Faith Bleasdale - Secrets at Meadowbrook Manor

‘Goodness,’ Gemma started.

‘Oh yes, and Pippa has to feel as if she’s really achieved something. Fred as well to be honest.’

‘Wow.’ Gemma couldn’t help but stare at Harriet. She really did expect a lot. What she described wasn’t a hotel; it was a whole world.

‘Yes, wow, but if you’re as good as Pippa says you are then it shouldn’t be a problem, should it?’

‘Um, no. No, of course not.’ She shook her head.

‘Good, I’m glad we had this chat, and we’ve come to an understanding. Hopefully, we’ll be friends in no time.’

‘That would be lovely.’ Gemma was surprised that Harriet would want to be friends with someone like her, but she also felt her heart lift a bit. It might be possible, after all.

‘Right, what’s your favourite animal? After all, we want you to get started at the sanctuary for the full Meadowbrook experience. The alpacas are quite fun.’ Her lips twitched.

‘Really?’ Gemma’s eyes filled with horror.

‘No, not really, I’m teasing. The alpacas don’t like anyone much, although they seem keenest on Connor. Do you have a preference?’ Harriet spoke as if it were totally normal to be having this conversation.

‘The cats.’ She didn’t hesitate – after her tour, the cats were definitely the easiest and the least scary. She had never had a pet, not even a hamster. Her nan offered to buy her a goldfish once, but it hadn’t come to anything.

‘Great, I’ll put you on the feeding and petting roster. It’s very sad that our domestic animals are waiting for loving homes. Really, I wish we could re-home them all, but it’s a process, so we’re always looking for people to come in and spend time with them – they need affection and love, as well as food.’

Again, Harriet took Gemma by surprise, she sounded so heartfelt.

‘I’d be delighted.’ She was delighted, because it wasn’t the alpacas.

‘Right, so tonight we’re all having dinner here at the house – we try to have a family meal once a week at least – so you’ll meet Connor, Gwen and Gus properly. Unfortunately Amanda can’t make it, but you’ll meet her soon. Tomorrow, in fact. The gardening club are due, so it would be great to spend time with them and Gus, getting to know the gardens.’

‘It all sounds great.’

It did, Gemma thought, feeling a little cowed still, but she also felt a stirring of hope. Harriet was scary, she was confident, and she clearly knew what the purse strings needed to be doing, but at the same time, she seemed fair and reasonable. And if she needed to cuddle a few cats to keep her dream job then she would be happy to do so. She might feel a bit browbeaten and out of her depth, but she also would do anything to keep the job here at Meadowbrook and make it a success. She needed it. But more than that, she realised that she really, really wanted it.

‘This is fabulous, Gwen,’ Harriet said as they sat around the formal dining-room table. Gemma was overwhelmed by family mealtime at Meadowbrook. Her family meals consisted of herself and her nan and whatever was on special in the supermarket that day. Her nan wasn’t a bad cook, but she made traditional things, lots of mashed potatoes, vegetables and meat and nothing considered “foreign”. Tonight they were eating a pasta dish, which was made from scratch, even the pasta. Gwen always cooked the food for family night; she wouldn’t have it any other way. The sauce, which was tomato-based, was the nicest Gemma had ever tasted, and all the vegetables were grown at Meadowbrook. There was also home-made garlic bread, and a fresh salad – again from the Meadowbrook garden.

‘If you serve food like this, you’ll have people flocking to the hotel,’ Gemma said.

There was an easy chatter around the room. Everyone, even Harriet, was relaxed as she and Connor shared some affectionate looks and touches. Gemma still had her guard up, but sitting here, seeing how the family operated, she almost wanted to let her barriers down. Almost but not quite, hence why she tried to stick to comments only relating to the hotel.

‘Thank you, that’s what we’re hoping,’ Gwen said. ‘We thought it would be a feature that we serve as much food that we grow here as we can, and if we don’t grow it here, then we buy local products.’

‘What about meat?’ Gemma asked, noting there wasn’t any and nor had she had any since being here.

‘Well,’ Connor started, looking around the table, ‘we’re pretty much vegetarian, you know with the animal sanctuary and everything. Well I am anyway, as is Harry, but Pippa, Gus and Freddie eat some meat.’

‘Was your dad vegetarian?’

‘No, that was the irony of Andrew Singer: he rescued animals but he did eat them, well none from the sanctuary, of course, but from the local farm, and well, he justified it by not justifying it, really,’ Gwen explained. ‘Andrew made up his rules as he went along.’

‘Fred’s inherited that from him,’ Gus said.

Freddie scowled but didn’t argue.

‘When I got involved with the animals, I just couldn’t eat meat anymore. I have to admit, I do eat fish sometimes,’ Harriet added. ‘So I have put a ban on rescuing fish in the sanctuary.’ She laughed again.

‘I’m the same,’ Pippa said. ‘Actually, I’m trying to be vegan, but it’s not easy because I really like cheese.’

‘I’ve learnt how to cook more vegetarian food,’ Gwen said. ‘And I’m starting to look into vegan baking – we need to get ahead of the times, I always think. It’s becoming ever so fashionable, after all.’

‘You’re right, it is,’ Gemma said. Her nan wouldn’t have coped well with her being vegetarian. Especially as when she was a kid, they ate a lot of meat from tins, which thinking about it might not have actually been meat. ‘It could be a great angle for the hotel too.’ Her mind started whirring. ‘You know, a vegan hotel. I’ll do some research, but I’m sure they’re not very common.’

‘We don’t want to scare guests off, though,’ Harriet pointed out. ‘I think perhaps we should offer a fabulous vegan and vegetarian menu, but we should cater for the carnivores too.’

‘And it will create goodwill locally if we buy meat, like Dad did from the farmers,’ Gus pointed out. ‘My daughter Fleur’s a vegetarian and she called me a murderer the other day.’ Gus shook his head. ‘But then sometimes any excuse to attack me …’ He focused on his plate.

‘And I’m largely vegetarian, although I am partial to the occasional steak,’ Freddie offered.

‘So not really veggie at all, mate.’ Connor grinned. ‘More like a flexitarian.’

Connor was so lovely, Gemma thought, very different to Harriet, mainly because he wasn’t at all frightening. He was incredibly good-looking in a non-groomed, natural way, but he clearly only had eyes for Harriet, which actually made him even more appealing. He wasn’t quite Freddie-gorgeous, though, but then Gemma didn’t think anyone was.

‘OK, but we can definitely say we specialise in good, local, home-grown vegan food, it’ll be a good angle. I’ll put it down on my notes and do some research.’ Gemma continued to sound professional.

‘More wine, anyone?’ Freddie said, reaching for a new bottle and pouring it.

Gemma had barely touched hers, and she noticed him glare at her before moving on past her glass.

‘The wine is lovely,’ she said, trying to placate him.

‘How would you know, you’ve barely touched it?’ he pointed out.

‘I’ve had some and it’s delicious.’ She felt herself colour.

‘Never trust a woman who doesn’t drink – that’s my motto,’ Freddie said.

‘Don’t we know it,’ Harriet joked. ‘Although after your last girlfriend, you shouldn’t trust a woman who does drink, either.’