‘Vaguely, yes.’
‘Well, they want to come and stay for the weekend. Coming tomorrow night. I know we’ll have Xander but they’re on their way to somewhere else and they want to break their journey here, and as I’ve often stayed with them, I couldn’t say no.’
‘Of course not.’
‘But I want you to host with me. At the award ceremony they assumed we’re a couple. I’ve let them think that because they were always matchmaking for me and the women were absolutely terrifying!’
‘I promise never to try and matchmake for you,’ said Hattie, suddenly acutely aware that she’d never had a vision for Luke. What would she do if she did? Shouldn’t she be pleased if he was happy? For now she felt relief.
He laughed, although there was something a bit odd about it. ‘But it’s a big ask, Hattie, they’re foodies.’
‘I can cook, Luke,’ said Hattie, a little offended. ‘What’s the schedule?’
‘Before we get to that, there’s one more thing. They’ll have to have the spare room.’
‘Yes. I’ve noticed that it’s all very comfortable now. Lovely bed linen.’
‘I thought I should finally finish doing it up. Although it was mostly just clearing it out. Anyway, we’ll have to share the main bedroom, but don’t worry, I’ll go and sleep on the sofa when Jason and Carole have gone to sleep. Xander will be OK in the cabin. We don’t have to disturb him.’
Hattie took the phone and went to Luke’s bedroom and opened the door. She hadn’t gone near it since she’d been there. She didn’t want to intrude on Luke’s privacy. ‘You’ve got quite a big bed, Luke.’
A sound like Luke clearing his throat came down the line but he said nothing.
‘Please don’t worry about where we’re going to sleep,’ said Hattie. ‘Tell me how many meals we’ll need.’
‘Honestly, you don’t need to cook. I can’t say exactly when we’ll arrive.’
‘Then I’ll do something like a lasagne that can stay in the oven. So that would be Friday night? Lunch on Saturday?’
‘No!’ Luke was adamant. ‘We’ll all go out.’
‘So, Saturday night dinner, then. What about Sunday lunch?’
‘We could go out for that too.’ Luke sounded less convinced this time.
‘I can do a roast lunch,’ said Hattie.
‘You can buy the Yorkshire puddings, and the roast potatoes…’
‘Actually, since Rose told me that you just have to jack the oven up to record heights my Yorkshires have been quite reliable. Will they need dinner after all that?’
‘No,’ said Luke. ‘They’ll definitely be leaving after Sunday lunch. I’ll be staying, of course.’
Hattie nodded. ‘I’ll make some lists and get shopping.’
‘OK. But if you’re doing a whole Sunday-lunch production then we’ll get a takeaway Saturday night. There’s just one more thing – although it’s quite big…’
‘What?’ asked Hattie after Luke had remained silent for what seemed like years.
‘Would you mind – er – would you mind making the house look as if we live there together? It’s what I’ve told them.’
Hattie also needed time to answer. He was going to some lengths to avoid a few blind dates. ‘The house does have quite a masculine vibe.’
‘I’m aware. Would it be difficult to – er – soften it up a bit?’
‘I might have to do a fair bit of moving things around. Maybe putting things into boxes and hiding the boxes in the cabin. I do know how to dress a house.’
‘Do whatever you like. Spend whatever you like, on food, on scatter cushions, on things from Rose’s shop that no man would ever buy – just go for it!’
