Читать книгу The Love Trilogy: Room For Love / An A To Z Of Love / Summer Of Love - Sophie Pembroke, Sophie Pembroke - Страница 19

Chapter 11

When she woke up on Friday morning, Carrie’s first instinct was to crawl under the blanket and stay there.

She’d spent two weeks in thrall to The List, and in places the inn still looked like a run-down 1970s motel. On the plus side, at least the Seniors had stayed out of her way—she didn’t think she’d seen Stan or Cyb since she’d spoken to Ruth, and even Moira had only popped in to deliver Nate’s lunches, as far as Carrie could tell.

Nate, unfortunately, had been similarly absent. Which wasn’t to say he wasn’t busy working. Carrie would leave a note with Izzie in the morning about something she’d thought of for him to do, and when she went to check that evening, it was always done. She just never actually saw him do it. Weirdly, she was starting to miss him and his interfering ways.

Still, for better or for worse, it was show-round day, and there were still some things Carrie could do to get ready for the invasion.

Showered, made-up and dressed in her best grey suit and lilac shirt, Carrie descended the stairs to find Izzie and Jacob poring over something at the reception desk. Her heart clenched. “Everything okay?” Because really, what else could go wrong?

Jacob looked up with a wide smile. “Fine. Just perusing the new menus. They look fab.”

“New menus?” Carrie asked, stepping closer. Yes, she and Jacob had discussed the actual dishes they had planned for the wedding brochure so she could talk to Ruth and Selena about them, but they didn’t have any real menus.

Except the one Izzie held up and waved. Carrie took it from her.

“This looks really great,” she said, aware of the surprise in her voice. The heavy, creamy card had swirling dark green borders, with thick, clear print detailing the dishes in much better words than the ones Jacob and Carrie had come up with. “They’ll go perfectly in the new brochures.” When they got around to printing them. “Where did they come from?”

Izzie shrugged, eyes wide and blank. “They were on the desk when I came in this morning.”

“Is there a packing slip?” Carrie reached over to rifle through the box. Nothing. Not even a label. “Well, someone must have ordered them.”

“It was probably Nate,” Izzie said, after sharing a look with Jacob that, try as she might, Carrie couldn’t quite translate. “You should ask him.”

“I will,” Carrie said, adding a few of the menus to her clipboard. “Once I manage to find him.”

“He’s sorting the flowers in the dining room, I think,” Jacob told her. “And I need to get back to the kitchen.” He disappeared through the double doors to the dining room, and Carrie considered following.

But Ruth and company could arrive at any moment. With a sigh, she pulled out The List again and headed for the drawing room.

And promptly paused in the doorway. In the centre of the room stood the low coffee table from the other sitting room, surrounded by five of the more upright chairs and a tray with coffee cups and saucers, sugar and spoons. A note propped against one of the cups told her that Jacob would keep the coffee machine running all morning and bring out a fresh pot, with cream, when her guests arrived.

God bless Jacob, she thought, and crossed set up meeting area off her list, wondering how he’d known it was one of the many things she just hadn’t been able to get around to before she’d fallen into bed in the early hours of the morning.

There were fresh flowers on the window sills, too, she realised, presumably courtesy of Nate and Moira. Poor Nate would have no flowers left in his garden by the end of the visit.

Carrie consulted The List again, ignoring the items she could do nothing about—Fix terrace! New windows, etc.—and focusing instead on the things that might be achievable before everyone arrived.

She’d have liked time to make the bridal suite more impressive, but had settled for sorting out the main reception and ceremony areas. There was nothing to be done for the carpet in the dining room except to reassure her guests it would be replaced before the big day, but the tables had all been cleaned, polished, then, when even that didn’t make a difference, covered in crisp white linen as they would be for the wedding breakfast.

Nate had polished the Welsh dresser without her even asking, and apparently Jacob had been running all the china through the dishwasher to make sure it sparkled. She couldn’t afford to waste money on centrepieces, but Nate and Moira were doing what they could with what they had in the garden. Carrie hadn’t even asked what they planned to put the flowers in. Nate had just pushed her out of the doorway the previous evening and told her not to worry about it.

The chairs, too, were covered in some dusty old chair covers she’d found in one of the back rooms, apparently left over from another event. The bright lilac colour wasn’t anywhere near the same colour as Ruth’s beloved roses, but she’d splashed out on some thick white ribbon to tie them on, which toned it down a bit.

Then suddenly there was the sound of wheels on gravel, and it was too late to do anything else anyway.

“Oh, Carrie! It’s so good to see you!” Ruth threw herself into Carrie’s arms as soon as she stepped into the lobby, her blonde bob flying across her face. Over her shoulder, Carrie could see Selena eyeing the tapestry she’d replaced over the desk as she stripped off her gloves and coat and left them on the reception desk, since Izzie had disappeared again. “Tell me this place has a bar,” Ruth whispered, hugging her cousin. “The drive up was a nightmare.”

“Fully stocked,” Carrie whispered back. “Where’s Graeme?”

Ruth’s face was stormy. “Last-minute meeting he couldn’t get out of. I’m so sorry.”

“That’s okay,” Carrie lied. Would Selena book without Graeme having seen the inn? “Don’t worry about it. We’ll get this tour over with, and your mum and dad packed off back to Cheshire, then it’s you, me and a bottle of wine.” She pulled back and smiled brightly at Ruth’s mother.

“Aunt Selena, it’s so lovely to see you again. Is Uncle Patrick not with you?” Carrie asked.

“Oh, he’ll be here in a moment.” Selena air kissed somewhere in the vicinity of Carrie’s cheek. “He’s just giving Anna an external tour of the property, apparently.”

“Anna?” Something inside Carrie froze at the sound of the name.

“Anna Yardley. Old family friend. She runs a…wait, didn’t you work for her once?” Selena’s eyes narrowed as she tried to remember.

“Only for about five years, Mum,” Ruth said. Then she whispered in Carrie’s ear, “I’m really, really sorry. They’re hijacking my wedding.”

“Anyway, Patrick thought she’d be able to give us an insider report on this place,” Selena said, obviously unaware at the way Carrie’s skin crawled at the very idea of her ex-boss seeing the Avalon in its current condition.

The heavy front door opened again and Uncle Patrick walked in, still talking to the woman behind him. “The place has potential, you have to agree, Annie.”

No one else in the world would ever get away with calling Anna Yardley ‘Annie’, Carrie thought as she stepped forward to greet them.

“Uncle Patrick. Anna. How lovely to see you both.” More air kissing from Anna, although with a distinctly chilly feel. Uncle Patrick, meanwhile, wrapped her up in a rather sweaty bear hug.

“Little Carrie. Trying to make a go of my inheritance, eh?”

“Gran left the Avalon to Carrie, Dad,” Ruth pointed out. “I think that makes it her inheritance.”

Uncle Patrick waved a hand dismissively. “We’re all family here. And the Avalon belongs to the family. I was just telling Annie the very same thing.”

“And I’m looking forward to seeing the venue that was important enough to tempt you away from Wedding Wishes, Carrie,” Anna said, in a way that made it very clear that, actually, she wasn’t all that interested at all. So why the hell was she here?

Carrie motioned towards the open door beside her. “Why don’t you all come through to the front drawing room?” Hopefully Jacob had heard the commotion and coffee was on its way. “We can talk about your plans and ideas for the wedding.”

“If there is a wedding,” Selena said, only half under her breath, stalking past Carrie into the drawing room, followed by an unamused-looking Anna.

Carrie took a deep breath and waited for Ruth, who paused to give her a sympathetic look, and Uncle Patrick to pass through before she followed, leaving the stack of coats on the reception desk. Hopefully at some point Izzie would return to her post and hang them up, although Carrie wasn’t wholly optimistic about that.

Jacob, bless him, had a better idea about customer service than Izzie did, at least. The coffee was hot and steaming, and, even better, was accompanied by a plate of miniature cakes, which, Carrie promised herself, if there were any left after this meeting, she was going to eat all of the moment everyone was gone.

“I love these flowers!” Ruth was standing at the window, fingering a shallow vase of Nate’s best vibrant pink budget blooms. “They’re so...happy.”

“They don’t really tone with the lavender and white theme, darling,” Selena pointed out, pushing the plate of cakes across the table away from her.

“Oh, they’ll be perfect with the lavender! What are they called, Carrie? I must make a note.” So far, Carrie had noticed, the flowers were the one thing Ruth seemed to care about in her wedding. She managed to get over the shock of somebody actually liking the hideous things long enough to say, “I’ll be sure to ask our gardener for you.”

“Ooh, yes, the gardener! Your partner in crime here, yes? I kept meaning to ask, because you never said in your emails. Is he a hunky Sean Bean in Lady Chatterley type?” Carrie tried not to imagine Nate as Mellors, and failed. “Or is he an ancient old thing?” Ruth sounded quite sorry for Carrie at the very prospect.

Anna was rolling her eyes. Probably best to get back to business, Carrie decided. “Coffee, everyone?”

Drinks poured and cakes rejected, Carrie started into the spiel she’d lain awake perfecting the night before. “I’m so very delighted that Ruth wants to hold her wedding at the Avalon Inn. I know we both have a lot of childhood memories here, and I think we can make her big day very special indeed.”

Ruth clapped her hands together. “And this place is every bit as perfect as I remembered! The views driving up...”

“We haven’t actually seen much of the inn yet,” Selena said, in a voice that made her opinion of what she had seen very clear indeed. “It’s been a long time since either of us have been here. Perhaps we should reserve judgment for now.”

“I think that’s very wise,” Anna said, reaching for her coffee.

Ruth rolled her eyes and flopped into her chair. “Don’t be silly, Mum. I know you had problems with Grandma Nancy, but it’s Carrie’s inn now. Of course it’s going to be perfect.”

Carrie tried very hard not to wince at that. “There’s still a lot of work to be done to bring the inn up to scratch,” she admitted. “But assuming you’re sticking to your original Christmas Eve wedding date...” She paused and waited for Selena’s nod.

“The Save-the-Date cards have already been printed,” Ruth added. Carrie got the impression Ruth might have organized that first and told her mother later.

“Which gives us almost two months to turn the Avalon Inn into your dream venue. And I’ve already found a builder willing to work to our timeframe.” Carrie gave them both a wide, reassuring smile before diving into the risky but potentially winning argument she’d come up with at four in the morning. “And the advantage of yours being the first wedding planned at the new Avalon, of course, is that you’ll be able to work with me to make sure the alterations to the inn work for your wedding.” Selena perked up hugely at that, and Uncle Patrick looked suddenly…hungry. “Within reason, of course,” Carrie added hastily.

“Of course.” Selena’s voice suggested that her idea of reasonable might be very different from Carrie’s.

But there was no time to dwell on what was possibly the biggest mistake Carrie had made all year. “Why don’t we take a tour of the inn, and then we can come back here to discuss the specifics?” Carrie said, hoping Jacob’s concept of customer service stretched to clearing up the coffee cups before they came back down. Just as long as he left the cakes.

“I’ll catch you up,” Uncle Patrick said as he pulled his ringing phone from his pocket. “Need to take this. Besides, you’ve got Anna to give you the professional opinion. I might just go check out the bar…”

Of course. Because a drunk Uncle Patrick was just what the day needed. Just as long as Aunt Selena was driving.

“Let’s start with the bedrooms,” Carrie said, motioning for them to take the stairs first.

“I’m really so sorry,” Ruth murmured again as she passed her. Aunt Selena said nothing. And Anna…

“I rather think this might have been a very rash move of yours, Carrie,” Anna said. “Just as well you’ve got your family here to bail you out again, isn’t it? Well, if I tell Patrick it’s worth his while.”

The only thing that stopped Carrie from wishing that Anna would trip and fall down the stairs was the fact that she’d inevitably land on Carrie herself.