Page 9 of The House at Hope Corner
‘Right,’ she said. ‘What can I help you with first?’
Hannah looked a little nervous. ‘Actually, I wondered if I might ask you a favour?’ she replied. ‘I really do need to go into town to pick up a few things I can’t get locally and it’s a visit I’ve been putting off, never quite being able to justify the time to do it. So I wondered if you’d be all right here by yourself? There’s the bread to make, and the men will need their breakfast, but I’m sure you’re very capable of doing that, and I’d be back in time to help serve lunch…’
Flora’s head was already nodding. ‘Of course, you must go, I’ll be absolutely fine.’
‘And I thought it might be quite nice for you to have the run of the house,’ added Hannah. ‘Without me standing over you telling you what to do.’
‘Well, I think I need a bit of standing over,’ replied Flora. ‘I’ve got a lot to learn, but thank you, that’s a very kind thought. And if it helps you out too, then so much the better.’
Hannah opened her mouth to reply, but then hesitated and instead, with a shake of her head, got to her feet. She gave a warm smile.
‘In that case, I’ll just go and powder my nose,’ she said.
Flora watched as Hannah carried her mug over to the sink, patted her hips as if checking her pockets for something, and then turned to walk from the room. She had almost got to the door, when she half-turned, tutting, before turning back.
‘Is everything okay?’ asked Flora.
‘I just wondered… well, before I go…’
‘Yes?’
‘I told you where everything was, didn’t I?’
Flora made a show of thinking for a minute. ‘Yes, you did…’ She paused, looking about the kitchen. And then, ‘Yes, I’m sure you did. But don’t worry, I’ll do exactly what you did yesterday, so go and enjoy yourself. And take your time, there’s no need to hurry back.’
A final nod of the head and Hannah was gone.
Flora sat at the table for a few minutes more, watching the play of sunlight across the floor. The morning hadn’t turned out the way she had expected at all, and she acknowledged how difficult it must have been for Hannah to relinquish her kitchen to her. Whether the trip to town was really necessary or not didn’t matter, it was a kind thing to do, and Flora felt heartened by the turn of events. Whatever happened now, she mustn’t let Hannah down.
She got to her feet and refilled the kettle, quickly washing up both mugs and leaving them to drain. Then she pulled open the pantry door and stood looking at the array of stored ingredients with pursed lips. First on the list of jobs to do was make the bread, which sounded easy enough, except she had absolutely no idea how to do it…
* * *
Swearing didn’t seem to help, and neither did pulling all the dough off her fingers and looking at it, but Flora tried both of these things, several times. The sticky mess she had made was either in the bowl or all over her and nothing she tried seemed to make any difference. She eyed the bowl sternly and, with a deep intake of breath, began to turn out the mixture onto the floured table top. The instructions she had looked at on the Internet told her that the dough required a thorough kneading so perhaps this was the key. She’d give it one last go, but this time she’d show it who was boss.
Five minutes later and all that had happened was that the goo was now spread in a wide uneven circle on the table. Flora gave a frustrated groan and banged her hand on the table, raising a cloud of white around her. She caught Brodie’s eye as he watched her balefully from beside the Aga.
‘Don’t look at me like that,’ she said. ‘I thought this was supposed to be easy. I don’t suppose you have any tips for me, do you?’ She tipped her head to one side. ‘No, I thought not… Well, you’re no use at all…’ She rubbed at an itch on the side of her nose with the back of her hand. ‘I’ve a good mind to throw the whole bloody lot in the bin; they can have shop-bought bread for a change, it won’t kill them…’
‘Oh dear, that doesn’t sound too good.’
Flora whirled around to see Caroline standing just inside the back door. How long she had been there, she didn’t know, and she blushed bright red.
Caroline was looking as fresh as a daisy; jodhpurs again today, but a pale blue shirt instead of the pink. Cornflower blue, thought Flora, as she rearranged her face into a smile.
‘Oh, hello, I didn’t know you were coming over today.’
Caroline broke into a broad smile as she came into the room. ‘Oh, don’t mind me, I sort of have a standing invitation.’
There was a gentle woof and Brodie thumped his tail lazily against the floor. Traitor, thought Flora.
‘Is the coast clear?’ asked Caroline, coming to stand beside her. ‘I wasn’t sure if Hannah would actually go.’
Flora gave her a puzzled look. ‘I’m sorry, I’m not sure I follow.’
‘I had a devil of a job to persuade her to go out today,’ replied Caroline. ‘But I didn’t think you’d be able to stand another day like yesterday, with Hannah looking over your shoulder every five minutes. She means well, I know, but I couldn’t let you suffer that again. You’d be packing your bags by the end of the week.’ She gave a conspiratorial smile. ‘Shall I put the kettle on?’ she added with a wink.
Flora stared at her. ‘But I thought…’ She broke off, not quite sure what to say. She’d had no idea that Caroline had intervened on her behalf and, while she was grateful, she couldn’t help wondering how on earth Hannah had felt about the suggestion.
