‘It’s all taken into account,’ she said, quoting David, possibly word for word. ‘Anyway, if the play was likely to happen it would be awful to have to turn down the opportunity because Miriam Twycross couldn’t have a bedroom with its own bathroom, wouldn’t it?’
He laughed. ‘You are very persuasive. OK, you get Bob on to it as soon as he’s got time. Now, I must find Louise and talk to her about travel.’
‘She’s in the office. Or if not, she’ll be in the garden, picking flowers to put in the bedrooms.’
‘Fresh flowers in the bedrooms?’
Meg nodded. ‘From the garden. So much nicer than carnations that last forever and a bit of that white fluffy stuff,’ she said, describing the arrangements she’d seen in his hotel.
‘And free,’ said Justin.
‘We know how to make every penny count in Nightingale Woods,’ she said.
He took a breath. ‘By the way, you’ll have noticed that my ankle is better and so I’m back in the kitchen and can ride my motorbike again from tomorrow. Although Raoul was very impressed by your desserts, he said our pastry chef had to go back to doing them.’
‘Oh,’ she said, ‘that’s good.’ But some part of her felt disappointed, as if she’d miss his visits. What was wrong with her?
She was following him down the stairs when at the bottom he suddenly stopped, and she nearly bumped into him. He caught her arms and steadied her. ‘But he said that your profiteroles were streets ahead of the pastry chef’s.’
Standing on the bottom step made her the same height as him. They were eye to eye and Meg was certain that he wanted to kiss her. She wanted to kiss him. But there was Laura. Laura had a pet name for him, and was obviously more than a receptionist.
Meg swallowed and looked away. He moved and the moment was over.
Long after he’d seen Louise to discuss travel, and had been driven back to his hotel by Susan’s nephew, Cyril, Meg wondered what would have happened if she hadn’t remembered Laura. The thought bothered her for a long time.
Chapter Seventeen
Meg couldn’t help feeling a bit felt lonely when, a few days later, she’d waved off her mother who was being driven to the station in the Mini by Bob’s nephew, Cyril, who was now the official driver to the hotel and regularly collected guests from the station. When not doing that he was the gardener.
Meg knew she would be fine. She had Susan’s whole family to help and not very many visitors booked in. Bob was starting on the new bathrooms that day. And she’d been in touch with Vanessa, who’d said she would be here tomorrow.
Meg had managed to do breakfast with Susan’s help, take the money and send the night’s guests on their way, full of praise for the food and the ‘quaint’ decor. Meg didn’t much like the word ‘quaint’ though – it meant ‘olde worlde tea shoppes’ and fake antiquities to her and it felt like damning with faint praise.
But she knew she couldn’t really argue. Quaint could mean frayed at the edges and this was indeed the case where Nightingale Woods was concerned.
Susan had sent her out of the kitchen so Meg was in the office when the phone rang. It was Vanessa, who, going by the various noises, was calling from a telephone box.
‘Please don’t say you’re not coming!’ said Meg.
‘No, no, I’m on my way, but I’ve got my mother with me. She’s got friends in the area she wants to visit and she may want to stay at Nightingale Woods!’ Vanessa paused, during which time Meg panicked, before adding, ‘It’ll only be for one night though, if she stays at all.’
This was a disaster. They were nowhere near ready for a guest such as Lady Lennox-Stanley. ‘But Bob is only just starting on the bathroom in the best bedroom!’ Meg wailed.
‘I’m so sorry, Meg! I tried to stop her but I think she wants to get away from Daddy, who’s making such a fuss about the wedding bills, even though he can afford to pay them perfectly well.’
‘OK. So, when do you think you’ll arrive?’ In other words, how much time did she have to make a bedroom ready?
‘Oh, not for hours!’ said Vanessa breezily, unaware of the anxiety this caused Meg. ‘Mummy wants to have coffee with one lot of friends and lunch with another. But I’ll try to ring when we’re quite near, to give you some warning. We’ll definitely be with you for supper.’
‘What about tea? Should I make some eclairs?’
Vanessa paused. ‘What she really likes are meringues.’
‘I’ll do them then. Thank you for warning me, Nessa. I really appreciate it.’
‘Oh, I nearly forgot! David rang me last night. He and his director friend are coming today too.’
‘My goodness! Why didn’t he ring me and tell me that?’
