Three Days at Allerdale Hall

Good Food and Better Company

My stomach was fluttering as I waited for Thomas to sit back down with his order.

He had taken me by complete surprise and I still couldn't quite believe my eyes.

What I had pictured from the emails we'd been sending back and forth hadn't been too far off and yet, I was still taken aback.

He was as put together as I'd imagined, what with his black jeans, white button up shirt collar peeking over the top of a navy blue jumper that had been hidden beneath his very dapper black coat and a scarf the same dark blue as his jumper but it was his youth that threw me off.

Granted, he still had the air of college teacher, one that every.single.student would have a crush on, but I had expected him to be considerably older than mid-thirties and hadn't expected the very much non-local accent.

"Oh man," I whispered to myself, "how am I going to make it out of this meeting alive?"

I was pulled from my lamenting when a tray was set on the opposite side of the table to me and Thomas pulled out a chair, taking his seat and flashing me a charming smile.

Or, maybe just a smile, but he seemed like the type to come across as charming no matter what he was doing.

'So this is what it means to simp,' I thought to myself, hiding my inner realisation with a smile.

"Looks good," I said aloud, nodding towards the stunning looking cake on his tray.

"I hope it will be," he replied with a soft laugh.

I nodded, tapping the nail of my ring finger against my own cup and bouncing my leg as more uncertainty settled in.

This was my first interview where I wasn't the one in the hotspot and I had no idea what I was doing, it wasn't even a formal one for anything that truly mattered and yet the butterflies were stirring and I felt a little sick.

"So," Thomas said, giving his throat a soft clear, "where should we start?"

"Oh yeah, um...I don't really know," I admitted slowly, drumming my fingers on the notepad I'd taken from my bag while he was at the counter.

A notepad I should have written some question in but, whelp, too little, too late.

"Maybe we can start with your proposal?" I asked, though whether it was directed towards Thomas or myself I wasn't entirely sure.

"Sounds wonderful."

"Great, so what did you have in mind?"

"Well," he started, picking up a teaspoon to fill with sugar from the dispenser on the table before dropping it into his cup, "I was thinking of something similar to your Longleat video."

"A ghost tour? You have one?"

"Not quite," he laughed softly, stirring the sweet goodness into the tea, "though Allerdale Hall is rife with its own ghosts, the stories those four walls contain are truly something."

"I have to admit, I've never heard of it."

Thomas met my eye and gave me a wry smile.

"Not many have, it's quite a distance from the main road and through a dense forest, very easy to miss unless you happen to know the turning."

"Sounds atmospheric."

"It is and it's a shame that so many people miss it."

"And you really think that I, with my tiny ass channel, can help?"

"Perhaps, if not well, you've had a three day stay at a beautiful manor, win-win in my eyes."

I laughed and shrugged with an agreeing nod, "Point made."