Izzie shrugged, eyes wide and blank. “They were on the desk when I came in this morning.”
“Is there a packing slip?” Carrie reached over to rifle through the box. Nothing. Not even a label. “Well, someone must have ordered them.”
“It was probably Nate,” Izzie said, after sharing a look with Jacob that, try as she might, Carrie couldn’t quite translate. “You should ask him.”
“I will,” Carrie said, adding a few of the menus to her clipboard. “Once I manage to find him.”
“He’s sorting the flowers in the dining room, I think,” Jacob told her. “And I need to get back to the kitchen.” He disappeared through the double doors to the dining room, and Carrie considered following.
But Anna was due in twenty minutes and Ruth and her mother could arrive at any time–as much as she loved her, Carrie knew Ruth wasn’t really very good at appointments. She’d asked her to be here half an hour before Anna, in the hope they’d arrive at approximately the same time. With a sigh, she pulled out The List again and headed for the drawing room.
And promptly paused in the doorway. In the center of the room stood the low coffee table from the other sitting room, surrounded by five of the more upright chairs and a tray with coffee cups and saucers, sugar and spoons. A note propped against one of the cups told her that Jacob would keep the coffee machine running all morning and bring out a fresh pot, with cream, when her guests arrived.
God bless Jacob, she thought, and crossed set up meeting area off her list, wondering how he’d known it was one of the many things she just hadn’t been able to get around to before she’d fallen into bed in the early hours of the morning.
There were fresh flowers on the windowsills, too, she realized, presumably courtesy of Nate and Moira. Poor Nate would have no flowers left in his garden by the end of the visit.
Carrie consulted The List again, ignoring the items she could do nothing about–Fix terrace! New windows, etc.–and focusing instead on the things that might be achievable before everyone arrived.
She’d have liked time to make the bridal suite more impressive, but had settled for sorting out the main reception and ceremony areas. There was nothing to be done for the carpet in the dining room except to reassure her guests it would be replaced before the big day, but the tables had all been cleaned, polished, then when even that didn’t make a difference, covered in crisp white linen like they would be for the wedding breakfast.
Nate had polished the Welsh dresser without her even asking, and apparently Jacob had been running all the china through the dishwasher to make sure it sparkled. She couldn’t afford to waste money on centerpieces, but Nate and Moira were doing what they could with what they had in the garden. Carrie hadn’t even asked what they planned to put the flowers in. Nate had just pushed her out the doorway the previous evening and told her not to worry about it.
The chairs, too, were covered in some dusty old chair covers she’d found in one of the back rooms, apparently left over from another event. The bright lilac color wasn’t anywhere near the same color as Ruth’s beloved roses, but she’d splashed out on some thick white ribbon to tie them on, which toned it down a bit.
Then suddenly there was the sound of wheels on gravel, and it was too late to do anything else anyway.
Her staggered start-time plan seemed to have worked, at least, as Aunt Selena’s car pulled up directly behind Anna’s. But when only Selena and Ruth got out, Carrie wished desperately she’d told Ruth to be there an hour before.
“Oh, Carrie! It’s so good to see you!” Ruth threw herself into Carrie’s arms as soon as she stepped into the lobby, her blond bob flying across her face. Over her shoulder, Carrie could see Selena eyeing the tapestry she’d replaced over the desk as she stripped off her gloves and coat and handed them to a bemused Izzie. “Tell me this place has a bar,” Ruth whispered, hugging her cousin. “The drive up was a nightmare.”
“Fully stocked,” Carrie whispered back. “Where’s Graeme?”
Ruth’s face was stormy. “Last-minute meeting he couldn’t get out of. I’m so sorry.”
“That’s okay,” Carrie lied. Would Selena book without Graeme having seen the Inn? Would Anna accept a provisional booking? “Don’t worry about it. We’ll get this tour over with, and your mother and Anna packed off back to Manchester, then it’s you, me and a bottle of wine.” She pulled back and smiled brightly at Ruth’s mother. “Aunt Selena, it’s so lovely to see you again. May I introduce you to Anna Yardley? She’s my boss at Wedding Wishes. Anna, this is Selena and Ruth Archer.” Introductions over, Carrie motioned toward the open door beside her. “Why don’t you all come through to the front drawing room.” Hopefully Jacob had heard the commotion and coffee was on its way. “We can talk about your plans and ideas for the wedding.”
“At this rate there won’t be any wedding,” Selena said, only half under her breath, stalking past Carrie into the drawing room, followed by an unamused-looking Anna.
Carrie took a deep breath and waited for Ruth, who paused to give her a sympathetic look, to pass through, then turned to Izzie and mouthed Hang them up! before she moved calmly through to join her clients.
Jacob, bless him, had a better idea about customer service than Izzie did, at least. The coffee was hot and steaming, and even better, was accompanied by a plate of miniature cakes, which, Carrie promised herself, if Ruth and Selena didn’t touch–Selena because she was watching her figure, and Ruth because her mother was glaring at her–she was going to eat all of the moment Anna was gone. She might save one for Ruth, she supposed.
“I love these flowers!” Ruth was standing at the window, fingering a shallow vase of Nate’s best vibrant pink budget blooms. “They’re so...happy.”
“They don’t really tone with the lavender and white theme, darling,” Selena pointed out, pushing the plate of cakes across the table away from her.
“Oh, they’ll be perfect with the lavender! What are they called, Carrie? I must make a note.” So far, Carrie had noticed, the flowers were the one thing Ruth seemed to care about in her wedding. She managed to get over the shock of somebody actually liking the hideous things long enough to say, “I’ll be sure to ask our gardener for you.”
“Oooh, a gardener! Is he a hunky Sean Bean in Lady Chatterley type?” Carrie tried not to imagine Nate as Mellors, and failed. “Or is he an ancient old thing?” Ruth sounded quite sorry for Carrie at the very prospect.
Anna was rolling her eyes. Probably best to get back to business, Carrie decided. “Coffee, ladies?”
Drinks poured and cakes rejected, Carrie started into the spiel she’d lain awake perfecting the night before. “I’m so very delighted that Ruth wants to hold her wedding at the Avalon Inn. I know we both have a lot of childhood memories here, and I think we can make her big day very special indeed.”
Ruth clapped her hands together. “And this place is every bit as perfect as I remembered! The views driving up...”
“We haven’t actually seen much of the inn yet,” Selena said, in a voice that made her opinion of what she had seen very clear indeed. “It’s been a long time since either of us have been here. Perhaps we should reserve judgment for now.”
“I think that’s very wise,” Anna said, reaching for her coffee.
Ruth rolled her eyes and flopped into her chair. “Don’t be silly, Mum. I know you had problems with Grandma Nancy, but it’s Carrie’s inn now. Of course it’s going to be perfect.”
Carrie tried very hard not to wince at that. “There’s still a lot of work to be done to bring the inn up to scratch,” she admitted. “But assuming you’re sticking to your original Christmas Eve wedding date...” She paused and waited for Selena’s nod.
“The Save-the-Date cards have already been printed,” Ruth added. Carrie got the impression Ruth might have organized that first and told her mother later.
“Which gives us two months to turn the Avalon Inn into your dream venue. And I’ve already found a builder willing to
work to our timeframe.” Carrie gave them both a wide, reassuring smile before diving into the risky but potentially winning argument she’d come up with at four in the morning. “And the advantage of yours being the first wedding planned at the new Avalon, of course, is that you’ll be able to work with me to make sure the alterations to the Inn work for your wedding.” Selena perked up hugely at that, and Anna’s eyes widened a bit. “Within reason, of course,” Carrie added hastily.
“Of course.” Selena’s voice suggested that her idea of reasonable might be very different to Carrie’s.
But there was no time to dwell on what was possibly the biggest mistake Carrie had made all year. “Why don’t we take a tour of the inn, and then we can come back here to discuss the specifics,” Carrie said, hoping Jacob’s concept of customer service stretched to clearing up the coffee cups before they came back down. Just as long as he left the cakes.
* * * *
Nate balanced precariously with one foot on the edge of the bed, the other on the bedside table, and wondered aloud why he hadn’t been permitted to just go and fetch a stepladder.
“No time!” Cyb said from her look-out position at the door. “What if they came up here and found you halfway up a ladder? That doesn’t say quality, luxury inn now, does it?”
“What does me lying flat on my back with a broken leg and a lacy canopy draped over me say?” Nate asked, shifting with care to pin the next section of the bridal canopy in place.
“It says you stopped paying attention to what you were doing, and that’s why you injured yourself,” Moira put in from the window, where she stared out at the car Ruth and Selena had arrived in. “I’m not sure I liked the look of them, you know.”
“I don’t think that really matters much to Carrie, to be honest,” Nate said, finally pinning the last corner securely. “They’re her family.”
“Nancy never liked the mother, though, did she?” Moira shook her head. “She’s taking a big chance on them.”
“I think she’s trying to find a way to keep Anna onside and earn enough money to get this place fixed and up and running. What do you think?” Nate asked, jumping down to admire his handiwork.
“I think she should be careful who she chooses to work with,” Moira said, still looking out the window.
“About the canopy,” Nate clarified, and Moira and Cyb both turned to see.
Cyb clapped her hands together, letting the door bang shut. “Oh, Nate! It’s perfect!”
“It looks lovely,” his gran agreed, and Nate allowed himself a sigh of relief.
“Thank God for that, because I’m not getting back up there. That bedside table is not safe.”
A noise in the corridor made them all stop. “Was that...?” Moira whispered, and Nate shrugged.
Cyb pushed the door open just an inch and peeked out, then pulled her head back and nodded violently. “They’ve just gone into the Blue Room at the end of the corridor.”
Nate looked at all the bits and bobs they still had strewn across the bed and came to a decision. “Okay, you two run for it.” When both women hesitated, Nate went on, “At least I’m actually employed here. You two have no excuse.”
Moira nodded and grabbed her friend’s arm. “Come on, Cyb.” Then they ran.
That Nate managed to get all the tools, fabric swatches and carrier bags stowed away under the bed before Carrie and her guests reached the bridal suite was, he felt, quite an achievement in itself. The look on Carrie’s face when she found him there suggested she didn’t appreciate the effort.
“Nate,” she said, her voice chilly. “Anna, Ruth, Aunt Selena, this is our gardener and handyman, Nathanial Green.” Her attention went straight back to her clipboard, but Nate decided to put off figuring out why she was avoiding his eyes until later.
Instead, he smiled a welcome. “Just checking on the room, ready for your visit,” he told them. The prospective bride to be gave him a wide, beaming grin, which made him feel more uncomfortable than anything else.
But then she flashed that same, wicked smile at Carrie, and Nate could see the obvious affection she had for Carrie in that glance. “Isn’t it wonderful, Mum?” Ruth said, obviously trying to win Selena over for Carrie, and Nate started to think maybe Gran was wrong about her.
He’d almost managed to slip out the door before Carrie noticed the changes to the room, but not quite. As the mother, Selena, said, “Well, the bed is quite impressive, I suppose,” Carrie looked up from her list in confusion and stared at the huge four-poster bed decked out in white lace and linen and looking most inviting.
“It’s gorgeous,” Ruth said, before draping herself across it like she owned it. Nate hid a grin. He’d known the bed would be a big incentive for any bride. Or groom, for that matter.
Where was the groom, anyway? Jacob was going to be miffed if he was cooking duck with berry reduction for no reason.
“Yes, it’s one of my favorite features,” Carrie said, getting a grip on the situation. Her eyes met his, finally, with a hint of confusion but also thanks, before they slid away again. Nate watched as she gazed around the room, obviously taking in the changes. The others were more subtle, but the matching dressing table with antique silver hairbrush and mirror set, and the irises in the pewter vase on the windowsill, all detracted from the hideous carpet and hurriedly painted walls with the wallpaper showing through. Cyb had even managed to rustle up some new curtains from somewhere. They were thick and heavy and fully lined, but the paler pattern still managed to lighten up the room.
Nate had learned more about interior design in the past two weeks than he’d ever expected to know.
Selena slipped past him to inspect the bathroom, where at least the suite was white, even if the tiles were turquoise. Still, she didn’t seem completely displeased when she came out.
“This might actually do,” she said, sounding surprised, and Nate thought he could see some of the lines in Carrie’s forehead fade.
“I’m glad you like it,” she said, before casually gathering the other women up somehow and shepherding them toward the doorway. Nate watched closely and still wasn’t sure how she did it. “Why don’t you three head downstairs. You can have a chat about whether these rooms will fit your needs. I just need a quick word with Nate, then I’ll meet you in the lobby so we can go through to look at the reception rooms and talk about the menus.”
As the door shut behind them, Nate heard Ruth saying quite firmly, “I am sleeping in that bed on my wedding night.”
Carrie looked at him in silence after they’d gone, long enough for Nate to begin to feel uncomfortable before she finally spoke. “You know, you’ve ruined my big finish.”
“Oh?” It helped that Carrie’s conversational style took after her grandmother’s, he thought. If he hadn’t known Nancy, he might think his new boss was cross with him.
“Yes. I started them up here so we could work up to the dining room, which was the only room that looked halfway decent. I thought a big finish might make them forget how dreadful the bridal suite was.” She smiled, finally. “Now, all Ruth’s going to be thinking about is deflowering poor Graeme on that wonderful bed. Wherever did you find it? All of this?”
Nate shrugged. “I had help.”
“The Seniors?”
“The bed belonged to Cyb’s brother-in-law. It’s been sitting in storage since he died six years ago, because no one had a room big enough for it.” Nate reached out and ran a finger down the carving on the bedpost. “Bless her, she only remembered about it yesterday. But she’s spoken with her nephews and nieces, and harangued them into donating it to the inn. You might have to give them a couple of free nights stay, though.”
“Happily,” Carrie said, staring up at the canopy. “But I’m telling you now, I’m having a night in this bed. Soon.”
Nate’s mind filled with a number of very inappropriate visions of Carrie Archer spread out across Cyb’s brother-in-law’s bed, red hair tousled on the white sheets, eyes as full of longing as
they were when she looked at it. She was his boss, he reminded himself, and besides, she only looked like that because she hadn’t slept in about a fortnight.
Before he had a chance to swallow the lump that had appeared in his throat and find his voice, Carrie sighed and looked away, her eyes just tired again. “I’d better go and catch them up,” she said, turning to the door. “I don’t want to leave Anna and Selena alone together for too long.”
Nate nodded and, as she left, finally found enough voice to call after her, “Stop by and let me know how it all goes, later.” If you’re not already enjoying the bed, he added silently.
No matter how tired he was, Nate was pretty sure sleep was going to be hard to come by that night, alone in the drafty summerhouse, imagining Carrie up here in the wooden four-poster.
Chapter 5
Apparently, ‘wait in the lobby’ was too confusing an instruction for Carrie’s guests. “They went through to the dining room,” Izzie told her as she arrived in reception. Carrie didn’t bother asking why Izzie hadn’t stopped them; she just sighed and headed toward the double doors. That was the problem with family. They thought they had free rein to wander through her life, causing havoc.
The dining room at least looked functional as a reception space, but she’d hoped to have a chance to talk up all the improvements they had planned before they actually saw it. She’d just have to hope the lure of a really great bed would be enough for Ruth to sweet talk her mother into the booking.
But once she stepped through into the dining room, Carrie saw why they couldn’t wait. When she’d last checked the room, in the early hours of that morning, the tables had been laid with plain white cloths, the chairs draped with covers. It distracted, a little, from the purple and green paisley carpet. Not to mention the matching curtains hanging over the eight windows around two walls of the room. But it wasn’t exactly inspiring.
But now...
Pale lilac and white blooms tempered the vibrant pink of Nate’s bargain flowers, arranged in a mismatched collection of cut-glass vases. Over the plain white cloths Carrie had found for the tables, someone had laid lace cloths, yellowing with age, each one slightly different. And at each place-setting, instead of the full set of plain white china she’d intended, was a teacup and saucer on top of a side plate. The range of patterns in the china was phenomenal. Ditsy floral prints, willow pattern, art deco designs–and Carrie was almost willing to bet that not one single piece matched another that paired it.
Room for Love Page 10