Chapter 36
‘I can’t believe it,’ she said to Pete. ‘Our first guests!’
‘Well, don’t stand at the door – it looks a bit desperate.’
Their advert had gone live on Airbnb and they’d had a flurry of bookings almost instantly. They’d only just readied the guest rooms in time and now they were poised, waiting for the first clients to descend.
‘It’s going to work,’ she said. ‘I can feel it.’
He’d kissed her. ‘It’d better, after all this.’
It was true that it had taken more than they’d expected to get the B loose tiles had had to be refitted.
Every job they’d accounted for seemed to have had another, messier job beneath it: plaster had crumbled, removed light fittings had revealed dodgy wiring, the septic tank had had to be drained.
It hadn’t been the romantic image that Bella had been searching for.
Only all that was behind her now.
As she watched, a car signalled then turned into the drive and she shut the door abruptly, almost squealing. ‘They’re here! They’re here!’
Pete looked at her, shaking his head affectionately. ‘Yes, they are. Maybe letting them in would be a good idea.’
And, smiling, she unclicked the latch again, throwing open the door to what she hoped would be a bright future.