AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s vaguebooking,” Sophie explained. “It’s when someone posts something on social media with no real explanation just to get attention and comments.”
“Social media is for fools,” Archie declared, pushing back from the table. “Why would you want to speak to more people than you have to?”
“Well, you see, some of uslikepeople,” Sophie explained.
“People are terrifying.” Munroe gave a mock shudder, earning a grin from Archie.
“See? The lad’s got the right of it.”
After we finished eating, we followed the dogs as they raced outside and around the side of the castle. The clouds had drawn close, the air thick with the scent of wet earth, and rain misted lightly on the wind. Sophie shivered, and Lachlan pulled her close, whispering something in her ear that made her cheeks flush pink.
“Sophie still hasn’t adjusted to our weather,” Lachlan said over his shoulder as we followed a gravel path to a set of doors forming an arch.
I had barely noticed the chill in the air. I was more used to snow than sunshine, and this moody weather suited me just fine.
“I don’t know that I ever will,” Sophie admitted, as she pulled out an antique-looking key and slid it into the lock. “A lifetime of living by the beach didn’t exactly prepare me for Scotland’s weather.”
“Is this the kitchen?” I cut off any discussion of weather as light spilled into the murky recesses of a large room with stone walls, low ceilings, and an abundance of shiny new stainless-steel appliances. In an unconventional design, the large exterior doors opened directly into the kitchen, with one wall set with not one, but three massive ovens with stovetops. Two of the ovens were modern, but one…my heart danced. “Is this a woodburning stove?”
“It is. Not quite the original, but not far off either,” Sophie said, coming to stand by me as I gaped at the room. It was a mix of modern and old, the best parts of the old—like copper pans and a proper spice cupboard—mixing with the new like the stand mixer on the prep table.
“I don’t even know what to say. It’s so…amazing? Intriguing? Why do the doors open directly outside?” It was such an unusual element that I had to ask about it.
“In case of fire,” Hilda explained. “Fire was a castle’s worst enemy, and it was a quick way to access the area most likely to go on fire.”
“Of course,” I nodded, walking around the room, absentmindedly trailing my finger over the edge of the large basin sink. I tried to imagine making food with just fire and buckets of water hauled in from outside. At least the kitchen had been outfitted with electrics and modern-day plumbing. Someone had spent considerable time here in carefully bringing the space into this century without sacrificing some of the finer historical details. “This spice cupboard.” I sighed as I ran my fingers over the worn wood chest, and opening a drawer, I caught the lingering scent of cloves and nutmeg. I wondered how long this piece had housed spices. My skin tingled, warmth filling me, and my soul shivered before seeming to give a soft sigh of recognition. Taking a deep breath, I allowed myself to imagine staying here, in this place, and cooking the food of my heart. Something clicked inside me, like a key fitting a lock, and I nodded once to myself before turning to where Lachlan argued with Sophie about a device on the counter.
“It’s a knife cleaner,” I said, coming to stand next to them. The large wooden circle had slots for knives and a handle to turn the wheel.
“Is that right? I dearly hope you’ve upgraded her dishwashing system?” Lachlan looked down at Sophie who smirked at him.
“And here I was going to have you washing knives in your kilt for the tourists.”
“Think again, darling,” Lachlan said, tapping a finger on Sophie’s nose.
A kilt. My eyes landed on Munroe, his back turned to me as he fiddled with the door to a bread warmer. Mentally, I stripped him and put him in a kilt, and I swear my insides went liquid at the thought. Heat bloomed in my cheeks, and I had to ask Sophie to repeat herself when she spoke to me.
“I had an industrial space outfitted back here,” Sophie repeated, a twinkle in her eye. Had she caught me staring at Munroe? I did not needthatgossip starting. Following her from the kitchen, I breathed a sigh of relief when she opened a door and flipped on a set of overhead lights to reveal industrial dishwashers, a walk-in freezer and refrigerator, and storage bins. I could have kissed her. With all of this new, assuming the restaurant space was in decent shape, I could have this place up and running fairly quickly. Once I hired staff, that is. These were all details I would need to go over with Sophie once I got an idea of what she was envisioning for the space, as well as what it would take to run it.
“This all looks great, Sophie. I’m loving the mix of the old and the new. I think this will be a really great space to get inspiration for the menu.” My eyes strayed to the spice cabinet when we returned to the kitchen, and again, I felt that odd little hum in my blood.
“Don’t get too excited yet,” Sophie cautioned, beckoning me into another hallway that led from the kitchen. Hitting a light switch, she pushed a door open and stepped back, a sheepish look on her face. “I don’t know what to say other than…I’m sorry? I, we, just haven’t had time to get to this space yet. It’s…yeah, so, I’ll lend you Lachlan, of course, to help with the heavy lifting and all…” Sophie trailed off as I gaped at the massive room.
Not only was it cavernous—as the hall could feed a banquet full of visitors—but it was piled high with…everything, it looked like. Chairs were stacked haphazardly on tables, boxes were shoved in corners, rugs were rolled up and had been propped against the walls, and everything was covered in a fine layer of dust. Stunned, I wandered the room, trailing my finger lightly across tabletops and random chests of drawers and tried to wrap my head around just how much work it would take to not only empty out this room, but to go through what to keep and what to get rid of. My earlier excitement fell, like someone sticking a pin in a balloon.
“What happened here?” It came out in a whisper, largely because I’d never seen so much miscellaneousstuffin one place before. Growing up, if an item couldn’t be used, it was donated, as storage space was at a premium in our house. Even more so after I’d claimed the main storage closet as my bedroom. I felt a bit like I’d stepped into Aladdin’s cave, if Aladdin had a fetish for mismatched table settings and boxes of old kitchen supplies. I had a monumental amount of work ahead of me before I could set this place to rights.
“Well, at one time it did operate as an eating space for everyone in the castle,” Archie explained. “And then, through the years, when smaller kitchens were built elsewhere in the castle, it became a bit of a de facto storage room.”
“A bit? Thisisthe storage room,” Lachlan said, and I wandered away as Lachlan and Archie began to argue about the room’s history. As their voices faded, I truly began to gain a sense for just how large the space was. The stone walls continued here, with large wooden beams crossing the arched ceiling two stories above my head. The room was cavernous, and I could only imagine what the acoustics would be if it was packed with diners. I was used to cooking for a quarter of this space, and I dearly hoped that Sophie wasn’t thinking I would cater weddings here. Small-plated fine dining was a far cry from catering for a massive crowd. Both had their places in the culinary world, but I was confident in cooking for a smaller, more intimate, venue.
What did you think a castle restaurant was going to feed—twenty people?
A soft sniggering sound caught my attention, and I pushed more deeply among the clutter to the far corner of the room. It was darker here, as Sophie had only turned on the lights on the side of the hall closest to the kitchen. Once again, a whisper of a laugh drew me deeper among the stacked furniture.
My breath caught.
Eyes blinked at me out of the darkness, warm and almost human, the light glinting off the irises.
