Chapter 9
Ben was feeling a little more optimistic about the hotel’s chances of survival as the morning went on.
The electrician had told him that the rewiring of the entire lodge was almost complete. The plasterers had completed the ceiling of the reception hall so at least his grandad could stop grumbling over the scaffold as it would be taken down the following day.
Last and perhaps best of all, Lily seemed entirely on board with his vision for the hotel.
Although he was a little unsettled by the fact that his sister had invited her to stay whilst the redecoration was carried out.
‘I don’t understand what the problem is,’ said Hannah, when he mentioned it to her when they met in the lounge later in the morning.
‘I’m not sure Mum will want to keep catering for one more person every day,’ he told her.
Hannah laughed. ‘Are you kidding? Mum’s thrilled.’
‘OK,’ carried on Ben. ‘How about the fact that she’s here to work and that we’ve got an awful lot to do? I’m not sure she’s going to have time to chat and gossip with you every day.’
Hannah raised her eyebrows. ‘Can’t she do both?’ she said in a sarcastic tone. ‘She’s very gifted.’
Ben blew out a long sigh. ‘I’m not sure she needed to move in here, whatever the circumstances,’ he replied.
Hannah made a face. ‘She’s living in a rubbish place and the lease is about to run out.’
He shrugged his shoulders. ‘So why can’t she just find somewhere else to live?’ he snapped.
‘Because she’s my friend and it’s my home too,’ Hannah told him, with a glare.
‘I know,’ he said.
‘So I’ve invited Beth and Ella to stay next weekend as well, not that I need your permission for that either, big bro,’ she carried on.
He was surprised but actually pleased to find his sister sounding a little stronger, a little more self-confident. Perhaps having her friend to stay would do her good and she would begin to break out of her shell a bit, he thought.
Working in that grotty pub in Aldwych didn’t help, of course.
Staff turnover was always high there for a reason, because the manager was so awful.
He knew Hannah downplayed how miserable she was there but he had always tried to protect her from any school bullies, always tried to look out for her, even though they were both now in their early thirties.
Perhaps he could have a quiet word with Lily whilst she was around. See if they could both work on Hannah to find another job, at least until the hotel reopened. After all, she had known Lily for many years and obviously trusted her.
‘OK.’ He held up his hands in submission. ‘Point taken.’
‘Can’t you just be a little nicer these days?’ asked Hannah, shaking her head.
‘I’m always nice,’ he told her, offended.
‘You used to be until you became hotel manager.’
Hannah gave him a wink to offset her jibe before she walked out of the room.
Ben’s shoulders sagged as he leant back on the sofa.
He knew he ended up borderline nagging each day.
He felt permanently miserable and just couldn’t see a way out.
Perhaps when the hotel was finally finished, he could take a step back and begin to enjoy himself again.
But if they didn’t receive any guests, he couldn’t see what the future was.
When he wandered into the kitchen a short while later and found everyone but Lily making themselves lunch, Ben braced himself for the worst before speaking.
‘There’s a company coming tomorrow to install the wireless internet,’ he announced. ‘It should be accessible from every room in the hotel.’
‘At last,’ said Hannah, clapping her hands. ‘It’ll be so nice not to wait until I go to work to download stuff.’
‘Pah!’ Walter, who was sitting at the table, gave a shrug. ‘Folks should come here to switch off, not look at their phones.’
‘Good thing too with the lack of wi-fi,’ drawled Frankie, pouring herself a glass of water. ‘There’s absolutely no signal out here which is no good for all my suitors lining up to ask me for a date.’
‘Well, after tomorrow, that might just be sorted,’ Ben told her.
Frankie laughed. ‘The dates or the wi-fi?’ she asked.
He smiled at the small joke because it was so rare to hear Frankie laugh these days.
They had known her all their lives as she was their mum’s best friend.
But she had had a chequered love life and her last husband had turned out to be abusive.
She had gotten out of the marriage but not before an air of sadness had descended upon her.
Faye had offered her the spare room in the staff quarters a couple of months ago and she had stayed with them ever since as a receptionist-cum-girl-Friday-cum-anything.
Her biggest role most of the time, along with Ben’s mum, was as peacemaker, it felt.
‘Anyway,’ he said, dragging the conversation back to more pressing matters. ‘That company with the solar panels are coming on Tuesday so at least things are moving forward at last.’
Walter nodded. ‘That’s the first good idea you’ve had. Use the sun for our energy.’
‘If we ever get any,’ quipped Frankie.
‘We’ve got to do something,’ Ben told her. ‘The electricity bills are still way too high. I’m hoping once the electrician’s finished, the new circuit board will get the costs down a bit.’
‘You could always ask Del for ideas,’ said Frankie.
Ben immediately shook his head. Del was Frankie’s godson.
He had been the local coach driver until that business had begun to dry up and he had turned his hand to becoming a taxi driver instead.
Del was a nice guy, always trying to be helpful around the local villages.
It was just that his dubious ideas to help out his friends and himself had earned him the nickname Dodgy Del a long time ago.
Trouble followed Del everywhere he went, despite his generous nature.
Thankfully Ben was saved by the phone ringing in the main reception and Frankie went to answer it. He sat down next to his grandad at the table.
‘So now that things are moving forward,’ said Ben, ‘we need to decide on a date to reopen properly.’
‘And then you’ll go?’ asked Walter.
Ben baulked. Was his grandad so desperate for him to leave already? ‘I thought I’d stay on a bit longer to help,’ he said slowly.
‘We don’t need your help,’ said Walter, his mouth set in a firm line.
For a moment, he looked every bit of his seventy-nine years of age and Ben’s heart ached. This was the man who had taught him how to fish. About the trees and the land. About the lake and the nature surrounding it.
Nobody wanted this place to be sold. It was their home. Their bolt-hole. And he was needed, however bad it made the atmosphere.
‘This land has been in our family for five generations,’ said Walter, sticking to an old, familiar routine.
‘And I’m trying to make sure it stays in the family for another five,’ Ben told him.
‘Why? Have you got some great-grandchildren for me hidden away somewhere?’ asked Walter, with a rare twinkle in his eye.
‘Not given the state of my love life at the present time,’ muttered Ben.
‘Even Dodgy Del’s had more dates than you, from what Frankie tells me,’ said Walter.
They exchanged a small smile. ‘I pity those poor women,’ said Ben.
Walter nodded. ‘Me too. You’re not going to let him near our new, entirely safe electrics, are you?’
Ben shook his head. ‘Absolutely not,’ he replied. ‘I’ve said that he can do a few of the odd jobs around here to save money on the main contractors but he’s not touching anything that compromises safety. With his track record? Definitely not.’
Ben glanced at his phone and saw that he had received a notification from the bank that morning. Funds were definitely beginning to run low.
The hotel had been an albatross around their necks all of their lives. Would the hotel survive another year? And the year after that as well? He just didn’t know.
But it was still home. Where they always returned to.
And where would he go to anyway? If he could get the hotel back up and running then surely he could design his own buildings for the future. He missed designing and building something with his own hands though.
But that all felt a very long way away. Frankie came back in, chatting about the phone call she’d just received which was from the local newsagents.
She still needed a safe place to stay. Then there was his sister, who had declared that she was never moving away from Maple Tree Lodge ever again.
His mum was still grieving, still trying to work out her place in the world without her beloved husband.
She hadn’t worked out what to do with the rest of her life either.
They had all just about managed to get through the first six months without Ben’s dad, but then what?
His grandparents had just lost their only son and they too were rudderless and uneasy about the future. Dotty spent her time knitting and worrying about Walter. Walter was just cross about everything and seemingly unhappy.
For Ben, the worst feeling was what if his business skills were actually rubbish? What if he couldn’t save the hotel for his family, what then?
So many people dependent on him and sometimes it felt overwhelming. Frankie had once referred to herself as a waif and stray. Now even Lily appeared to be joining them for a while. Another person to be responsible for.
They were all desperate for the security of Maple Tree Lodge but the trouble was, he couldn’t tell them that it wasn’t secure at all.