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She glanced at Tarek, realising that she hadn’t answered his question. She shook her head.
‘I would like to look at the English clothes,’ said Tarek.
Freya gave him a sideways glance. ‘They’re not much different to what you’re wearing, really.’
‘Still, I would like to see inside the big retail shops.’
‘Okay, then it’s decided. That’s the plan after lunch – unless the mechanic calls us.’ Freya looked at her phone and sighed as she put it in her bag. She could look at it until the cows came home, but that wouldn’t make the mechanic work any faster. In fact, she wouldn’t be surprised if right now he was on another tea break.
Chapter 43
‘Look at it this way,’ said Tarek, sitting beside her in the car, ‘It could have been worse.’
‘How so?’ Freya barked back as she put the key in the ignition. ‘It’s almost eight in the evening. I was hoping to arrive at the guest house for dinner.’
‘At least we haven’t had to stay the night at the hotel over there.’ He pointed at a Holiday Inn. ‘It looks nice, though.’ He shifted his gaze to Freya. ‘The mechanic was very good to work late in the evening.’
‘Well, he didn’t do it out of the kindness of his heart.’ The mechanic had phoned her to say he might have to finish the repairs tomorrow, unless …
Thatunlesshad cost her an extra hundred quid, on top of the cost of repairing the car.
Tarek had immediately paid the mechanic by card over the phone, before she had a chance to object.
‘I’ll pay you back,’ Freya had insisted.
He’d just smiled, infuriating her even more.
As she drove the car down the slip road to join the dual carriageway leading to Suffolk, Freya had a thought. ‘Do you think they’ve kept our rooms for us?’
She’d forgotten to phone ahead to let the guest house know they were on their way and to check that they hadn’t booked out their rooms to other guests.
‘I don’t know. I wouldn’t expect they’d be busy this time of year.’
Freya nodded. Tarek had a point. Even so, she thought it may be an idea to ring ahead and say they were running late.
‘Have they turned up yet?’
Emily shook her head. She’d taken the booking over the phone and mentioned a young lady was due to arrive, but her mum hadn’t asked for any details. That wasn’t like her, not to inquire after new guests, but Emily knew why she hadn’t bothered this time: her mum looked exhausted. ‘Mum, why don’t you go to bed. I’ll wait up and see if they arrive.’
Her mum rubbed her eyes. ‘I’m too old for this.’
‘When are you going to retire?’ Emily asked. She’d had this conversation with her mum before. The place was too big for her to run single-handedly. She hired a student who did a few hours a week, mainly cleaning in the evenings and a Saturday spent helping serve meals. But that was in the peak summer holiday season and the other busy periods like Christmas and Easter.
‘I’ve told you before, Emily, it’s costly running a house this size. We need the guests to pay for running the place.’
Emily was aware of that.
‘You could sell …’ she ventured.
‘Yes, I have thought of that. I wonder who would buy a place like this?’
‘There might be someone out there who’d take it on as a guest house.’
‘Or buy it as a family home.’
Emily didn’t voice her thoughts. She would have loved to take on her childhood home as her own home in adulthood and bring up children there, but she couldn’t afford to buy her parents out. Even if she could, she had two half-siblings who would be entitled to a share. She would have to keep it as a going concern and still run it as a guest house as a means to buy them out. But who would do all the work? She didn’t want to serve breakfasts, cook meals, and make up beds. She wanted to practice veterinary medicine. She shook her head. It wasn’t as though she’d ever face that conundrum. She’d never find the money to buy it anyway.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the house phone. She answered it. ‘Hello? Yes, this is The Guest house at Shingle Cove. Oh, sorry to hear your car broke down.’ Emily glanced at her mum. ‘We haven’t cancelled your booking. Don’t worry, there will be someone on reception when you arrive … How long? Not a problem. See you then.’ Emily put the phone down and looked at her mum. ‘They’ll arrive around ten.’
