Page 19 of Coming Home to Maple Tree Lodge

‘Where are you moving to next?’ asked Hannah.

‘I’ve been so busy that I haven’t worked it out yet,’ she confessed. ‘That’s a job for Monday when I get a free moment.’

‘You’re such a workaholic,’ said Hannah, shaking her head. ‘You work so hard. No wonder you’ve got such a great career whilst mine didn’t even begin.’

A great career? Lily tried not to baulk in front of her friend.

‘What about this, er, what did my grandson call it? Interior design, was it?’ asked Walter. ‘Aren’t you going to be decorating the hotel?’

Lily held up her crossed fingers. ‘I hope so,’ she replied. ‘We just need to finalise plans later today.’

‘You’ll be fine,’ Hannah assured her.

‘I agree,’ said Walter. ‘So why don’t you move in here whilst you work on the place?’

Lily looked at him in amazement. ‘Here?’ she stammered.

‘Why not?’ he told her.

‘Grandad, that’s a great idea,’ said Hannah, her face lighting up as she looked at Lily. ‘It’ll be so lovely! You can get all the peace and quiet here whilst you sort out the interiors. Then it’ll give you time to find your next home.’

Lily immediately felt wary. Mixing work and home life was never a good idea, she reminded herself. Before wondering what on earth home life actually looked like as she had no idea.

‘Best of all, we’ll get to see each other every day,’ added Hannah, her eyes gleaming.

Lily desperately didn’t want to hurt her friend’s feelings but it was hardly a professional set-up. ‘I don’t know,’ she began.

But, for once, Hannah was being quite forceful. ‘I do,’ she said, in a stern voice. ‘You can keep your room here. It’s not like we’re going to be full any time soon. I think it’s a brilliant idea. Let me grab my phone. I’m going to ring the girls! They can come and visit and we’ll all be together at last!’

As Hannah dashed off, Lily was left frowning to herself, deep in thought.

‘It’s not the worst idea I’ve had,’ said Walter, breaking into her muddled thoughts. ‘After all, if you’re here then Ben won’t be able to turn the hotel into some monochromatic soulless conference place, will he?’ He gave her a pointed look.

‘Conference?’ she stammered.

‘One of his worst ideas,’ said Walter, his mouth going into a thin line. ‘I mean, can you imagine? Thankfully that was a no-go from the start.’

Lily thought back to Ben’s decorating plans and realised that he hadn’t strayed too far from the soulless conference hotel idea, contrary to what Walter was thinking.

Walter was still studying her. ‘So what do you think about the place?’ he asked.

‘Me?’ She tried to look on the positive side of things. ‘Well, I think that if I knew this amazing lake was here then it would be nice if other people could enjoy it as well. Not just the hotel occupants. Hopefully all the work we’ll be putting in will do that.’

Walter frowned. ‘You think you can help with all that with just some paint and curtains?’ he said, before raising his eyebrows.

Lily smiled. ‘Interior design is a bit more than that,’ she told him. ‘It’s about space and light. How a room is going to be used. The feel of the place. Textures and layers.’ She stopped and looked at Walter in earnest. ‘But yes, I can do all of that with my designs. They can make a real difference. I wouldn’t lie to you. It’s too important.’

He raised up his chin. ‘You get it. The importance of the place. I like that.’ He gave her a nod. ‘So what did you have in mind?’

For a moment, Lily let her mind wander. ‘A feature wall of wood in each bedroom. Then against a backdrop of the warm oak and neutral tones, I would add hints of colour in the soft furnishings. Greens, taupe and blues to reflect the outside. Bring it indoors. With touches of character as well.’

Then she realised in horror that she had been speaking out loud and, worse than that, she had given Walter her true ideas for the design.

‘Maybe you’ll do an all right job after all, if you can make all that happen,’ Walter said, giving her an approving nod. ‘I warn you though. If you stay here for too long, you’ll never want to leave.’

She smiled at him. ‘I promise you, Walter, that I will be able to leave at the end of the project.’

‘We’ll see,’ he told her, with a knowing smile. ‘Anyway, sounds as if you’ve got a busy day ahead so you’d best get started.’