Page 12 of Not So Very Sensible

She shrugged. “I’ll think about it.”

“I really wish you would. Because who knows who will be there on Saturday night? You might meet the man of your dreams! Wait. I might meet the man of my dreams. Wouldn’t that be awesome?”

“Yep.”

“Oh, come on, Ellie. Please don’t be like you. Show a little bit of enthusiasm for pity’s sake.”

“Woo-hoo,” she mocked.

Katie rolled her eyes. “You need to try a little harder than that.”

“It’s okay. I know this will be a fun weekend, and I’m sure you’ll have enthusiasm enough for the both of us.”

Katie smiled. “That’s probably true. So, are you done? Can we go and explore?”

“You’re a grown woman, Katie. You don’t need my permission.”

“I know. I just thought it might be fun to go exploring together.”

Aw. It was nice to see her sister still appreciated her. “Let me charge my Kindle, then let’s explore.”

“Always thinking ahead, aren’t you?”

“It’s better than discovering I don’t have any battery when I want to read my book tonight.”

“So sensible all the time.”

One of them needed to be. She bit back the words and put action to her words, plugging in her Kindle and grabbing her phone. “Ready?”

“Let’s go!”

The Hydro Grand’s many renovations over the years meant there were many fascinating places to discover. Like the old casino lounge, where black-and-white photographs showed that the space had been used for concerts in the past. Long corridors held more pictures of yesteryear, along with absurdly long velvet lounges that looked uncomfortable, but when tested, actually proved to be more comfy than expected. Furniture carved in the manner of artists of the art nouveau and art deco periods caused Ellie to linger, admiring the ornate styles so far removed from the austere principles that guided so much of design these days.

“Ellie, come on!”

She bit back a smile and followed her sister to peek inside the Skygarden Restaurant, where their high teas were booked for tomorrow afternoon. The room had enormous glass windows that overlooked the valley, and they’d asked for a window seat, seeing it was for Ellie’s birthday. Then the next day would be the Clue-Done-It mystery dinner, before they’d need to return to reality and Wattle Vale once again. It seemed decadent, but she was grateful that Nicola had been accommodating as ever, and that Annabelle had stepped in once more. God bless her.

“I wonder if the high tea they serve here is as good as what Mum makes,” Katie murmured.

“I guess we’ll know tomorrow.”

High tea in Australia meant the special afternoon teas filled with sweet and savoury options served on fine china. The Silver Teapot was known district-wide as having the best.

“So, what do you want to do for dinner tonight? Want to visit Papa Dino’s?” Papa Dino’s was a local pizza place that had been one of the Bennett family traditions since they’d first started coming to the Blue Mountains as kids. The pizzas were delicious, but Ellie was fairly sure it was the fact that they had been able to create dough creations as kids that had instilled fond memories. “We could see if it’s open.”

“It’s Thursday night. It’s always open then.”

“Fine. Let’s do it.”

“Yay!”

Papa Dino’s was in Katoomba, opposite another grand hotel of a vintage similar to that of the Hydro Grand, complete with more of the ornamentation and period features Ellie loved. She had visited a few times and enjoyed a hot chocolate before the roaring fire, but the Hydro Grand was something even more special, with the price tag to match.

After checking her phone to confirm that Papa Dino’s was open, she warned Katie that they’d need to leave soon to get there by five. “They don’t take bookings, remember? So if you definitely want to eat there, then we’ll need to leave by four thirty.”

“You say that like you don’t think I’ll be ready to leave on time.”

That’s because Katie often wasn’t. Dad had long ago introduced the concept of “stuffing-around time,” where those with a reputation for running late were told to prepare to leave earlier so they’d have an extra ten to fifteen minutes of doing the last-minute things that always held others up and made them late. Dad, EJ, and Ellie were those who didn’t require “stuffing-around time.” Mum, Liv, and Katie usually did. And while Liv was always apologetic, Mum and Katie seemed to live a little more oblivious to how their actions impacted others. Still, better to be prepared than to get frustrated by their incapacity to be organised.