Faith Bleasdale - Secrets at Meadowbrook Manor

‘Do people fish?’ she asked, finally.

‘No, we swam in it as kids though, and I think Harriet still does sometimes. Not me – I prefer the indoor heated pool. There are public footpaths through the land, so we do get walkers, which is fine. Why, do you fish?’ Freddie grinned.

‘No.’ Gemma wondered why he made her feel so awkward. ‘I was just asking – you know, for the hotel.’ She went closer to the lake, stumbling as she caught her foot on a large unseen stone.

‘Bloody hell, don’t fall in,’ Freddie said, moving to help her as she righted herself. ‘It’ll be freezing. No, I wouldn’t think we’d want to attract men in waders and suchlike anyway. No, my vision for the hotel is more Bright Young Things .’

‘You want to attract bright young people?’

He turned to her, his lips curling up. ‘No, well yes, but I mean like the film. Glamorous young people, having good old-fashioned fun and drinking cocktails made by moi – you know, I’ve done a cocktail-making course. Via the Internet, but still, they sent me a certificate.’

Gemma wondered if Freddie was joking, but for once he looked serious.

‘You can learn via the Internet?’ Gemma asked, trying not to sound as astounded as she felt.

‘Yes, of course. They put loads of videos up, so I not only learnt recipes, but also technique. Even the whole throwing of the cocktail shaker, although I wasn’t very good at that. But I perfected the mixing. I am officially a mixologist now. Well, I think I am. And tonight I will show you, and you can sample some of my signature drinks. I intend to be in charge of the bar at the hotel, and I’m going to design the drinks menu. It’s my area of expertise after all.’

‘Well, I’m not much of a drinker, remember.’ Gemma was terrified. He was so sure of himself, although he didn’t seem arrogant. She could only dream of a fraction of his confidence. She wondered if he would spare her any.

‘Bloody shame.’ He shook his head in disgust, and Gemma realised she might have to start drinking cocktails to keep the job.

‘But I’ll look forward to sampling some of your concoctions, of course.’ She attempted a laugh.

‘Oh brilliant, and if I were you I’d get good and hammered tonight.’

‘Why’s that?’

‘You’ve got a meeting with Harriet tomorrow morning. She’s much easier to deal with with a hangover, believe me. Right, come on, I’ll show you where we host our main events and then take you to the animal sanctuary. Back in the buggy.’

‘If I have to,’ Gemma mumbled under her breath.

Just as she thought she was getting the hang of all this, she felt the ground being swept from under her again. Literally this time, as the buggy seemed to take off into the air.

She was so pleased to have her feet on the ground again, she almost threw herself down to kiss it. They had parked up at the animal sanctuary, and as Harriet had gone somewhere for supplies and Connor was working at the vets’ practice, Freddie – with the help of Amy, one of the full-time workers – gave Gemma the tour. Amy clearly had a crush on Freddie, as she hung on his every word and practically ignored Gemma. Freddie was flirting with her masterfully, but then Amy was young and pretty, so why wouldn’t he?

‘So, how many animals do you have?’ Gemma asked as they started by visiting the dogs.

‘Loads,’ Freddie replied. ‘Would you say, Amy?’

‘Oh yes,’ Amy breathed. ‘Loads.’

Gemma was sure it wasn’t going to be the most informative tour ever.

She rubbed her temples. The dogs, who were incredibly excited and loud, had given her a headache, although she felt so sorry for them, all abandoned when they should have been in loving homes. She tried not to think that she could identify with them. They moved on to the cats, who were much more calming. The chickens were a surprise, as Freddie seemed very fond of them, and then she had been introduced to – yes, really – two alpacas, four pigs, three mini ponies, a donkey, a blind sheep, her “guide” lamb and three goats.

‘So the alpacas, Sebastian and Samantha, are a bit stuck-up,’ Freddie explained.

‘Really?’ Gemma noticed they seemed to be doing their best to ignore her.

‘I think they think they’re better than us, but anyway, come on, there’s more to see.’

Gemma shook her head.

She tried to remember all the animal names, but there were so many, as Freddie told her the brief history and Amy showed how competent she was with each one – including the hoity alpacas, by petting them, or in the case of the pigs, giving them some food.

Gemma wasn’t much of a country girl – in fact, she wasn’t a country girl at all, so she was finding it quite intimidating. Even Cookie, Clover and Brian, the miniature ponies who were sweet and tiny, managed to scare her a bit.

‘See over there …’ Freddie pointed to the next field, where there were two cows, both with impressive horns, although one was much bigger than the other. They looked pretty aggressive. Freddie was standing very close to her, and Gemma could feel the heat radiating from him. Amy approached and wedged herself to Freddie’s other side. Gemma nodded.

‘That is David. You see, we had two gay cows.’

‘Gay cows?’ Just as Meadowbrook couldn’t seem any more eccentric.

‘Well bulls technically, as they’re boys. David, who you see there, and Elton.’

‘Elton and David?’ Gemma wondered if she were dreaming.

‘Yes, they weren’t the friendliest to others, but they adored each other. Sadly, Elton died.’

‘Oh no!’ She felt sorry for David suddenly.

‘Funny story, actually. Well not Elton dying, that was awful – we all cried that day – but I run the social media and I tweeted it and everyone thought that I meant Elton John had died, so it sort of went viral. Then I had to explain quickly that it was Elton, the gay cow, but it had already made a newspaper, and I got in a fair bit of trouble with Harriet, but it did get us a lot more Twitter followers, so it’s not all bad.’

‘So who’s the cow, or bull with him now?’

‘She’s a cow, and after Elton died, David was pining badly, so Connor thought he would try to find him a companion. Well this poor cow who had been treated quite badly came up, and so Connor somehow got them together and they seemed to get on. Between you and me, I think she’s a bit of a fag hag. She’s called Madonna.’

‘Of course she is.’ Gemma couldn’t help but laugh. This might be the maddest place she had ever been, but it was also the most entertaining. She realised how little she laughed in life, and with Freddie she felt like laughing a lot. This was a positive, and she was going to hold on tight.

Gemma groaned when she opened her eyes. Her head felt fuzzy and heavy, not a sensation she was used to. In order to impress Freddie, she had made an effort last night to enjoy his cocktails, which he’d mixed for her and Pippa in the drawing room, and it hadn’t taken much to get her drunk. Oh God, she was mortified.

She’d embarrassingly had to go to bed just as Freddie was getting into his (Martini) stride. She vaguely remembered Freddie making a cutting comment to Pippa about why on earth she had to hire such a lightweight. Oh God, she rubbed her temples. Pippa had said that she didn’t make her applicants drink as part of the interview process. Freddie said she should have done, and Gemma tripped on the stairs, screamed, and they both had to help her up to bed.

She would have been offended if the stairs hadn’t been moving. She was also too busy trying to see only one Pippa and one Freddie.

Gemma vaguely remembered saying to Pippa, as she helped her into her room, that she had no nice clothes, and she had an even fuzzier recollection of Pippa saying she would help. She wished the details were clearer. She wasn’t quite sure, but she seemed to recall that Pippa said their father wouldn’t let them spend much money for the year after he died – did that make sense? He’d given them a small allowance to live on, so they’d had to buy clothes in charity shops. She couldn’t see Harriet Singer, or Freddie, wearing second-hand clothes. Maybe she dreamt it. Maybe she had a drunken reality that wasn’t real at all. And this was why she stayed away from alcohol most of the time. Or actually it wasn’t – staying away from alcohol was another way in which she wasn’t normal.