‘I don’t honestly know,’ she said. ‘We’re going to fight bloody hard to be OK, though. We’ve come this far…’
‘I understand,’ Darcie said. ‘My cousin, Millie, had similar problems when she was renovating The Old Bakery. If it hadn’t been for the villagers there and her husband Dylan – who wasn’t even her husband back then – she’d have lost it for sure, but they pulled together and helped her get it over the line.’
‘That must have been lovely,’ Emma said.
While she could have done with a bit of fairy-godmother intervention, Emma wasn’t sure she’d be able to cope with the sense of obligation that sort of help would bring. The idea of forever being in the debt of the entire village didn’t appeal to her at all. Aidan kept telling her she could ask for help, and she was getting better at that, but nobody could expect miracles.
Darcie put her bucket down on the pavement for a moment, rolling clouds of steam rising from the hot water into the crisp air. ‘Why don’t I ask Dylan to come and help you?’ she said. ‘He’ll help anyone in a jam – he’s like that – and he has some knowledge of building as he worked on Millie’s bakery.’
‘Really, it’s very kind but I’m sure he has enough on his plate running the bakery with your cousin. I couldn’t possibly expect him to come and work on a hotel for a complete stranger.’
‘He’d do it, though. Millie always says it’s paying it forward. In her hour of need she got help, so it’s only fair she repays her debt to the universe by helping someone else… I mean, that’s what Millie says…’ Darcie blushed. ‘She’s sort of witchy like that.’
‘It’s a lovely offer but, honestly, Darcie, we’ll muddle through. Thank you.’
‘Well…’ Darcie looked unconvinced. ‘If you change your mind you’ll be sure to come and say so, won’t you? I could phone Millie anyway, just to see if Dylan is busy in case you decide—’
‘If it makes you happy. But please don’t ask him to come just yet until we’ve exhausted all other avenues.’
Darcie nodded. ‘OK. I hope you get it sorted one way or another.’
‘So do I,’ Emma said, and she hoped the universe had decided that she deserved a favour that might come from a little closer to home.
There had been a thick frost overnight and even now at midday it clung to cobwebs in the trees and iced the new slates of the roof of Honeymoon Station. The ground was hard and glittering, and in the shaded corners dew still clung to the grass in icy shells.
Aidan was teaching Emma how to plaster a wall. His hand pressed over hers, they moved the trowel across the surface together. Having him this close was so natural and comfortable now that she barely thought about it. They were together so often these days, either on the site, at the pub with the new friends that Emma had made there, in the café chatting to Darcie and Tariq, or wandering the shaded lanes and sweeping fields of Honeymoon and beyond, with a story for every sight or sometimes just a moment of silent admiration. Emma had ceased to find that remarkable too. They were like a pair of old slippers, Tia had joked, perfectly matched in boring, safe old shabbiness. Emma had been mildly offended by the quip but, when she really thought about it, she could hardly argue that it wasn’t true.
‘There,’ Aidan said, leaning back to look at her with a broad smile. ‘Looks pretty good.’
‘That’s because you did it,’ Emma said, inspecting the new section of wall.
‘No, you did it.’
‘My hand was on the thingy but it was your hand telling it where to go.’
‘Well you try the next bit without me.’
‘Right… but don’t blame me when it’s a total mess.’
He chuckled softly as she scooped a blob of plaster onto her trowel as he’d shown her and slapped it on the wall. It simply fell with a wet plop, onto the floor.
‘So that went as well as could be expected,’ she said dryly.
‘Here,’ he said, loading up with some more. He applied it and gave her the trowel back. ‘Now you can smooth it.’
As she worked, she could sense him watching.
‘It’s shit, isn’t it? You’re thinking it’s shit but you daren’t say. It’s alright, I can take it.’
‘Hmm, well I think there’s room for improvement.’
Emma turned and flicked some plaster from the end of her trowel. It landed on his T-shirt.
‘Oi!’ he yelled. She giggled as he dunked his hand into a tub of water they were using for finishing and flicked her back.
‘That’s freezing, you pig!’ she squealed.
They were both laughing so hard Emma thought she might stop breathing, until at last it died away and they simply faced one another, grinning like loons.
‘Who knew we’d end up such good mates?’ he said.
‘And we almost had those other builders,’ Emma replied.
‘They wouldn’t have been half as much fun as me and Blake.’
‘Or as good-looking,’ Emma said, ‘which does help if I have to spend so much time looking at you every day… well, Blake is anyway.’
‘Oh funny. I thought you said the other day you were sick of the sight of my bum sticking in the air? So if that’s the case it doesn’t matter what’s going on at the face end.’
‘That’s true, but these days I can hardly tell which end is which anyway.’
‘Oh! If I said something that cruel and heartless to you—’
‘Can’t,’ Emma fired back. ‘Because I’m the boss and I’d sack you.’
‘You can’t sack me – I’m my own boss; I decide if I want to work for you or not, so be nice or else.’
She grinned. ‘You just keep believing that and I’ll let you. Let’s have another go at this plaster or we’ll never finish this wall.’
Aidan loaded up the trowel and handed it to her.
‘Corfe Castle,’ he said into the pause.
‘Huh?’
‘Corfe Castle. I just thought… it’s somewhere we haven’t been yet.’
‘Is it far?’
‘Well maybe a little way out, but we could grab a couple of hours at the weekend…’
Emma frowned. He saw the change in her expression and his face fell.
‘Aid… hasn’t Blake told you about our finances?’
‘Yes, he did mention something about it. Are you planning to lay us off? Is that what you’re going to say?’
‘We don’t want to do that at all. I’m trying to figure out what we can do but I think the weekend jollies might have to go on hold for a bit… sorry.’
‘It’s alright – there’ll be other times.’
‘We need to be doing as much as we can here to get finished as quickly as possible now. We’re so far over schedule – and we don’t blame you at all for that – time is literally money to us right now. We have to work weekends. We’re not expecting you and Blake to, of course. You do understand, don’t you?’
‘Of course. I’ll come over at the weekend to help out then.’
‘We can’t pay you for extra hours.’
‘I know,’ Aidan said, giving the plaster in the bucket a stir.
‘So why would you?’
He shrugged. ‘To help a friend.’
He looked up from the bucket. There was a strange charged moment when nothing would come into her head to say. All she could do was lose herself in those eyes of his…
‘Knock knock!’
They both turned with guilty expressions to see Nell at the door of the station house.
‘What brings you here?’ Emma asked, trying to calm her inexplicably racing pulse. ‘Who’s minding the shop?’
‘Oh, the shop isn’t going anywhere,’ Nell said. ‘Boring day, not much going on… I thought I’d come down here and see how you’re getting on. It’s looking lovely, isn’t it?’
‘I think so,’ Aidan said.
Tia appeared at the door behind Nell, looking puzzled. ‘Blake just said you wanted to talk to me, Nell.’
‘Both of you,’ Nell s
aid, eyeing Emma and Tia in turn.
Aidan angled his head at the door. ‘Should I…?’
‘Just for a minute if you don’t mind,’ Nell said. ‘I hope not to keep the girls for long.’
Aidan left and Nell turned to them.
‘Don’t be cross when I tell you this, but you must have realised by now that news travels around here like wildfire.’
‘Sort of,’ Emma said.
‘So a little bird – I won’t say which little bird because you could take your pick from dozens – tells me you’re in a bit of a pinch with money.’
Emma and Tia exchanged a questioning glance before they both turned back to Nell.
‘I’d like to help,’ Nell said.
‘But, Nell,’ Tia began.
Nell held up a hand to stop her. ‘Let me tell you my plan before you say I can’t.’
‘OK,’ Emma said with a faint smile. ‘What’s your plan?’ They’d hear her out, politely decline, and then they could all get on with their day.
‘I’d like to buy a share in the hotel.’
Emma stared at her. There were many things she’d expected to hear from Nell, but that wasn’t one of them. Tia looked as shellshocked by the offer as Emma.
‘But why would you do that?’ she asked.
‘Would it help you?’ Nell asked.
‘We can’t deny the money would,’ Tia said. ‘What would you want in return?’
‘Nothing. Nothing more than a stake in the hotel anyway. And I wouldn’t want to tell you how to run it… What’s the phrase…? Oh, I know… I’d be a silent partner.’
‘But why do you want that?’ Emma asked, wondering if she was following the conversation correctly. Was Nell asking to buy part of the hotel? The one they hadn’t even finished building and might yet end up bankrupting them?
‘I think it would be nice,’ Nell said. ‘I’ve got some money saved for a rainy day… well, no day ever seems rainy enough for me to get it out so I’ve got quite a lot now. I thought you girls could use it and you’d never let anyone gift it to you – quite right too – but I can buy myself something far more useful and lasting than a pair of new boots or a holiday in Spain. Not that I ever get time for a holiday in Spain, because who would mind the shop…?’
‘Well,’ Tia said, sounding as dazed as Emma, ‘how much would you want to buy?’
Nell thought for a moment. ‘Depends how much you need me to buy.’
‘This is all a bit unexpected,’ Emma said.
‘Of course,’ Nell said. ‘I’m in no rush.’
‘Would you want to see plans… projections?’ Tia asked. ‘I feel you ought to see something up front before you decide if you really want to make an offer like this.’
‘Perhaps you ought to talk to each other first to see if you’re both happy with another person being involved,’ Nell said. ‘But if you decide the answer is yes then we can talk about how much.’ Her gaze swept the space. ‘I can still remember sitting on my grandfather’s lap in this room. He had his uniform on… It always smelt of mothballs… and I was eating mints from the tin he always had in his pocket while he showed me how he waved his flags and explained what it meant when he blew the whistle. I remember how proud he was when the trains pulled in, smart and shiny. He loved his job and he loved this place more than anything. Broke his heart when it was closed down. He’d have been so happy to see you two bringing it back to life. If I can be a tiny part of that it would make me happier than I can say. I’d sit back and think of him looking down and know that I’d done him proud.’
Emma looked at Tia, whose eyes were swimming just as hers were. There was no need to discuss this, because she knew Tia’s answer would be exactly the same as hers.
‘When you put it like that,’ Tia said, smiling, ‘we can hardly say no.’
Chapter Twenty-Seven
By the time Nell’s offer had been made good and work had begun in earnest to get the project finished, spring was on its way. The signs were everywhere – birds flitting from tree to tree with bits of grass or twigs in their beaks, daffodils and primula poking tiny faces from the hedgerows, and leaf buds on the bare branches of the oak that stood in the centre of Honeymoon. Close to a year since Tia had first seen photos of Honeymoon Station online – a sad, dilapidated wreck, forgotten and abandoned – it was almost ready to open its doors to travellers once more. Only these ones weren’t on their way through to somewhere else – they were coming to marvel at the beauty of the building, to breathe in the nostalgia and enjoy their own little slice of heaven in the Dorset countryside.
Outside, the brickwork had been pointed, the roof made sound, the windows were new, the entrance door stripped, sanded and painted a rich royal blue, the platform canopy decorated with fresh timber finished in a pristine white, the old iron signs restored and re-enamelled, the platform refurbished with new flags and dotted with pots of flowers and a swinging seat. Inside, the old ticket office had become the reception, the rosewood counter they’d managed to salvage now gleaming as if new, and the station café was now the hotel restaurant. The offices where Nell’s grandfather would have seen to his official business had been turned into bedrooms and the waiting room was a bar for hotel residents. Outside where the railway line would have run stood a row of fire-red carriages decked out with soft beds and sofas, showers, televisions and pretty net curtains.
Aidan, Blake, Tia and Emma stood together, surveying the fruits of their labours. They’d each said at least twenty times how incredible it looked, and they were simply delaying the inevitable. But then Aidan dared to say it. He gazed at Tia and Emma.
‘This is where we leave you.’ He extended a hand out to them both to shake. ‘It’s been an absolute honour to work on this. Thank you for asking us.’
‘I won’t know what to do with myself now,’ Blake said. ‘And every other job’s going to seem boring.’
At this point Tia began to weep and Emma felt like she might too. There was utter joy and pride in what they’d achieved here, but it was more than that. A chapter in her life that had brought both happiness and heartache, optimism and uncertainty was closing. It had changed her profoundly as a person, and she was sad it was about to end. As for the hotel, she’d miss working on it now that it was done. No more listening to Blake’s tuneless whistling, no more arguing with Tia about where this or that should go, no more having Aidan laugh at her attempts to master some new skill, and no more of those secret knowing looks they’d share whenever Blake and Tia were flirting and thought nobody had noticed. Emma wasn’t going to see Aidan every day and she no longer had a reason to. As for their trips out, the hotel was going to keep her busy most weekends and evenings now, at least until they started to make enough money to take on more staff.
‘Remember,’ Aidan said, ‘if you get a burst pipe—’
‘Don’t call us,’ Blake interrupted, laughing. ‘We’re not plumbers.’
Emma smiled and Tia sniffed hard.
‘When are your landscapers coming?’ Aidan asked.
Emma’s gaze went to the grounds of the station house. While the building itself was close to completion the garden still had some way to go. It looked almost as wild as when they’d first arrived, only barer where they’d removed undergrowth and rogue shrubs. New grass had started to poke through the mud, nature stating its intent to reclaim it if they let it, and crowds of dandelions, bluebells and daisies had gathered in the shade of the trees. Emma rather liked its wildness, but it wasn’t the sort of look that visitors would want.
‘Tomorrow,’ she said.
Aidan’s hands went into his pockets and he gave a solemn nod. ‘Charli’s good. Her lads will do you a good job.’
‘If you recommended them then I’m sure they will.’
Blake picked up a toolbox from the ground beside him and took it to the van. As he came back, he reached to catch a tear from Tia’s cheek.
‘Take a walk with me, Ti?’ he asked gently. ‘There’s something we need to talk about
.’
Emma had a feeling she knew what they were going to talk about and Tia probably did too. The question of marriage had been put on hold for months now. Tia had told Blake she would consider it again once the hotel was open for business. It wasn’t quite, but that day wasn’t far off, and perhaps Blake considered it close enough. It was obvious to anyone he was still crazy about her and that she felt the same about him. The question of what Tia’s marriage might mean for Emma still troubled her, but she couldn’t very well let that influence Tia’s decision.
‘Looks like everything’s about to change,’ Aidan said quietly as they watched Tia and Blake walk into the woods beyond the grounds.
‘Just what I was thinking.’
‘Will she say yes this time?’
‘I think she’d be mad not to. If I had a bloke who loved me that much and had waited that long I’d never let him go.’
There was no reply. As that fact slowly dawned on her, she turned to look at him. Without another word, he began to walk to the van and then locked the back doors.
‘Aidan?’ she called.
‘Tell Blake I’ll meet him at home!’ he called back as he climbed in and started the engine. Emma watched him go, a deep frown creasing her forehead.
Emma and Tia had left the landscapers with a copy of the plans for the grounds and gone to meet Nell and Sid at Darcie’s café. Nell, who knew Sid better than anyone, had come up with an ingenious proposal to keep him in line and out of mischief, and she was sure he’d accept.
The four of them sat around a table now with cups of tea and a large plate of assorted cakes between them.
‘Well this is all very unexpected,’ Sid huffed, doing his best not to look flattered. He wasn’t fooling anyone. He was clearly incredibly flattered and feeling very important right now.
‘Nobody knows Honeymoon like you do,’ Tia said. ‘If anyone should be the face of the hotel it’s you.’
‘You’d bring a sort of gravitas to the place,’ Emma said.
The Hotel at Honeymoon Station : A totally heartwarming romance about new beginnings Page 26