the land and the gardens – like the actual physical estate, you know? ’

Jodie nodded. She didn’t know at all. With hindsight, her time on the train here would perhaps have been better spent googling the Lowbridge Castle Estate than scrolling Instagram.

‘And I’m the cook obviously.’

‘Bit more than that,’ Adam interrupted. ‘Bella is the absolute driving force behind all of this.’

‘It’s a team effort, but I run the cookery school and actually teach the classes.’

So there was an estate and a cookery school. Jodie tried to nod like someone who totally understood what running those things would involve.

‘And I’ve got so many ideas but there are only so many hours in the day. Like we could develop the garden more.’ She squeezed her fiancé’s arm. ‘You’re growing so much amazing stuff now but next summer we’re going to have a glut so if we could do a pop-up farm shop?’

‘We don’t want to compete with Anna and Hugh.’

Bella shook her head. ‘Of course not.’ She turned back to Jodie. ‘They run the village shop.’

‘And Anna is slightly terrifying,’ Adam added.

‘She’s not that bad, but yeah. It all needs thought. And marketing! We’re all over the place with that.’ Bella grinned. ‘We were so excited when you said you’d designed campaigns for Pizza Now!’

Had Gemma done that? She definitely remembered a phase when they got free takeaways.

‘So we know you’re going to be so much help with promotion and marketing. We’ve got Instagram and a Facebook page but I never know what to put on it. And there’s a lot more to marketing than that, isn’t there? I bet you’ve got loads of ideas.’

‘Well…’

‘But Hogmanay first. That’s what we’re most excited about. That whole plan is incredible.’

Jodie swallowed hard. That whole plan? What plan?

‘So bold to suggest putting on such a big event so soon. That’s what we need though, isn’t it?’ Bella turned to her fiancé. ‘Bit of ambition?’

‘Sure.’

‘So what do we need to do first?’

Jodie was screwed. Apparently there was a whole plan that she was supposed to know about and she was also supposed to be some sort of digital-marketing guru.

They were all waiting for her to speak. What would Gemma say?

Business things probably. Important, clever business things.

‘So… I think the strategic thing to do would be to really think strategically and focus in on the strategy and make sure we have the right…’ Jodie paused.

She couldn’t say strategy again. What were other words?

Adam held up his hand with a smile. ‘No work after six on a Sunday. Come on, Bel. She’s been travelling all day. She’s barely had time to unpack.’

Hadn’t started unpacking, actually.

‘Give the woman a minute to get settled.’

‘Sorry.’

‘It’s OK.’ Jodie smiled as brightly as she could. It wasn’t OK. By her reckoning she had until about tomorrow lunchtime to work out how to do Gemma’s job, once she’d worked out what on earth that job was.

Once Bella started dishing out food the conversation moved on, allowing Jodie a few minutes’ respite.

The rich meaty sauce sent warmth through Jodie’s body.

She’d always thought of comfort food as nursery food – fish fingers and beans, dippy egg and soldiers – food that was easy and that brought back the safety of childhood.

This was something else. This was very grown-up comfort – luxurious and heartening.

If this was the rejected practice batch, Jodie could only imagine the final version must be food beyond her puny understanding.

Bella chewed thoughtfully. ‘I put a little bit more pork in the finished one. It adds flavour but keeps it moist as well.’

‘This is perfect,’ Jodie insisted. She would love to be able to cook like this.

Darcy nodded.

‘Bella’s never entirely happy with a recipe,’ Adam explained. ‘She’s always got an idea for how to make it a little bit better.’

While they ate, Adam and Darcy filled her in on a bit more of the history of Lowbridge Castle.

By the time she was pushing her bowl away after her second portion, she thought she had it clear in her head.

Adam was Baron Lowbridge, generally known by people who bothered as ‘the laird’ or, given how recently he’d inherited the title, ‘the new laird’.

Darcy shrugged at that. ‘I was the lady for fifteen years and I was always the new lady.’

‘You’re still the lady,’ Bella pointed out.

‘Dowager lady.’ Darcy shuddered. ‘Sounds ancient though, doesn’t it?’

Bella explained that she wasn’t the lady because she wasn’t married to Adam.

‘Yet,’ Adam insisted forcefully. ‘Soon though.’

Bella nodded. ‘We should have done the registry-office thing the first time we talked about it.’

‘But then you got all excited about a big, romantic castle wedding,’ he replied.

Bella rolled her eyes. ‘Who got all excited?’

Adam laughed. ‘And you humour me about it beautifully.’

‘In the spring is the plan at the moment,’ Bella continued. ‘We’d like to start doing weddings generally and so why not? I’m thinking we can use the large dining room for…’

Adam shook his head again. ‘Is this wedding planning or work?’

‘Can’t it be both?’ she shot back.

‘So romantic,’ he muttered.

‘Anyway,’ Darcy swept in to change the subject and head off the argument, ‘tell us about you, Gemma.’

For a fraction of a second Jodie almost looked behind her to see who Darcy was talking to before she caught herself. She was Gemma. ‘Well, you already know about my work life,’ she ventured. They’d have discussed that, presumably? And Gemma must have filled in an application or sent a CV.

Darcy waved a hand dismissively. ‘Oh, no more work. What about you? Seriously, what did make you want to come all the way up here? I’m sure there are less corporate jobs nearer home.’

‘Er…’ The best lies were always grounded in truth. ‘Honestly, I just broke up with someone. This is kind of a fresh start.’

‘I’m sorry.’ Darcy squeezed her hand. ‘Were you with him long?’

‘Er, her.’ Jodie got the correction out of the way fast and braced herself for the second part of the coming-out chore. ‘I’m bi. So yeah. It was a her.’

‘I’m sorry. Shouldn’t have assumed. That’s fine. Great. Wonderful,’ Darcy floundered beautifully. ‘Isn’t it?’

Adam nodded. ‘Of course.’

Bella looked up. ‘Do you think we should do a room somewhere as a proper bridal suite?’

Adam jabbed her in the ribs. ‘Gemma was telling us about breaking up with her girlfriend.’

‘Sure. Maybe in the main house rather than the coach house? So they’re not right next to their guests if they want to… y’know.’

Darcy pursed her lips. ‘Ignore her. You were telling us about you.’

Jodie would rather have turned the conversation back to bridal suites and accommodation plans.

Darcy was not having it. ‘Go on.’

‘She…’ She what? ‘I don’t know. I think things had run their course.’

She hoped her vagueness would come across as understandable reluctance to talk about a painful episode. She was spared further questions by the sound of a door opening and closing and voices coming down the corridor to the kitchen.

‘I’m just going to drop these bits off.’ The voice was a woman. Local from the sound of her accent and very definite about her intentions.

‘I’m quite sure that isn’t necessary.’ Equally definite but more refined, with a hint of resignation.

Adam jumped up to greet the newcomers. ‘Flinty! Grandmother!’

Jodie took a second to take them in. The visuals absolutely matched the voices.

The first woman, Flinty, according to Adam’s greeting, was shorter, solidly built with greying red hair.

Her companion was tall, slim, neat silver hair pulled back into a bun and spectacles suspended on a thin gold chain at her neck.

‘I brought you some Brussels. First crop from Hugh’s garden.

I don’t know why he grows them. Anna can’t stand the things.

I thought “Bella’ll be able to do something with ’em”, so here you are.

I left ’em on the stalk so they’ll keep better.

’ She handed the massive stalk of sprouts over and looked around. ‘Well, hello.’

‘Grandmother, Flinty, this is Gemma. She’s starting work here tomorrow.’

Flinty slapped her cheerfully on the arm. ‘Welcome, love. Are they looking after you? Was the Dower House cleaned properly?’ Did she cast a sideways look at Adam and Darcy as she asked that?

‘It’s lovely. Thank you.’

‘And you’re the girl from London then?’ The second woman, Adam’s grandmother, said London in a tone that suggested some weakness of character.

‘No. Reading.’ Wait. Gemma was from London, wasn’t she? Originally. Would she have told them that? ‘I’m from London, but I was living in Reading is what I mean. Like most recently. Not now. Obviously. But before. Yesterday. Reading. Yeah.’ Stop talking, Jodie.

The woman was definitely looking at her more intently now. ‘Whereabouts in London are you from?’

Gemma was from Hounslow but she said Richmond when she was trying to sound fancy. ‘Richmond?’

The woman tilted her head. ‘Are you asking me?’

‘No?’

‘Don’t interrogate the poor girl, Veronica,’ Darcy cut in. ‘You’ll have her doubting her own name.’

Almost everyone laughed.

Veronica was still gazing directly at Jodie, inspecting her, assessing her. Jodie plastered on a smile. She’d almost slipped up there. She couldn’t let that happen again.