‘I am sorry to hear that. I hope he doesn’t. The carriage is extremely comfortable but we do understand that it isn’t to everyone’s taste, which is why we make it abundantly clear on the website. It’s a pleasant walk, if he’d prefer, but if you do decide to cancel, the deposit is non-refundable, as I believe I did mention. Perhaps you would be kind enough to get back to me if there is a problem.’
Felicia tutted. ‘I’ll speak to him the moment he’s free and send you an email either way. Goodbye.’
She didn’t wait for a reply, so Evie blew a long, loud raspberry into the phone before thumping it back into its stand. Now she would have to tell her family that they may or may not have six people staying over the holidays – unless she waited for the email from the delightful Felicia before she broke the news. That would be the best course of action. No point in causing a possible row unless it was a confirmed booking.
Well, this was shaping up to be a merry little Christmas, wasn’t it? Especially if Felicia, the harpy with two names, was coming to stay at the inn. She might possibly be worse than Zachary Thorn and his apparently, obscenely rich grandfather who was clearly far too up himself to take a five-minute journey in a carriage.
OK. It was a cart. But it was a very comfortable cart and was far better than walking if it was pouring with rain. And if they did decide to come to stay, it no doubt would be. Evie was almost certain of that.
Chapter Ten
It didn’t really surprise Evie that her dad didn’t mind at all when she told him that they had a confirmed booking for fifteen people in ten rooms and that six of those people would be staying over Christmas. He was actually exceedingly happy about it. But he could find a bright side to everything.
What did surprise her was that she could tell him about it only ten minutes after her conversation with the harpy Felicia. The stuck-up cow must have spoken to Joshua Thorn right away and it seems the man wasn’t averse to taking a five-minute ride in a cart, after all. How Evie would have loved to have heard that conversation.
But there wasn’t time to gloat. Fifteen people were coming to stay in Snowflake Inn from tomorrow until the day after Boxing Day and that meant there were one hundred or more things to do. Rooms to clean, beds to be made, food and drink to be bought, meals to be planned. Oh God. Could they get enough turkeys in time? They always purchased their turkey from Ben Smart, a butcher in Michaelmas Bay who stocked local, free range, organic birds. But you had to order in advance and the birds were in such demand, Ben had probably sold out. She’d have to call him straight away. And she’d have to use her credit card to pay.
The trees still hadn’t arrived – but she had seen Robin’s truck still parked outside Jane’s house, so he would get to the inn with the tress, eventually. Her mum and Gran would have to bake more mince pies. They’d have to hire some help for the kitchens and to wait on the guests.
Oh hell. And someone would have to tell Severine. That should go down like a cannon ball hidden in a Christmas pudding. Perhaps they could wait until Severine actually arrived from New York. But what if she had planned to bring Harvey with her for a ‘typically English family Christmas’? An inn full of paying guests making, no doubt, constant demands on the Starrs’ time and requiring a proper Christmas dinner with all the trimmings, wouldn’t leave the family much time to have their own Christmas celebrations.
Crackers! They’d need to get several boxes of Christmas Crackers. And gifts. All establishments that opened over Christmas gave their guests a little gift on Christmas Day. Good grief. What do you buy one of the richest men in the UK and his famous TV presenter, grandson? Snow globes of Snowflake Cove purchased from Della Bell’s Little Snowflake Gift Shop would not be quite the type of gift they were used to receiving. And would Della even have fifteen snow globes in stock? The gift shop was a room in her semi-detached house, next door to Winnie and Arthur Beadleshaw’s, and was only open in the summer months. Mind you, the weather had been so bad this summer that there hadn’t been many tourists in Snowflake Cove. Perhaps Evie’s luck would be in and the globes wouldn’t have sold out. Or perhaps she could just get six. Did she need to give presents to the guests who would be leaving on Christmas Eve?
Could she really give fifteen people snow globes of Snowflake Cove as a Christmas gift anyway?
Yes. Damn it. She could. She didn’t have time to run around the shops in search of the perfect presents. There were so many far more important things to do. Plus, she had to fit time in amongst this busy schedule to have at least one panic attack, if not two.
The first one was starting right about now.
Where were those damn Christmas trees?
She’d have to get Raven to pop into Jane’s and hurry things along. Raven could also nip into Della’s on the way and buy the snow globes. Then she could go next door to the Beadleshaw’s and break the news to Evie’s mum.
No. Evie should do that herself. Her dad may be enthusiastic about the booking but it was her mum and her gran who would have to do most of the cooking. Unless they employed a temporary chef for the holidays.
They might be able to afford that for a few days. Evie had doubled the cost of the rooms over the Christmas period and the harpy hadn’t so much as queried it. As the inn was usually closed over Christmas, no room rate appeared on the website and rates were always higher over the festive season. Everyone accepted that.
Wasn’t Jane Dorset’s grandson Logan a chef? He had definitely worked a few hours a week in the fried chicken and kebab shop in Michaelmas Bay when he was young. That counted as a chef in Evie’s opinion. He’d changed his career several times over the years, according to Jane’s regular bulletins on her grandson’s progress through life, and the most recent one had involved something about him returning to his first passion – which was cooking. Whether that was professionally or merely a hobby, Evie couldn’t recall, but only the other day, Jane had told them that her daughter-in-law and grandson were coming to spend Christmas with her this year. Jane always spent the festive season at her son’s house in Bristol and even after he died of cancer more than fifteen years ago, she continued that tradition and spent Christmas at her daughter-in-law’s, so this year was special. From what Evie had heard, Logan was considering moving to Michaelmas Bay and was coming to see what his options were.
OK. Change of plan. Evie would go to Jane’s, buy the snow globes on the way and tell her mum on the way back ... once she had organised a chef, got the presents sorted, rescued Robin from being talked to death … and got those bloody Christmas trees.
Raven could … Ooh! Raven could make a start on the bedrooms. And if Evie could persuade Roland to give Raven a hand there wouldn’t even be a sulky face or a caustic comment.
Panic attack over. Things weren’t looking quite so bad. And this booking would go a long way towards solving their financial worries for a while.
Christmas really was a time for miracles and magic and as Evie headed outside she sang, ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’ at the top of her voice.
Chapter Eleven
‘I’ve fixed the tree in the dining room,’ Robin said, walking into the kitchen where Evie and her mum were trying to write a shopping list. ‘You want the other one in the lounge, right?’
‘Actually,’ Evie said, glancing up from the three-page list on her Tablet, ‘Mum and I have been thinking about that. Is there any chance of you bringing us another couple of trees, please Robin? We can afford to pay you, astonishingly, in actual money. Don’t die from shock, will you?’
Robin looked perplexed before returning Evie’s smile. ‘Yeah, sure. But where do you plan to put them? You’ve already got one in reception and another in the bar. With the one I’ve just put in the dining room and the one I’ll put in the lounge, I can’t see where else a tree can go.’
‘The ones in the bar and reception are fake,’ Molly said. ‘They look realistic enough but because we’ll have so many people staying, we want to make every part of the inn look its best, and on
ly a real tree has that Christmassy smell of pine.’
‘So that’s an extra two,’ Evie said. ‘Plus, we think we should have one outside, or possibly two, like we usually do. We were going to give them a miss this year as things were looking bleak, but now. Well. Possibly one big one would do it. We don’t want to spend all this money before we’ve got it, do we?’
Molly nodded. ‘That’s true. We’ll probably need to take out a loan to pay for the turkeys. It’s a good thing Ben had a few extra this year but gosh, they are expensive, even taking into account his ‘loyal customer discount’. And what this little lot will add up to would probably pay for a new roof.’ She cast her eyes over Evie’s list and shook her head. ‘I’m going to make a pot of tea. Would you like a cup, Robin? Evie, go and wake Jessie, please. How she managed to sleep through all this excitement I’ll never know. And it’s almost dark. Tell your father to come down off that roof before he falls down. A broken leg is all we need right now.’
‘I’ll tell him,’ Robin said. ‘I’ll give the tea a miss, thanks. I had enough at Jane’s to sink a battleship. Does one of you want to come with me to select the trees? Or do you trust my judgement? I can get them now and bring them straight back because Mum’s standing in for me this afternoon.’
‘We trust you,’ Molly said.
Evie turned as she headed towards the hall and flight of stairs leading to the family bedrooms. ‘Absolutely. But why don’t you take Raven to give you a hand. I’m sure she’ll love that.’
Robin pulled a face. ‘Only if I tell her that Roland’s coming. I may as well be invisible otherwise.’
So Robin had noticed. Evie wondered if Roland had too. Raven did go all doe-eyed in Roland’s presence, so the boy would have to be blind not to.
‘What’s this?’ Molly asked. ‘Has Raven got a crush on Roland?’
‘Please don’t say anything to her, Mum,’ Evie pleaded. ‘She’s been almost human since he appeared yesterday. We don’t want things to go back to the way they were when she arrived.’
Molly grinned. ‘My lips are sealed. Well, well. Roland and Raven. Who’d have guessed?’
‘Ask her anyway,’ Evie told Robin.
Molly nodded in agreement. ‘And if you tell her that there’s no better way to make a person jealous than to appear to like someone else, she may even be nice to you too.’
‘And reindeers might fly,’ Robin said.
Jessie appeared, making Evie jump. ‘Reindeers do fly,’ Jessie said, gently shoving Evie aside with her arm. ‘If you believe.’
Robin grinned. ‘Oh I believe, Mrs Starr. Especially after a pint in the bar. But some things take more than magic dust to make them happen.’
‘Anything worth doing or having takes effort.’
‘I was just coming to get you Gran,’ Evie said, following Jessie back into the kitchen. ‘We’ve got some exciting news.’
‘Well, don’t wait until I’m on my deathbed to tell me. Spit it out. And Molly, is there any tea in the pot? My throat’s as dry as magic dust.’
‘Just making some,’ Molly said, switching on the kettle.
‘OK Gran. You might want to sit down before I tell you.’ Evie took a seat at the table and waited for Jessie to sit.
‘I’ll go and get those trees,’ Robin said, dashing off. ‘See you later.’
Jessie took longer than usual to lower her frail-looking body into one of the armchairs near the Aga. ‘It’s getting chilly now the sun’s going down. I need to keep these old bones warm. Go on then. I’m sitting.’
‘We’ve had a large booking today and they’re arriving tomorrow.’ Evie watched Jessie’s expression change from one of interest to one of confusion.
‘Already? But this can’t be anything to do with the Thorn boy, can it? He hasn’t even been here yet.’
Evie glanced at her mum for support. ‘Actually, it is. Sort of.’
‘Now we don’t want you to get upset,’ Molly said, placing several Christmas mugs on the table. ‘We know we usually close over Christmas but we need the money. Six people paying what is frankly a King’s ransom just so that they can spend Christmas in this gorgeously festive, cosy inn, is too good an opportunity to pass up.’
‘Christmas?’ Jessie’s white brows met at the bridge of her shapely nose. ‘You mean the actual day?’
‘And Christmas Eve and Boxing Day,’ Evie added. ‘In fact, they’re arriving tomorrow. All fifteen of them.’
‘Fifteen?’ Jessie didn’t sound upset but she did sound surprised. ‘I thought you said six.’
Molly made the tea and carried the large red teapot decorated with white snowflakes to the table. ‘Six for Christmas. The other nine leave on the morning of Christmas Eve.’
‘And they’re paying a lot of money to do so?’ Jessie asked.
‘A lot,’ Evie said. ‘We’ve hired a chef to help in the kitchen. Logan Dorset, Jane’s grandson.’
‘I know who Logan is. I’m not senile. I’ve known Logan since the boy was in nappies. Does he know he’s been hired? Or has Jane agreed to it on his behalf?’
Evie laughed. They all knew that Jane felt it was her place and her God-given right to organise her grandson’s life in any way she felt appropriate. Thankfully, Logan was a good-natured young man and from the tales Jane told, he always seemed to either agree to go along with whatever scheme she had concocted, or talk his way out of it without causing any upset. Evie was looking forward to seeing him again. He was roughly the same age as her and when she’d spoken to him on the phone at Jane’s, he sounded as charming and friendly as he had the last time she’d seen him many years ago. He and his mum hadn’t been to Snowflake Cove since his dad passed away. Prior to that, Logan had spent every summer holiday with his gran, and several Christmas holidays too.
‘I spoke to him myself,’ Evie said. ‘He’s looking forward to it.’
Jessie’s eyes glistened. ‘Is he indeed? Hmmm. He’s the same age as you, isn’t he, Evie?’
‘You know how old he is, Gran. We’re also hoping to get some temporary waiting staff and general housekeeping, but we don’t want to throw money away, so we’ll do as much as we can ourselves. You don’t mind then? About having guests here over Christmas?’
‘Why should I mind? The more the merrier. Especially if they’re paying to be here. Has anyone told Severine?’
Evie and Molly exchanged looks.
‘Not yet,’ Evie replied. ‘We’re considering telling her when she arrives.’
‘I think even Severine will notice that the place is full of people once she’s here. You won’t need to tell her.’
‘That’s precisely what we were thinking,’ Molly said. ‘God knows I love both my daughters, equally, but darling Severine can be very hard work sometimes. High maintenance they call it, I believe.’
‘Selfish little madam, I call it,’ Jessie said. ‘But we love her none the less. That tea won’t pour itself you know, Molly. Do you expect me to get up and do it? I do enough around here as it is. Oh. And whilst we’re on that subject, don’t even think of asking me to do extra chores. I’m not scrubbing toilets for anyone, no matter how much they’re paying.’
Evie laughed at that image and Molly poured the tea, handing Jessie a mug with a cartoon reindeer on the front.
‘Not even for Joshua Thorn?’ Evie said. ‘One of the richest men in the UK, apparently. Oh! But you know that of course because you said you knew Zachary’s grandpa.’
The reindeer – and the mug – flew out of Jessie’s hand and crash landed on the floor.
‘What did you say?’ Her eyes narrowed and her lips shut tight and pressed together.
‘Joshua Thorn. He’s one of the people coming to stay. I don’t know how or why, but I’m fairly certain this booking has something to do with you, Gran.’
‘Joshua Thorn is coming here?’ Jessie hissed. ‘For Christmas? The man himself? Not just his grandson?’
Evie nodded. ‘Yes. Joshua and, by the sounds of it, his entire family.
They’re the party of six staying for the extra days.’
‘Over my dead body.’ Jessie rose surprisingly quickly to her feet. ‘If that man comes here for Christmas, I’m going to stay with Jane Dorset until he’s gone.’ She strode out of the room like a woman half her age.
‘Gran?’ Evie called after her.
‘Leave her,’ Molly said. ‘She’ll explain in her own good time and I’m sure it won’t be a problem. You know what she’s like. I think that’s where Severine gets it from. It’s certainly not from my side of the family. I’ll have a word with your father and see if he can sort it out. Now let’s get back to this shopping list. We haven’t got much time.’
Out of everyone in the family, her gran was the last person Evie had expected to throw a tantrum. Especially as it seemed to be less about having guests over Christmas and more about one particular man. This business with the Thorns and her gran was getting to be more of a mystery than she had ever anticipated.
Chapter Twelve
Robin returned with the trees – and Raven – at around four-ish. No sooner had they walked through the front door carrying one of them than Evie grabbed Raven by the arm and said, ‘You’re coming to the shops with me. And before you say a word, Roland’s taking us.’
‘Oh!’ Raven exclaimed, allowing herself to be led away as Robin struggled with the tree.
Evie glanced over her shoulder. ‘Sorry, Robin but Dad will give you a hand. Oh. Speak of the devil. Thanks for doing this. See you soon.’
John took Raven’s place and as Evie dashed out of the door, she saw Robin shake his head and laugh. He was such a nice boy. Why couldn’t Raven fall for him? Not that Roland wasn’t nice. But there was a little too much of his biological dad in him. He’d either be a serial killer or an Italian gigolo; Evie was convinced of that. Even his own sister, Juniper agreed her baby brother had the potential to be one or the other. He was a person with strong passions and, very occasionally, a temper to match. Again, just like his biological father. His adoptive father Peter, was the complete opposite and had helped to keep Roland’s temper in check over the years. But there was something about Roland that gave him an air of danger … or excitement, if seen from Raven’s perspective.
Christmas Secrets in Snowflake Cove (Michaelmas Bay Book 1) Page 6