Page 28 of The Village Inn of Secret Dream

‘You do,’ he said softly. ‘We both do, in fact. Maybe we can both work out what to do next with our lives whilst we do the place up together.’

Belle frowned. ‘What do you mean “we”?’

‘You don’t expect me to do all the work myself, do you?’ he said, with a grin. ‘Besides, I was thinking that with you as temporary landlady, I would be more of a silent partner.’

She sighed as he turned and walked down the corridor. Perhaps it might work, she thought.

She looked at his wide shoulders and back which tapered down to some very tight-fitting jeans before quickly looking away.

And perhaps not, she told herself.

Because she still had no idea how she felt about Pete himself and living with him would throw up a whole more load of questions that she had no answers for.

14

Everyone in the village was still talking about Pete buying the inn a few days later.

‘Isn’t it marvellous?’ said Grandma Tilly when she opened the door to Belle on Monday evening. ‘Maybe we should change the name to Kennedy Bridge instead of Cranbridge as my family appear to be taking over the whole village.’

‘It’s an idea,’ said Belle, trying to sound enthusiastic.

But, in reality, she was confused about all of it. She was grateful to Pete for giving the inn some respite so she could stay on for a few more months. But she was also cross that he was treating the whole thing as some kind of investment plan.

‘Here we are,’ said Grandma Tilly, leading Belle into the lounge of the small bungalow.

Belle smiled at the glasses of sherry and biscuits that were already laid out on the table. She placed the heavy sewing machine onto the floor next to her as she sat down on the sofa.

‘It’s so kind of you to let me borrow this,’ said Grandma Tilly, before looking worried. ‘Nobody saw you walk this way, did they?’

Belle shook her head, still somewhat mystified at all the secrecy. Surely it was just quilting?

‘So are these all your pieces?’ asked Belle, looking at the different squares of cloth that were piled up at the other end of the sofa. ‘Lovely colours.’

‘That’s what I thought,’ said Grandma Tilly, with a smile.

‘I’m sure they’ll be sold out within minutes at the Christmas fete,’ said Belle.

Grandma Tilly’s smile dropped a little. ‘If I can get them all done in time,’ she said. Then she appeared to shake her head a little and beamed at Belle once more. ‘Now, let’s have a sherry first and you can tell me all about this cruise that your aunt and uncle are going on. Are they really away for three months?’

‘Oh yes,’ said Belle, half-heartedly.

‘Let’s hope the other passengers have their earplugs with them,’ said Grandma Tilly. ‘Never known a couple to argue like them two.’

Belle nodded in agreement, but she knew that she would miss them terribly, especially over Christmas. That had been the biggest shock, that they would be away until after the new year.

Aunt Angie had sighed heavily when Belle had pointed this out to her only that morning.

‘I know,’ she had said, drawing her niece close to her and putting an arm around her shoulders. ‘And if we didn’t think you’d have offers from all of your friends and wouldn’t be alone, then we wouldn’t have booked it. You know that, don’t you?’ Then her aunt had smiled. ‘But you don’t want another Christmas day of arguments anyway, do you? You can have a nice peaceful one with your friends, just this one time. And then next year we’ll be rowing over who has the last piece of the Christmas pudding just like every other year, okay?’

Belle had smiled and told her aunt that it didn’t matter. But it did. It felt as if she were on a runaway train and everything was out of control.

‘They’ll be back before you even know it,’ said Grandma Tilly gently, breaking into Belle’s thoughts.

‘And they’re going to FaceTime every chance they get,’ Belle told her.

‘An argument for every continent, how wonderful,’ said Grandma Tilly with a grin.

Belle laughed. ‘Now, what about this sewing machine? Do you want me to show you how it works?’