The man nodded. “That’s the one. My father is Davey Maynard.”
“Oh,” she said again. “I didn’t realise. It wasn’t me who dealt with the sale. I just financed it.”Stupidly, she thought. I stupidly financed it because my fiancé had told me he had a lifelong ambition to run a hotel in a quaint village. Now I’m stuck with the thing until I can sell it.
There was that dimpled smile again. “Anyway. I just want to apologise for Zack. He’s not usually such a twat.”
Sorrell smiled. “We all have bad days.” She looked at the wallpaper in her hand. “Was he sentimentally attached to Mrs Gibbons’ wallpaper?”
Dimples laughed. “I doubt it. She was a crabby old bat who used to put spit balls in her bath before it was cleaned. She fell asleep one night and never woke up, but she was ninety-seven. The carer on duty thought she was just asleep, saw what she’d left in the bath and started telling her off. It was only when Mrs Gibbons didn’t start yelling back that she realised something was wrong.”
Sorrell found herself laughing. “I’ve never worked in a care home. I’ve never managed a hotel either.” Her laugh became slightly hysterical. “I’m Sorrell. It’s nice to meet you. Not necessarily your cousin though.” She offered her hand.
“I’m Jake Maynard. I manage my uncle’s farm. If you do want local produce, then let me know. I can help you out with meat, eggs, cheese…”
“Alpacas?”
He laughed. “If you want their wool. They’re not for the table.”
“Thank you. I’m Sorrell Slater. Will you apologise to your cousin for me? I didn’t intentionally steal his builders and spoil his Christmas. I was told it was a long project they were working on so I figured that three weeks away from it wouldn’t matter,” she said. “And please come in. It’s getting colder out there.”
Jake smiled, the dimple appearing. “I need to head off to meet Zack and stop him from trying to fight his own shadow or planning to turn me into farm food. You should visit my other cousin’s place down in town—the Last Great Temperance Bar. Get to know us yokels.”
“I will do. But I need to carry on stripping Mrs Gibbons’ wallpaper. The decorator is coming tomorrow and he needs clean walls.” She wished she could go out, get some breathing space away from her ex’s legacy. “Thank you for the offer though.”
“Anytime,” Jake said. “And if you hear the words ‘get your arse here you malingering little shite,’ it’ll be Mrs Gibbons’ ghost. She always threatened to come back and haunt me. Goodnight, Sorrell Slater!”
He headed off down the path towards the road and Sorrell closed the door.
Upstairs felt even quieter now than it had done before and she wished desperately that it hadn’t been this rushed. When she’d signed the finance agreements for the hotel, she’d imagined taking their time getting the place up to spec, meeting people in the town and making new friends, finally having a base after so many years of feeling like a traveller with nowhere to call home. Severton had promised a lot, but so far all it had given her was a broken engagement, the cost of a wedding that wasn’t going to happen and a tight deadline that she wasn’t sure she could meet.
The screen of her phone was lit when she walked into the room. It had been the only bedroom to be extended in some way, given that Mrs Gibbons had enjoyed the largest room of all. Big enough to have an en suite, free standing bath and a sitting area. Tomorrow, even though it was a Saturday, the decorator and his team were arriving to start wallpapering and painting the twenty-two bedrooms. When they had finished, carpets and flooring would be laid and then she would be adding furnishings.
There was a message from her best friend, Gwensi, the girl she had gone to university with and the friend who was going to be her chief bridesmaid.
How’s it going? I’ll be there on Wednesday to help x
Sorrell picked up her phone and called her; she could strip wallpaper one handed and talk to Gwen at the same time. Lord knew she needed the company.
“I was really hoping you’d be out in a bar somewhere with some hot stranger to warm you up,” Gwensi said as soon as she answered. “Or even two hot strangers.”
Sorrell laughed. Gwensi was the wild one out of the pair of them. Hell, Gwensi was the wild one in most situations. “I’m stripping wallpaper. But I have just met two of my neighbours. If you’d have been here, I doubt you’d have let them leave.”
“Did you take photos?”
“Perv. No. I think that sort of thing can land you in trouble if you don’t have permission.” Sorrell stared at the paper she’d just pulled from her hair. “One of my neighbours wasn’t too happy with me.” She started to tell the story.
“I kind of see his point,” Gwensi said when she had finished. “The plans he has can’t go ahead so he’s in a fix, but that isn’t your problem. How hot was his cousin? Did you say he was a farmer?”
“He was heatwave hot. One grin with those dimples and your underwear would’ve melted right off. And he was pleasant,” Sorrell added. She’d appreciated that he’d taken the time to apologise for his cousin’s behaviour and made it clear that she could rely on the produce from his farm, something she was keen to do. Eventually, she wanted a restaurant on site too, using one of the buildings that were yet to be renovated. Ideally, that would be something they would’ve been planning to start after Christmas.
They.
Now it was just her.
“Most men are pleasant. It was just that you were engaged to a complete toss-pot. Have you heard from James, by the way?” Gwensi’s words contained an edge. She’d never been very keen on James and had taken great pleasure in irritating him whenever she got the chance. At one point, James had told Sorrell that it was going to be a choice between him and Gwensi. He’d backed down when he’d realised that the outcome wasn’t the one he wanted.
“I had a text two days ago. He wanted to know why the joint account was empty,” Sorrell said.
“You mean your savings account for the wedding?” Gwensi said. “He seriously asked. Fuck me, he’s a bigger idiot than we thought.”
