As Mr and Mrs Limstock waved from the other side of the lounge, trying to get her attention, Nell smiled and excused herself to Brenda and Cat. She may not have many customers at the moment, but while she had some, she’d give them the best service she could. And it meant she could top up Cat’s gin while she was up. Something about Brenda’s scowl and the set of her mouth told her she might need it before this planning meeting was over.
Chapter 5
In the dark evening light, Nell walked up the slope leading through the gardens of the huge, intimidating hotel, lit by Victorian-style streetlamps. Though it was a renovated manor house, to Nell it had none of the elegant feel of a stately home. The façade was the same, apart from a giant automatic door that seemed to suck the classiness away every time they opened and closed with their horrid swooshing noise. A sweeping semi-circle of steps led up to it, but all Nell could think was that they wouldn’t be easy for anyone with mobility issues. Taken together, they ruined the whole look of the building. She much preferred the gentle ramp she’d installed that led to the modest front door of Holly Lodge. Or if they were after a grand entrance, then it had to be the other local stately home, Thornhill Hall that sat the other side of the bay.
Tom had agreed to meet her outside and Nell shivered in the little jacket she’d worn over a deep-burgundy wrap dress and tights. A flimsy patterned scarf did nothing to keep out the cold and it really was brass monkeys in Swallowtail Bay tonight. She ran the toe of her black suede ankle boot along the edge of a paving slab. The ground began to glitter beneath her feet as the moisture turned to frost.
Normally when she went out with Tom, she wore whatever she happened to throw on, which was usually her flared jeans, high-top trainers and a jumper, but the Langdon Mansion Hotel was one of those places that had an unspoken dress code. Her imagination had run a little wild, as it always did, and when she’d imagined this evening, she’d pictured women in fur stoles and slinky dresses with cigarettes hanging from their lips in long ivory holders. As they draped themselves over the furniture, elegantly suited men wandered about with tumblers of whisky on the rocks and everything was vaguely black and white. A slap of cold wind whipped around the face, waking her up. She closed her arms over her chest and waited, taking a moment to breathe after the meeting with Brenda. It felt more and more like going into battle rather than joyfully discussing different options for Cat’s wedding.
‘You should have gone inside,’ said Tom, striding up the same slope she had a few minutes earlier. ‘You must be freezing. Why didn’t you wear your coat?’
‘Because it’s a parka and it wouldn’t have gone with my dress. Do you like it?’ She gave a little spin on the spot and immediately Tom’s face flooded with affection.
‘You look great,’ he replied, wrapping an arm around her and kissing her cheek. He always had lovely, soft skin and smelled nice. ‘It’s better than one of your enormous jumpers.’
‘Hey! Enormous jumpers are the best thing about autumn and winter. You can snuggle up in them. It’s like wearing a duvet.’
Nell’s mind turned inwards and before she could help it, she was seeing herself and the love of her life wrapped up in blankets in the lounge of Holly Lodge. She desperately wanted someone who understood her passion for the hotel, for the wedding business, and for making people feel special when they walked through her door. So far, boyfriends had understood at first, but their enthusiasm quickly faded when she couldn’t make a date because it was a changeover day or she had a house full. That wasn’t the case at the moment, but she hoped it wouldn’t be long before her plans came to fruition and the wedding business took off.
‘Shall we go in then?’ Tom asked, nodding to the door.
‘Yes, definitely,’ Nell exclaimed. ‘I can’t feel my toes.’ The horrid automatic doors parted as they climbed the top step and made their way inside.
As they stepped over the threshold, their eyes met and Nell knew he could read the fear on her face. She pushed her long golden hair back from her face.
The entrance hall was opulent, intimidating and huge. A long, wide, dark wood reception desk ran down one side, full of computer screens that popped up in front of suited-and-booted staff. On the same side, a little further along were the lifts, and opposite, between open doorways, were two different bars and crushed velvet sofas in deep purple. In the middle stood an enormous Christmas tree perfectly decorated like something from an interior design magazine. Twinkling lights wrapped around it in perfectly slanting circles. Expensive-looking glass baubles glittered and underneath sat a pile of flawlessly wrapped boxes posing as presents. Nell puffed out her cheeks and she and Tom stared around. It was so much grander than she’d imagined. As if to reassure her, he reached out and took her hand, holding it tightly in his.
‘Are you okay?’
‘Look at this place, Tom. How am I ever going to compete with this?’
‘Nell, there’s room in the market for everyone. You have a different customer base and a different offering. Don’t compare yourself to here.’
‘How can I not?’ The realisation of what this place was actually like caused her stomach to knot in worry. ‘I know my hotel’s lovely but this is next level snazzy. How can I not compare myself to this?’
‘Things will pick up, Nell. We just need to do some more marketing.’ He let go of her hand and placed
