A Roll in the Hay, стр. 30

Chapter 10

Joan arrived early, which was quite unlike her, and brought the most beautiful spread that Susannah had ever seen outside of a five-star restaurant. Before she could say a word, dishes were being loaded into the giant fridge, with a list of instructions taped to the door for later.

“Hey Boss?”

Susannah froze as she heard Babs call out from the kitchen door.

“Oh,” Joan said sharply as Babs reversed into the room, carrying a wooden crate full of gently clinking bottles. “It’s you.”

Susannah supposed she should be glad her drinks order wasn’t dropped on the floor out of spite. No one needed that much broken glass this early in the day. Babs was supposed to have been bringing the wine more than an hour from now. This was going to look like meddling. “All okay here?” Susannah asked. “Bit of a scheduling overlap, but we’re all professionals aren’t we?”

“Morning!” Jonathan said, entering through the side door as though he’d never stopped working here. Great, just the absolute last interloper she needed. Was he here to spy? Deliver more irritating news? Susannah had to bite her tongue not to bark at him. Dressed in muted tartan trousers with a matching waistcoat over a black shirt, he looked both fashionable and stuffy. “Just wanted a quick word about today?”

“Well, I’ve left you everything you need,” Joan addressed Susannah and shoved the last few platters into the fridge. “Just needs someone who can operate an oven and handle the warm plates. It’s all in the instructions.”

“I can settle up with you now?” Susannah offered. She fired off a quick text to Finn, summoning them for crowd control, if nothing else.

“I’ll send the bill,” Joan said. “No particular rush, thank you.”

“Turned the café into a Michelin-starred bistro, then, have you?” Babs asked as she unloaded the bottles much slower than necessary.

“And what business is that of yours?” Joan began moving towards the door, but that put her on a collision course with Jonathan.

“Let’s keep things civilised, please, ladies,” Jonathan said with a heavy sigh. “Nobody wants a repeat of the Halloween party, do they?”

“Picked up psychic abilities along with that haircut, have you?” Joan asked.

That was enough to set Babs off, and she was marching across the kitchen in her leopard print blouse and black skirt to put herself between Jonathan and Joan. “That is no way to talk to him.”

“I’ll speak to that boy any way I damn well please,” Joan said. “He’s the one who quit on me and Susannah to go and work for Robin Karlson.”

“As he’s entitled to do,” Babs corrected. “For someone who’s always telling people how to change their businesses, you certainly don’t like any disruption in your own little world.”

“Honestly, it’s fine,” Susannah tried to intervene, but she was used to being summarily ignored when these two crossed paths.

“I happen to believe in loyalty,” Joan said, drawing herself up to her full height in her flowing blue maxi dress. “Now he’s probably here to cause some trouble, aren’t you, boy?”

“No,” Jonathan replied. “But I did just want to mention that you’ll need a vegan option for Councillor Javit today. Oh, and he’s bringing Robin as his guest. You did give everyone a plus one for the presentation and drinks.”

Finn arrived then, and Susannah saw her opportunity to escape. Cursing as she scurried upstairs to change, she felt a smidgen of guilt at leaving Finn to wrangle with the civil war in her kitchen. If Robin wanted to throw Susannah off her game today, she’d have to do a lot better than crashing the canapés and small talk.

Small talk might have been the most excruciating part of it all, worse even than how Susannah’s new high heels pinched terribly at the toes. She made sure that every glass was filled and that the village teens were passing around trays of canapés without insulting anyone. She couldn’t remember quite which two these were, but Finn kept track of all that.

“This is a lovely glass of red,” Councillor Johnson was saying, snapping Susannah back to attention. “You’re really spoiling us today.”

“Oh, this? Well, I like to get my best cooks and sommeliers on the case when I have important guests.” Listening to herself, Susannah was glad she didn’t have much of a gag reflex.

“It really is a pleasure, Lady Karlson. I’ve heard great things about your entertaining here at Midsummer. I, for one, was glad to make the list.”

Susannah gave her best encouraging smile. “It’s overdue, I know. I haven’t felt very festive for most of the year since Jimmy passed, but he would be the first to tell me to pick myself up and get on with things here.” The small lie that her own vision had in fact been Jimmy’s still felt unpleasant on her tongue. “And I thought, who better to show its potential to? These plans are all about community.”

“Community?” Councillor Javit interrupted without a second thought. “Which part of the community will be spending hundreds of pounds renting out a holiday cabin for a stag weekend that ends up trashing half the village?”

“Oh dear. It seems you’ve been given some inaccurate information there, Councillor,” Susannah replied without gritting her teeth, though it was a close call. “Have you had a chance to look at the brochure?” There was a small stack of them on every surface. No excuse for not doing the homework, but leave it to politicians to not even do the bare minimum.

“No, but I have