Chapter 3
Chapter Three
S he was pretty. Lewis had noticed as soon as he set eyes on their latest arrival at the hotel. Her dark blonde hair hung to her shoulders in glossy waves and her cheeks had a rosy glow, which highlighted the green of her eyes.
The price of the rooms meant the hotel tended to attract a certain type of clientele, but Erin Grant appeared down-to-earth in her jeans and jumper. Her long green coat with faux fur trim looked as though it had probably seen several winters.
It wasn’t her physical appearance that really grabbed his attention, though. It was the air of joyfulness about her. Positivity radiated from her as she eyed the Christmas tree and strings of tinsel with childlike wonder. Then there was the way she reacted to Jenny’s lack of tact about her situation.
He’d always appreciated people who found the humour in a situation, and she definitely seemed to have a good sense of humour.
Once he’d checked her in, he invited her to take a seat in the lounge and wait for her welcome drink while he took her bag up to her room .
It was a service they offered to all guests over Christmas and one that was always well received.
Erin looked especially delighted by the prospect and thanked him with a radiant smile before moving to the lounge.
Her case wasn’t heavy – unlike some of their guests, who seemed to arrive with everything they owned.
At the top of the stairs, he glanced back to see Erin chatting happily with a young Scottish couple who’d arrived the previous day.
She didn’t seem particularly upset about her breakup, he thought as he walked along the hall. Maybe she was putting on a brave face, or maybe the breakup had come as a relief.
Perhaps she was one of those people with such a cheerful disposition that nothing could touch it. He’d read something a while back about people having set levels of happiness that they would always come back to, no matter what happened in life. There’d been a study following people who’d either won the lottery, or suffered a debilitating accident. A year after either event, people returned to their previous level of happiness.
From Lewis’s experience, it sounded about right. His mind flicked to two years ago, when his girlfriend had split up with him on Christmas Day. He distinctly remembered thinking he’d never get over it.
He’d been wrong, of course. With hindsight, the breakup was for the best, and he hadn’t remained perpetually unhappy because of it.
Perhaps Erin had just bounced back from her breakup incredibly quickly.
Holding the key card against the lock mechanism, he waited for the green light, then pushed at the door. His intention was to set the suitcase inside the door and retreat, but his gaze travelled over the room and he stopped to take it in.
It was the best room in the hotel – larger than the others and with an imposing four-poster bed that immediately drew the eye. Beside the bay window was a set of armchairs with a mahogany table between them. The perfect spot to sit and watch the main street below.
The room might not be quite as striking to people who hadn’t seen it prior to the renovations a few years earlier. When the ownership had changed hands, the entire hotel had undergone a revamp. Lewis had worked there since he was sixteen – ten years now – and could say for definite it was a more cheerful place to work since the renovations. He also dealt with far fewer complaints from guests. Hardly any in fact, these days.
He was about to close the door again when something caught his eye. Flower petals were strewn all over the bed. So that was what Jenny had been concerned about when she said the room was set up for a couple.
Would petals upset someone who’d just been dumped? If Erin was merely putting on a brave face, the rose petals might send her into a downward spiral. He could remove them quickly. But were the petals on the marketing materials for her stay? He couldn’t remember, but suspected they were. Would it be more awkward if she knew he’d removed them?
He moved back into the hallway, leaving the flower petals in place. On the way back downstairs, he gave himself a mental shake for overthinking things.
He was all set to go and give Erin the key when he caught Ivy waving at him from the reception desk and veered in her direction instead.
“You’re late,” he told her, aiming for a stern expression and knowing she’d only laugh at him. They’d been friends since primary school and working with her was one of his favourite things about the job.
“Are you going to tell the boss and get me sacked?” She beamed and shook her head. “I doubt it, since you’d have to deal with the rest of the staff alone.” She pulled her fiery red curls back into a loose ponytail. “I don’t know what it is, but every time I look at Jenny she seems as though she might burst into tears.”
“I’m glad it’s not just me who has that effect on her.” He glanced around. “Where is she?”
“In the restaurant, helping Kate set up for dinner.” She switched her focus to the computer screen. “All the guests have arrived now. No more check-ins until after Christmas.”
“Yep,” Lewis confirmed. The small hotel only had twenty rooms but they were all booked out for the festive season. A little extra attention to detail would be needed to ensure the guests all had a perfect Christmas, meaning the staff would be working hard over the next few days. “The last guest only just arrived,” he told Ivy, glancing over at Erin, who was smiling politely at whatever Mrs Ward was saying to her.
The Wards were regular guests of the hotel and Lewis would describe their personalities as an acquired taste. They were actually pretty nice, but neither of them minced their words and Lewis had found them hard to take until he’d got to know them.
“Where’s her partner?” Ivy asked, following his gaze.
“She’s on her own.”
“Really?” Ivy frowned at the computer screen. “I thought she was booked in for the couple’s package.”
“She is, but her fiancé ended things last week and she came alone.”
“Oh, wow. I don’t know if that’s depressing or inspiring.”
“Jenny was pretty shocked by it.”
“And not great at hiding that, I presume?”
He shook his head. “She wasn’t exactly tactful, not that Miss Grant seemed to care. I need to give her the key.” He tapped it against his palm. “I’ll see if I can smooth things over while I’m at it.”
“I’m sure you’ll have her charmed in no time.” There didn’t seem to be any subtext to the words, so Lewis wasn’t sure why he felt slightly hot under the collar as he resisted the urge to argue that he wasn’t intending to charm her.
“Did you see the note I left in the office yesterday?” Ivy asked when he took a step away. “About Mr Garrett?”
“Yes,” he grumbled. “Couldn’t you have put him off until after Christmas? I don’t have time, not with all the events over the next few days.”
“The problem is you fobbed him off last week and now he’s insistent. He’s coming tomorrow to go through the books and you’re going to have to deal with it.”
“But I hate it,” he complained. “Also, it’s weird how excited he gets about numbers in an excel spreadsheet.”
“He’s an accountant,” Ivy pointed out. “That’s what turns him on.”
Lewis snorted a laugh. “Could you do it?”
“No.” She looked thoroughly amused. “It’s your job.”
“What if I put a good word in with the boss and try to get you a pay rise?”
“There isn’t enough money in the world for me to sit in that stuffy office with Mr Garrett for hours on end.”
“Great.” Lewis sighed. “Some friend you are.”
“You love me really,” she said, but he was already walking over to the latest guest.
There was something about the broad smile on Erin Grant’s face as she took pictures of the lounge that had him transfixed.