Page 97 of New Beginnings on Railway Lane

She smiled at his nervousness. ‘I thought you were being Mr Positive.’

‘Just put me out of my misery,’ he told her with a groan.

‘She loves it,’ Katy told him.

‘Yippee!’ he said, picking her up and whirling her around.

‘Put me down,’ she told him, laughing. ‘I’ve got to make her a tray of tea and cakes.’

‘Yeah, keep buttering her up,’ he replied, placing her back on the floor. ‘We’ll take her some of Libby’s chocolates as well.’

For a moment, Katy smiled and hugged herself. It was all working out perfectly. The accommodation would hopefully be a winner. Everything was coming together.

Then her phone bleeped with an email. Assuming it was someone trying to make a reservation at the restaurant, although it was already sold out, she clicked to access her emails.

But it wasn’t someone hoping to join the cancellation list for the restaurant. It was one of the very first agencies that she had contacted all those months ago when she had been searching for her next job. A range of interviews were being held that Sunday in London at an upmarket hotel and she had been invited to attend. With her extensive references and experience, she would likely be a shoo-in for the job.

She stood in the middle of the waiting room and waited for the spark of elation that there might be another hotel job for her in the very near future. But all she felt was sadness that she would no longer be in Cranfield and that she now had to face up to the fact that her time there was coming to an end.

But her life had to go on, didn’t it? So she felt she had no choice to respond and say that she would attend the interview, despite shedding a tear as she pressed send.

53

Saturday morning dawned and Katy was up before the sun rose.

‘What’s going on?’ asked Ryan as he came into the kitchen to help himself to a hot drink later that morning. His hair was still ruffled from sleep.

Katy was on her second coffee, pacing up and down to check outside the window every other minute. ‘I was waiting for them to open up the curtains then we can start preparing breakfast,’ she told him.

He wandered over to give her a kiss. ‘It’ll be fine,’ he said. ‘You told me yesterday that she loved it.’

‘Yes, but what if they were too cold overnight?’ she said, still fretting. ‘What if the bed was uncomfortable? What if—’

‘Katy,’ said Ryan, drawing her close. ‘First off, you’ve triple-checked everything as usual. Second, no more coffee for you this morning. You’re bouncing off the walls as it is.’

Katy peered over his shoulder and gave a start. ‘They’re up!’ she said, before giving him a rueful smile at her loud tone. ‘Okay. Maybe no more coffee.’

Ryan quickly started preparing a breakfast which Katy carried over on a tray to the railway carriage. She gave a tentative knock on the door.

‘Good morning,’ she said, when the door was opened. ‘I hope you slept well. Here’s your breakfast.’

‘Oh, that’s great,’ said the blogger, taking the tray from her.

‘There’s coffee, tea, fresh pastries and everything else you could want,’ Katy told her.

‘It all looks amazing,’ said the blogger. ‘By the way, what do we do for dinner around here?’

Katy told her that there were two places left in the restaurant for the special dinner that evening and thanked her lucky stars that she had kept aside a table for the blogger just in case. ‘If not, the Black Swan Inn in Cranbridge does a lovely pub dinner.’

‘I think we’ll stay here, if that’s okay.’

‘Of course,’ said Katy, delighted. She rushed back to the apartment to let Ryan know.

‘Great,’ said Ryan, looking delighted. ‘I suppose you’re still insisting on Valentine’s-themed desserts?’

‘Of course.’

He smiled. ‘Good thing that I prepared these earlier then,’ he told her, opening up the fridge to reveal lots of heart-shaped chocolate puddings.