"Rona? What on earth are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to be sunning yourself in Cancun or Acapulco?" I said when I answered the door.

"I was actually sunning myself in Thailand, but the opportunity to do some good business was enough to get me on a plane home."

“Please… please come in.”

I let her pass me. She headed straight for the kitchen.

"Sorry about the mess. We are having to move out in ten days. The owner wants it back before the end of our lease."

She chuckled.
“I hope you got compensation for the early termination?”

“We did, but a month in a cheapish chain motel is a poor substitute when compared to this place.”

She smiled and nodded her head.
“Lucia is out walking Scamp at the moment. She should be back soon. In the meantime, tea?”

Rona smiled.
“Perfect.”

As I filled the kettle I said,
“I can tell by the tone of your voice, that this is not a social call?”

“Business. You know how it is… One thing leads to another and another door opens when you least expect it.”

“How does all this door opening apply to Lucia and me?”

“A little bird told me that you were looking at a housekeeping job?”

“We are… I won’t ask about who the little bird is but it is true. When we got notice to quit here, we had this grand idea about going to work as live in housekeepers while we carry on looking for the perfect place to live. Then it went downhill from there on.”

Rona smiled.
“That’s what I thought. I’ve just said no to doing business with a family run engineering company in Gloucestershire. I turned it down because of the family itself. I did leave the MD with a few pointers about what they should do to expand their business in a sustainable way.”

“Is that a first for you? Saying no I mean?”

Rona shook her head.
“I’ve become even more selective about the people I do business with. As I told you before, I don’t need the money. These days, I have to like the people I work with, like you for instance.”

I smiled.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence. How does this company a hundred or so miles away affect Lucia and me?”

“The MD, Jeremy Thorne lives in a lovely house made of that beautiful Cotswold Stone with his lover, Bret Matthews, who is also the company accountant. They could do with a couple of housekeepers to whip their house into shape so to speak.”

“but…?”

The kettle started to boil which stopped me from arguing with Rona for a minute of two.

While I was distracted making the tea, Rona continued.

“I estimate that there is a good six months work there and there are some really lovely properties in that part of the world and your darling former wife lives a long way from there.”

The mention of ‘her’ got my attention. Going somewhere a long way from her would be a big plus. After the events over Christmas Lucia and I were never sure if she would pop up and have another go at ruining our lives.

“That sounds good on principle…” I said as I poured the tea.

“You don’t seem convinced?”

“I would need to discuss this with Lucia first.”

Rona smiled as I handed her a cup of tea.

“I would not expect anything less. You two have been a team from the first day that she came into your life.”

“I wouldn’t put it that way.”

“I would. Your whole attitude changed after you went to meet her in France.”

“Really?”

Rona smiled.
“Something about your voice changed after that meeting, like you changed after meeting me for the first time. Those changes were not dramatic but someone like myself notices things like that. After our meeting in London, your tone towards me changed. The same happened with you and Lucia.”

I cupped my tea in my hands. Once again Rona had me dead to rights.

“Ok, I’ll have a discussion with Lucia about the possibility of talking to… to Mr Thorne about a job.”

“That’s all I ask,” replied Rona as she delved into her shoulder bag.
She pulled out a small sheet of paper.
“Here are the details of the company and the main players.”

“Thanks.”

I looked at my watch and frowned.
“I don’t know where Lucia is. She should have been back by now.”

Rona grinned.
“I’d expect Scamp has gone off chasing a rabbit or two.”

“That means a doggy bath later. That dog hates getting wet.”

Rona laughed as she stood up.
“I’ll leave you to prepare for that. Let me know what you decide to do about the company.”

“We will. Thanks for the tip.”

---

Lucia and a very muddy Scamp turned up over an hour later. Scamp headed for her water bowl and proceeded to spread the whole contents over the floor. I refilled it and let her start to drink before letting it go.

“One day, that dog will get herself stuck down a hole and I may decide not pull her out. I Three times today she went and tried to get down a hole and failed,” said Lucia as she sank down onto a chair.

I shook my head with a smile on my face.
“I’ll get the you know what ready.”

“Is that some tea I see in the pot?”

“It was. We had a brief visit from Rona. She left over an hour ago. It will be cold now but I can put the kettle on again if you want one before you bath you know who?”

“I’m sorry to have missed her. Why didn’t you give me a call?” replied Lucia.
She ignored my suggestion about bathing Scamp. That was not unusual. If that dog saw water while she was out for a walk, you would have a hard time keeping her out of it but… back home and it was time for a bath? Forget it.

“Er???? You left your phone on the worktop in the utility room.”

Lucia suddenly looked very guilty.
“Sorry.”

“No need to be sorry. We all do it from time to time.
“What did Rona want or was it just a social call?”

“A bit of both. She gave us a heads up on a possible job down in Gloucestershire.”

“Killing two birds with one stone then?”

“She turned down doing any business with them because their business is family owned. The last thing she wanted to do was be in the middle of a family war. Her sort of reorganisation might not go down well with parts of the family.”

“Ok, I get you.”

Scamp finished spraying water all over the floor and turned her attention to her food bowl. It was empty and would not be filled until later. She sat on the floor and looked at us hopefully with her head cocked to one side.

We didn’t move so Scamp let out a little whimper. Her whining wasn’t going to work… Not until she’d had a bath.

I looked at Lucia and moved my eyes towards the door that led to the hall and upstairs where the bathroom was located.

She nodded her head.

I moved behind Scamp and before she could react, I clipped her lead to her collar.
She whimpered. She’d guessed what was coming.

“There is no use resisting Scamp. You are dirty and only clean dogs get fed,” I said,

I led a reluctant Scamp upstairs while Lucia made herself some tea and prepared our evening meal. It would be nice to have a downstairs shower where both dirty animals and humans could get clean.

---

Later that evening, Lucia and I began to look at the area near the Gloucestershire address that Rona had given me earlier.

After an hour, I admitted,
“I have never really visited this part of the country.”

“I went with my late husband to Stow on the Wold and Burton on the Water on some classic car runs. Those places are just tourist traps and often full of oldies on coach trips.”

I gave an involuntary shudder. I had met many coach parties like that over the years often, at Motorway Service Stations where the toilets would get jammed up for what seemed hours when I had been wanting a quick pee, grab a coffee and be on the road again. I didn’t like the sound of that part of the Cotswolds so I tried a little deflection.

“The area that Rona suggested is closer to Gloucester and Cirencester. The family factory is even farther west, close to the M5, but the MD lives just outside Winchcombe.”

‘Just outside’ was closer to four miles SE of Winchcombe and according to ‘streetmap.co.uk, it was high up on the Cotswold escarpment.

We looked at the sites of some estate agents that served the area. I knew that the ‘Cotswolds’ were popular but the prices were to my eyes far too high. Lucia noticed this.

“Keeping control of your purse strings then?”

I sighed.
“Compared to what we sold my old home for, these are in a different league.”

“But we can afford it can’t we?”

“That’s not the point.”

“But darling, it is the point. We can buy somewhere for us and for the rest of our lives. Besides, didn’t we use the topic of housekeepers just as a talking point? At the moment, we don’t have much of a clue what we are going to do next… Am I right?”

Her words hit home hard. I had not considered that point of view.
I exited stage left and began to prepare the apples for our desert. Lucia had a ‘black book’ of recipes that was full of tasty dishes.

---

It took me a few days to come round to her point of view and we booked a hotel for three nights close to Cheltenham Racecourse. It would be our base while we started house hunting. Neither of us mentioned ‘housekeeping’ again… for that, I was eternally relieved. I emailed Rona who replied with just ‘ROFL’.

The problem was that we never made it to Gloucestershire at least on the first attempt.

Our route south west mostly followed the route of the old roman road called ‘The Fosse Way’ that runs from Lincoln to Exeter. We’d just passed Rugby when Lucia said,

“Can we make a diversion?”

“Where to and why?”

“We used to live not far from here… when I was married. There are all sorts of high-tech motor companies in this area.”

“Ok, got that but why? Do you want to see your old home?”

She shook her head.
“No. We only rented a place in this country but…”

I smiled.
“Ok, a case of wait, and see?”

She remained impassive.
“Ok, where to?”

Lucia didn’t say anything but entered a new waypoint into the car Satnav.

I took the hint and followed her directions. Lucia was very different in that respect to my former wife. The Mk1 version had zero sense of direction. Lucia was just the opposite which was much appreciated.

We passed a sign saying ‘Battle of Edge Hill 1642’ just before the route ended in the hamlet of the same name.

“Where too now?”

“Go straight on for half a kilometre.”

“Then what?”

“I want to look at a property. Before… before I left, they just started working on the build.”

“And you think that it is for sale?”

Lucia grinned.
“You know it is for sale?”

“Am I in trouble?”

I laughed.
“Lucia darling… you can never be in trouble with me.”

She mouthed,
“Thank you.”

I pulled up at a very obvious entrance. A ‘For Sale’ sign was a big hint.

There was enough space in front of some very impressive iron gates for me to pull right off the road.

We got out and looked through the gates at the property. I waited for Lucia to say something.

“I am in trouble, aren’t I?”

“Why?”

“You are awfully silent?”

“I’m waiting for you to tell me all about the place.”

She looked very guilty.
“Sorry. But when you said that we were coming this way… I wanted to see if this place was finished. I found that it is still for sale.”

“And?”

She looked at me with a puzzled look.
“For a brief description? Sell it to me as if we are in an elevator that is only going up one floor…”

“It is a converted stable block. Four bedrooms, three baths and all the rest. A triple garage and a workshop and a heated indoor pool.”

“How much?”

Lucia hesitated.
“Offers over one point six.”

The figure didn’t shock me. Even from this distance, it looked a very luxurious property.

I pulled out my phone and recalled a number.

“Who are you calling?”

“The Hotel to cancel our reservation for tonight.”

“I don’t understand?”

“We should stay nearby and schedule a viewing of this place. Think of it as an information gathering exercise.”

“And not to put in an offer?”

“I’d never buy the first place that I saw unless I already had others lined up to view. We’ve not physically viewed any homes yet so why not start here? We are on the ground and ready to view it so why delay?”

“I think I understand?”

I took her hand in mine.
“Small steps darling. Have you ever bought a house before?”

She shook her head.
“No. He did all of that before we were married. Why?”

I smiled.
“Two things. Buying a house is regarded as the second most stressful thing we do after getting married. The second is ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’.”

It took Lucia all of two seconds to grasp what I’d said. She chased me around the car. I let her catch me and we kissed.

We only stopped when it came on to rain. After sheltering in the car, I said,
“We have to start looking at homes for real. Watching video tours is one thing but seeing things for real is essential. Buying a house is a journey like the one that I’ve been on since you came into my life. Things can and will go wrong.”

“Like your ex appearing at New Year?”

“Potentially worse, but something like that. Until the sale goes to ‘completed’ state, it can fall through. That can happen just days before you are due to move. It sucks but that is the system we have here.”

Lucia thought for a moment. Then she said with a smile on her face.
“What are we sitting here for?”

---

[five days later]

We returned to our rented house pretty exhausted but satisfied with what we’d done after setting out for Cheltenham but never getting there.

I left Lucia preparing dinner for us while I walked Scamp. With all our travels and frequent stops her expectations of lots of walks had been mostly wrong. Still, she hadn’t acted up thanks to a good supply of doggie treats. Now it was down to me to let her loose.

The best place for that was the beach at Mabelthorpe. Although it meant driving thirty odd miles each way, Scamp could run the stiffness out of her legs without worrying about not going where she shouldn’t. The downside was that I was going to have to give her a bath afterwards. The result would be that I’d end up just as wet as Scamp.

Over an excellent meal, Lucia and I reviewed the trip.

“Are you any clearer about the sort of place you would like to live in?” I asked as I poured us another glass of Barolo.

“I do like conversions but… they do vary widely as we found out yesterday. That place near Stratford was ok but for one point five… they are certifiable. The finish was the worst of all the places that we viewed by a long way.”

“Those are some good points. The place this morning was a house of two halves. One part was done as if money was no object but the rest was thrown together.”

Lucia smiled.
“Perhaps they did run out of money? The asking price had been reduced by a lot only last week.”

I smiled.
“Tempted? You know buy it at a lot lower than they are asking for and redo the rest of it ‘as if money was no object’?”

Lucia laughed.
“Are you? It would give you something to do.”

“While you sit back and do your nails?”

We both laughed at the stupidity of it.

After a bit of a pause, I said.
“It does raise the issue of what we are going to do with our life together?”

“Grow Roses,” replied Lucia without even having to think about it.”

“That will be the day…”

“It was the first thing that came into my mind.”

“You are forgiven. I’ve been thinking about where we should look for a place to live and also something to do with our lives.”

That got her attention.
“You know how much a certain four-legged member of this household loves running on the beach?”

“I do. So?”

“I was thinking about Cornwall. There are some great sandy beaches there. Plus,…”

I took Lucia’s hand.
“I know that what I am about to say is very much off the cuff, but what about opening a Cookery School? Your rustic Italian food is better than any I’ve ever had in a restaurant. You have taught me since the first day that Italian cuisine is a lot more than Pasta and Pizza. You have a ready made menu list with that black book of yours. Even I can follow the instructions and make… well mostly make decent tasing food. What that book contains is a veritable larder of goodies.”

“Rustic?” said an indignant Lucia who had ignored the rest of my little speech.

“It isn’t safe like what most Italian Restaurants in this country dish up. Your food is full of flavour and is unpretentious. It isn’t what they call on the TV ‘cheffy’ in its presentation or with five different sauces that take three people half a day to prepare. For most viewers, what those pro’s serve up is just a pipe dream. I’m saying, why not teach people how to wow their families with flavour and make it simple enough for normal people. Make it with ingredients that are available at almost all decent supermarkets in the country. You managed to teach me so why not others eh? Running a school does not have the same pressure as a professional kitchen. You’ve seen the shows on TV where the chef gives his team a right load of verbal abuse if they mess up. With a school, you expect the students to mess up and messing up is allowed.”

Lucia thought for a moment before smiling.
“What will you be doing while I sweat over a hot stove?”

“Running the show. I do the management stuff and importantly, the marketing. Plus, I run the residential part and you do the creativity. How about it?”

Lucia smiled.
“I like it. I like it a lot.”

I relaxed.
“I think we should get everything we don’t need put into storage and head to Cornwall just to see what sort of places are on the market?”

“That is a good idea. I also thought that we should spend this year looking around for good sites and suppliers. We could buy a house to use as a base without the fear of the owners wanting it back in a hurry. That house does not have to be perfect but it would be ours. We take our time and find the right place to operate from. If that happens to be close to a beach then even better?”

Lucia kissed me long and hard.
“Welcome to the wonderful world of thinking clearly again.”

For a moment I was confused about what she was going on about. Then I twigged.

“Thank you darling. It has taken me a while but I got there in the end which was what you wanted all the time wasn’t it?”

She was right. I had lost it after the sale of my baby. It had taken a long time to get back onto an even keel again.

“You got me there. Is that so bad?”

“Not in the least, not in the least.”

Scamp didn’t disagree either. She came and put her head on my lap. That was her way of saying ‘more of that please’.

[nine months later]

I was on the phone to the agent from Mevagissey, who was selling a ten-room hotel with an attached restaurant in a small village a few miles away. There were two nice beaches either side of the hamlet where Scamp could run her heart out. There was even a ground floor ‘boot room’ with a shower. That would be perfect for washing a dirty pooch.

“It is ours darling,” I said after I finished the call.

Lucia looked a bit sad.

“Why the downer look?”

“Because my darling, when we get the keys, the hard work really begins.”

“True, but we are not in a rush to open before Easter, are we?”

“I know but…” said Lucia.

I took hold of her hand. As always, her skin was so soft.

“We will get there. As you are so fond of saying, ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’.”

I got a glare back from my wife. That turned into a smile.

We were good.

Things were progressing well with setting up the property for use as a cookery school until the world closed down due to COVID. What was worse was that we had just started taking bookings for the first course in late May.

Instead of shutting up shop entirely, we played our part in the village by providing hot meals to those who needed it. These were mostly the elderly and infirm of the area. At first Lucia didn’t like the idea of running a ‘take away’ but she came around after her first dishes were met with rapt enthusiasm.

Lucia proved to be in her element and with the help of a few villagers, we were producing nearly 300 meals a week. Having a recently enlarged kitchen made ‘Social Distancing’ relatively easy. Lucia used the people of the village as Guinea pigs for the series of dishes that she’d be teaching her students once the pandemic was over. We took the time to source all the ingredients wherever possible from the local community of farmers and fishermen.

The pandemic had shut down so many outlets for local producers especially the fishermen. Having somewhere on hand that could take at least some of their catch really helped them. I became an expert at preparing crab and lobster. We got them cheap as long as we kept the prices of what we sold down to affordable levels. He didn’t make a lot but it was enough to keep the place above water after all the expenses had been factored in.

The quality of the produce made Lucia even more adventurous with the meals. The many rapturous comments made her day. For us, the period of lockdown proved to be very beneficial.

I kept in touch with Sue and all seemed to be going well at the company. The unused building that I’d bought for a future expansion had been put into use once the lockdown had eased, so that teams could return to work and like us, adopt ‘Social Distancing’ measures. According to Sue, the order book was even fuller than before. That caused me to have some brief regrets but one look at Lucia playing on the beach with Scamp cured that.

[August 2021]

“Ready?” I asked Lucia.
She looked resplendent in her white chef’s uniform. Two small flags, one Italian and one, the Union Flag was embroidered above her heart.

“As I’ll ever be. You?”
I was dressed in something not that different from the cleaning uniform that Lucia had chosen to for me on that first day. The skirt was still full and frilly as before, but a good deal longer.

“I am. Let me open the door and see if our very special guests have arrived.”

I opened the door to the now much smaller restaurant and felt the full force of the wind on my nether regions. Despite it being August, we were on an exposed headland and any south-westerly wind could be chilly.

Two people with smiles on their faces walked through the door. They were the other two important women in our life, Sue and Rona.

“Greetings ladies,” I said with a smile on my face.
“Your table is this way.”

I led them to a table by the window on the leeward side of the building.
“Lucia has prepared a six-course tasting menu. We hope that at the end of the week, you will be able to prepare at least three of the dishes yourself. Are you ready?”

Sue could not stop herself from giggling mostly at the sight of me wearing something other than a grey or black suit.
Rona just sat back and smiled.

They’d sort of volunteered to be the first customers for ‘the Pink Bow cookery school’. To be honest, it hadn’t taken much arm twisting to get them to agree.

In honour of the occasion Lucia, Scamp and I wore pink bows in our hair.

We were up and running and despite the hard work and long hours, there was no place that I’d rather be unless it was with Lucia at my side.

[the end]
[Postscript]

There were a lot of sad faces when we stopped providing hot meals six days a week as the pandemic waned. We came to a compromise. We’d get those attending our courses to provide cooked meals on the last one or two days of the five-day course. It provided a service to the local community as well as being a goal for the attendees to aim for. The downside was that we had to vary the dishes we sent out. Lucia rose to the challenge without any complaint. That was Lucia through and through.
Oh, and Scamp had to be put on a diet because the participants of the courses kept feeding her tidbits of food.