Page 114 of Escape to the Country

Chapter 38

The following day, Eleanor knew that, there were no more excuses. She needed to be brave and attempt to make some soap.

Thankfully, Tom had told her that he was going to be working in the studio that day and therefore any disasters wouldn’t be made with an audience.

She stared down at the ingredients and the pots and pans. Soap was just an alkali mixed with fats. But she also needed the scary-sounding lye, otherwise it would just be a saucepan full of fatty oils floating in hot water. Yuck.

It was just water, natural oil, butters or wax and caustic soda. What could possibly go wrong?

But by mid-afternoon, the pile of ruined saucepans was growing. Thankfully, the basic mixture was beginning to take shape after many disastrous attempts. There was probably time for one more attempt before she had to head home and give the animals their tea. So she started again.

Eleanor changed the measurements for the carrot oil and the last of the shea butter that she had brought with her. She wondered if she could add in the other essential oils that she had made. After all, it wasn’t as if she didn’t have the time on her hands these days. Then she shook her head. That would come later if she could ever get her soap to set properly. A big if.

Thanks to Arthur’s generosity, she now had a small camping stove. So in a saucepan, she slowly melted the fat and oil. Once that was done, she measured out the water to make the lye solution and weighed the sodium hydroxide. Then came the tricky bit. She put on the big thick gloves and plastic apron that she had borrowed from her mum. The goggles she had had to order over the internet. They were uncomfortable but necessary. Outside of her workroom, she tipped the sodium hydroxide into a big pan of water and stirred it with an old wooden spoon until she couldn’t feel any more grit at the bottom. Then she went back inside to bring out the melted carrot oil and butter mixture. Coming back out, she came face to face with Tom, who laughed in surprise as he wandered into the courtyard.

‘Hello,’ he said. ‘Is this a science lab or a beauty parlour?’ he said, throwing down an old tool bag.

‘Neither,’ she told him, placing the mixture onto the ground and pushing back her goggles as she straightened up. ‘It’s a dream factory.’

‘Good name,’ he said. ‘Maybe you should be the one writing lyrics.’

Despite the fact that Eleanor had become a lot less concerned about her appearance since she’d been back in Cranley, she felt hot and bothered that Tom had found her looking like this. Her hair scraped back. Her goggles. Her old clothes. She felt a right mess.

‘I thought you were supposed to be in the recording studio,’ she told him, nodding at the tool bag.

‘I got side-tracked,’ he told her. ‘One of Sam’s tenants in the village needed a new front gate so I said I’d make one for them.’

‘I bet they were impressed that their carpenter is an international singing star.’

He grinned at her. ‘I think the young mum was more grateful that the kids could run round in the garden safely.’

‘I might have to think about paying you to fix my mum’s gates,’ said Eleanor. ‘The thought of Buttercup and Daisy getting out gives me nightmares.’

‘Of course,’ he told her. ‘And I won’t need paying.’

‘Oh. Well, thanks.’ She hid her blushes by pushing down her goggles and picking up the melted carrot mixture.

‘So what’s happening?’ he asked. ‘Why the nuclear fallout fashion today?’

‘It’s for the lye solution over there.’

He glanced over. ‘Okay. Is it that bad?’

‘It’s just a chemical reaction that makes the fats,’ she told him. ‘You know, the oil and butter into soap.’

He smiled. ‘Fascinating. Were there witches in your family tree?’

She made a face. ‘Almost definitely on my father’s side, I should think.’

She went over to stand next to the lye mixture, working up the nerve to pour it in again.

‘Can I help?’ he asked.

‘No,’ she quickly told him. ‘And stand back! Sorry, but it’s really dangerous. This stuff is highly corrosive. So be careful, unless you want to lose the top layer of your skin.’

‘Well, I’m feeling rather attached to it at the minute, so I’ll stay over here.’ Tom leaned against the door.

Under his watchful eye, Eleanor picked up the lye solution and carefully poured a very small amount into the melted mixture. She stared down, watching it closely. But it didn’t fizz, so she very slowly poured the rest in. Putting down the pan, she stirred the mixture until it was blended but still runny. Then she straightened up and gave him a smile. ‘I think we’re about there.’