Tia winked at her. ‘Good word! Gravitas – exactly! You’d command respect, Sid.’
‘You’d make the hotel look respectable,’ Emma said. ‘A respectable hotel for a respectable village.’
Sid seemed to grow a foot taller as he sat and soaked up their praise. ‘And all I’d have to do is greet people?’
‘In the stationmaster uniform,’ Emma said.
‘A recreation of the original,’ Tia said. ‘It’s beautiful.’
‘You might want to direct people to their rooms,’ Emma said. ‘If they’re not sure where they’re going.’
‘Yes,’ Tia chipped in. ‘So welcome them, show them around if they need it, answer questions about the area, share a bit of the station’s history…’
‘I don’t know,’ Sid said, trying to shake off the seduction of their flattery like Mowgli trying to shake off the snake in The Jungle Book.
‘Oh, come on, Sid!’ Nell huffed. ‘Nobody is fooled! We all know you’re dying to get that uniform on if nothing else!’
He shot her a wary look. ‘And would I get paid?’
‘Naturally,’ Emma said.
‘I’d get to run things my way?’ he asked.
‘To a certain extent,’ Tia replied carefully.
Emma nodded. ‘You’d get to decide what duties the position entailed and how they’re best performed, so if you decide you’ve had enough somewhere down the line your successor would be doing a job you’d essentially created.’
Sid ran his fingers over his moustache thoughtfully, but Emma could see he was already sold. ‘Would I get to vet the guests?’
‘Um, no, Sid,’ Emma said, giving Nell and Tia a doubtful look. ‘We couldn’t go that far, I’m afraid. If someone books and pays, then they’re staying.’
‘Even if their shoes haven’t been polished this month,’ Nell said. ‘So you’ll have to be polite and respectful regardless, or you’ll have me to answer to.’
‘Why don’t you think it over?’ Emma said. ‘When you’ve made up your mind come and see us.’
‘I’ll take it!’ Sid said. ‘Trial period. If I don’t like what I see—’
‘You’ll be a good boy and go back to your miserable retirement and not bother anyone again,’ Nell said sternly. ‘Don’t forget I’m a partner at the hotel now too. You tangle with these girls and you tangle with me – got it?’
He nodded sullenly. ‘You won’t be there, will you?’ he asked her.
‘No,’ Nell said. ‘I still have a shop to run, but don’t worry, I’ll know everything that goes on. And I mean, everything…’
‘Well,’ Emma said brightly. ‘I’m glad we got that sorted. We’re not quite sure when your start date will be, Sid, but we’ll let you know.’
‘Any other business before we wrap up?’ Tia asked.
Nell beamed at her now. ‘Just one thing. You know those little birds I hear so much from… One of them tells me you’re soon to be Mrs Ronson…’
‘Not too soon,’ Tia said with a broad smile. ‘But eventually.’
‘Then I’d like to offer my congratulations,’ Nell said warmly. ‘I hope you’ll both be very happy.’
Sid looked confused. ‘Who are you marrying?’
‘Blake Ronson,’ Nell said proudly, ‘and it couldn’t have happened to two more deserving people.’
‘Oh,’ Sid said, eyeing Tia with a new dubiousness. Perhaps he was deciding that Tia really was someone he couldn’t afford to get on the wrong side of from now on.
‘I’m sorry to break things up,’ Emma said, ‘but I think at least one of us ought to be at the hotel to make sure everything’s alright. I don’t mind going if you want to stay here a while longer.’
‘I’ve got to get back to the shop anyway,’ Nell said.
‘I might as well come with you, Em.’ Tia looked at Sid. ‘Feel free to take the rest of the cake – it’s paid for after all. Consider it your first job perk.’
He looked pleased at this and began to fold each slice into a napkin to go in the shopping bag he’d brought with him.
‘We’re off!’ Emma called to Darcie. ‘Thanks!’
‘Oh, wait!’ Darcie rushed over and gave Tia a tentative hug. ‘I didn’t want to say before, but now that Nell’s told Sid… Sorry, I overheard that bit… Anyway, I just wanted to say congratulations.’
Tia smiled. ‘Thank you, Darcie.’ Then she glanced at Emma and raised her eyebrows very deliberately. ‘Wasn’t there something we wanted to ask Darcie?’
‘Oh yes!’ Emma said. ‘I nearly forgot! Darcie, the hotel is going to need a supply of baked goods – croissants, fresh bread, pastries, pies… that sort of thing. I can’t think of anyone’s better than yours at the café. I know you said your cousin bakes them – do you think she could supply us?’
‘I think she’d love to!’ Darcie said. ‘I’ll phone her today and ask!’
‘Thanks, that’s brilliant,’ Emma said. ‘Let us know what she says.’
Darcie beamed. ‘I will!’
After saying goodbye to Nell and Sid, Emma and Tia began the walk back to the hotel.
‘All things considered, I think that went pretty well,’ Tia said.
‘I certainly didn’t expect Sid to say yes.’
‘I think the only reason he did is that he’s terrified of Nell.’
Emma laughed lightly. ‘I think he quite liked the idea of being that important.’
‘Probably. Em – do you think we’ve made a mistake?’
‘Hiring Sid? I hope not. Although it does mean we’ll have to look at that self-righteous moustache all day.’
‘True.’
They walked for a while longer and then Emma spoke again.
‘I’m going to miss you.’
Tia turned to her. ‘I’m not going anywhere… Oh God, please don’t tell me you’re thinking of leaving again! Not now!’
‘No, of course not. And I know you’re not either, but once you’re married things will be different. Have you thought about where you’ll live?’
‘I was kind of hoping we could still live at the hotel. But if not, June’s cottage will be up for sale soon.’
‘I’d be happy for you to live at the hotel if that’s what you want. We might have to rejig the rooms a little…’
‘Oh.’ Tia blushed. ‘Perhaps that’s for the best. Though I hope the walls will be a bit thicker than they are at the cottage.’
Emma gave her a playful nudge. ‘I’m glad you told him yes this time.’
‘Me too. We haven’t done much in the way of planning yet, but I know Aidan will be best man.’
‘Of course.’
‘Would you be my maid of honour?’
‘Me?’
‘I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather ask.’
Emma threw her arms around her friend. ‘I’d love to!’
‘And we can have the wedding at the hotel, can’t we?’
Emma smiled. ‘I should hope so.’
As they walked together discussing dress styles, the best months to get married, whether Darcie’s cousin would make the wedding cake, Emma enjoyed the gentle spring sun on her face and the fresh breeze that swayed the long grass in the fallow fields and shivered the lines of daffodils in the hedgerows. There was a smell on the air that only came with spring, of new shoots and blossoms, like the land waking up. The night had brought a sharp frost and the day had begun with a low mist cloaking the hollows, but that was burning away now; although it was hardly tropical, Emma soon found walking got her so warm she needed to take off her jacket and carry it. As she and Tia revelled in their friendship, their plans for the future and their glorious surroundings, the journey had gone by so quickly that, before either of them had realised it, they were back at the hotel, greeted by the rumbling of a mechanical digger and a radio blasting over it. The boss of the landscaping company, Charli, came over to meet them.
‘Did your meeting go well?’ she asked.
‘Great,’ Emma said. ‘Everything
alright here?’
‘Yes.’ Charli hooked a thumb at the gardens. ‘The boys are cracking on nicely. The company that’s supplying the playground want to deliver a day early – think we can accommodate that?’
‘I’m never going to complain about something being early,’ Tia said. ‘If it’s alright with you, Charli, then it’s alright with us.’
‘I’ll let them know then,’ Charli said.
Emma’s gaze ran over the grounds. It looked bare again, nature’s sneaky little clumps of grass having been dug up and the remaining shrubs at the perimeter cleared, but it was a blank canvas now, waiting for some beautiful creation to grace it.
But then her forehead crinkled into a frown. ‘What’s going on over there?’ She pointed to a man wearing a hard hat and goggles who was carrying a chainsaw.
‘Oh,’ Charli said, ‘he’s taking that tree down.’
Emma looked sharply at her. ‘The apple tree?’
‘Well, yes.’ Charli looked confused. ‘Your plan does say the playground is going there.’
‘I didn’t put anything in the plan about taking the tree down!’
‘I did, Em,’ Tia said. ‘I didn’t think it would matter.’
‘No,’ Emma said, ‘I don’t want the tree taking down!’
‘But, Em—’
‘It’s King Edward’s apple tree!’
‘Emma…’ Tia gave a nervous laugh. ‘That’s just one of Aidan’s stories.’
Emma turned to her. ‘It’s the tree that broke my fall when I came off the roof!’
She began to march towards the man with the chainsaw. ‘Not that! Come away – that stays!’
Tia ran after her, leaving Charli to watch open-mouthed.
‘What about the playground?’ she cried. ‘Em, it’s just a tree!’
‘Move the playground,’ Emma said. ‘I don’t care where to. The tree is far more important; it’s a part of Honeymoon Station as much as the benches or the station signs; it’s a part of the history… We can’t chop it down!’
‘You sound mental right now,’ Tia hissed.
‘I know,’ Emma replied tightly. ‘I don’t care. I love that old tree and I want to see it here every day and I don’t care who thinks I’m mad.’
Tia let out an impatient sigh. ‘Fine.’ She waved the gardener away. ‘Give us a few minutes before you start,’ she told him. ‘We’ve got to sort something.’
‘There’s nothing to sort,’ Emma said. She called after him, ‘The tree stays!’
‘Emma…’ Tia nodded sharply towards the empty hotel. ‘A word… in private.’
Emma marched in and Tia followed.
‘What the hell was that about?’ Tia demanded.
‘Why didn’t you ask me if the tree could come down?’
‘Because Charli said it was in the way. You’ve never appeared so hung up on it before, and you weren’t around to ask, so I thought it would be OK to tell her to chop it down. I don’t understand why you’re so upset – you haven’t cared about anything else we’ve had to pull down.’
‘But that’s…’
It was Aidan’s tree. It wasn’t just any old tree, it was his. It was one of the first stories he’d told her, one of the first things his brave granddad would have seen as he arrived in Honeymoon as an evacuee – it was more than a tree; it was history, a part of this place, a part of the magic that Aidan’s granddad talked about. The tree had saved Emma when she’d fallen off the roof. And when she looked at it she felt happy because it made her think of…
She stared at Tia, and she knew now what she had to do.
‘Please,’ she said. ‘Don’t touch it. For me. Take anything else out but not that.’
Tia looked confused and exasperated but then she nodded. ‘If it means that much to you—’
‘Thank you! I’ve got to go somewhere.’
‘Where?’ Tia called as Emma rushed out.
‘I owe someone a story!’
Chapter Twenty-Eight
As Emma strode towards the village she pulled out her phone. She’d been so determined to see him that she suddenly realised she didn’t have a clue where he was, whether he’d be working or if he was even in Honeymoon at all. But she knew now that she couldn’t fight this anymore. She didn’t even know why she’d been fighting it in the first place. She’d tell him, and then it was up to him what happened next, but at least she would never look back on this day and curse that she didn’t take the chance.
He had to feel the same way as her – she was sure of it. She recalled now looks and words, and the times they’d spent together, and realised he’d been trying to tell her all along.
The phone was to her ear as she walked. Just as she’d given up on him answering, he picked up.
‘Hey,’ he said. ‘Don’t tell me your roof has fallen off already.’
‘Can you meet me?’
‘Sure,’ he said, sounding taken aback but without hesitation. ‘When?’
‘Now?’
‘Now?’ he repeated. ‘It’s kind of… OK, where?’
Emma thought for a moment. She was close to the lane that led to one of the first places he’d taken her to.
‘Mary’s Stream?’
‘Right,’ he said slowly. ‘And do I need to bring anything?’
‘Just yourself.’
‘I think that normally comes as part of the deal.’
‘I’m on my way there now,’ she said. ‘Whenever you’re ready… I’ll wait. I’ll wait for as long as you need.’
As Aidan pushed through the tree branches that hid the stream from view, he looked worried.
‘Is everything alright?’ he asked.
‘Yes,’ Emma said. ‘Actually, I’m not sure. I just… I feel I owe you an explanation.’
‘About what?’
‘I’m going to find it hard so I thought I’d take a leaf out of your book.’ She sat on a rock overlooking the murmuring water and he found a place to settle nearby. He turned an expectant face to her.
‘You once asked me what my story was.’
‘I remember,’ he said, nodding slowly.
‘And it wasn’t that I didn’t want to tell you,’ she said. ‘It’s just that I often feel as if nobody would want to hear it.’
‘You shouldn’t ever think that.’
‘If you want, I’m ready to tell it now.’
‘I’d like that,’ he said.
She drew a breath, as if drawing strength from the air, and began.
‘There was a girl called Emma. When she was eight years old her mum died. She thought she had to fix the hole her mum had left. She had to be all things to everyone – a housekeeper and grief counsellor to her dad, mother to her little sister who’d never even known their real mum at all… Emma got so used to doing these things she didn’t know how to stop, and when all the people who’d needed her at the beginning didn’t need her anymore she let everyone else she’d ever met take advantage of that instinct to bend to the will of others. She put all the things she wanted aside and she was all things to everyone, and she thought that was how you got loved. She thought she didn’t deserve anyone who wanted to be all things to her.
‘Then one day something happened that broke her, and she ran away from that life, and she came to a village called Honeymoon. It was strange and it was new and she couldn’t see that all the people who lived there wanted to welcome her because she was scared about what she’d done. She almost ran back to her old life, where she’d been unhappy but at least everything had been safe and familiar, but then a boy named Aidan stopped her from making such a huge mistake. He showed her that she did deserve someone who wanted to be all things to her and, in the things he did and said, he told her that it was him. But she was really stupid and she didn’t understand, and she pushed him away and made him think she didn’t want him at all. And now she thinks she might have lost him forever.’
She paused. He stared at her.
‘The thing is,’ she continued, ‘I don’t
much like that ending. I was wondering if there was any chance I might still be able to get the proper ending; the happy one, the one where the girl gets the boy even though she’s been a self-absorbed, whining, stupid cow.’
Aidan said nothing. He only stood and lifted her to her feet, and then kissed her with a kiss that contained every ounce of compassion and beauty and romance in his soul. Emma didn’t need his words to tell her the answer, because he was telling her with his body as it moved with hers. All those months of longing, all those unspoken feelings, all that denial was in his kiss… and she wondered now as he caressed her what it had all been for. They’d wasted so much time… She’d wasted so much time.
But she had the most wonderful feeling now that they were about to make up for it.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Tia raced into the reception.
‘There’s a car! In the car park! They’re here!’
‘Calm down,’ Emma said, laughing as she straightened her blouse, the most delicious butterflies doing circuits of her tummy. ‘They’ll think we’re mental and drive off again!’
Sid stood sentry at the hotel doors, looking officious and proud in his stationmaster uniform. He bowed as a couple in their thirties came in with a clutch of suitcases and bags.
‘Welcome to Honeymoon Station Hotel!’
‘Oh,’ the woman said. ‘Thank you.’
‘Reception is just that way if you’d like to check in,’ Sid said, sweeping an arm towards where Emma was standing behind the desk, with Tia alongside, looking as if she might explode at any moment.
‘It’s lovely in here,’ the woman said to her husband, giving the interior an approving once-over.
‘Thank you,’ Emma said.
‘You’re actually our first ever guests!’ Tia said.
‘Really?’ The man turned to her. ‘Do we get a prize?’
‘Oh…’ Tia threw a confused glance at Emma, but the man started to laugh.
‘Joking,’ he said. ‘You looked so worried then.’
The mood relaxed instantly. Emma started to go through check-in and had a quick chat with the couple about their journey and where they could visit in the surrounding area. Every so often she’d glance up and see Sid watching them like a hawk. Probably deciding if they were the sort of people Honeymoon wanted walking its streets – old habits died hard, she supposed. When she was done he showed them to their room and then, a couple of minutes later, he was back.
The Hotel at Honeymoon Station : A totally heartwarming romance about new beginnings Page 27
