A Roll in the Hay, стр. 27
“I’ll be in the shower,” Susannah replied. “If you could summon up some breakfast with a massive pot of tea, there’s a bonus in it for you.”
“Getting ready to be your stand-in chef. Bacon sandwiches and a vat of Yorkshire’s finest blend will be ready for you downstairs in twenty.”
“Lifesaver.”
Showering and getting dressed in record time, Susannah decided to leave make-up for after the restorative food and drink. With some paracetamol stashed in the pocket of her trousers, she jogged down to the smell of sizzling bacon and the sounds of a kitchen being properly used.
“Finn!” Susannah made sure her greeting was warm even though her head was still pounding. “Damn, that bacon smells good.”
“You know, I do love cooking,” Finn said. “Maybe I could do some of the catering instead of getting Joan to do it.”
“Like I don’t overwork you as it is. You do more than enough. I’d be lost without you.”
“Well, I have some candidates for the personal chef position that I’ll vet so you can interview the best of them.”
“Thank you, Finn.” Susannah poured herself tea from the pot that was steaming at the centre of the table. “I know there haven’t been as many challenging events since it’s been just me. It’s taken a while to get everything back on track, but you’re doing great. Did we try reaching out to Francine to see if she’ll come back?”
“Hmm.” Finn was definitely hiding something.
“Oh, go on, tell me.”
“Francine may have had another offer,” Finn said, fussing with the bacon and removing it from the heat. “One that she accepted, I believe. She started work already.”
“Oh? If this is about money…” Susannah would prefer a familiar face, someone who already knew how she liked things. Breaking in a new person just sounded exhausting. “I know Jimmy was the one to hire her and that we entertained more when he was here, but that’s all going to change now. She could run a little café for the holiday cabin guests.”
“I’m not so sure that would work.” Finn served up two perfect bacon sandwiches, and Susannah’s stomach growled. “Since her loyalties seem to have shifted quite a bit.”
“Oh, you’re not telling me…”
“I’m afraid Robin is her new employer. Even if you offered more money, she seems to have bought into this fantasy that Robin is the rightful heir to Midsummer. God, this is all starting to sound like Shakespeare again.”
“Why is that woman so obsessed with taking everything I have?” Susannah groaned the question more than she asked it. “It was bad enough she took Jonathan under her wing after he quit here. What next? Am I going to go down to the stables and find her riding Billie Jean?” She looked at her sandwiches, willing the fresh betrayal not to wilt her appetite. Nope, she still wanted to devour them. “No, we won’t try to win her back. We’ll find someone even better. Tell Jonathan next time you speak that this had better be the last I hear about Robin poaching my staff. My lawyers are already working on obliterating her, so she should really stop adding to that list.”
“If you say so.” Finn did their best to look upbeat about the prospect.
Handling all of Susannah’s calls and vindictive relatives couldn’t be an easy job. Maybe it was already time to look at raises again. “I do say so.” Susannah took a hearty bite, just to show she wouldn’t be disheartened in her own house. “Now, don’t let me hold you up. I’m sure you have plenty to do that isn’t running after me. I really appreciate the cooked breakfast, though.”
Finn scurried off to tackle their to-do list.
Susannah sipped at her tea. How could good old loyal Francine seriously go to Robin? Why didn’t any of the staff see Susannah as the rightful successor? Robin hadn’t lived at Midsummer in twenty years, although most of the original staff would have been there then. Had the staff really known and disapproved of Susannah and Jimmy’s arrangement for seeing other people of their preferred genders? Surely in that case they’d have been more likely to leave while Jimmy was still alive?
Which left two equally unappealing options: They’d all been promised something by Robin. Or they just didn’t like Susannah and found her so unpleasant or unfair to work for that even leaving their jobs was worth it. That one was definitely worse but at least it felt a bit less likely than the first option. Who knew what lies had been spun, especially now that the veiled aspersions had made it even into the newspapers.
At the next opportunity, Susannah was going to let her have it with both barrels. That article had crossed the line, so nothing was off-limits now when it came to hitting back.
She just hoped that she wouldn’t have to.
Chapter 9
“You!” Margo called out as she came into the pub to join Tess at a corner table. “Why are you hiding out in here?”
“I’m done for the day. My last appointment finished thirty minutes ago. Are you keeping track or something?”
“No, I wanted to give you a bloody big kiss!” And Margo did exactly that, laying a smacker right on Tess’s cheek. “I don’t know what you did the other day with that horse, but a certain someone has gone and changed her mind!”
“Sorry, what?” Tess set her half-empty pint back on the table, careful to place it right on the beer mat. “Who did what now?”
“Karlson. Midsummer Estate. She called about ten minutes ago and asked us to send over paperwork. She wants us as her main vet after all.”
Tess rocked back against the cushioned bench, exhaling loudly in surprise. “Did she really?”
“Look at my face!” Margo pointed to her