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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.
Chapter 5 (#u79d4e4dc-7419-51b3-b8bb-ddc2604e61f9)
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.
Abandoning her failed attempts to go back to sleep, she shuffled out of bed and put on her gym clothes. It was only six o’clock, but she was going to use the gym, hoping that she might begin to feel better. It was such a privilege, having a gym on tap. In her last job she wasn’t allowed to use the hotel gym – it was for guests only, and she couldn’t afford expensive city gym membership prices, so she had joined a local running club. She wasn’t very good at it, but she enjoyed the feeling exercise gave her, so she looked forward to the weekly group, when her nan’s health allowed. She’d given it up for a while, but when her nan went into the home, she had started running more and more, and now she felt that she needed it – it seemed to help to keep her sane. It allowed her to breathe.
She was grateful not to bump into either Pippa or Freddie as she made her way down to the basement. Meadowbrook was a different world. Yesterday, she had been given a full tour of the house, and she’d been taken to the garden room, which hadn’t been used for years, because apparently it reminded Andrew Singer, their father, of his late wife. It had been her favourite room, and when she died he shut it away; it hadn’t even had the door opened until recently. Pippa said they sort of forgot about it, which seemed ridiculous.
Gemma couldn’t imagine living in a house where you had enough rooms that you could shut one off and not notice, but that was Meadowbrook. The garden room did what the name said, and opened out onto the garden, which would make it wonderful for the hotel. Although the siblings were nervous about it, Pippa said they realised that it was time to lay the last of the ghosts to rest – especially as they all hoped their mum and dad had been reunited wherever they were now. It was quite moving as they surveyed the room, which was at least as large in size as the drawing room.
Although at the moment it was dusty and full of old furniture, one of the walls was practically made up of floor-to-ceiling French windows currently covered with heavy velvet drapes. She realised it must have been so painful for Andrew Singer to shut off such an amazing room. It would take a lot of work, but she could see it being Freddie’s bar. In the day, guests could enjoy coffee, tea or light refreshments while enjoying the garden view, and in the evenings, it would be perfect for cocktails. In the summer, the doors could be opened, so that they could use the terrace for outside drinking and dining. Gemma began to get excited, as she could see it becoming a reality. Then the enormity of the task she had undertaken hit her once again, and she shrank back to uncertainty.
Trying to ignore the niggling doubts in her mind, she concentrated on the treadmill. She made a mental note when she went home for the weekend to pick up her swimming costume; the pool looked so inviting, perhaps she could add a daily swim to her routine. She knew she was already drawn into Meadowbrook, and she dreaded to think what would happen if she got fired after the probationary period.
She could only imagine what it was like growing up surrounded by this luxury, but at least the Singers were all trying to do something with Meadowbrook, which Gemma now understood. Because Pippa and Freddie were rattling around at home, and Meadowbrook felt as if it were a house that needed to be filled with people.
Yes, Gemma could see it being one of the most appealing hotels in the area. What with the beautiful house, set in the stunning grounds, you couldn’t fail to have a luxurious, relaxing, perhaps even romantic break here. She still wasn’t sure where the sanctuary would fit in with that, but she felt, instinctively, that somehow it would. Romance over the alpacas? She wished she felt confident enough to say what she thought sometimes; then she wouldn’t come across as so uptight. She wished she were more like Freddie, or any of them actually.
Gemma headed into the kitchen after finishing her run, having showered and dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a white blouse.
‘Oh hi, Gem,’ Pippa said.
‘I used the gym, I hope you don’t mind,’ Gemma mumbled.
Pippa looked so stylish in a plain black dress and tights with her hair pulled back from her beautiful face. She felt a stab of envy again. Where and at what point did life decide who would be pretty, rich and with a family who adored them? Or like her, unremarkable, worried about money, average in most ways and with parents who didn’t like her enough, let alone love her, even to stay in her life? How was that even fair? She tried to push her thoughts to the back of her dusty mind. What was wrong with her?
‘Of course not, you need to treat this place as if it’s your home, honestly.’
In theory, Pippa was someone to dislike for literally having it all, but there was nothing about her that you could remotely take offence against.
‘I’m so sorry about last night. I tried to warn Freddie I wasn’t a drinker but, well, I don’t think he realised how much I meant it.’ Gemma flushed.
‘Oh, don’t worry. Fred is a terror. He feeds everyone his lethal cocktails. We have reined him in a bit. He was off the rails at one point – ten times worse than now. I mean he does like a drink, it’s not a secret, but actually he can handle it now, and he can also go days without one. To be fair he doesn’t often, but he can. Anyway plying you with cocktails, it’s almost The Freddie Test.’
‘Then I well and truly failed. He seemed very disappointed.’
‘Oh don’t worry about him, he’ll be fine. Harriet’s going to meet you in Dad’s office in twenty minutes. She wants to explain everything; she doesn’t think I’ve given you a thorough background to us and to Meadowbrook. She’s probably right. I get so excited you see, I just get carried away.’
‘I understand,’ Gemma said carefully. ‘And I guess Harriet is rightly protective of all of you, as well as the house.’
‘Yes, that’s exactly it! I knew you’d understand. I knew instantly when I met you, but I also knew if I let Harriet get involved she’d try to take over. I knew that this hotel didn’t need a carbon copy of Harriet, which is exactly who she would hire; it needed someone like you.’
‘Well I’ll do my best for you,’ she replied, feeling the pressure being loaded on top of the layer of flattery. Yes, she could see that Harriet would have taken over, and she saw Pippa in a bit of a new light. She was ballsy to go ahead and hire Gemma without the others knowing. She wasn’t as meek as she sometimes came across.
‘Oh, and when you’ve finished with Harriet, I’m going to help you with your wardrobe. I feel awful that I didn’t tell you that you’d need more casual wear than suits, but we’re about the same size and I’ve got loads of spare clothes. I’ve also got scruffier things, which you’ll need when you get more involved.’
‘What do you mean?’ Gemma startled. Although, most of her clothes were tatty actually.
‘Ah, perhaps I should have explained this before, but you see we all have our jobs at the animal sanctuary and, actually, it would be really good if you’d join us and help out – we think it’ll give you more of a feel for the place.’
‘You mean I have to work with the animals?’ Gemma heard the horror in her voice and felt her heart sink.
Visiting the sanctuary had shown her how terrifying she found most of them. Surely they wouldn’t make her muck out the pigs, or deal with that scary-looking bull? Or even Madonna. And the hostile alpacas. This was not in the job description. Although thinking about it, not much was in the job description.
‘Oh, don’t worry, it’ll be fine. We all felt that way when Daddy said we had to in his will, but we all came to love working at the animal sanctuary and you will too.’
Pippa beamed and Gemma thought she must be mad. She would rather have a meeting with Harriet every day than do that.
Gemma sighed deeply, tried to remember her “calm” mantra and knocked on the office door.
‘Come in,’ a clear, well-spoken voice rang out.
Gemma said a silent prayer and pushed the door open. She stepped into the study, which still very much belonged to Andrew Singer. A huge mahogany desk dominated the room, with Harriet sat looking seriously terrifying behind it. There were some landscapes on the walls, very much in keeping with the rest of the house, a modern TV screen on another wall, and two leather sofas along with a drinks trolley, which looked pretty well stocked. The most dominating thing about the room, though, was a huge portrait of Andrew Singer. It was as if he were in the room with her.
‘Sit down.’ Harriet pointed at the sofa, facing the desk.
Gemma did as she was told and tried to look at Harriet rather than staring at the image of her father.
‘We haven’t changed a thing about our father’s study,’ she said, her voice softening as she spoke of him. ‘Apart from putting the painting of him in here. It was upstairs – Dad was a little vain you see – but it seems right here, in his study.’
‘I understand,’ Gemma said carefully. ‘I guess this is his personality right here too.’
‘Yes, yes it is. I know when we open this hotel, if we do—’ she narrowed her eyes at Gemma, who felt her cheeks flame ‘—then I suppose this will have to be changed, but it’s so hard to eliminate him.’
‘I don’t see why you’d have to. This room isn’t going to be used by guests, so as long as it’s a functional office, you can have it as you want it. You might need to reorganise if more than one person needs to work in here. It might be nice actually, make you feel that your father has a place in the hotel.’ Gemma hoped she hadn’t overstepped the mark.
‘I hadn’t thought of it like that. Yes, you’re right, I like that.’ Harriet almost smiled at her, and she sensed a little thawing. Gemma nodded. ‘Right, well I suppose that’s by the by. I wanted to speak to you because I doubt very much Pippa has given you the background.’ The thaw had frozen over again.
‘Perhaps only a potted history,’ Gemma admitted.
‘My sister is bright, beautiful and enthusiastic. She is committed to this project, more than any of us, but we have all decided to support her. Did she tell you about her divorce?’
‘A bit, yes,’ Gemma admitted.
‘It knocked Pippa’s confidence, so she needs this. She’s never been a career woman but now she wants to be, and I for one want to make sure that happens. And of course, none of us want to see the house empty, and apart from Pip and Fred, none of us want to live here. Did you hear about last year?’ Gemma shook her head, although she had. ‘Right, well you know our father, Andrew, died suddenly, and it was a terrible shock to us all.’
‘Yes and I’m sorry.’ Gemma thought she could see a tear glistening in Harriet’s eye. She liked the tiny human glimpses she got from her, but she wished there were more of them.
‘Right, well yes, but anyway, that was when I came back from New York. My father, who had, shall we say, eccentric ideas, made a will, which meant all four of us had to live here, in this house, for a year. And we had to keep the animal sanctuary open, which is his great love – was, I mean – or we would forfeit our inheritance.’
‘So you all lived together for a year?’ Gemma knew all this, but was interested to hear about it from Harriet’s perspective.
‘Yes, and of course we hadn’t lived together since childhood, so it was interesting to say the least. The year was tough for us all.’
‘In what way?’ Gemma asked, wanting to hear more.
‘Oh many ways. But that’s by the by. The upshot was that in the will, Dad stated that the house had to be kept in the family. So when Pip and Fred came up with the idea for opening the house as a hotel, Gus and I agreed, well eventually we did, because the house needs to be used and this seemed like a good way to ensure all the family could be involved.’
‘I agree, and it will very much be a family hotel,’ Gemma stated, trying to sound authoritative. She wanted to hear more about the year they’d spent together – it was intriguing – but Harriet was once more all business.
‘Quite, although none of us agree exactly how at the moment, which is why your job isn’t going to be easy. But enough of that. Right, well, I want to go through the details with you. The salary is fine. In fact, before Pippa hired you, I did the budget for set-up costs. I’ll give you a copy, and if you do a good job then you’ll be worth what we’re paying you.’
Gemma felt more than relieved. Not only was she getting a good salary, much more than she used to earn, but also she was living rent-free, so in theory she should be able to ensure her nan’s care was covered until the house sale went through. She almost wanted to hug Harriet, although she was far too scared to do so.
‘I hope to prove to you that I am the person for the job,’ Gemma said, her confidence increasing.
‘Well if you’re not, you’ll be out. Sorry to be blunt, but this is our home, it’s our passion, especially Pippa’s, but it’s also a business. Somehow we have to make money, or at least not lose any. You see, I have taken over the running of the animal sanctuary, which we are expanding, but I also look after my father’s investment portfolio. I’m not going to pretend that any of us are in danger of poverty, I can’t apologise for the fact that my father was awfully rich, but at the same time Meadowbrook is important for the animals, for the village, for the family and for our future generations, so I will do all I can to protect it. And besides, I like to succeed, so the hotel has to be a success.’ She laughed, but she was obviously far from joking, and Gemma’s new-found confidence fled as quickly as it arrived.
‘So your role in the hotel?’ Gemma asked, hoping her voice wasn’t as shaky as she felt.
‘Finances. I’ll look after the money, which is what I do best. Gus isn’t bad, but he prefers to look after the gardens, and he also paints, so I’m not sure how much use he’ll be.’
‘So, you’re happy for me to carry on, trying to figure out how best to go about opening the hotel, for now I mean?’ Gemma asked.
Harriet had shown her an almost human side. The way her features softened when she talked about her family was endearing. She was sure Harriet was ambitious and driven and even ruthless, but she seemed caring – she was hit with a wild notion they could be friends. But that was probably temporary insanity.
‘For now. But you see, we all have different ideas, which might be a problem. I see a luxury hotel for professionals wanting to get away from their day-to-day lives – I almost think a kind of corporate retreat. Freddie thinks it should be full of beautiful people who want to spend time watching him make cocktails and getting drunk. Pippa wants to help those who have had their hearts broken – I don’t know how on earth she thinks she’ll manage to target them, by the way, unless we become the anti-Tinder, and Gus wants it to be a creative place where guests can explore their artistic side.’
‘I see.’ She really didn’t.
‘Well you probably don’t.’ Harriet stared at Gemma, who felt exposed under her gaze. ‘And I’m not a tyrant, I do understand that this isn’t going to be easy for you and honestly, I do want to support you. But I’m hoping you’ll be able to see all that for yourself soon. I just want to reiterate: the house needs to maintain its personality. It also has to be beneficial for the village, Parker’s Hollow, and the community as a whole. My father’s memory needs keeping alive, and of course the animal sanctuary, the gardens, all have to be incorporated somehow.’
‘Goodness,’ Gemma started.
‘Oh yes, and Pippa has to feel as if she’s really achieved something. Fred as well to be honest.’
‘Wow.’ Gemma couldn’t help but stare at Harriet. She really did expect a lot. What she described wasn’t a hotel; it was a whole world.
‘Yes, wow, but if you’re as good as Pippa says you are then it shouldn’t be a problem, should it?’
‘Um, no. No, of course not.’ She shook her head.
‘Good, I’m glad we had this chat, and we’ve come to an understanding. Hopefully, we’ll be friends in no time.’
‘That would be lovely.’ Gemma was surprised that Harriet would want to be friends with someone like her, but she also felt her heart lift a bit. It might be possible, after all.
‘Right, what’s your favourite animal? After all, we want you to get started at the sanctuary for the full Meadowbrook experience. The alpacas are quite fun.’ Her lips twitched.
‘Really?’ Gemma’s eyes filled with horror.
‘No, not really, I’m teasing. The alpacas don’t like anyone much, although they seem keenest on Connor. Do you have a preference?’ Harriet spoke as if it were totally normal to be having this conversation.
‘The cats.’ She didn’t hesitate – after her tour, the cats were definitely the easiest and the least scary. She had never had a pet, not even a hamster. Her nan offered to buy her a goldfish once, but it hadn’t come to anything.
‘Great, I’ll put you on the feeding and petting roster. It’s very sad that our domestic animals are waiting for loving homes. Really, I wish we could re-home them all, but it’s a process, so we’re always looking for people to come in and spend time with them – they need affection and love, as well as food.’
Again, Harriet took Gemma by surprise, she sounded so heartfelt.
‘I’d be delighted.’ She was delighted, because it wasn’t the alpacas.
‘Right, so tonight we’re all having dinner here at the house – we try to have a family meal once a week at least – so you’ll meet Connor, Gwen and Gus properly. Unfortunately Amanda can’t make it, but you’ll meet her soon. Tomorrow, in fact. The gardening club are due, so it would be great to spend time with them and Gus, getting to know the gardens.’
‘It all sounds great.’
It did, Gemma thought, feeling a little cowed still, but she also felt a stirring of hope. Harriet was scary, she was confident, and she clearly knew what the purse strings needed to be doing, but at the same time, she seemed fair and reasonable. And if she needed to cuddle a few cats to keep her dream job then she would be happy to do so. She might feel a bit browbeaten and out of her depth, but she also would do anything to keep the job here at Meadowbrook and make it a success. She needed it. But more than that, she realised that she really, really wanted it.
‘This is fabulous, Gwen,’ Harriet said as they sat around the formal dining-room table. Gemma was overwhelmed by family mealtime at Meadowbrook. Her family meals consisted of herself and her nan and whatever was on special in the supermarket that day. Her nan wasn’t a bad cook, but she made traditional things, lots of mashed potatoes, vegetables and meat and nothing considered “foreign”. Tonight they were eating a pasta dish, which was made from scratch, even the pasta. Gwen always cooked the food for family night; she wouldn’t have it any other way. The sauce, which was tomato-based, was the nicest Gemma had ever tasted, and all the vegetables were grown at Meadowbrook. There was also home-made garlic bread, and a fresh salad – again from the Meadowbrook garden.
‘If you serve food like this, you’ll have people flocking to the hotel,’ Gemma said.
There was an easy chatter around the room. Everyone, even Harriet, was relaxed as she and Connor shared some affectionate looks and touches. Gemma still had her guard up, but sitting here, seeing how the family operated, she almost wanted to let her barriers down. Almost but not quite, hence why she tried to stick to comments only relating to the hotel.
‘Thank you, that’s what we’re hoping,’ Gwen said. ‘We thought it would be a feature that we serve as much food that we grow here as we can, and if we don’t grow it here, then we buy local products.’
‘What about meat?’ Gemma asked, noting there wasn’t any and nor had she had any since being here.
‘Well,’ Connor started, looking around the table, ‘we’re pretty much vegetarian, you know with the animal sanctuary and everything. Well I am anyway, as is Harry, but Pippa, Gus and Freddie eat some meat.’
