By the end of my pitch, I was standing an inch taller than when I had walked in, and I couldn’t shrug the smile from my face.
Jennifer was beaming back at me. ‘Wow, Izzy, what can I say? I love it. I love all of it.’
‘Fantastic!’ My heart skipped a beat and I started to get dizzy with the potential.
‘How soon can you start?’
Adam had advised me to reassure Jennifer that we could be up and running right away, and not to bother her with the hurdles I still had to climb – the administration of setting up a new business, securing a bank loan and negotiating contracts with suppliers. Auntie Sue had agreed to help me with all of that and was primed to start as soon as I gave the green light. As long as she was still speaking to me.
I couldn’t wait to tell them all, and I just hoped that Mike would let the children join the celebration. Surely he understood the position I had been put in? Maybe I could invite Jake to join us, too. Strictly as a friend.
Jennifer offered me a tour of the rest of the hotel and I enthusiastically agreed. I had only seen a couple of the rooms that we were renovating, and I was keen to explore the rest of it.
The Stables was a rambling warren of crooked passageways leading to low-ceilinged rooms, with discreet signs everywhere warning visitors to mind their heads. I struggled to concentrate on Jennifer’s explanation of the building’s history because I was so distracted by the beautiful exposed wooden beams and stone floors that had been worn smooth by thousands of feet passing over them.
A twisted passageway opened onto the main restaurant and my eyes were drawn upwards to the double-height vaulted ceiling, propped up by centuries-old timber arches. The staff were setting up for the midday seating – the quiet murmur of pre-lunch rush chatter echoed from the kitchen.
‘And this section leads on to the stable itself – the inspiration for the rebrand.’
Jennifer smoothed an invisible crease from one of the starched linen tablecloths and held up a gleaming wine glass for a closer inspection. ‘You should have seen the state of this place before we took it over. Ghastly. It took a lot more than a lick of paint and a new name – we practically had to gut the place.’
‘So it wasn’t always called The Stables?’ My heart started beating faster. A rebranded hotel, in Alnwick. Was it possible? Could this be the place I’d been searching for?
‘What was it called before? Is it still known by another name?’
‘It’s had a few names over the years – perfectly normal, for a historic pub. You probably knew it as the Black Swan when you were growing up.’
I tried to keep the impatience out my voice. ‘This might be a silly question, but if I stayed here, what would my credit card statement say?’
Jennifer rolled her eyes.
‘Don’t get me started on that. I’ve tried for years to resolve it with the bank, I don’t know what else to do. I’ve gone round and round in circles with them, and the bureaucracy – you wouldn’t believe…’
I interrupted her. ‘And what name would it show?’
But I knew the answer before she said it.
‘The Highwayman Inn,’ Jennifer said.
Blood thundered in my ears and the cavernous room started to close in on me.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The drive home was one of those journeys where, after arriving, you don’t remember how you got there. Before I knew it, I had pulled up outside Puffin Cottage. I sat in the car, parked in the back lane, staring down the road.
I hadn’t imagined it – I hadn’t been seeing shadows where there were none. Mike had been having an affair right under Amy’s nose – no wonder she had found out. And he had lied when he’d told me that he and Amy had made their peace. They hadn’t moved on at all - that’s why she had hidden the evidence away for me to find.
I tried to pull myself back to the moment, walk myself through the next steps, but all I could think of was Amy. Had her suspicion built over time, or had it come as a shock? How much had she known? Had she ever confronted Mike, or had she been collecting evidence against him? Had he killed her when he’d thought she’d been coming too close to discovering his secret? My mind raced with the injustice of it all, too many thoughts jostling to be heard.
A loud knocking at the car window startling me, snapping me out of my reverie. Adam and Rachel. I wound the window down.
‘And? How did it go?’ Adam asked, their faces full of expectation.
For a second, I struggled to work out what he was talking about.
‘The pitch? The pitch! It went great, really well, thanks,’ I mumbled. ‘We got it. We got the job.’
‘Seriously?’ Adam started bouncing up and down, grinning, and Rachel smiled proudly. ‘You got the contract?’ he said.
‘Yes…’ I forced a smile. ‘I’m now officially in business.’
Adam opened the car door. ‘Well, what are you waiting in there for? Champagne all round!’
I shuffled into the cottage in a daze, wishing I could enjoy the moment as much as I knew I should. Mum and Auntie Sue were already in the kitchen and there was a bottle of champagne on ice waiting for me, the bucket sweating onto the table next to a bouquet of white lilies.
Adam popped the cork and poured us each a glass.
‘To Izzy Morton Interiors, and the start of something very special.’ He held his champagne high. ‘Cheers!’
We chinked our glasses together. Auntie Sue
