‘You are already helping me,’ replied Julia.
‘You don’t need to cancel the guests arriving tomorrow. I can put them up at the hotel along with everyone else and there’s no charge.’
His words swirled round Julia’s head. ‘It’s a very generous offer but I really couldn’t accept that or burden you any more. You are already doing too much.’
‘Of course you can. Let me do this.’
Julia was unable to hide her amazement. ‘But I don’t understand – what’s in it for you?’
As soon as the words left her mouth Julia realised that sounded ungrateful. ‘I’m so sorry, that came out wrong.’
‘Look, I think I owe you… and you’re in a pickle. The hotel isn’t even open yet and this would be the perfect practice run. Andrew can try out his new menu and I can work on skeleton staff. However, I would need two favours in return.’
Julia raised an eyebrow, she knew there must have been a catch. ‘And they are?’
‘Firstly, I’ll need you on the reception to check your guests in tomorrow. And secondly, you were right about the colour of those curtains. You have a fantastic eye for interior design and detail. I could really use your expertise and magic to make Starcross Manor the best it can be – what do you say?’
Julia was flattered and gave a smile; she knew she was right about the colour of those curtains.
Flynn gave a nod of reassurance. ‘Let me help,’ he said once again.
Julia never imagined she’d ever be in this situation. And Flynn’s offer was amazing and the perfect solution – but then Aggie’s earlier words flashed through her mind. Just make sure you keep your wits about you. What if her guests began booking their future stays at Starcross Manor instead of her B&B? Was she actually just handing over everything to Flynn on a plate?
‘I’m not sure,’ she hesitated.
He touched her arm. ‘I’ve no ulterior motive, I just want to help.’
Julia could see in his eyes that his offer was genuine, and she’d be a fool to turn him down. Hadn’t Flynn more than proved he had changed? And hadn’t they agreed to a fresh start? It was time for her to put her past feelings to one side. ‘Thank you, in that case.’
‘Perfect,’ he answered, as his phone began to ring. ‘I’m sorry, I really do need to take this call.’ Julia watched Flynn walking towards the stream at the bottom of the garden whilst he took the call.
High-spirited, she walked back to the others, who were all sprawled out on the grass enjoying the afternoon sun. She was going to take Flynn’s offer at face value, and knowing that she didn’t have to find a way to refund the guests suddenly made her life a little easier.
‘You aren’t going to believe what’s just happened.’ Julia sat down next to them on the grass and grabbed a sandwich.
‘We are all ears,’ exclaimed Eleni. ‘I’ve just been filling in the girls on how spectacular our rooms were last night.’
Julia and Eleni had also stayed at Starcross Manor. Eleni had been comical the second she’d stepped into the grand reception, her head swivelling round taking in her surroundings, reminding Julia of an owl. Once Flynn had showed the guests to their rooms, he’d led Julia and Eleni through a maze of corridors towards the back of the hotel. As they stepped into their rooms it was now Julia’s turn to gasp. A huge four-poster bed, a settee, a coffee table, and a view that overlooked the lake made for a magnificent room. Once Flynn had left, Julia peeped inside the bathroom. ‘Holy shit,’ she exclaimed out loud. There in the middle of the bathroom floor was a sunken bath with tea-lights scattered all around the edge.
Eleni was in the adjoining room. Julia giggled when the door swung open and all she heard was a scream from Eleni. ‘OMG, have you seen the bathroom, it’s out of this world.’
Also on the table was a silver cloche full of food for Julia, alongside a bottle of wine with a note, ‘Compliments of the Management.’ After a bath with bubbles up to her ears, Julia had enjoyed the food accompanied by a glass of wine, then sunk into the king-size bed and fallen fast asleep.
‘The rooms were amazing,’ confirmed Julia, looking over her shoulder. Flynn was still deep in conversation at the bottom of the garden. ‘He’s only offered to put up my forthcoming guests free of charge until the B&B is back up and running.’
‘Wow! Why?’ queried Isla, sitting upright and shielding the sun from her eyes.
‘He just wants to help,’ replied Julia in a low voice, noticing Flynn had hung up his call and was walking back towards them, looking pleased with himself. Jack appeared from the front of his house and headed over towards Flynn.
‘And do you trust him? It all seems a little… actually, I’m not sure what it seems. If it’s too good to be true, something isn’t quite right,’ added Isla who was always the voice of reason.
‘It sounds like a perfect plan to me if it takes the pressure off and the guests can still enjoy their break, no brainer in my book,’ chipped in Eleni, crossing over her legs and tilting her face up to the sun.
Julia understood exactly what Isla was saying: if something was too good to be true there was usually a catch, but maybe Flynn had seen the error of his ways and it was a genuine offer of help. Only time would tell.
‘I think we should trust him.’ Julia kept her voice low. ‘Is he really going to double-cross me? He already knows how the village might react to that!’
‘Mmm, you may have a point. But keep your wits about you.’ Isla echoed Aggie’s thoughts from earlier.
‘Good news,’ remarked Flynn, waving his phone at Jack. ‘We have the contractors back on side. They’ll be delivering the outstanding material first thing tomorrow morning, which means we can get underway with the final construction up at the hotel, and the final touches can be finished down at the Boathouse too.’
‘That’s a relief,’ remarked Jack, giving Eleni a quizzical look, who shrugged.
Julia smiled. She’d spoken to Hamish on the phone earlier this morning and explained that she needed him to speak to his godson and get him to send Flynn the supplies he needed. He’d taken a lot of persuasion, but it looked like he’d come good. Julia was thankful.
Flynn gave Julia a look of appreciation and she gave a discreet nod before standing up and brushing herself down. ‘Right, ladies, we need to get back to work.’
‘Any jobs going at Starcross Manor?’ joked Eleni. ‘As my current boss is a slave driver.’
Julia swiped Eleni’s arm playfully then pulled her to her feet.
That afternoon there were the fridges and freezers to empty and clean out as well as the guest living room and dining hall, but they were nearly there. Everyone had been worth their weight in gold.
‘Julia, I’m going to take the rest of these curtains over to the dry cleaners, but are there any more to be taken down?’ queried Jack, giving Eleni a swift kiss to the cheek before she began walking over towards the back door.
Julia shook her head. ‘There’s no more, it’s just what I’ve piled up on the patio table.’
Together Flynn and Jack heaved several pairs of tweed fabric curtains over their shoulders. Julia was suitably impressed that they made it look so easy. She couldn’t help but admire their tanned, bulging biceps, and caught Eleni watching them too.