Page 77 of Coming Home to Maple Tree Lodge

In the dining room, people helped themselves to the enormous amount of food that Jake had conjured up. They asked for the chef and Jake generously pointed them in the direction of Faye, giving them the breakfast menus that she would be serving to all the hotel guests. Hannah’s cakes too were being wolfed down with yet more praise and Lily was pleased to see her smiling and soaking up the acclaim, for once.

Having found out from Hannah that Dodgy Del had managed to bring in most of the local villagers, Lily had been thrilled that so many people were sounding so positive about the hotel.

‘It’s charming,’ they told her.

‘Amazing.’

‘So pretty.’

‘When do you open?’ she had heard someone ask.

‘We’re open as of now,’ replied Walter, in his usual bombastic manner.

Lily grimaced and hoped Ben wasn’t listening as they’d actually agreed that they wouldn’t open the hotel officially until the following week. But, in the end, she had to agree with Walter. Why not open the hotel up now? The beds were made, everything was ready. She was just keeping everything crossed that the guests followed the villagers in their enthusiasm and numbers.

She had hardly seen Ben all night, such was the large number of visitors which had suddenly appeared.

And it wasn’t until he had seen the last guest out and had finally closed the front door that he joined everyone in the lounge. Lily was sitting on the sofa, barely able to move from exhaustion. But even then she couldn’t stop her eyes fromstraying to him when he came into the room. The man sure could fill out a suit very nicely, she thought.

‘Well, that’s that,’ said Ben, sinking down next to Lily on the sofa.

‘That was an unqualified success,’ said Dotty from the opposite sofa.

‘It really was,’ agreed Lily.

‘Never a doubt in my mind,’ said Walter from his armchair. He and Ben exchanged a nod and a smile. ‘And, Alex, you did a marvellous job highlighting all the health benefits of the place.’

‘It was my pleasure,’ Alex told him. ‘I merely told them how pure the water is here to swim in.’

‘And, Walter, everyone wants to know about your floating candle holders,’ said Beth, taking off her high heels and rubbing her sore feet.

Walter nodded and yawned. ‘I know what I’m going to be doing for the next few weeks then,’ he said.

But Lily could see how pleased he was with the way the evening had gone.

‘Those travel bloggers were all talking us up,’ added Beth, giving Ella a nudge with her elbow. ‘You really got the word out to the right people.’

‘Thankfully I’m not as dumb as Jake looks,’ said Ella in an imperious tone.

Jake merely laughed off the insult.

‘Good job he cooks brilliantly then,’ said Ben, with a grin.

‘Everyone said that the food was delicious,’ added Faye.

‘I’ll never top your breakfasts,’ replied Jake, as ever refusing any praise. ‘Nor Hannah’s cakes.’

Hannah blushed before yawning as she leant against Alex’s shoulder. She had spent the evening clearing the tables of plates and dashing back and forth and was looking exhausted. Lilysecretly thought that Alex seemed pleased that she was using him for support.

‘Frankie, your cocktails were delicious,’ said Hannah, before yawning once more.

‘Like I’ve always said,’ Frankie told her. ‘If you combine wine and dinner, you get winner.’

Everyone laughed.

Jake joined in with another of Hannah’s yawns. ‘Man, I’m shattered,’ he declared.

‘Well, I can’t keep my eyes open either,’ said Faye, standing up. ‘We’ll tidy up tomorrow. It’s definitely time for bed.’