The Hotel at Honeymoon Station : A totally heartwarming romance about new beginnings

by Tilly Tennant

  ‘We don’t mind either way,’ Blake put in. ‘Though, of course, it keeps the costs down for you if you pitch in.’

  ‘That’s the plan,’ Tia said.

  Aidan turned to the station building and folded his arms, a thoughtful look on his face. ‘It’s not my property but even I’m excited to see it brought back to life. I’ve always thought it was a shame to see it neglected and falling down.’

  ‘I can’t see what Sid and his cronies were moaning about,’ Blake agreed.

  ‘I thought that,’ Tia said. ‘But I didn’t like to say it. Surely anyone would want to save a beautiful old building like this.’

  ‘I think it’s us and what we plan to do with it rather than the building that’s the issue,’ Emma said. Blake and Aidan stayed silent, but Emma could tell by their faces that she’d hit the nail on the head.

  Aidan shrugged. ‘Some people adjust to change quicker than others.’

  ‘And some people don’t like it at all,’ Emma replied.

  He smiled warmly at her. ‘I like change. Some I like very much.’

  Emma flushed. She could feel the heat travel from her feet to the roots of her hair and was instantly irritated by the fact that she couldn’t control it. Was he talking about her arrival? With Tia already panting over one half of the building team, this absolutely could not happen. What even was this? He’d smiled at her and now she was all giddy? Had she learned nothing from her time with Dougie? Charming men couldn’t be trusted, no matter how they tried to sell it.

  She tore her gaze away and very deliberately cleared her throat. ‘Right! Shall we get started?’

  Chapter Fourteen

  It hadn’t taken Tia long to swing into action. They’d shown Blake and Aidan around, who had then agreed they’d start work the following day after they’d tied up a few loose ends on existing jobs. Tia and Emma had gone on to do a little more clearing on site, according to their advice, packing up at around six.

  Emma was exhausted again. So far she was finding the days long and stressful, but Tia assured her she’d get used to the physical work, and that the stress would get easier to shrug off. Emma couldn’t deny it was a shock to the system for someone who had spent her working life desk-bound, and with very few real decisions to make where the running of the office was concerned. It had been a case of Margot telling her what to do (everything) and Emma doing it.

  She’d expected them to settle in for a quiet supper and then off to bed for another early start, but Tia showered and announced she was going out.

  ‘Out?’ Emma repeated. ‘Where?’

  ‘If we’re going to make our home here we ought to get to know the residents,’ Tia said, pulling on a black dress. ‘So I’m going to the pub to do a bit of mingling with our new neighbours.’

  ‘Do you think I should come then?’

  ‘Um… you’re tired – you said so. Stay in; I’ve got it.’

  ‘But I ought to—’

  ‘It’s fine, honestly, Em. Have a long bath and enjoy having the cottage to yourself.’

  Emma frowned slightly, cogs whirring in her sluggish brain.

  ‘Are you going out with Blake?’ she asked.

  ‘Well,’ Tia began, and to her credit she looked a little sheepish, ‘he did say he’d be in there about eight.’

  ‘Without his brother?’

  ‘Um… I think so,’ she replied evasively.

  ‘So this mingling is more like a date?’

  ‘Maybe a little bit… sort of, yes.’ Tia turned from the dresser mirror to face Emma, who was standing in the doorway to her bedroom. ‘It’s just a bit of fun – what harm is it doing anyone?’

  Emma sighed. ‘Please just be careful. Don’t jeopardise this; we’ve already come too far and stand to lose too much.’

  ‘What do you think is going to happen?’

  ‘I don’t know. I just…’

  Tia didn’t wait to hear the rest, which was just as well, because even Emma didn’t know what the rest ought to be. All she had was a vague, unnamed misgiving that Tia wasn’t taking their venture quite as seriously as she was and that some disaster waited to trip them up. She’d thought it before but felt it more forcefully this time – they had to focus. If they were going to make this work, nothing could distract them from their purpose, and distractions didn’t come much bigger than men like Blake, especially when he and Tia would have to work together after the romance had ended.

  ‘I’d better go or I’ll be late,’ Tia said, hurrying out of the room past Emma.

  ‘It’s seven forty-five and the pub’s, like, two doors away – what’s the rush?’ Emma called after her.

  The only reply was the sound of the front door opening and then shutting again.

  Had Tia not made it so obvious that her company wasn’t required at the pub, Emma might have been tempted to follow her there – if only to see for herself what it was like. Yes, she was tired, and yes, she might have appreciated the peace, but she’d also been looking forward to Tia’s company. They had a lot to talk about and it was useful to take stock at the end of the day, not to mention that Emma enjoyed being with Tia, even if she was sometimes a little exhausting.

  So what did you do on a weeknight in a tiny village where the only public entertainment venue was off limits, you didn’t have a date and you didn’t have any friends there yet?

  She phoned her dad for a chat, but that lasted all of five minutes because a programme he wanted to watch was starting and apparently getting it later on catch-up would be far too inconvenient. Patricia and Dominic were out with friends and couldn’t really talk, and Elise was in a minibus on her way to the Blue Lagoon to do some geothermal bathing and possibly quite a lot of geothermal drinking too, so she couldn’t really talk either, though she promised to call her back the following evening to tell her all about it. So Emma made a quick meal out of a bowl of pasta and simple sauce, slurped it down and headed out for a walk.

  Though it had been only a few days, Honeymoon was becoming completely familiar to her. Yesterday, when she’d gone to the café to buy their supper, she’d felt like a traveller passing through, but today she felt as if she might be starting to settle. The grey stones of the houses, the little roundabout at the end of the high street with the pink and peach flowers, and the standing stone that told everyone the way to London were becoming old friends now. That old oak tree in its own circle of land, gathering the village into its shadow, was a real sight to behold now that she looked at it properly, and though she didn’t know much about these things, she thought it must be hundreds of years old. Perhaps that was why it had a fence to protect it.

  There was a church – more of a chapel really – with a rose-adorned wooden gate, moss cushioning the base of the old walls, yew trees shading the centuries-old gravestones and a memorial to remember Honeymoon’s sacrifices to two world wars. Emma pushed open the gate and had a wander around the graves in the evening sun, stopping at the very worn ones to try and make out the dates. But that didn’t take long.

  From there she could see the pub, the Randy Shepherd – out of bounds, of course – and at the other end of the street was Nell’s all-sorts shop, which occupied a tiny old worker’s cottage. She’d pulled in the coloured awnings for the night and, while it looked small enough during the day, shuttered up it looked miniscule. Emma wondered how all that stock she knew to be in there managed to fit in at all.

  A few steps further on was the little cul-de-sac that was home to Honeymoon Café. Road traffic on the high street was rare, and it was even rarer that any of it stopped in the village. Emma supposed that if she and Tia were successful that would change, and she could see why that prospect might scare some of the older residents like Sid.

  Honeymoon Café had closed for the day. Emma looked up at the locked door and wondered whether to knock to say hello to Darcie and Tariq and maybe chat for a while – after all, it felt as if they had a lot in common, and if anyone understood how it felt to be a newcomer here it was the
m. But she quickly decided against it. They’d probably be busy cleaning down and getting ready for the next day’s trade, or else grabbing a few precious moments together, and they wouldn’t want Emma hanging around them like a friendless teenager.

  It was as she was walking away that the air was filled with manly laughter. She turned to see the door had opened and Tariq was on the step, seeing Aidan out.

  ‘Mate, I don’t know where you get these jokes from but you need to stop,’ Tariq said. ‘They’re awful.’

  ‘Yeah, but you’re still laughing.’

  ‘If I didn’t I’d cry at the tragedy of them.’

  Aidan chuckled. ‘Bit harsh, mate.’

  ‘See you tomorrow,’ Tariq said. It was then he saw Emma.

  ‘Hey… how’s it going?’

  ‘Good thanks.’ Emma smiled. ‘All good with you and Darcie? Oh, the quiche was amazing, by the way.’

  ‘Ah, good. We’ll be sure to tell her cousin you liked it. We thought we might see you at the café today but Aidan tells me you’ve been busy at the station.’

  ‘Best labourer I’ve ever seen,’ Aidan said warmly. ‘Not a word of complaint, will tackle anything.’

  ‘You were only there for ten minutes,’ Emma said with a light laugh. ‘Wait until you’re there all day tomorrow; I’ll be moaning my head off.’

  Aidan and Tariq both grinned. For a moment she wondered if Tariq might invite her in or perhaps call Darcie to the door, and she was really rather hoping he would, but he did neither.

  ‘Maybe we’ll see you for breakfast tomorrow?’ he asked her.

  ‘Probably not breakfast but we’ll be sure to pop in for some takeaways in the afternoon.’

  ‘Great.’ He looked at Aidan. ‘See you later, mate… and thanks for sorting out that tap.’

  Aidan nodded and, with a last acknowledgement of Emma, Tariq went inside and locked the café door.

  ‘I’ll see you tomorrow,’ Emma said, turning to go, but Aidan called her back.

  ‘The pub’s that way…’ He pointed in the direction she’d just come from.

  ‘I know. I’m not going to the pub.’

  ‘Oh. Where are you going? If it’s not too rude a question, that is. I only ask because if you’re looking for a nightclub you’re going to be disappointed. It’s pub or church, and that’s about it.’

  ‘God, no!’ Emma laughed. ‘I’m too boring for nightclubs – always have been.’

  ‘Me too,’ he said with a smile. ‘Blake loves them – always trying to get me to drive out to one with him. They’re alright once in a while, but once you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all.’

  ‘So you’re the quiet brother?’

  ‘Someone’s got to be the quiet brother, right?’

  ‘I know what you mean. I’m not just the quiet sister, I’m the boring sister too.’

  ‘You don’t seem boring to me.’

  ‘You’d think so if you met my sister. I’m wandering here like a lost puppy, and she’s currently partying at the Blue Lagoon in Iceland.’

  ‘Wow.’

  ‘See what I mean?’

  ‘Well now you put it that way…’

  ‘Hey! You’re not supposed to agree with me!’

  He laughed. He had a nice laugh; it was kind and strong and confident.

  ‘We don’t have a blue lagoon here,’ he said. ‘But we do have Mary’s Stream. I could take you to see it. If you aren’t too busy?’

  ‘Like now?’

  ‘You’re here, I’m here… I’ve got nowhere to be… I mean, if you’d rather not… But it might be nice to see a bit of the area – after all, you’ll have to know it if you’re going to be selling it to tourists.’

  ‘True.’ Emma smiled. ‘And I guess it’s quite obvious that I’m not doing much else right now.’

  ‘I wouldn’t say that – you look like a woman on a mission, but I know all the missions round here close at eleven.’

  She giggled. ‘OK. You got me. Mary’s Stream… why not? Like you say, might as well get to know the area.’

  ‘I was hoping you’d say that.’

  It was roughly a fifteen-minute walk from the centre of the village. Along the way they’d seen clouds of starlings swooping and diving across the sky while rooks flapped noisily over a distant field as they gathered for the evening. Aidan had pointed out places of interest as they’d walked and named them for her: Two Acre Lane that led to a dairy farm, Halfpenny Track that led nowhere in particular and wasn’t worth bothering with, Strumpet’s Lane – Aidan told her she could probably guess what used to happen there – and so many other names and places that there was no way Emma was going to remember them.

  The sun was low now, slanting through the trees as they headed through a small copse, burnishing the foliage gold. The stream was hidden by thick vegetation but Aidan knew the path well and didn’t hesitate for a moment as he led her to it. They chatted easily as they walked, about Honeymoon Station and the work that needed to be done, but, when they reached the crystal water racing over mossy stones and lush fronds of aquatic plants, the conversation changed into something that felt more personal. At least, it felt to Emma that, as he talked, he revealed more and more of his soul, and it was hard to deny that she liked what she was hearing. He talked of his childhood in Honeymoon, of his brother and how close they were, of his parents who ran an import and export business from their house on the outskirts of the village, of two grandfathers he admired greatly and grandmothers who had spoilt him rotten, of his hopes for the business he shared with Blake.

  There was no mention of a romantic partner, which led Emma to believe there wasn’t one.

  ‘It’s pretty,’ she said as they stood at the water’s edge where it churned momentarily, frothing in a little whirlpool before continuing down a gentle incline and away out of sight, hidden by long grass.

  ‘Not very impressive I know,’ Aidan said, ‘but clean. We used to drink it all the time when we played here as kids.’

  ‘Really?’ Emma couldn’t hide her scepticism and he laughed.

  ‘Honestly, it’s fine; you can drink it. Have some…’

  He bent down and cupped his hands, bringing some to his mouth to take a slurp.

  ‘I’ll take your word for it,’ she said.

  He looked up. ‘I’ll bet you’ve never drunk from a stream.’

  ‘If you’d grown up where I grew up you wouldn’t either. They don’t taste so good when there’s a shopping trolley in them. Why is it called Mary’s Stream?’

  ‘Oh, it’s an old name,’ he said, getting up and wiping his hands down his trousers. ‘Nobody’s really sure if the stories are true or not.’

  ‘Stories?’

  He nodded. ‘This stream, many years ago, marked the boundary between two estates.’

  ‘Estates? Like manors?’

  ‘That’s it, like landowners’ land. Apparently these two lords were big rivals, didn’t get on at all, so they stayed off each other’s land and didn’t mix and nobody who lived on their land was allowed to mix either. But the guy on this side’ – he hopped to the left of the water – ‘had a daughter, Mary. She was supposed to marry someone her dad had fixed up for her, some boring old toff from another county who was probably twice her age and had already got through ten wives. But the day before the wedding she met a boy walking on this side…’ He hopped back across to the right side of the stream. ‘Turns out he was a servant to her dad’s mortal enemy. She fell in love with him instantly because he was really hot…’

  Emma giggled and he grinned before he carried on.

  ‘And so did he, because not only was she hot but she was also loaded. She went straight home to tell her dad she didn’t want to marry the boring old toff. As you can imagine, he lost it, and when he found out the reason she didn’t want to marry this guy was because she’d fallen for a servant at the neighbouring estate he marched straight up there to have it out with the master. The servant was fired on the spot and banished from the land. Ma
ry was told she’d have to marry the old toff whether she liked it or not. She didn’t like it one bit, and in the dead of night she came and stood in the stream, delirious with grief, waiting for her lost love to come to her.’

  At this point Emma took a breath, realising only then she’d actually been holding it. ‘What happened?’

  ‘She stayed here all night but he didn’t come. In the morning they found her here, frozen to death.’

  Emma stared at him. ‘That’s awful! I thought there might have been a happier ending than that! Now I definitely don’t want to drink the water!’

  ‘It’s only a story,’ Aidan said. ‘I quite like it.’

  ‘Do you?’

  ‘It’s got a kind of romance to it, don’t you think?’

  ‘You’ve got a funny idea of romance.’

  He laughed. ‘It’s probably why I’m still single. So this guy you left at home…’

  Emma blinked at the sudden conversational swerve. ‘How do you know I left a guy?’

  ‘You must have mentioned something…’

  ‘Did I? Are you sure?’ Emma tried to recall if she’d mentioned Dougie. It didn’t seem likely, but if she had that was bad news – it meant he was on her mind and his name came out of her mouth more than she’d like.’

  ‘I think so. Or perhaps I imagined it. Either way it’s obvious there’s a guy in your life because there’s no way a woman like you would be single.’

  Emma tried not to blush – or to read too much into his statement.

  ‘I didn’t just leave him at home like I’m one day going to fetch him. It’s over. I left him left him.’

  ‘Ah, right. I was just asking because…’ He shrugged.

  She began to walk the line of the stream. ‘My energy and attention are totally reserved for the hotel until it’s up and running. Tia might find it easy to split her time, but I don’t.’

  ‘Yeah. I get that. Want to go and see a really tragic cliff?’

  ‘Oh God, did the servant throw himself off it when they found Mary frozen?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Good. So what’s tragic about it?’