Room for Love (13 page)

“She wanted to hide behind the dresser, I think,” Izzie said, her voice soft and shaken. “I was seeking, so I had my eyes closed...”

Nate picked his way through the broken crockery to examine the dresser. It had been made to come apart, at least, presumably to help with moving. Which meant it should be possible to put it back together. Maybe even before Carrie got back. He opened the cupboard doors and stared at the mass of broken plates and bowls inside. “Was this all our china?”

“The good stuff,” Jacob confirmed, looking up from Georgia.

“Right.” Nate shut the doors again. “I think I can fix the dresser, but you two–” He pointed to Cyb and Izzie. “–you need to sort the crockery issues. Before the show ’round.”

Izzie looked terrified. Cyb, on the other hand, straightened her shoulders and said, “I’ve got an idea.”

“Glad to hear it,” Nate said, and went to fetch his tools.

* * * *

When she woke up on Friday morning, Carrie’s first instinct was to crawl under the blanket and stay there.

She’d spent two weeks in thrall to The List, and in places the inn still looked like a run-down 1970s motel. On the plus side, at least the Seniors had stayed out of her way–she didn’t think she’d seen Stan or Cyb since she’d spoken to Ruth, and even Moira had only popped in to deliver Nate’s lunches, as far as Carrie could tell.

Nate, unfortunately, had been similarly absent. Which wasn’t to say he wasn’t busy working. Carrie would leave a note with Izzie in the morning about something she’d thought of for him to do, and when she went to check that evening, it was always done. She just never actually saw him do it. Weirdly, she was starting to miss him.

Still, for better or for worse, it was show ’round day, and there were still some things Carrie could do to get ready for the invasion.

Showered, made-up and dressed in her best gray suit and lilac shirt, Carrie descended the stairs to find Izzie and Jacob pouring over something at the reception desk. Her heart clenched. “Everything okay?” Because really, what else could go wrong?

Jacob looked up with a wide smile. “Fine. Just perusing the new menus. They look fab.”

“New menus?” Carrie asked, stepping closer. Yes, she and Jacob had discussed the actual dishes they had planned for the wedding brochure so she could talk to Ruth and Selena about them, but they didn’t have any real menus.

Except the one Izzie held up and waved. Carrie took it from her.

“This looks really great,” she said, aware of the surprise in her voice. The heavy, creamy card had swirling dark green borders, with thick, clear print detailing the dishes in much better words than the ones Jacob and Carrie had come up with. “They’ll go perfectly in the new brochures.” When they got around to printing them. “Where did they come from?”

Izzie shrugged, eyes wide and blank. “They were on the desk when I came in this morning.”

“Is there a packing slip?” Carrie reached over to rifle through the box. Nothing. Not even a label. “Well, someone must have ordered them.”

“It was probably Nate,” Izzie said, after sharing a look with Jacob that, try as she might, Carrie couldn’t quite translate. “You should ask him.”

“I will,” Carrie said, adding a few of the menus to her clipboard. “Once I manage to find him.”

“He’s sorting the flowers in the dining room, I think,” Jacob told her. “And I need to get back to the kitchen.” He disappeared through the double doors to the dining room, and Carrie considered following.

But Anna was due in twenty minutes and Ruth and her mother could arrive at any time–as much as she loved her, Carrie knew Ruth wasn’t really very good at appointments. She’d asked her to be here half an hour before Anna, in the hope they’d arrive at approximately the same time. With a sigh, she pulled out The List again and headed for the drawing room.

And promptly paused in the doorway. In the center of the room stood the low coffee table from the other sitting room, surrounded by five of the more upright chairs and a tray with coffee cups and saucers, sugar and spoons. A note propped against one of the cups told her that Jacob would keep the coffee machine running all morning and bring out a fresh pot, with cream, when her guests arrived.

God bless Jacob, she thought, and crossed
set up meeting area
off her list, wondering how he’d known it was one of the many things she just hadn’t been able to get around to before she’d fallen into bed in the early hours of the morning.

There were fresh flowers on the windowsills, too, she realized, presumably courtesy of Nate and Moira. Poor Nate would have no flowers left in his garden by the end of the visit.

Carrie consulted The List again, ignoring the items she could do nothing about–
Fix terrace! New windows, etc.
–and focusing instead on the things that might be achievable before everyone arrived.

She’d have liked time to make the bridal suite more impressive, but had settled for sorting out the main reception and ceremony areas. There was nothing to be done for the carpet in the dining room except to reassure her guests it would be replaced before the big day, but the tables had all been cleaned, polished, then when even that didn’t make a difference, covered in crisp white linen like they would be for the wedding breakfast.

Nate had polished the Welsh dresser without her even asking, and apparently Jacob had been running all the china through the dishwasher to make sure it sparkled. She couldn’t afford to waste money on centerpieces, but Nate and Moira were doing what they could with what they had in the garden. Carrie hadn’t even asked what they planned to put the flowers in. Nate had just pushed her out the doorway the previous evening and told her not to worry about it.

The chairs, too, were covered in some dusty old chair covers she’d found in one of the back rooms, apparently left over from another event. The bright lilac color wasn’t anywhere near the same color as Ruth’s beloved roses, but she’d splashed out on some thick white ribbon to tie them on, which toned it down a bit.

Then suddenly there was the sound of wheels on gravel, and it was too late to do anything else anyway.

Her staggered start-time plan seemed to have worked, at least, as Aunt Selena’s car pulled up directly behind Anna’s. But when only Selena and Ruth got out, Carrie wished desperately she’d told Ruth to be there an hour before.

“Oh, Carrie! It’s so good to see you!” Ruth threw herself into Carrie’s arms as soon as she stepped into the lobby, her blond bob flying across her face. Over her shoulder, Carrie could see Selena eyeing the tapestry she’d replaced over the desk as she stripped off her gloves and coat and handed them to a bemused Izzie. “Tell me this place has a bar,” Ruth whispered, hugging her cousin. “The drive up was a nightmare.”

“Fully stocked,” Carrie whispered back. “Where’s Graeme?”

Ruth’s face was stormy. “Last-minute meeting he couldn’t get out of. I’m so sorry.”

“That’s okay,” Carrie lied. Would Selena book without Graeme having seen the Inn? Would Anna accept a provisional booking? “Don’t worry about it. We’ll get this tour over with, and your mother and Anna packed off back to Manchester, then it’s you, me and a bottle of wine.” She pulled back and smiled brightly at Ruth’s mother. “Aunt Selena, it’s so lovely to see you again. May I introduce you to Anna Yardley? She’s my boss at Wedding Wishes. Anna, this is Selena and Ruth Archer.” Introductions over, Carrie motioned toward the open door beside her. “Why don’t you all come through to the front drawing room.” Hopefully Jacob had heard the commotion and coffee was on its way. “We can talk about your plans and ideas for the wedding.”

“At this rate there won’t be any wedding,” Selena said, only half under her breath, stalking past Carrie into the drawing room, followed by an unamused-looking Anna.

Carrie took a deep breath and waited for Ruth, who paused to give her a sympathetic look, to pass through, then turned to Izzie and mouthed
Hang them up!
before she moved calmly through to join her clients.

Jacob, bless him, had a better idea about customer service than Izzie did, at least. The coffee was hot and steaming, and even better, was accompanied by a plate of miniature cakes, which, Carrie promised herself, if Ruth and Selena didn’t touch–Selena because she was watching her figure, and Ruth because her mother was glaring at her–she was going to eat all of the moment Anna was gone. She might save one for Ruth, she supposed.

“I love these flowers!” Ruth was standing at the window, fingering a shallow vase of Nate’s best vibrant pink budget blooms. “They’re so...happy.”

“They don’t really tone with the lavender and white theme, darling,” Selena pointed out, pushing the plate of cakes across the table away from her.

“Oh, they’ll be perfect with the lavender! What are they called, Carrie? I must make a note.” So far, Carrie had noticed, the flowers were the one thing Ruth seemed to care about in her wedding. She managed to get over the shock of somebody actually liking the hideous things long enough to say, “I’ll be sure to ask our gardener for you.”

“Oooh, a gardener! Is he a hunky Sean Bean in
Lady Chatterley
type?” Carrie tried not to imagine Nate as Mellors, and failed. “Or is he an ancient old thing?” Ruth sounded quite sorry for Carrie at the very prospect.

Anna was rolling her eyes. Probably best to get back to business, Carrie decided. “Coffee, ladies?”

Drinks poured and cakes rejected, Carrie started into the spiel she’d lain awake perfecting the night before. “I’m so very delighted that Ruth wants to hold her wedding at the Avalon Inn. I know we both have a lot of childhood memories here, and I think we can make her big day very special indeed.”

Ruth clapped her hands together. “And this place is every bit as perfect as I remembered! The views driving up...”

“We haven’t actually seen much of the inn yet,” Selena said, in a voice that made her opinion of what she had seen very clear indeed. “It’s been a long time since either of us have been here. Perhaps we should reserve judgment for now.”

“I think that’s very wise,” Anna said, reaching for her coffee.

Ruth rolled her eyes and flopped into her chair. “Don’t be silly, Mum. I know you had problems with Grandma Nancy, but it’s Carrie’s inn now. Of course it’s going to be perfect.”

Carrie tried very hard not to wince at that. “There’s still a lot of work to be done to bring the inn up to scratch,” she admitted. “But assuming you’re sticking to your original Christmas Eve wedding date...” She paused and waited for Selena’s nod.

“The Save-the-Date cards have already been printed,” Ruth added. Carrie got the impression Ruth might have organized that first and told her mother later.

“Which gives us two months to turn the Avalon Inn into your dream venue. And I’ve already found a builder willing to work to our timeframe.” Carrie gave them both a wide, reassuring smile before diving into the risky but potentially winning argument she’d come up with at four in the morning. “And the advantage of yours being the first wedding planned at the new Avalon, of course, is that you’ll be able to work with me to make sure the alterations to the Inn work for your wedding.” Selena perked up hugely at that, and Anna’s eyes widened a bit. “Within reason, of course,” Carrie added hastily.

“Of course.” Selena’s voice suggested that her idea of reasonable might be very different to Carrie’s.

But there was no time to dwell on what was possibly the biggest mistake Carrie had made all year. “Why don’t we take a tour of the inn, and then we can come back here to discuss the specifics,” Carrie said, hoping Jacob’s concept of customer service stretched to clearing up the coffee cups before they came back down. Just as long as he left the cakes.

* * * *

Nate balanced precariously with one foot on the edge of the bed, the other on the bedside table, and wondered aloud why he hadn’t been permitted to just go and fetch a stepladder.

“No time!” Cyb said from her look-out position at the door. “What if they came up here and found you halfway up a ladder? That doesn’t say quality, luxury inn now, does it?”

“What does me lying flat on my back with a broken leg and a lacy canopy draped over me say?” Nate asked, shifting with care to pin the next section of the bridal canopy in place.

“It says you stopped paying attention to what you were doing, and that’s why you injured yourself,” Moira put in from the window, where she stared out at the car Ruth and Selena had arrived in. “I’m not sure I liked the look of them, you know.”

“I don’t think that really matters much to Carrie, to be honest,” Nate said, finally pinning the last corner securely. “They’re her family.”

“Nancy never liked the mother, though, did she?” Moira shook her head. “She’s taking a big chance on them.”

“I think she’s trying to find a way to keep Anna onside and earn enough money to get this place fixed and up and running. What do you think?” Nate asked, jumping down to admire his handiwork.

“I think she should be careful who she chooses to work with,” Moira said, still looking out the window.

“About the canopy,” Nate clarified, and Moira and Cyb both turned to see.

Cyb clapped her hands together, letting the door bang shut. “Oh, Nate! It’s perfect!”

“It looks lovely,” his gran agreed, and Nate allowed himself a sigh of relief.

“Thank God for that, because I’m not getting back up there. That bedside table is not safe.”