My back stiffened. Any gratitude I might’ve felt for the interruption was immediately cancelled out: the staff. Thestaff?I’d introduced myself properly tohimyesterday. There was no reasonhecouldn’t use my name. Of course, that was before he found out I’d been lying about the angel, so I guessed I was back to getting grumpy and rude Nick.
‘He’s not harassing me.’ I smiled sweetly at Stephen. ‘What was it you were going to say? Maybe we could…?’
Stephen arched an eyebrow at Nick, who crossed his arms over his chest and looked away.
‘I was going to say: would you like to join me for a drink in the village tonight? There’s a fete or fair or something isn’t there? Might be the perfect opportunity for you to show me the joys of a provincial life.’
‘Wouldn’t you prefer to spend the evening with Nan?’ Nick butted in again.
Ouch. I knew I’d pissed him off but was that really necessary? I had nothing against Dorie. She was excellent company, and frankly at that moment I’d have preferred a date with her to either of them, but still. No girl really wants to be seen as juststaffor less interesting than a night in with an old lady. And what was wrong with Loganbury’s Christmas fayre? It was good fun. I’d genuinely missed not going along to it the last few years.
‘I’d like that, thank you,’ I announced, maybe a little too loudly. ‘That is, of course, if you don’t want to stay at the hotel with your family or take them to the fayre? It has a really great atmosphere. There’s live music and roasted chestnuts and lots of stalls to browse for last-minute Christmas presents. The locals really pull out all the stops.’
‘Sounds very festive. Our nan won’t want to go down there though. It’s far too cold out for her,’ Stephen assured me. He was very assured about everything, which was vaguely annoying – but I was too busy trying to annoy Nick, who had started annoying me yesterday, so I decided I could overlook it for the moment. ‘And besides, I only saw her last week. It’s not as though I’ve been gone for months.’ The unsaidlike somewas perfectly audible to us all.
The same gut-punched expression flickered over Nick’s face that he’d had yesterday when I told him my mum would be heartbroken about the angel. It lanced straight through my chest and I almost wanted to take it all back, but it was kind of too late.
‘Okay.’ I decided to try and act like there was no awkward atmosphere. ‘We can meet at the Rose and Crown, at about half-nine?’
‘Fantastic, I’ll see you then.’ Stephen doffed that imaginary cap again and wheeled his case over to the stairs. ‘Are you coming, Nick, or shall I look for you once I’m settled in?’
Nick said nothing, but he followed his brother up the stairs. I wondered if he’d mention me lying about the angel to his brother. I wasn’t too worried though because a) Stephen struck me as the type who’d think it was funny, purely because it vexed Nick and b) if Stephen wasn’t impressed and decided to cancel our date that would not be the end of the world either.
Date. I was going on adate. How the hell had that happened? I hadn’t been on a date with a stranger for so long – what if they’d changed what you were supposed to do? I didn’t have time to run upstairs and watch a fewFirst Datesfor pointers.
I studied the menus I was crumpling in my hands and spotted a typo. Dammit, could I be bothered to reprint? Would anyone not know that ‘woup’ was actually meant to be ‘soup’?
‘Oh. My. Goodness.’ Noelle stood up and came over, eyes wide. ‘You should sell popcorn. Did you just have two gorgeous brothers fighting over you? If I wrote romance novels I’d have a plot bunny bouncing all over me.’
‘That wasn’t quite what happened,’ I grumbled. They were fighting over something, but I doubted it was me. I dumped the menus in the waste paper basket at my feet and noticed the toilet roll I’d dropped there earlier because I still had rooms to clean.
‘You should’ve seen it from where I was sitting. And where has your mom been advertising this hotel?Fine-Male-Specimens Weekly?’
‘Unlikely, though if there is such a magazine, I wouldn’t mind a subscription.’
She laughed and leaned on the counter the way she’d been before Stephen had come in. Which, reminded me…
‘So, what was it you were telling me before?’
‘Oh, yeah. So, I was telling my friend about where I’m staying and he told me that it would be interesting to see what I thought because—’ she leaned further over and lowered her voice to what would have been a normal level for most people, but counted as whispering for her ‘—they are due a review from that famous hotel blogger, who is stayinghereover Christmas.’
I stared at her for a moment, trying to sort through the narrative.
‘Hang on, let me see if I’ve understood this. Your friend, who works for an e-zine—’ she nodded ‘—has told you, that a famous hotel reviewer is staying here for Christmas?’ She nodded again. My breath rushed out in a whoosh and I grabbed a notepad and pen. I was going to need to tell my mum and see if she’d ever heard of them. ‘Who is the reviewer and what’s the e-zine?’
‘Well, the e-zine is Travel Tales and the reviewer is just known as ‘The Hotel Hopper’ butmillionsfollow them. They’re one of those big social media influencers. The review will come in the e-zine at the end of their stay, but one of the reasons they’re so popular is that they post sneak peeks while they’re away. Unfortunately, he – or she – remains anonymous, so I have no idea which guest it is.’
‘Thank you, Noelle, remind me to get you a drink on the house tonight.’
‘No problem.’ She backed away from the desk, blowing me a kiss. ‘And I will. Don’t stress about it too much though – this place is fantastic.’
I smiled weakly. It wasnormallyfantastic. When my mum was here managing everyone with the single-minded focus of an army general. Not so much when the staff were all off sick and I was ‘in charge’.
I really,reallyneeded to speak to Mum and make sure Grandad was okay and she was heading back down here from Norfolk asap.
Chapter Five
‘We’re still waiting for him to be discharged,’ were not the words I was hoping for when I finally reached my mum on the phone.
