The next post she saw was from her cousin, Callie. Callie was two years younger than Julia and lived in Devon with the love of her life, Dan, who was a surf dude. Their carefree life looked fantastic and Callie often posted photos of her and Dan riding the waves on their surfboards, followed by cream teas in the quaint coffee houses. Julia missed Callie, but now with Eleni’s extra hands helping out at the B&B she was determined to make a firm plan to visit her soon. And she had everything crossed that Callie would be able to get some time off work to visit Julia for her upcoming fortieth birthday celebrations.
Julia continued to scroll through the latest updates on her homepage when curiosity got the better of her. She typed in Flynn Carter’s name and hit search. Immediately, his photo appeared, taking her by surprise. Either he’d resurrected his old account or he’d created a new one after the wedding fiasco. Immediately Julia was drawn to his profile photo. There was no denying he sailed the fine line between handsome and downright sexy. His privacy settings were tight, his photos locked down, his friends list hidden. There was nothing Julia could find out about his personal life at all.
‘Damn, damn, damn,’ Julia exclaimed. With just one slip Julia had only gone and sent Flynn Carter a friend request on Facebook. ‘Oh my God.’ With her heart hammering against her chest and a shaky hand it took only a matter of seconds to delete the request. For one thing she didn’t want him thinking she’d gone looking for him, and secondly if Anais spotted him in her friends list, she didn’t want her to think she’d been disloyal. Hopefully Flynn wouldn’t notice if she’d managed to delete it so quickly.
Her panicky thoughts were interrupted by Eleni shouting up the stairs. ‘Are you awake? I’m here!’
‘Coming!’ hollered Julia, jumping off the bed and quickly grabbing a bobble to tie up her hair.
When Julia appeared downstairs, Eleni was already setting out the tables in the dining room: the crisp pristine white linen cloths, shiny cutlery laid, and a jug of fresh orange juice stood in the middle of each table. ‘How are you feeling this morning? Is that toothache of yours any better?’ asked Eleni, spinning round to see Julia standing in the doorway with Woody dancing on his paws waiting to be let out in the garden.
‘It must be, because I haven’t given it a thought,’ replied Julia, feeling relieved that the pain had finally subsided. ‘I’ll just let Woody out then I’ll check what arrivals we have today. I think the guests in bedroom four are due to leave by 10am.’
‘I’ll make that room my first priority after breakfast.’
‘Fabulous, thanks.’ Woody bounded ahead into the kitchen and began frantically scratching at the back door. ‘Hold on Woody, let me get the keys.’ Julia grabbed them from the dresser whilst wondering what the hell had got into him. Woody was now barking and jumping up at the handle. Turning the key in the lock Julia finally opened the door and was startled to see Alfie staring back at her.
‘You gave me the fright of my life.’ Julia brought her hand up to her thumping chest.
‘Sorry, sorry, I don’t normally lurk around people’s back doors. Honestly!’
‘That’s good to hear,’ Julia smiled. ‘What can I do for you? I’m assuming Polly hasn’t chucked you out and you don’t need a bed for a night?’
Alfie gave a little chuckle. ‘No, I’m just a little curious about the village meeting tonight.’
Julia opened the door wide and Alfie stepped inside. ‘What do you know about Flynn Carter?’
‘Not much, to be honest, even though some of the contractors I know have worked for him. They said he’s a decent guy. Apart from that, all I know is he’s a property tycoon, worth millions allegedly,’ replied Alfie.
‘And did you know Starcross Manor was going to be a hotel?’
Alfie raised an eyebrow. ‘A hotel? No, all I knew it was a sealed-bid auction.’
‘What’s a sealed-bid auction?’ interrupted Eleni, tying her apron around her waist.
‘It’s a type of auction in which bids are not viewed until the auction date. The bids are literally sealed, often physically in an envelope and they are all opened at the same time and the highest bid wins. From what I heard… off the record of course… Carter paid thousands above the actual worth, which means by hook or by crook he wanted Starcross Manor. He obviously knew the potential of the place,’ revealed Alfie, checking his watch. ‘But turning Starcross Manor into a hotel he would have had to jump through hoops. It’s not my department but I can check if everything has gone through for you when I get to the office.’
‘Would you?’ asked Julia gratefully, thinking if it hadn’t gone through it may give them some bargaining power somehow.
‘Of course, I’ll ping you over a text when I get to work. Is this what the meeting is about?’
‘Yes, I’m worried Alfie, that the hotel will put this place out of business. I can’t compete with a five-star hotel.’
He nodded his understanding. ‘I see your point.’
‘Thanks Alfie.’
Julia closed the door behind him and looked pensive. ‘Maybe, if all the regulations aren’t in place there may be something we can do.’
Eleni laid out the sausages in rows in the large aluminium tray and slid them into the Aga. ‘Let’s not worry about anything now, breakfast is nearly ready and the meeting will be here before we know it.’ Eleni paused. ‘I know I’ve just said let’s not worry about it, but do you think I need to look for another job?’ she probed, stirring the baked beans in the pan on the stove.
It was like Eleni could read her mind, because that very thought had been worrying Julia too. If things became tough and Julia lost business she wouldn’t be able to afford to keep Eleni on. But Julia needed to stay positive. ‘It will be okay, because I’ll make it okay. If there’s one thing I know about Heartcross it’s that our community are always supportive of each other. If that hotel put me out of business they’d run Flynn out of town first.’
Eleni gave a chuckle. ‘I’ve got visions of Drew and Fergus chasing Flynn across the bridge into Glensheil. “Stay off our patch and don’t come back!”’
After tying on her pristine white apron around her waist Julia was about to join Eleni when her phone pinged. Quickly glancing at the screen she saw it was a text from Alfie. Her eyes quickly scanned the message, revealing information that Julia didn’t want to read:
‘Flynn had everything in place from fire regulations, insurances to TV and music license etc.’
For Julia, tonight couldn’t come quick enough.
Three hours later, after breakfast was served, the dishes loaded in the dishwasher and the bedrooms spick and span, Julia found Eleni sitting outside sketching at an easel in front of her. Julia watched her holding up her pencil in the air, then watched as she altered the branches of the willow tree on the drawing in front of her. She blew away the eraser debris then sat back.
Julia admired the sketch. ‘You have a real talent, you know.’
Eleni looked up and shielded the sun from her eyes. ‘My grandfather was an artist.’
‘And that’s where you’ve got your talent from,’ said Julia, still admiring her work.