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‘Oh no.’
‘It’s all family money. My father had a successful boat-building business that expanded over the years and got contracts to build for the navy. I took over the business before selling it. Why work so hard, when I could enjoy the spoils? When Jacob came along shortly after I honestly thought he was a gift from God.’
Did Jacob know about the business sale and target Sofia from day one? I really hope not.
‘I thought our marriage was saveable. I told him he’d have to find a job, prove to me that he could take care of himself. Deep down, I thought if he agreed then I’d know he loved me for me, and not for what I could provide. If he wanted to gamble, then he’d have to use his own money. So he comes home one day and announces they’ve voted him in as treasurer. I was so proud of him! I thought he’d really made an effort to prove to me he could stand on his own two feet. And then not long after, council money went missing. Never in a million years did I imagine he’d siphon funds from the town! I didn’t know at that stage all the lies he’d told about his past about being this financial whiz. And that whole gambling malarkey – that was another lie.’
I frown. ‘So how did he get found out?’
‘From what I can gather, one of the council members was suspicious all along, but it took some time to follow the paper trail and find out where the money went. The outgoing payments looked genuine,so at first the suspicions fell on deaf ears. Soon enough he couldn’t account for it all and it quickly came crashing down. The lies caught up with him – they figured out he was never a venture capitalist in Hong Kong, or a Wall Street stockbroker. The jig was up so he left that evening, telling me he had council business out of town and would be away for a few days.’ She smacks her forehead. ‘I packed him food for the drive! Pressed all his shirts.’
With a shake of the head she continues. ‘The next morning some of the council members came knocking and demanded to know where he was. When they told me what he’d done I was mortified. They may as well have carried pitchforks, they were so angry. I never thought he’d do something like that, even after he’d drained one of my accounts. I wassoblindsided. Love can really distort reality. I justknewhe wasn’t coming back and I’d have to face them all alone.’
‘How did you know for sure he wasn’t coming back?’ Part of me hopes he had a good reason, something, anything to explain such heinous treatment of Sofia and abandoning her to deal with the fallout.
She shakes her head. ‘After they left with threats of legal action and whatnot I found a note in his dressing room. He said it was their fault for not having the right systems in place to stop theft, and that none of us would ever find him. I was crushed, as you can imagine. He was a con man all along and I got played. I felt so utterly stupid and so alone.’
‘Urgh, Sofia that is the worst but it wasn’t your fault. By the sounds of iteveryonewas duped by him. Did the council search for him? Get the police involved?’
‘Yes, and they’re still searching but I doubt they’ll ever find him.He’s probably in Mexico or Thailand or somewhere living it up. I insisted on paying back what he stole – the council couldn’t survive without it. It affected a lot of places in town, including the library and the recreation centre. Staff were laid off because there were no funds to pay them, and I couldn’t have that. I even hired my own private investigator, because I wanted answers. Turns out Jacob has a history of this kind of con. Takes the money and runs. I’m not the first woman and won’t be the last.’
‘He’s so brazen. But he will get caught, these days there’s technology everywhere – CCTV, banking records. He can only hide for so long.’
‘I really hope so. He’s hurt a lot of people. I’m just lucky a lot of my savings aren’t liquid so weren’t accessible to him. I’m thankful he’s gone. All my life people have treated me in a certain way, knowing who my father was, so I’ve always been guarded about it. But Jacob managed to break down those walls just enough …’
We have a lot in common and I wish I could tell Sofia that I understand her completely. Having to always second-guess whether someone likes you for you, or for what they think you can do for them can make a person go mad. There’s always that doubt creeping in that they’re not genuine. It makes it hard to form proper friendships. It’s why I find comfort in books: I never have to doubt those characters.
‘Now people in town treat me like an outsider as if I had something to do with the theft. They’re mostly embarrassed they trusted him but I wish they’d see I am too. We’re the same, all of us. Got swept up in the charisma, the lies he told. It’s been the loneliest time.’
‘Is that why you started cooking, Sofia? As a comfort?’
She gazes back to me with watery eyes. The last few years have taken their toll on her and I wish I could snap my fingers and make it all go away. ‘Yes, when it is just me rattling around this big old castle, I cook, chatting away to myself as if I am a chef on telly … Silly really, but that’s how I get through each day.’
‘Why don’t you open a restaurant?’
‘It would ruin the fun, I suppose, and I don’t need the income. Here, I can do it at my leisure, so it’s a pleasurable pursuit. Besides, who’d eat at my restaurant? There’s even rumours I’ve got Jacob buried around here somewhere. Can you imagine?’
‘What!’ This time we both laugh at such a preposterous notion.
I take another bite of the mushroom tartlet. It’s earthy and rich and I know I’m going to be ruined for cooking after eating food of this quality. Maybe she’ll teach me her ways? I take a sip of wine to wash it down and ask, ‘What about love? Have you sworn off it, or would you try again if the right man came along?’ I sense that her heart has been broken so badly that it’ll be hard for her believe in a man ever again and that’s such a shame for someone who has so much love to give. As I sit here and drink a robust red and delight in her gourmet starters, it saddens me to think she should be sharing this with the love of her life. Someone who repays the love she shares on the plate, by making her a cup of tea in the morning and placing her slippers by her bed just so. Sitting next to her of an evening watchingGreat British Bake Offover bowls of figgy pudding.
‘I’d love to find the right man, but as I get older I wonder if I ever will. Trust is such an issue for me as you can well imagine.Maybe I’m one of the unlucky ones, who knows, but I’d be happy with a companion. Someone to share a meal with. To take a slow evening stroll to chat about inconsequential things. I don’t want much, do I?’
‘No, Sofia, not at all. And I believe you’ll find what you’re looking for, but maybe you need to go about finding your people in a different way.’ And I have just the tonic for such a thing!
Sitting here is a woman with morals and a big heart who wants nothing more than to cook for friends and shower them in her love for fine food. Some people show their love with words, Sofia shows hers through her menu. ‘The locals haven’t even given you a chance and that’s on them. It really is their loss but I’m sure if we pull back the curtain we’ll find the right sort of friends for you.’
‘I’ve tried everything to get a foot in. I joined the knitting club, walking groups, and still I’m never included. It’s like I’m on the periphery. Perhaps I’m too loud, or I try too hard and say the wrong thing? It can’t only be the memory of Jacob, can it?’
‘No, don’t start blaming yourself for the way others treat you.’
She sighs, sadly. ‘I’ve been toying with the idea of selling up and moving but I’d hate to lose my castle. It was a dream of mine to own such a piece of history but being here has brought nothing but isolation.’
I reach into my bag and take out a handwritten card and hand it to Sofia. Nerves flutter and I only hope I’ve made the right call. IthinkI have.
‘What’s this?’ she asks.
‘Read it. I know we talked about you doing a cooking demonstration but what about this instead? I know it might sound a little zany at first but I really think it could work.Not only will it help the library but it just might be the solution to your problems too.’
