‘Nell?’ Brenda barked as she once again fell into a dream. ‘Are you going to keep it?’
‘I don’t know yet, I might do. I’ll put some posters up and see if anyone claims him. If they don’t, why shouldn’t I?’
Brenda shook her head, her perfectly curled hair holding resolutely firm. ‘What about your guests?’
‘Apart from Mr and Mrs Limstock, I haven’t got any, so it doesn’t really matter right now.’
Cat was the first to reassure her. ‘Things will pick up soon, Nell. Have you upped your advertising like we discussed?’
‘Yeah, as much as I can afford to.’ Nell plonked down into the armchair again. ‘I’ve got a few regulars that have booked again off the back of an offer I emailed out, but no new people. I’ve got a meeting with a firm tomorrow to see if I want a proper marketing plan made up. The thing is, I know what the problem is. It’s the Langdon Mansion.’
Brenda’s head popped up from the file. ‘Oh, it’s lovely there. Very, very expensive. I’ve been told the accommodation and food are absolutely exquisite. And the service—’
‘Mum!’ Cat shouted. ‘You’re supposed to be supporting my friend.’
Brenda adjusted her shirt again. ‘I’m sure this wedding fair will be absolutely marvellous, Nell, if you’ve organised it properly.’
Only Cat saw the almost imperceptible raise of Nell’s eyebrow. ‘I’m doing my best, Brenda. I’ve got all the stall holders sorted, I’ll mention it at the business forum soon and I’ve been marketing it online and all around the local area. Hopefully, people will come.’
‘I’m sure I’ll be able to swing by,’ said Brenda. ‘I might even be able to get some of my friends to come.’
Nell knew that the reason she might attend was more to make the place a socially acceptable choice to all her well-to-do friends who thought of Holly Lodge as a poor substitute for the Langdon Mansion. A flash of annoyance stiffened her spine but with tension radiating off Cat, Nell kept her mouth shut. She took a chocolate biscuit from the plate she’d laid out for them and Cat did the same.
‘Should you be eating that, sweetheart?’ asked Brenda, looking at her daughter from the side of her eye. ‘You want that corset to do up. And I hate to say it, but you’ve been filling out a little recently. I can see it on your face.’ She gently cupped her daughter’s face and affectionately tapped the end of her nose. Cat lowered the biscuit as Nell gulped in a breath ready to fight her friend’s perfectly normal-size corner – and then Cat put the whole biscuit in her mouth in one go. An act of defiance Nell admired and copied, earning her the evil eye too.
After Brenda had harrumphed and turned back to the depths of her file, silence descended, the only noise the blissfully warming crackles of the fire and the slight rattle of the old sash windows in ancient wooden panes. Nell was beginning to worry her outfit for tonight wasn’t going to keep her very warm, but she wanted to look nice and that won over comfort. Before long, Brenda was mumbling to herself, listing all the things they still needed to organise and sort out, Cat stroked Mr Scrooge who had become a tight ball of fur on her lap, and Nell waited for her next set of instructions.
Watching the leaves dance in the wind, she couldn’t stop her brain wandering. After staring at the accounts all day and making some financial predictions based on her most recent takings, the awful truth was, that if she didn’t secure some weddings off the back of this first one and the wedding fair, business was really going to suffer and that meant laying people off or even selling up. She didn’t employ that many staff and if she sold up, she’d not only be selling her business but her home too and she loved Holly Lodge more than anywhere else on the planet.
A part of her wondered if that was such a bad thing – but even when she’d gone to university, she’d stayed at home rather than live in halls. Okay, so the beach of Swallowtail Bay was pebbly and not sandy, but that had never stopped her and Cat from sunbathing, and she loved hearing the echo of the tide as she fell asleep at night. She loved that she could get handmade chocolates for the guests’ pillows, special herbed sausages for the full English breakfast, and delicious pressed juices all made locally. Things like that were what made Holly Lodge an institution in the town, having been there for over twenty-five years. Each room was unique with a big, comfy bed covered in soft white sheets and pretty cushions; all had top-of-the-range showers or roll-top baths and unusual furniture that Nell had sourced herself from car boot sales. But what made the place truly unique was the personal service she offered, catering to people’s different needs with genuine warmth and affection. Her aim had always been to create a luxurious home from home.
‘Right,’ said Brenda, lifting out a notepad and pen from her enormous handbag. ‘Let’s talk about china, shall we?’
‘China?’ asked Cat. ‘Why China? I’m going to Tenerife on my honeymoon.’
Brenda rolled her eyes. ‘No, Catherine. China as in china plates and cups and saucers, not the country.’
‘Oh.’ Cat took another biscuit under her mother’s watchful gaze. Brenda’s eyes followed it from the plate all the way to Cat’s mouth where her daughter took a big satisfying bite.
‘Why did I agree to do this?’ Brenda muttered to herself.
Neither Cat nor Nell were brave enough to point out that no one had asked, or even wanted her to help in the first
