Room for Love

by Sophie Pembroke

  “You two used to be together.”

  “For three years.” Nate gave her a rueful smile. “When I left the city, I left her too and came here.”

  Carrie curled her legs up under her on her chair. Nate had been privy to all her reasons for coming home to the Avalon, all her motives for leaving Manchester. But she’d never heard him speak openly about anything in his past. Especially without a whiskey bottle open between them. “Why did you leave?”

  Nate shrugged. “It was time. I was sick of the show, tired of doing quick fix-it jobs on other people’s gardens, frustrated by not having any space of my own–I had a window box in my flat. Can you imagine?”

  Carrie couldn’t. But there were a few other things she couldn’t quite get her head around, either. “Show?”

  Looking up at her, Nate smiled. “Yeah. Didn’t you know? I was the Singing Gardener on the Green channel. Mel was the producer. That’s how we met.”

  Carrie leaned back in her chair and studied his face all over again. She’d seen that show. Not often, but once or twice. Her old flatmate had loved it, but Carrie was rarely home it time to catch it. The angles of his cheeks and eyes fell into place, and she said, “I wouldn’t have recognized you. I mean, I didn’t. You look...healthier.”

  “All the good Welsh air,” Nate said with a chuckle, but Carrie wasn’t really listening. She wouldn’t have recognized him. Yet she’d felt from the first moment she saw him that she knew Nate Green from somewhere.

  And she felt certain it wasn’t some television show.

  * * * *

  So preoccupied was she with Nate’s showbiz history, it wasn’t until she was waiting patiently in reception for Ruth the next morning that Carrie realized he still hadn’t told her what Mel the ex had wanted him in London for. If they weren’t sleeping together, and it seemed they weren’t, then what were the loose ends? Something to do with the show?

  “Is Nate around today?” she asked Izzie, wondering if she had time to find him before Ruth arrived.

  “He’s down in the woods, I think.” Izzie shrugged. “He wandered through here after breakfast muttering something about snowdrops.”

  Carrie checked her watch. Ruth was already twenty minutes late. There was no way she had time to get to the woods and back before her errant bride showed up, let alone have an in-depth conversation with a man planting snowdrops.

  She sighed. It would have to wait. Like most things at the Avalon Inn. They’d done what they could afford now, and anything that wasn’t fixed–like the shower in her attic room–would have to wait until they had paying guests again.

  Which was one of the reasons Ruth was coming. Tonight marked the grand re-opening of the Avalon Inn and the Seniors had insisted on another party. After the last one, Carrie was wary, but Moira had pointed out they could make this a swankier affair and invite local business owners and such, at which point it became promotion, rather than debauchery. Alex the accountant hadn’t objected, anyway, so Jacob had been cooking all week and Cyb was already decorating the dining room.

  Ruth had said, quite adamantly, that there was not a chance in hell of her missing it. And, as their first client, everyone else had agreed she deserved to be there. “Besides, it’ll be the perfect opportunity for me to come and iron out any wedding-related details or whatever.”

  Carrie had sighed and said, “Well, we do need to discuss your plans for the hen night,” and Ruth had hung up and run off to pick out a party dress.

  Carrie figured she’d be lucky if she had time to change out of her suit before the guests started arriving, but she had pulled her favorite purple cocktail dress from the wardrobe to try to get rid of the creases, just in case.

  Ruth’s car pulled up on the driveway, and Ruth flung open the door, shouting apologies while she grabbed her bags.

  Carrie met her on the steps. “Don’t worry about it,” she said, giving her cousin a hug. “I’m just glad you’re here to help.”

  “Least I could do.” Ruth grinned. “Can you believe the wedding’s less than two weeks away?”

  “Still plenty of time for your mother to screw it up,” Carrie said ominously. She didn’t even have to mention Anna.

  “Not today, at least.” Ruth waved at Izzie as they entered the lobby. “I got Dad to send Mum off to a spa for the weekend so she’s nice and relaxed for all the last-minute wedding stuff.”

  Carrie often found herself amazed that someone as nice as Ruth could be so cunning. “Good plan. At least we can get through this evening without worrying about her showing up with another thirty guests.”

  Ruth winced. “I told you how sorry I was about that, right?”

  “You did. I’ve almost forgiven you.”

  “So, where’s the delectable Nate today?” Ruth asked, as Carrie led her up the stairs to her designated bedroom.

  “Planting snowdrops somewhere, apparently.” Carrie opened the bedroom door. “Sorry you’re not in the bridal suite tonight. Stan invited the mayor, of all people, so he sort of had first dibs.”

  “This is fine,” Ruth said, tossing her bag onto the freshly made bed. Carrie looked around at the newly painted ivory walls and new curtains. It wasn’t bad, she supposed, even if she knew it wasn’t what Ruth was used to. “Isn’t it a bit late in the year to plant bulbs?”

  “Then I have no idea what he’s doing.” Carrie sighed. “Except possibly avoiding me. Which, actually, is the most likely option.”

  “Why on earth would he be avoiding you?” Ruth lay back against the white cotton, her shining blond hair spread out across the covers, looking every inch the model. “From what I saw last time I was here, he was making it his mission to get as close to you as possible.”

  Carrie looked up at the ceiling, apparently for a moment too long, because Ruth sprang up, leaned on her hands and said, “And it seems that mission is accomplished! Tell all.”

  “It’s not...exactly like that,” Carrie said. As someone who’d been in one seemingly serious, stable and ridiculously soppy relationship after another for her entire adult life, Ruth was a fiend for other people’s sex stories.

  “Okay, well, let’s start with the basics. Who seduced who?” Ruth patted the bed beside her, and Carrie conceded defeat and flopped onto it. There was no way she was going to get out of telling her everything anyway.

  “I invited him up to the bridal suite to bounce on the bed,” she said, shutting her eyes. What the hell had she been thinking? “I think I was drunk.”

  When she opened them again, after a long moment’s silence, Ruth was leaning over her, face stern. “Tell me you didn’t have sex with the gardener in my bed.”

  “You know it isn’t actually your bed, right?” Ruth didn’t answer so, with a roll of her eyes, Carrie went on. “I did not have sex with that man in that bed.”

  “I’m planning on making Cyb an offer for it.” Ruth gave her a curious look. “Really? Did you have sex with someone else there?”

  Carrie laughed. “I think Cyb might have her own plans for it. And, no. I had sex with Nate in my own bed.”

  “In the attic?” Ruth wrinkled her nose. “You should have used my bed.”

  “Except your parents were the last people to sleep on those sheets,” Carrie answered honestly, and Ruth laughed.

  “Fair enough.” She laid down beside Carrie. “I hope you changed the sheets for the Mayor.”

  “Of course.” Carrie gave her a soft shove to the shoulder. “What sort of inn do you think we’re running here?”

  “A wonderful one,” Ruth answered, and when Carrie glanced over, she could see the truth in her friend’s eyes. “One I hope to come back to, year after year, for our anniversary.”

  Carrie looked away. “Well, I couldn’t have got this far without your wedding deposit.”

  “And I’d have eloped by now if you weren’t in charge of it. So we all win.” Ruth shifted onto her side. “Enough of the mushy stuff. I want to know what happened next. You got Nate just where you wanted him,
in your bed, and then...”

  In all the wedding discussions, it occurred to Carrie that somehow she’d not had a chance to update Ruth on the latest installment of People Who Are Trying to Make My Life a Living Hell. “Then, the next morning, Anna Yardley arrived and proceeded to tell me everything I’d done was crap and tried to worm her way out of the partnership so she could get me back in the Manchester office.”

  Ruth snorted. “So, basically a rerun of every wedding you ever arranged for Wedding Wishes. What did you do?”

  “I... Well, actually, I quit my job.”

  “Seriously?”

  Carrie nodded. “And then I drank a lot of whiskey with Nate, told him that I could only be his boss, and got back to work making your wedding fabulous so that I can pay back the money Anna invested.” Carrie was sort of hoping Ruth would miss the bit about Nate in the middle.

  No such luck. “Only be his boss? Hang on, what went wrong up in the attic?”

  “Nothing at all,” Carrie said with feeling.

  “Then...did you just lose your mind or something? You do remember this guy, right? Gorgeous, keeps doing wonderful things for you, apparently incredible in bed and utterly besotted.”

  “Before he disappeared to London to visit his ex-girlfriend,” Carrie broke in, and Ruth winced.

  “After you told him you couldn’t sleep with him anymore? And let me guess. You’d been ignoring him ever since.” Ruth shook her head. “I don’t think I want to hear the rest.”

  “Actually,” Carrie said, surprised to hear the words coming from her own mouth, “I think it was a business thing.”

  Ruth looked skeptical. “What sort of business?”

  “That’s what I need to go and find out. Can I leave you to settle in here for half an hour?” Carrie pushed herself up to a sitting position.

  With a grin, Ruth flopped fully onto her back and stretched out across the bed. “In the name of true love? Anything. But we’re talking about the quitting thing later, you know.”

  “It’s not true...” Carrie started, but gave up when she saw the smirk on Ruth’s face. “Oh, whatever.”

  It’s not love, she told herself as she made her way down the stairs. It’s...infatuation. Lust, certainly. And friendship, perhaps. Trust. Being able to rely on someone.

  Carrie sighed and ignored the voice in her head sounding a lot like Ruth that pointed out what she’d just described sounded a lot more like love than she’d had with any of her previous boyfriends. And they’d only known each other a few months.

  Enough of that. She’d go talk to Nate about his ex-girlfriend’s business thing, before coming back and run through the plan for the wedding with Ruth. A shower and a change of clothes and maybe she’d even find time to put on makeup before the party. That was the plan, and nothing was going to disrupt it.

  “Um, Carrie?” Izzie called up. “There’s somebody here to see you...”

  But Carrie could already see the man standing in the window. And by the time he turned around, she already knew that nothing would go to plan for the rest of the day.

  “Hello, sweetheart,” he said, with a worried looking smile.

  Carrie sighed. “Hello, Dad.”

  * * * *

  Nate should be up at the inn with everyone else, getting things ready for the party. At the very least, he should be at his summerhouse, checking he had a clean shirt for the re-opening. But instead he was up to his elbows in moss and mud, planting snowdrop plants because he’d left it too late for bulbs and he’d heard Carrie mention to Cyb last week that when she was young they always used to grow on the edges of the woods. So he’d spent a fortune buying the plants from the garden center, rather than wait and plant bulbs for next year.

  This was getting ridiculous.

  Regardless, Nate shoved in another plant. Carrie would have her snowdrops, whether she wanted them, or him, or not.

  He was actually surprised she hadn’t come to find him yet. He shouldn’t be, really, after the endless weeks of him being invisible. But he’d realized after their conversation the night before that he’d never managed to tell her what the business proposition he’d been discussing with Melody actually was. And Carrie wasn’t the sort of person who was good with suspense. He’d half expected her to show up at his summerhouse in the middle of the night, demanding to know what was going on.

  He’d been a little disappointed that hadn’t happened, actually.

  Still, it was hours later, and still no sign of her. He wondered what that said about how mad she was about his trip.

  As he started to dig the hole for the next plant, his back pocket started vibrating, followed by the irritating ringtone Izzie had swapped his out for last time they were in the pub and he’d never quite gotten around to switching back. Brushing his hands off on his jeans, he tugged out the phone and glanced at the screen. “Talk of the devil,” he muttered, pressing the button to answer.

  “Nate?” Melody’s voice was sharp and quick, and he could hear the traffic behind her.

  “Melody. Any news for me?” Nate sat back on his heels. Maybe he’d be able to present the plan to Carrie as a fait accompli. That would be nice. Maybe at the party that night.

  “Some.” The line crackled, and she said, “Hang on, let me just....” There was a pause, presumably while Mel found somewhere quieter to take the call. Nate rolled his eyes, even if she couldn’t see him. Why she couldn’t just find a quiet place to make the call in the first place, he’d never been able to figure out.

  “Okay, sorry, I know, you’re rolling your eyes at me.” Mel’s words rushed out on top of each other, but at least they were clearer now she was away from the traffic. “So, I’ve spoken with some people here, and there is interest in our idea. We’ll need to speak with the owner, of course, and we’d need to work up some detailed episode plans to submit.” There was a slight pause. “I could come up to the inn and we could work on that together, if you’d like.”

  With the clearer line, Nate could hear the tentative note in her voice, not something he often associated with Melody. She was putting something on the line here. Her heart, he wondered, or just her pride? Either way, his answer was the same. “Why don’t I draft up some ideas, and I’ll email them down to you,” he said, hoping that it was a gentle enough brush-off that she wouldn’t be offended, but clear enough that she wouldn’t offer again. Getting involved with Melody for a second time would be sheer idiocy, and Nate knew it. Even if it was tempting sometimes.

  She knew him, and liked him anyway. At least, she had when he was famous. And she was probably going to be his boss again. Apparently that never ended well.

  Besides, all he could really think about at the moment was Carrie. And Melody hated being anyone’s second thought in the morning.

  “We’ll talk about it later,” was all Mel said.

  “And I’ll talk to Carrie,” he said, already trying to formulate the best approach.

  “Yes, the boss.” Mel gave a humourless laugh. “You always did have a thing for women in authority, didn’t you, Nate?”

  She rang off before he had a chance to argue, and it left him wondering if she was right. Not about the power thing, necessarily, but was he just setting himself up for the same mistakes he’d made with Mel? Was Carrie right after all?

  He looked around him at the newly planted snowdrops, white and bright against the dead winter ground. It didn’t matter if Carrie was right, it seemed. He was too far gone anyway.

  And with that discovery, he set off to find a clean shirt for the party and then Stan, in that order. He had something to add to the party agenda.

  Chapter 10

  “What are you doing here, Dad?” Carrie poured them both one of Jacob’s extra-strong coffees.

  “You look like you need it,” the chef had whispered as he handed over the tray, and Carrie had felt an overwhelming wave of gratitude for this entire hotel of people who noticed when she needed something.

  Her father took his cup and rested it
on his knee, still leaning forward, his face anxious. “I spoke with your boss the other day...”

  Carrie rolled her eyes, and said, “Ex-boss,” but Peter Archer pressed on.

  “She’s very worried about you, sweetheart.”

  “She’s really not, Dad.” Carrie grabbed a ginger biscuit from the tray. He wasn’t the only one to have calls. Anna had phoned and emailed at least twice a day since Carrie had quit, checking up on all the tiny details for Ruth’s wedding, which fell under Carrie’s domain. As if when she’d stopped being a Wedding Wishes employee, Carrie had lost all ability to do her job.

  “She said she’d been out to visit the inn.” He paused, apparently waiting for confirmation, so Carrie nodded. “She said there were some problems.”

  Carrie swallowed her mouthful of biscuit. “We’re just getting set up, Dad. These things take time.”

  “She said you quit your job. Gave up her offer of financial support.” His face grew sterner. “Actually, she said you were very rude about it. That you said you never wanted to see her again.”

  Nice to know Anna could still twist a good story, Carrie thought. Still... “It wasn’t a very good offer. She wanted total control of the Avalon and me back in Manchester.”

  “Carrie.” Peter’s voice was hard now, and utterly unsympathetic. “You need her money. I told you when you took this on you’d need a backer. You chose Anna. You need to stick to it.”

  “She broke the deal first. She planned to ruin my inn.”

  Her dad sighed. “I’m more concerned about your business right now, anyway.” Peter put down his coffee cup and rested one ankle on his knee. “Why don’t you let me take a look at the books? I know Mum can’t have left a lot of money behind, and Anna says there’s a lot needs doing to the inn to make it marketable.”

  “I already have an accountant, Dad.” Carrie tried not to let her irritation levels rise, with limited success.

  “And I can’t understand why. You must know I’d give you a better deal, and I’m better placed to give you advice and help if I know the state of your finances.” This had been a big bone of contention since Carrie had announced she was taking over the inn. She’d hoped her father might have been getting over it. Apparently not.