Page 13 of A Brambleberry Manor Christmas
‘When was this?’ laughs Flo.
‘Smoking the weed? A few weekends ago. I grounded herbecause I didn’t know what else to do. But it seemed pretty pointlessconsidering she’d already decided it wasn’t for her.’
‘That’s a tricky one. She sounds like she knows her ownmind.’
‘She certainly does.’ I think of Tavie’s blue eyes flashingwith earnest indignation last night over dinner as she talked furiously aboutthe plight of the homeless. Heartily agreeing with her didn’t go down well,though. It was almost as if I irritated her just by opening my mouth. She justshrugged after I voiced my opinion, and we ate the rest of our meal in silence.Afterwards, she stacked the dishwasher with her usual crashing impatience, andI tried not to think about the chipped crockery. It didn’t matter. I could buynew plates.
I suggested we watch a movie I thought she’d like on TV, butshe muttered that she had homework to do and disappeared upstairs. And Iconfess, there was a part of me that sighed with relief because with Taviegone, I could relax at last…
‘How’s it going, girls?’
Marjery, popping her head round the door, breaks into mythoughts. And instantly, I’m on high alert, glancing around at ourpreparations, hoping she’ll be pleased.
‘Great!’ I smile at her. ‘We’re right on target to servestarters at seven-thirty.’
She frowns. ‘There’s enough to go around?’
‘Oh, yes.’
‘Good. I felt bad adding four extra guests to the list atthe last minute. But you can cope?’
‘Of course,’ I say smoothly. ‘Absolutely no problem at all.’
Flo steals a glance in my direction as I brazen it out, andI know what she’s thinking.
Marjery doesn’t have to know about my mad panic thisafternoon, hoping the last-minute ice-cream would be ready in time!
When Marjery disappears, I feel my entire body slump withrelief. I wish there wasn’t so much riding on this and I could just enjoy theexperience. But there’s no way I can do that with the mortgage company’s axehovering over our heads…
Everything will be fine!
But when I check the ice-cream in the freezer, my heartplummets into my sensible flat shoes. The texture isn’t right. Ice crystalshave formed, making it slightly gritty on the tongue.
My chest tightens with tension. Serves me right for decidingto use slightly less sugar in the recipe to offset the sweetness of the whitechocolate in the meringue roulade. It’s essential to get the balance of solidsand liquids right when you’re making ice-cream, and I’ve somehow missed themark.
Now what?
Flo looks over. ‘Something wrong?’
‘The ice-cream isn’t right.’
‘No?’ She’s over to test it in a second. ‘It tastes great.’
‘It’s got ice crystals?’
She makes a doubtful face. ‘You could still serve it.’
I shake my head firmly. ‘This is the first dessert I’ve madefor Marjery. It has to be right.’ The cogs in my mind are whirring. ‘We haveblack cherries left over, don’t we?’
Flo nods and brings them out of the cool box on the floor.‘Ta-dah!’
‘Great. I think we should serve the roulade with a blackcherry compote. And we’ll whip up some cream.’
‘Good solution,’ says Flo, diving straight into action withthe cherries. ‘The compote will be slightly tart – a great foil for thesweetness of the roulade.’
‘I hope so,’ I murmur fervently, my cheeks scorched withpanic. ‘It won’t be as specified on the menu, though.’
‘I doubt anyone will mind – just as long as it tastesfabulous.’ She grins. ‘And I’m a hundred per cent certain it will.’
