Pippa smiled. ‘Good afternoon.’
Oliver hurried ahead of the group and slipped behind the bar. ‘Good afternoon. Where have you been hiking?’
‘We’ve walked along the permissive footpaths over the farmers’ fields from the neighbouring village where we’ve been staying for a couple of nights in their bed-and-breakfast. The B & B owner informed us that The Cheese Wedge and Pickles pub in the next village is also a hotel, so we thought we’d make this our final destination of the day and see if we could get booked in for a few days. I’ve looked on the map and there are lots of wonderful walks we’d like to do around here.’
Oliver turned to Pippa with raised eyebrows. Pippa looked from the rambler to Oliver before she realised he was waiting for her reply. ‘Oh...right. Let me just check the bookings while Oliver takes your bar orders.’ She returned the raised eyebrow gesture to him before turning around and walking over to the hotel bookings book.
Oliver cleared his throat behind her. ‘Right, ladies and gentlemen. What can I get for you?’
‘Can we open a tab?’
‘Yes, of course,’ nodded Oliver. There was an influx of orders fired at Oliver and Pippa smiled to herself as she listened to him getting flustered. She opened the bookings book and turned to today’s date.
The party of ramblers was in luck. All the rooms except one were free until the following weekend. Pippa turned around with a bright smile, made even bigger when she saw Oliver attempting to multi-task, which didn’t appear to be going very well.
‘We have three double rooms and four single rooms available. One of the double rooms has twin beds in it. How many would you like to book?’
The hiker looked perplexed. ‘Oh. There’s actually eleven of us.’
Pippa remembered the spare cot bed that was on wheels. ‘I can add a single bed to one of the rooms. It’s no problem if that’s okay with your friends.’
A few of the heads nodded. ‘Perfect,’ smiled the hiker. ‘Is it also possible to order lunch and an evening meal?’
Oliver glanced at Pippa as he juggled pouring two drinks and grinned smugly.
Pippa ignored his grin. ‘Erm. Yes, of course.’ She grabbed a handful of lunch menus and handed them to the hiker. ‘The evening meal menu will be available for you to peruse after 4 PM. We have to wait to see what local produce is available before the menu is decided.’ Oliver swiped a surprised glance Pippa’s way at her comment.
The hiker took the menus and passed them out to the ramblers who had been served by Oliver. They made their way over to a group of tables nestled by the open fire Oliver had stoked before Pippa had come down that morning.
When they were all served and seated studying the menus, Oliver dabbed at his brow and breathed out from puffed up cheeks. ‘Wow, I wasn’t expecting that.’ He turned to look at Pippa. ‘What was all that about local produce?’
Pippa chewed on her lower lip in thought before answering. ‘We have hardly any fresh supplies in. As soon as we close, I’m going to have to call on Ben the fisherman, and then the farm shop. I know in the past we’ve always gotten our supplies from them and as far as I’m aware, nothing has changed. But if business is on the turn and getting busier, I might suggest to dad we hire a chef sooner rather than later if we’re starting to get passing trade like this.’
Pippa was surprised when, without warning, Oliver reached up and pushed a strand of hair off her face. ‘Let me know if you need any help.’
She could feel mini volcanos erupting underneath her cheeks again as her capillaries popped. ‘I-I think I’ll manage.’ She spun on her heels and headed for the door to the kitchen, her heart beating a lot faster than it had done a minute earlier.
