Page 53 of Winter Wishes at Pennycress Inn

Gripping the banister, she padded down the stairs. She hated him. Tyler. Absolutely hated the way he’d treated her, the way he’d treated Donna and Kimberly, and for ruining her relationship with Rowan.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs, she hurried across the hall to where the thermostat was located. That was odd. It was set to nineteen degrees, what it was always set to overnight.

She twisted it and set it to twenty-five degrees before tilting her head, listening for the familiar tick of the boiler turning on.

Nothing.

That was odd. Twisting it again, a little higher this time, she listened. Still nothing.

Well, that explained the freezing temperatures then; the thermostat must have broken. There must be another way to get the heating going. Yes, she was sure there was. She remembered her dad doing something when the thermostat had broken in her childhood home. He’d used the boiler’s manual override button or something.

Making her way into the kitchen, Scarlett pulled open the cupboard door housing the boiler and froze. It wasn’t the thermostat that was broken. It was the boiler. Or by the looks of it, anyway. An error code flashed in red on the small display panel.

Pulling open the drawer she’d seen Laura put her paperwork, Scarlett rifled through bills and insurance documents before pulling out the instruction manual for the boiler. Flicking through the thick booklet, she found the page she was looking for and felt her heart sink. It said there was no gas getting to the boiler. And if there was no gas they had no heating, no hot water and, since the AGA ran on gas too, no cooking facilities bar the microwave.

Replacing the instruction booklet and closing the drawer with her hip, she turned to face the large AGA and raked her fingers through her hair. No nice warm pastries for breakfast then. She was hopeful at least some of the guests would be leaving early to visit friends and family and so wouldn’t need breakfast, but for those who were staying, she’d have to offer cereal or toast only.

And the Christmas dinner? What was she supposed to do about that? Would Nicola and Charlie mind if they all trooped up to the farm for dinner? They probably wouldn’t, would they?

She shrugged. There was nothing she could do anyway. Not about dinner. But she could get the fire going in the sitting room. At least then they’d have one room where the guests could huddle in the warmth before they went out.

Holding her hands out in front of the fire, Scarlett grinned. It may have taken her precisely fifteen attempts, but she’d finally got the fire going and the sitting room would soon feel the difference in temperature. It was a shame she hadn’t managed to get it going before half the guests had left for the day but in her defence, she hadn’t realised quite how early they’d leave to visit family in the village. Not that they’d complained, of course. She’d met them on the stairs as she’d just finished dressing and helped them down the stairs with their bags of gifts before they’d left.

She tilted her head as she heard people coming down the stairs again. It must be the O’Sullivan family or the elderly couple, Sheila and Keith Pennington. She looked behind her as the sitting room door opened.

‘Morning, Scarlett.’ Bill’s voice boomed, filling the room. ‘Merry Christmas.’

‘Merry Christmas, Bill, Zoe, Seb and Finn.’ Standing up, Scarlett brushed down her skirt as she watched Seb and Finn run into the room, Finn gripping a large plastic dinosaur and Seb carrying a box. ‘I’m sorry about the cold. The boiler’s packed up.’

‘The gas is down all across Meadowfield, apparently.’ Zoe held up her mobile. ‘A cracked pipe coming into the village made worse by the freezing temperatures.’

‘Oh, you’re kidding.’ Scarlett grimaced. There went the idea of cooking dinner over at Little Mead then, as she was certain their oven ran off the gas too. Cereal and toast for dinner too then, unless she could work out a way of cooking a Christmas dinner in the microwave. Unless Aunt Ruth and Uncle Phil wouldn’t mind cooking something at theirs and bringing it over? Yes, it’d be cold by the time they got here but at least it’d be cooked. She’d ask them.

‘Nope, afraid not.’ Zoe shook her head. ‘We’re lucky we’ve got a fire.’

‘Yes, that’s true.’ Scarlett glanced behind her towards the hearth. It really was kicking out quite a bit of heat already. She turned to the O’Sullivan boys who were sitting beside the Christmas tree playing with their toys. ‘Hey, Seb and Finn, are they what Santa brought you?’

‘Yes. Look at what Finn’s dinosaur can do!’ Jumping up, Seb grabbed the dinosaur from his brother and set it on the floor next to the sofa before nodding toward Finn. ‘Go on.’

Finn picked up a remote control and fiddled with the buttons. The dinosaur roared to life and began stomping across the floorboards.

‘Oh wow, that’s brilliant!’ Scarlett laughed before turning back to Zoe and Bill. ‘I’ve set cereal out for breakfast. The AGA runs on gas so I’m afraid there won’t be any nice warm pastries but I can make you some toast if you like.’

‘Thank you and don’t worry.’ Bill turned to his children. ‘Did you hear that, boys? There’s cereal in the kitchen.’

‘I’ll come and make some coffee.’ Scarlett followed the family into the kitchen as the boys ran towards the French doors, their faces up against the glass as they exclaimed over how much snow had settled in the garden.

‘Do you think we’ll be able to drive in this, Bill?’ Zoe frowned as she looked outside.

Hearing voices out in the hall, Scarlett filled the cafetiere with water before hurrying out into the hallway. ‘Morning, Sheila, morning, Keith. Merry Christmas.’

‘Merry Christmas, dear.’ Walking towards her, Sheila held out a small gift bag. ‘Just a little Christmas gift for you.’

Taking the bag, Scarlett smiled. ‘Aw, thank you. That’s so lovely of you.’

‘You’re very welcome. We’ve come to Pennycress for Christmas so many times now, and you all always do such a wonderful job of looking after us all.’ Sheila took Scarlett’s hand in hers. ‘It’s such a home from home.’

‘Thank you.’ Scarlett watched as Sheila pulled her gloves on and Keith took the car keys from his pocket. ‘Are you off out now?’