Twenty
‘Wow, this is kinda fancy,’ Jenny breathed as they walked into the low-lit restaurant. The décor made her feel as though she’d somehow been transported to France. A huge chandelier dominated the centre of the room, its raindrop crystals capturing the light and sparkling like diamonds. She’d been impressed by the chandelier in the ladies at the Coach House, but this one was elegant and on a whole different scale.
‘“Wow” is right.’
They were settled by an expressionless waiter and Jenny bit her lip a little as she cast her eyes over the menu. It was certainly not the same type of cuisine the Coach House served.
‘This is the kind of restaurant my sister would have created if I’d given her free rein,’ Nick said.
‘It’s very nice.’
‘It is. Just not what I was trying to do.’
‘Well, you succeeded. This isn’t the Coach House. I’m not sure a place like this would have suited Barkley.’
‘Me either.’
‘It’s certainly a big step up for Hamwell as well—at least the old Hamwell, when I used to live here,’ she said. ‘I don’t even recognise the town now. Everything’s changed—the whole vibe is different.’
‘How long did you live here for?’
‘Around ten years or so. I came here after I was married, then we moved out to Barkley after the kids came along.’
‘Do you still have family here?’
‘Just on Austin’s side. My parents relocated to the coast years ago. What made you choose Barkley to move to?’
‘Initially it was the hotel itself. I’d seen it online when I was in planning mode. It kept coming up on different sites and something always made me take a second look at it. I didn’t think it would still be around by the time I was ready to make an offer, but there it was … again,’ he said. ‘It had been bought a couple of times and the deal had fallen through at the last minute on both occasions, so the owner had pulled it from the market.’
Jenny nodded. ‘Lionel Gosson.’
‘You knew him?’
‘Of him. I’d met his wife a few times. She always seemed so sad. I think they’d lost a son early on and she never really got over it, was how I remembered her. I didn’t know her well though. Lionel was a bit of a drinker, from all accounts. I remember the car accident some years back—quite a while now, actually, his wife and their only surviving son were killedin it. I think that’s when he put the pub on the market, then sadly passed away himself. I did hear it was tied up in legal issues and whatnot with extended family for a number of years. The whole town was talking about it—closing the town’s only decent pub was a big thing.’
‘Yeah—so I’ve been told.’
Their food arrived and Jenny picked up her cutlery then looked over at Nick. ‘So what were the other deciding factors for making the move to Barkley? You said initially it was the pub?’
‘I had to look up where it was,’ he said, cutting his steak. ‘I’d never been out this way before. That’s when I came across an article about Hamwell and the revival with the arts community. The numbers they were talking about the town’s growth and the housing prices thanks to the relocation of some pretty major companies setting up regionalised offices told me this was an area that was starting to show its full potential. Once you get a town that explodes like that, after a while, people are going to want to start exploring the local district. Barkley is the perfect distance from Hamwell for a weekend drive. It has the heritage factor and charm of another time—all the things city people moving up here would be looking for.’ He shrugged. ‘I figured if I bought the pub before this whole area realised the potential of the place and jacked up the prices like they have in Hamwell, then I’d be in on the ground floor and make a killing.’
‘So it was a purely business-based decision?’ she asked, studying him carefully. It sounded all very … clinical.
When he hesitated, she tilted her head slightly. A flutter of something strange crossed his face.
‘Mostly, although—’ He stopped, glancing up at her with an almost embarrassed expression. ‘It’s weird to admit out loud,’ he said slowly, ‘but it wasn’t just that. The whole thing with the pub appearing. It was probably just the fact I’d looked at it once and from then on the analytics automatically threw it into my search engine, but I don’t know.’ He shook his head irritably. ‘There was just something about it that I couldn’t shake.’ He dragged his gaze from hers to study his food.
‘Well, that’s kinda normal … I mean, sometimes you justknowwhen something’s meant to be.’
‘It was weird.’
Jenny smiled at his confusion. ‘It was obviously fate or something.’
‘I don’t believe in fate.’
‘Really?’
‘Nope. I believe in hard work and planning.’
