I’d been lucky to get this room, especially as it had been due to a last-minute cancellation. A party of people had booked out the entire B&B and then, due to unforeseen circumstances, or so they had apparently said, they’d cancelled the booking the very morning I was looking for a place to stay. Most of the rooms had gone to others on a waiting list and this was the only room she had left.
‘It was clearly meant to be,’ Lilith had said when I’d seen the sudden vacancy on- line and had immediately called her up to book it.
I’d been looking for over an hour and had almost decided I’d have to stay in the nearby town of Easterhill, a few miles inland to the north of Seahorse Harbour. Assuming there were vacancies somewhere there. Or I’d have to opt for one of the mobile homes in the Holiday Park as The Boathouse was full and so was the Sunrise B&B. That was about it when it came to holiday accommodation in this village. But for some reason, I’d clicked back to take another look at the Sunrise B&B even though it was full, and the vacancy had popped up.
Perhaps, Lilith was right. Perhaps it was meant to be.
I glanced at my watch and couldn’t believe the time. It was almost 7.15 and I never slept past 6 normally. It must have been the sea air.
Even Merry, who was usually licking my face if my eyes weren’t open by 5 past 6, yawned, shook her head and threw me a look as if to say, ‘Let’s have another half an hour.’
When she finally realised I had showered and dressed and that we’d be going out, she dragged herself off the bed and trotted to the window. I burst out laughing when I saw the expression in her eyes after she had peered outside. Her head shot round, her jaw dropped open and her eyes seemed to bulge from beneath her eyelids. If she’d been human, she would’ve used a few expletives, I’m sure, and told me in no uncertain terms that I must be having a laugh if I expected her to go out in that.
‘I’m sure it’s not as bad as it looks,’ I said.
She hung her head and didn’t seem convinced.
I spotted someone walking briskly across the road towards the B&B and recognised Lilith, from the shape and size of her and her bright ginger hair sticking out at all angles beneath a knitted green bobble hat. Where on earth had she been at this time in the morning? She appeared to be carrying a couple of loaves of bread. Two long French sticks were evident in her shopping bag. Had she been out to get bread for my breakfast? That made me feel a pang of guilt. But why French sticks? That wasn’t your normal ‘breakfast bread’.
‘Come on, Merry. Let’s go and find out.’
I picked up the lead and Merry’s coat and shrugged on my own, together with a hat, hopping into my boots as I walked. We met Lilith in the hall.
‘Good morning, Lilith. How are you today? I hope you haven’t been out because of us.’
‘Morning! Did you sleep well? I hope I didn’t wake you when I left. And no. I always go out first thing and buy freshly baked bread from Bev at Beach Bakers. Bev makes the best bread for miles around and I do love a French stick, don’t you? I’ve bought a wholemeal loaf too, in case you might prefer that. It’s bitter out there this morning but I see you’re wrapped up warm.’
‘I love any bread, especially with lashings of butter and marmalade. We won’t be out for long. Just for Merry to have a pee and stretch her legs. We’ll only be about fifteen minutes, if that’s okay?’
‘Yes, yes, yes. Take as long as you like. I’ll make breakfast as soon as you come back. Oh. But you’ll never guess who I saw out running this morning.’
I could tell from the expression on her face. It was half excitement, half guilt. She’d seen Asher Bryant and unless I was very much mistaken, she had mentioned me.
‘Asher?’
She nodded joyfully. ‘The very same. I told him he needs his head examined going out running in this weather. He said he was warm and he enjoyed the bracing air. Well, I told him there were far better ways to keep warm and what he should be doing was embracing a young lady, and that I might know one who could help with that. Now don’t give me that look, dear. It was just a little joke and I didn’t mention you by name. I just said I had a very pretty guest staying with me at the moment, who I happened to know was single.’
‘You didn’t?’
‘Oh yes, I did. And he smiled and said he thought he’d already met you. And you’ll never guess what else he said, so I’ll tell you. He said, “Pretty, doesn’t do her justice, Lilith”. What do you think of that? I think things might be warming up very nicely with you and Asher.’
I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry or throw a tantrum, but the truth was, I felt a rather warm glow when she repeated Asher’s words. Did he honestly think I was more than pretty?
Mind you, it had been dark when we’d met, so perhaps he hadn’t really got a good look at me. Or perhaps he was talking about Merry. After all, she was the one he’d called ‘gorgeous’ yesterday, not me.
But how did Lilith know I was single? I don’t recall telling her. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’d been careful not to mention my relationship status at all. I suppose, as I was going to be spending Christmas in a B&B with just my dog that was a natural assumption for her to make.
Six
After breakfast, which consisted of fresh grapefruit, a full English, fresh bread plus wholemeal toast together with lashings of butter and marmalade, plus enough coffee to sink a battleship, Merry and I ventured outside once more. We’d only been out for about five minutes earlier. It had been far too cold to stay out for longer than that. But an hour or so later, full to bursting, I decided we needed to get some bracing fresh air and walk off some of that delicious breakfast.
We walked as briskly as we could but our progress was hampered by the depth of the snow. At least the earlier icy wind that had whipped up my hair and tugged at Merry’s long ears, had dropped and the temperature felt a few degrees warmer because of that. It was now around 9 but we seemed to be the only ones foolish enough to be outside.
Other than the waves which were no longer crashing against the cliffs now that the tide was going out but were still swishing and swooshing angrily at the sand, and a few squawking gulls arguing over their breakfast of scraps from the bins or discarded food, the place was silent. Not one car passed us as we made our way down the road from Seahorse Cliffs towards the village centre. I did notice other footprints, so people had been about. Perhaps they were Lilith’s. Or maybe Asher’s.
I shouldn’t have thought about Asher. That reminded me of what Lilith had said and even now my face burned with embarrassment. I hope he didn’t think I’d been discussing him with Lilith.
Even though I had.
I stopped again at the shop window with the felt mice, and smiled at the display. I spotted someone moving around inside the shop and realised it was open.
Of course it was. It was gone 9 on a Saturday morning so even in a village, the shops would be open by now. Especially as this was the last Saturday before Christmas.
I was tempted to go in and look around but I couldn’t see anywhere to tie Merry’s lead so I’d have to do my browsing another time. That was the one issue with being a dog-owner. Unless shops provided a rail, a hook, or something to which a lead could be tied, we couldn’t leave our beloved pets outside and go in to browse.