Starcross Manor

by Christie Barlow

  Fraser gave Flynn a look of gratitude.

  ‘As you know, this hotel offers numerous facilities, including the spa, swimming pool, gym, golf course… that really sounds like I’m boasting now,’ he rolled his eyes then focused back on track. ‘I want you as residents of Heartcross and your families to make use of these facilities. These will not just be for the guests, but for all of you, at heavily discounted prices, and that goes for all the guests at the B&B, and all the guests staying at Foxglove Farm, too.’

  There was a ripple of approval all around the room.

  ‘There will special discounts for villagers at the restaurants, for beauty treatments and the spa, and this will also include all water sports at the Boathouse when it opens. My dad Wilbur is currently passing out a printed sheet with all the details.’

  Flynn carried on talking about all the benefits of the hotel and the events he had planned throughout the year too.

  ‘He can’t take his eyes off you,’ Callie whispered. ‘Do you notice he keeps looking over in your direction?’

  Julia had noticed, and each time she found her body erupting in goose bumps.

  ‘Please, please do come and have a chat with me about anything that is worrying you, and you have my word we will work together as a community to find a solution. Finally, I’d just like to give a special mention to Julia Coleman.’

  All heads turned towards Julia who felt an instant blush to her cheeks.

  ‘Julia kindly pointed out to me all the fabulous things your businesses have to offer and how we can all work together. So a huge thanks should go to her too.’ Flynn held out his arms and began clapping, the whole room followed suit.

  There was a buzz in the air, everyone was happy. Julia knew offering the use of the facilities at Starcross Manor was going to boost her bookings and profits. This was a win–win situation for her, but Flynn had really excelled himself and had been brilliant standing up there. He’d gone out of his way to put everyone at ease and had won the hearts of the villagers. Julia had no doubt he was going to fit in very well with village life.

  ‘And on a final note,’ Flynn raised his voice to gain everyone’s attention, ‘the Boathouse will be open for business next weekend and in two weeks’ time I will be holding a garden party here at Starcross Manor to celebrate the official opening and would be honoured if you could all join me.’

  ‘I wouldn’t miss it for the world, boss,’ Callie gave a little salute and Julia couldn’t help but smile at her cousin’s confidence about landing the job when she hadn’t even gone for the interview yet.

  Flynn stepped away from the microphone, and Julia watched as he began to shake hands with the villagers. She watched as he stood talking to Drew and Isla, and smiled to herself. Drew really could launch his sausages worldwide if he started supplying all of Flynn’s hotels. She knew too that she had a lot to thank Flynn for. Her B&B could have been make-or-break but Flynn had decided to work with the community to help make everyone’s business the best they possibly could be.

  Everyone was on a high, the room was charged with excitement and possibilities, everyone looked relieved. ‘That’s a turn-up for the books isn’t it,’ Isla joined Julia. ‘Drew is beyond excited, and offering our guests all the facilities here… you did well negotiating those deals.’

  ‘It’s going to be fantastic for everyone,’ replied Julia casting a glance over in Flynn’s direction. Finally, the crowd around him had been begun to ebb away.

  ‘Will you excuse me for a minute, I just want to say thanks to Flynn myself.’ Julia made her way over towards him. She also owed him an apology. The revelation regarding Anais was at the forefront of her mind and she couldn’t believe she’d fallen for her lies. ‘Flynn,’ Julia tapped him on his shoulder. ‘On behalf of us all I want to say thank you,’ she said as he spun round.

  ‘You are very welcome. I hope everyone’s minds are at rest.’ Flynn touched her elbow sending a spark of electricity through her body.

  ‘Flynn, I need to speak to you. I know, I got you all wrong…’ Julia looked over her shoulder, this wasn’t the time to get into a conversation about Anais but she wanted to make it clear that she needed to apologise. ‘I need to apologise.’

  But Julia didn’t have time to say any more, Flynn’s phone was ringing. ‘Are you in a rush to get home?’ he asked, looking at the number on his phone. ‘I really need to take this.’

  ‘No, no rush.’

  ‘Andrew is through there,’ Flynn nodded towards the door. ‘I’ll be with you in five minutes max.’

  Julia walked towards the door and on the other side she was amazed to discover a balcony that resembled something from a French château. There was a wrought-iron bistro table and chairs with a bottle of Chablis chilling in the middle of the table. Andrew was sipping a glass of wine and looking out over the stunning view, a view that looked across at the lawns.

  ‘Hi,’ said Julia causing Andrew to look up.

  Andrew smiled. ‘How are you? Is the village on side? Flynn negotiates million-pound deals but I’ve never seen him so nervous as tonight.’

  ‘May I?’ Julia touched the chair.

  ‘Of course, join me.’ Andrew gestured for Julia to take a seat.

  ‘Nervous? Was he really nervous?’ Julia couldn’t imagine Flynn ever being nervous.

  ‘Petrified. Those villagers have some clout. Never in all his time have a group of villagers been able to shut down his contractors within twenty-four hours. It’s one hell of a powerful community.’

  Julia grinned. ‘It is that. Thankfully, they all now think he’s wonderful.’

  ‘That’s good, otherwise I would be out of a job. Glass of wine?’ Andrew nodded towards the bottle chilling in the middle of the table.

  ‘Perfect,’ replied Julia, looking out at the view.

  As Andrew began to pour the wine, Flynn appeared at the side of the table.

  ‘I’m glad that’s over! How do you think it went?’ He looked towards Julia.

  ‘You had them eating out of your hand,’ she replied with a smile.

  ‘Honestly, when I walked into the room, the look I got from Hamish…’

  ‘But you charmed him. And his vegetables have won prizes.’

  ‘Really?’ Flynn raised an eyebrow.

  ‘Oh yes, he wins the best marrow every year at the Heartcross Summer Fair,’ she grinned. ‘Because no one else grows marrows.’

  ‘Very funny,’ replied Flynn.

  ‘I’m going to leave you pair to it, I have a buffet to plan,’ Andrew stood up. ‘Have a lovely rest of the evening,’ he said before walking off.

  ‘How’s the hangover?’ asked Flynn, pulling out a chair and sitting down.

  ‘Better. Thanks again for everything you did for me last night. It was a brilliant birthday.’ Julia took a breath. ‘But actually, I need to apologise to you.’

  ‘Apologise? You didn’t get reckless in the log cabins, did you?’

  ‘Ha, no,’ Julia flicked her hair over her shoulder and nervously looked into his eyes.

  ‘You’ve gone all serious on me,’ he noticed. ‘What’s the matter?’

  ‘Flynn, I’m so sorry. When I told everyone you were untrustworthy, I was wrong and mistaken. Can you forgive me?’ blurted Julia, feeling awful about her actions.

  ‘I wasn’t happy, believe me, but I thought we’d put all that behind us?’

  ‘I know and we have, but I know I was wrong. I’ve been a total idiot.’ Julia explained how Callie had turned up and revealed the truth about Anais.

  Once Julia had finished talking, Flynn poured himself a glass of wine.

  ‘I have to admit that morning in your kitchen, I was fuming,’ declared Flynn. ‘It was like my past had come back to haunt me, and I had no way of proving any of it. I was dumbfounded when you told me that she actually cut up the wedding dress.’ Flynn blew out a breath and raked his hand through his hair. ‘She really was something wasn’t she?’

  ‘She really was, I feel like I ne
ver knew her at all,’ admitted Julia, disappointed in herself for not taking a person as she found them and judging them on someone else’s opinion.

  ‘I let someone into my life that I thought I’d fallen in love with and they tried to take advantage of me, and I’ve been very wary of people ever since, if I’m truly honest. I disappeared off social media due to the online abuse from her so-called friends and family. I couldn’t believe what I was reading,’ he took a breath, the hurt on his face was clearly visible. ‘The things they called me, accused me of having an affair, I was bewildered by it all. I didn’t even know where any of that information had come from, but I soon realised it must have been the lies spun by Anais to save face after I’d discovered their plan to try and rip me off. It was one of the worst times of my life.’

  Julia remained silent and listened as Flynn continued, ‘There had been no grand gesture on my part to get down on one knee, Anais actually asked me to marry her. I said it was all too soon. We moved in together first, and she convinced me that it was never too soon if you felt the person you had met was the right one. I felt humiliated I’d fallen for the whole scheme. I wanted the ground to swallow me up. All I could do was take myself away and heal in my own time.’

  ‘I’m so sorry Flynn, I really am.’

  ‘It’s not your fault. Now you can understand what a brilliant con-artist she is, she had you fooled too.’

  Julia nodded, Flynn was right. The performance she’d put on the morning of the wedding was outstanding and believable.

  ‘I honestly never thought I’d ever hear that woman’s name again, or ever wanted to.’

  Julia nodded. ‘How did you discover her plan?’

  Flynn sat back in his chair and rolled his eyes. ‘Just by luck if I’m truly honest. I had no clue what she was up to. I believed everything she said to me. I hadn’t been sleeping well and I wasn’t sure whether it was down to the pressures of work etc. So I set up an app to record my sleeping activity and placed the iPad next to my bed. I’d gone downstairs to make a drink, answered a few important emails and then went to sleep. The next morning Anais had left for work and I noticed the app had recorded activity before I’d climbed into bed. I clicked on it to discover her conversation with the fraudster she was having an affair with, and that’s when I decided to draw up a pre-nup which I knew she wouldn’t sign. She kept thinking I would change my mind, but I still hadn’t changed my mind on the wedding day, and that’s why she did what she did. What I wasn’t counting on was the fact she tried to slur my name and reputation. I was the victim, not her. However, what’s the saying? What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.’

  Julia exhaled. ‘I’m so sorry. I wish…’

  ‘Julia, I would rather put everything behind us. All this is in the past and that’s where I would like it to stay.’

  ‘Can we start again… again?’ suggested Julia.

  ‘That sounds like the best plan to me,’ replied Flynn. He turned to look at the view. ‘I’d never get bored of looking at that view. It’s magnificent.’

  ‘I know what you mean.’

  ‘Would you possibly be free tomorrow afternoon?’ Flynn’s voice sounded a little nervous.

  ‘Yes, I could possibly be,’ replied Julia, intrigued. ‘Why, what are you thinking?’

  Flynn swallowed. ‘Would you like to come out on a date with me?’ he asked hopefully.

  ‘A date…’ Julia bit down on her lip.

  ‘Don’t feel you have to,’ Flynn cut in quickly as Julia hesitated to answer.

  ‘I’d love to,’ she replied, nervously fiddling with her watch strap.

  ‘One o’clock tomorrow, meet me at the Boathouse.’

  ‘It’s a date!’ she replied, giving him a darting glance before her mouth broke out into a silly grin.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  ‘Apparently Jack said Flynn’s hoping to expand into hiring out mountain bikes, he’s surprised with all the mountainous terrain that no one has jumped at that idea sooner, and it would fit in perfectly at the Boathouse… are you listening to me?’ Eleni shouted across the landing to Julia. ‘And then there’s plans for the steam-powered cruise, it’s going to launch from the Boathouse, takes you down the river and sails around Heartcross Castle.’

  Still there was no answer from Julia. Eleni put down her duster and poked her head around Julia’s door. ‘Am I talking to myself? Woah! What’s going on here and where’s Callie?’

  Julia was sitting on her bed amongst a pile of clothes looking hot and frustrated. ‘My clothes seem to be getting smaller every time I try them on, and Callie has gone exploring with Woody, she’s checking out Heartcross.’

  Eleni chuckled. ‘With the calories we burn on a daily basis you’d honestly think we would be stick-thin. That’s a hell of a lot of clothes that don’t fit you.’

  ‘You are stick-thin! And I can’t find anything suitable to wear, well not suitable for a date with Flynn. Look at all these, so dowdy.’

  ‘There’s got to be something,’ reassured Eleni, picking up a couple of items then raising her eyebrows. ‘And presumably you are going to do something with your hair?’ Julia’s hair was scraped back in its usual ponytail.

  Julia brought her hand up to her hair. ‘What’s wrong with my hair?’ she asked, sounding a little hurt and taking a quick glance in the mirror.

  ‘When was the last time you ever had your hair styled, or even had the split ends cut off?’ Eleni flicked the bottom of her hair. ‘Those split ends have splits on splits.’

  Julia couldn’t actually remember the last time she went to the hairdressers. She found it a chore heading over to Glensheil just for a haircut and always found other stuff she could be doing. Julia was one for simplicity, she didn’t have time to style her hair each morning; all she ever did was wash it, then for practicality tie it up in a ponytail.

  ‘I do dye my hair,’ Julia replied in her defence, ‘those grey hairs keep creeping back in every six weeks, but I suppose that’s about as far as it goes.’

  ‘You can’t go off for a hot date with straggly ends and your hair scraped back in a ponytail. At least make some effort.’ Eleni began to mess with Julia’s hair. ‘I think you should have it cut just above your shoulders, give it some life. I’ll get the kitchen scissors.’ Eleni sniggered.

  ‘Do not cut my hair,’ Julia ordered, but couldn’t help but smile at Eleni’s suggestion.

  Julia risked a second look in the mirror and gave a theatrical sigh. ‘You are right, I need to do something with it,’ she flicked it outwards. ‘And I do need to be taking better care of myself, but there’s no chance I’m going to get this cut by 1pm this afternoon.’

  Eleni bit down on her lip then pointed at Julia. ‘Maybe, just maybe… get yourself downstairs. I’ll be with you in five.’

  Julia had no clue what was going on in Eleni’s mind as she bounded towards the door and back across the landing.

  A couple of minutes later Julia was nervously sitting in the kitchen. Eleni returned dragging Petra behind her, who was a regular at the B&B and had only arrived this morning. Petra was a sales director who frequented Glensheil at least six times a year, but who preferred the quiet side of the bridge and adored Julia’s B&B.

  ‘Petra used to be a hairdresser,’ announced Eleni triumphantly.

  ‘Really?’ quizzed Julia, wondering how Eleni would even know this.

  ‘I did indeed, and am still handy with my scissors,’ replied Petra, reaching inside her bag. She pulled out a red velvet wrap tied up with a ribbon. Inside was a brush, a comb and the shiniest pair of scissors Julia had ever set eyes on.

  ‘And you still take your scissors everywhere you go?’ asked Julia, amazed.

  ‘Not usually, but the girls in the office wanted their hair cut this week.’

  ‘This is meant to be. But you need to go and wash your hair – hurry, we haven’t got much time,’ Eleni ordered, looking rather pleased with herself.

  Ten minutes later and feeling a little
nervous, Julia sat down on the chair and Petra whipped an old towel around her shoulders. She brushed through Julia’s hair then clearly announced she had never seen split ends like it, leaving Julia mortified.

  ‘I think we need quite a few inches off this to spring it back into life so it starts looking healthy again,’ announced Petra, taking control of the situation.

  ‘Really that much?’ Julia wasn’t liking the sound of that, and was beginning to feel nervous.

  ‘Yes really, it needs a really good cut,’ confirmed Petra.

  ‘Above the shoulders… look, this would suit you.’ Eleni, who had been Googling the latest trends, swung her phone towards Julia.

  ‘I think you are forgetting, I do not look like that model and I’m about twenty years older,’ argued Julia.

  ‘I disagree, I think with your heart-shaped face that look will really suit you.’ Petra was now standing in front of Julia pulling down her wet hair around her face to level it out.

  Eleni excitedly clapped her hands together. ‘Go on, you will look amazing.’

  ‘Okay, okay but not too short,’ Julia finally agreed, and Eleni let out a squeal.

  Petra got to work, and masses of Julia’s hair fell to the floor. Julia couldn’t look and kept her eyes closed. For the first time in a long time her hair was now resting just above her shoulders.

  Fifteen minutes later Petra switched off the hairdryer and walked in front of Julia blasting hairspray all over her. ‘Stop!’ said Julia, choking on the spray.

  ‘All done!’ Petra stood back and admired her work. ‘You look FAB-U-LOUS!’ she strung out the word. ‘What do you think?’ she turned towards Eleni.

  However, Julia was panic-stricken at all the hair strewn all over the floor. ‘Please tell me I do have hair left and don’t look ridiculous.’

  Eleni was beaming. ‘Honestly, you look amazing!’

  Just at that second the back door swung open and in walked Callie. ‘Oh my God, what have they done to you?’ On her face was a look of horror then she burst out laughing. ‘Only joking! You look so different… stunning in fact. It really suits you.’