Page 18 of Coming Home to Maple Tree Lodge

‘What have I missed?’ she asked, before taking a sip of her hot drink.

‘Your mum, Frankie and Dotty have headed into town to do some shopping,’ Lily told her. ‘Walter’s around somewhere. And Ben and I have shared our ideas for decorating the hotel.’

Hannah’s pretty face lit up. ‘Great! So he’s going to hire you?’ she asked.

‘I think so,’ began Lily tentatively.

She thought back to Ben’s ideas. All minimalism and no charm. Totally wrong, in her mind. It was the complete antithesis of what she had been creating in her mind. But if it got the job done and that was what the customer wanted, what else could she do?

‘But we still need to agree exact budgets, timelines and the rest of it,’ she carried on. ‘I’m going to show Ben some sketches on my laptop later. So I’ve got a bit of work to do before then.’

‘Oh, you’ll be fine,’ said Hannah, still beaming. ‘I’m so glad it’s going to be you helping us. It’ll be such a great help to everyone knowing that you’ve got the right skills for it. It’s going to look wonderful, I’m sure.’

Lily really wasn’t so sure and was feeling more and more disheartened about her first solo project before it had even begun.

After breakfast, Lily walked outside with Hannah, hoping the fresh air and wonderful view would enliven her mood. She was feeling a little despondent despite the possibility that she might just have her first solo commission.

Walking around the back of the hotel led them to the shoreline of the lake where there was a long stretch of sand onto which the water gently lapped.

As they stood next to the lake in the sunshine, Walter came along the path towards them.

‘Lovely day,’ he said, by way of greeting.

‘Been for your walk?’ asked Hannah.

Walter nodded. ‘Oh, yes,’ he replied. ‘My morning walk around Dragonfly Lake always makes the day a little better.’

‘Dragonfly Lake?’ Lily looked back at the water. ‘What a wonderful name!’

Walter smiled. ‘My grandmother’s idea, apparently,’ he said. ‘She thought the lake should have a proper name.’

‘It’s lovely,’ said Lily. ‘Not that I know much about them.’

Walter came over to stand next to her before pointing at the nearby bank. ‘See there? That blue on the tallest reed.’

Lily squinted at the bunch of reeds until she saw it. ‘There!’ she exclaimed. ‘I can see one!’

In the rays of the early-morning sun, a double set of gossamer wings glinted.

‘It’s so pretty,’ she said, entranced by the bright blue body and sparkling wings. Now she was looking more closely she could see a couple more amongst the reeds.

‘They can’t take off until their wings are dry,’ Walter told her. ‘Watch now. They’ll slowly climb up as the sun warms everything up.’

They watched in peaceful silence for a while until the dragonflies began to flap their wings. As Walter had promised, they edged upwards on the reeds until finally taking flight.

Lily watched in amazement as the blue dragonflies darted around the reed beds and across the water.

‘That was amazing,’ she said, before grimacing. ‘My daily commute is a little more crushed on the tube in rush hour. No room for dragonflies or even space to breathe normally.’

‘You’re still going into the office?’ asked Hannah.

Lily shrugged. ‘My current bedroom isn’t big enough to set up as a work from home environment,’ she replied. ‘So I have to sit on the bed. I mean, I can work anywhere but the office helps. Especially as one of my housemates seems to run an all-day party club.’ She rolled her eyes.

As she spoke, she realised that now that she had lost her job, wherever she was going to work and live in the future, she would need a little more space in her next home.

‘Poor you,’ said Hannah, wrinkling up her nose. ‘I don’t miss housemates like that. Apart from you, Beth and Ella, that is. They were the best of times.’

Lily smiled and nodded. ‘They were,’ she agreed, finding herself wistful at the time spent with her best friends. ‘Thankfully I won’t miss my ghastly housemates after next week when the lease runs out. I’m outta there!’