The Serving Girl // Book 2 in the Rosie Grey series

Chapter Twenty-Three

Whatever Robert may have had planned for me, or wanted me to do, he refused to budge on the matter and two days later I still had no idea what he planned on doing. Instead, I continued with my chores and when meat delivery day came around, I really hoped he would reveal his plan. I had always hated meat delivery day purely because it involved an awful lot of heavy lifting and I had never been a fan of raw meat. Still, I pushed past that and stood beside Esther whilst Miss Jenkins ran through the list to make sure we had everything. She did the same thing every time we received a delivery and the butcher had never missed anything. I think she just didn't trust Tommy.

"Everythin' in order, Miss J?" Tommy asked. Again. The constant repetition did get a little tedious after a while and I wish I could be somewhere else, but it would always be all hands on deck with food deliveries.

"Hm, it seems to be. Help the girls get this lot inside and there's a slab of toffee in it for you. I want to get this meat inside before it starts raining, a soggy meat pie would not go down well upstairs," Miss Jenkins said.

"Carryin' some of this for a slab of toffee? You got yourself a deal, Miss J!"

"Don't drop it!"

"Me? Drop it? No chance!"

Tommy grinned and rubbed his hands together before taking one of the largest slabs of meat from the cart. I looked at Esther who stifled a laugh and took a basket full of sausages off the cart and slipped through the back door. I grabbed one of the smaller pieces of meat and followed the pair of them through the back door and into the kitchen dropping the meat on the table for Miss Jenkins to sort through later on in the day. We were never allowed to touch the meat other than to bring it into the house, Miss Jenkins had a very specific way of preserving it and she didn't want us to get involved. Though I wouldn't have touched it with a ten-foot pole.

Between the three of us, we were able to haul the meat from the cart and into the kitchen, though Tommy managed a lot more than either Esther or me. He threw himself into the task of moving the meat whilst Esther and I sat back and allowed him to do. We weren't going to complain about someone doing our work for us and neither of us could lift the larger slabs of meat. Tommy came as a blessing in disguise and I spent most of the delivery time lounging against the kitchen counter whilst Tommy dashed back and forth with the meat. Miss Jenkins didn't appear all that happy with Esther and I's relaxed attitude to bringing the meat in, but the task would still get completed so there would be no cause for complaint.

"Aren't you supposed to be working?" Matilda asked, sliding into the kitchen doorway and raising an eyebrow towards Esther and I as we waited for Tommy to return.

"We are working, in a way," I replied.

"Oh really?"

"Righ', that's the last one, Miss J! All the meat in and not one drop of rain from the sky, you owe me some toffee!"

"Alright, alright." Miss Jenkins turned to Esther and me. "You two get nothing, this was supposed to be a team effort."

"We helped. Slightly," Esther replied.

"Hm, you keep believing that."

She shook her head towards us, but I could see a small smile tugging on the corner of her lips as she headed away from us and towards the pantry. Tommy grinned towards Esther and me and dropped the last piece of meat on the table. He brushed his hands on his apron and glanced up towards the kitchen door in anticipation of Miss Jenkins' return with his slab of toffee. I had never seen anyone get so excited over sweets, except perhaps Zachariah. Upon noticing Matilda in the doorway, his eyes widened slightly, and he turned away from her and quickly wiped his hands on his apron before tearing it off and throwing it into the corner of the room. Tommy then stroked his fingers through his hair and spun back around, hitting his side on the table.