Return to the Lakeside Hotel (Escape to Switzerland #2)
Chapter One
Tuesday, 24 th October
And they were off. Stacy Townsend smoothed her pale pink bridesmaid’s dress with one hand, then gripped her bouquet of roses and gypsophila and followed the procession down the aisle to the strains of Pachelbel’s Canon in D major. It was lovely, it was traditional, it was everything a bride could ever dream of – everything she’d dreamt of, when she thought she would be an October bride too. But here she was, second bridesmaid at her brother’s wedding, with the main job of keeping an eye on the four-year-old flower girl in front of her. Hard to believe how her life had changed in the past few months. She was single again, while in a few minutes’ time, her big brother was going to be a ‘happily married man’, and you only had to look at him and Jo to know that in Gareth’s case, the cliché was bang on.
Stacy blinked back tears as they continued down the aisle, but she was in good company there. Mum was in floods and so was Jo’s mum and oh, she was happy for Gareth and Jo, she really was. Those two had taken one look at each other last spring and they’d known, hadn’t they? Stacy had to force herself not to look at her empty engagement finger. That part of her life was well and truly behind her. Or no, it wasn’t, because while David might be history, the ghosts of everything she’d planned were still right up there in her head. And why on earth it had taken her years of her life to realise that David’s list of priorities was in direct contrast to hers, she had no idea. Stacy tilted her chin in the air. She wouldn’t make that mistake again.
And here they were at the bottom – or was it the top? – of the aisle, and the vicar was waiting with a Cheshire cat smile on his face as Gareth claimed Jo’s hand and the ceremony began. Stacy heaved a shaky sigh, and settled down in her pew beside Maisie the flower girl. The worst part about today was, every single member of her family in this church had expected to be going to Stacy’s wedding this autumn, and here they were at Gareth’s. She was going to need all her courage to keep smiling through the reception. But today was Gareth’s day, and Jo’s, and she was damned well going to do her best to make it a good one for them. Go, girl.
***
‘All right, Stacy?’
Stacy smiled through gritted teeth. If she had to answer that question one more time, she would scream. There couldn’t be many people left at the reception who hadn’t poured sympathy over her. This time, it was Amira the chief bridesmaid’s grandma who was wearing the concerned expression, so not even her side of the family. Did everyone here know that she’d been dumped by the guy she’d been head over heels with ever since she was fourteen? Correction, he hadn’t even had the decency to dump her; his new girlfriend had done that for him. Mind you, when she thought about it for more than two seconds, she knew David was a class A scumbag and she was well rid of him, but… Stacy shook herself and gave Amira’s grandma the now-standard answer.
‘Yes – and doesn’t Jo make a lovely bride?’
The old lady took her hand and gave it a little squeeze. ‘You’ll have a wedding ring on there one day too, lovey, and when you do, you’ll wonder why you ever spent a single second moping after a dud like the one you’re well rid of.’
Stacy couldn’t stop the smile spreading over her face. ‘My friend Emily calls him David Dastardly. He’s actually a very good doctor, but I take your point. I wouldn’t go back, not really.’
‘No, you wouldn’t. You’d want things different, but life doesn’t always work out the way we want it to. Look, they’re calling everyone to sing Auld Lang Syne. On you go and join the bridal party.’
Amira’s grandma gave her a little push. Stacy dashed off to find Maisie the flower girl, and took her to their place beside Gareth and Jo and Amira. She’d made it to the end of the reception, so she only had tomorrow morning to get through, and then it would be over.
***
In spite of the late night, Stacy was up early the next morning. She pulled on jeans, glancing at the pink bridesmaid’s dress hanging on the back of the hotel room door. The morning after a wedding was usually a bit of an anti-climax. Unless you were the bride or groom, of course, in which case it was the start of a whole new life. But thank heavens it was the morning after now. The hard part was done, and she’d managed so much better than she’d thought she would.
The best bit was, there would be no more weddings for her in the foreseeable. In fact, the way she was feeling now, if she never saw another man again it would be too soon. For the next year she would concentrate on her lovely new job at the Lakeside Hotel in Switzerland. The week she and Emily had spent there last summer had changed both their lives. Em had fallen for Alan, a summer barman, and Stacy had helped Rico, the manager’s son, realise that he was destined to turn the failing hotel into a spa. Whereupon he’d offered her a job as spa nurse, and bring it on.
A tap came at the door. ‘Stacy, darling? Ready to go downstairs?’
Oh dear – Mum’s voice was all quavery again. Stacy opened the door and was immediately pressed to her mother’s ample bosom.
‘Mum! Let me breathe!’
Janie Townsend sniffed dolefully. ‘I only have another two days to hug you. I want to make the most of them.’
Stacy grabbed her bag. Poor Mum – one chick away on his honeymoon for two weeks, the other about to flee the country to start a sparkly new job. She linked arms with her mother as they joined Dad at the lift.
‘Chin up, Mum. We can facetime as often as you like.’ And hopefully she wouldn’t regret saying that.
Her father winked. ‘Don’t worry, Stacy. Your mother and I have a shop to reorganise for Gareth and Jo’s return. She won’t have the energy to mope.’
Janie joined in the laughter. ‘I’m ready to shift stationery around, John Townsend, but if you think setting up a craft room at the shop is going to make me miss Stacy less, you’ve another think coming.’ She marched into the hotel dining room, where the wedding guests who’d stayed over had a big table to themselves.
Stacy collected scrambled egg and bacon, and sat listening as Mum chatted to Jo’s aunt from London. And oh, help – next time she was sitting at a table with a crowd of other people like this, they’d all be speaking a different language. Had she learned enough German to let her join in? A couple of large-sized butterflies started crashing around in her stomach.
Two o’clock saw her back in Elton Abbey, in her room in Emily’s flat. Her friend came in while Stacy was unpacking her overnight bag.
‘Bet you can’t wait to be spa nurse!’ Emily plumped down on the bed.
‘I won’t be doing much nursing for the first few months. We have to renovate the hotel, install a few spa facilities, and find the guests to use them first.’
‘At least you have a nice boss. Rico’s a darling.’
Stacy shot Emily a pointed look. According to Em, Rico, the acting manager of the hotel, was head over heels in love with her already, but that was wildly exaggerated. He liked her, yes, or he wouldn’t have offered her the job, but she wasn’t going to start anything with anyone until she’d squashed David right behind her. ‘I don’t need – or want – a darling. I need a job, and at least in Switzerland…’ She stuck out her tongue at Emily.
In Switzerland, she wouldn’t have happily married Gareth and Jo in her face all the time, or loved-up Emily and Alan. Or the ghost of her broken engagement, or the danger of running into David and leggy Lucy, his new girlfriend, every time she went to a bar or restaurant. Switzerland was escape, and boy, was she glad to have the chance to live in Grimsbach by lovely Lake Constance and help renovate the gorgeous old wooden chalet that was the Lakeside Hotel. Rico was a nice boss, sure, but she wasn’t in any kind of place to think about anything more with him, no matter what Emily said.