The Book Club Hotel(34)

“That will be romantic.” Claudia slumped in her chair, not even bothering to hide her envy. “You must be looking forward to it. Nonstop date nights.”

Erica saw Pete glance briefly at Anna, who was suddenly busy laying the table.

What did that look mean?

When Anna had first introduced them, Pete had been a shy, gangly teenager with untidy hair and a passion for science fiction, computer games and crossword puzzles. But there had been a kindness and warmth to him, and also a sense of humor. He and Anna were always laughing about something.

He’d grown into a quietly confident man, who was a good listener and a rock for his family. He was also, Erica mused, very attractive. Gangly had given way to tall and broad shouldered. The crinkles at the corners of his very blue eyes were testament to the fact that his sense of humor had remained intact.

She knew it for a fact, because whenever she was staying here she often heard Pete and Anna laughing about something.

She felt a twinge of envy and the feeling irritated her. She wasn’t used to feeling envious. She didn’t like feeling envious.

She was forty years old and happy with her life choices.

Wasn’t she?



SEVEN


Hattie

“You’re fully booked from now until January?” Lynda put a mug of tea in front of Hattie. “That’s quite an achievement. Also, a lot of pressure on you.”

They were sitting in the Petersons’ cozy farmhouse kitchen and thanks to a generous helping of Lynda’s apple and ginger cake and the warmth from the range cooker, Hattie was finding it harder and harder to stay awake. Her head felt fuzzy and her limbs were leaden. She could barely string a sentence together. Still, it was good to be with Lynda, who always made her feel as if she was doing a great job and not just hanging on by a thread.

“I don’t know about an achievement. It’s a relief, that’s for sure.” She suppressed a yawn and tried not to slur her words. “Providing we don’t have staff issues, the inn should be fine for a few months.”

“I’m sure the inn will be fine. It’s you I’m worried about.”

“Me?” Hattie took a sip of tea to wake herself up. She was reaching the point where she was going to have to slap her own face or go and stand naked in the freezing air. “Why are you worried about me?”

“Because you’re twenty-eight years old and you’re working yourself to the bone,” Lynda said. “You’re about to fall asleep in my kitchen.”

“Your kitchen is comfortable. Also, I didn’t have a good night. Delphi’s had this cough and then last night she had a bad dream, so I caved in and let her sleep in my bed.” Was that an awful thing to do? When she was pregnant she’d read every parenting book she could lay her hands on, but after Delphi was born there had been no time. Now she was making it up as she went along. “She wriggles and sleeps across the bed. Every time I fell asleep last night she rolled over and woke me up. Also, she kept stretching out her arms like a starfish and smacking me in the face.”

“Believe it or not I remember those days well.”

“Really?” As hard as she tried, she couldn’t imagine Noah in any form other than a disturbingly attractive adult male.

“On second thought, forget the tea.” Lynda gently removed the mug from her fingers and gestured to the sofa in the corner of the room. “Close your eyes for five minutes.”

“Oh, I couldn’t. It wouldn’t feel right.” But that didn’t mean she wasn’t tempted. She’d reached the point where she would have killed for just one hour of undisturbed rest.

“I think you’ll find it will feel just fine.” Lynda urged her gently out of the chair and toward the sofa.

“I should probably be getting back. I still have to decorate the library. It’s the last room I need to do. I should have done it before now, but things got away from me. I have a group of friends checking in—they’re a book club—” her head swam a little “—which made me think maybe we should make that a regular thing locally. Your book club meets in people’s houses on a Wednesday, isn’t that right? You could use our library. Sorry, how did I get onto your book club? What was I saying?” She stopped, her mind suddenly blank.

“You were telling me you need to decorate the library for guests checking in, and I’m telling you that you’ll do a better job if you’re not falling asleep on your feet.” Lynda plumped a couple of cushions on the sofa. “When I was a young mother the hardest thing was accepting help, but things were better when I did. Put your head down just for five minutes, honey.”

Hattie felt a rush of love and gratitude. It had been so long since anyone had fussed over her, and she enjoyed the novelty of being the cared for and not the carer. Sometimes doing everything on your own was hard. It meant you were constantly on alert, never completely able to allow your mind to shut down.

And there was no doubt it would be a treat to just close her eyes for five minutes. But still she couldn’t quite forget her responsibilities. “Delphi—”

“I can watch Delphi. I’m just pottering around here cooking and the child is happy enough over there, so snatch a few minutes while you can. I wouldn’t be surprised if she falls asleep, too, right where she is.”

Hattie glanced at her daughter.