Chapter 3
Beth woke up with a crick in her neck, finding herself in a ray of sun peeping through the window and straight into her eyes.
She blinked in the bright light before staring up at the ceiling, trying to remember where she was. Oak beams. Wide picture window next to her, with a glorious view of Dragonfly Lake glittering under an October blue sky. She smiled to herself. She was at Maple Tree Lodge. She was home.
She sprang off the sofa and was about to whoop with delight when she noticed the handsome man still asleep in the bed and stopped short with a silent gasp.
The night before came back to her at breakneck speed.
Rushing away from horrible Jeremy, heartbroken and only thinking of getting back to her beloved home from home.
Stumbling across Noah in the middle of the night, in the middle of a power cut.
There had obviously been some kind of mix-up with the bedrooms. Not that she minded, the sofa had been comfortable enough.
What she did mind was that she was still in her pyjamas and desperate to see the family downstairs.
So she picked up her bag as silently as she could and crept into the bathroom to get changed.
Five minutes later and she was dressed. She checked her phone but there were no messages from Jeremy.
No apologies, no voicemail begging her to go back.
She sighed and shook her head in sad dismay at her reflection before turning away.
Finding Noah still asleep when she came out of the bathroom, she padded silently across the thick carpet to the bedroom door. She reached out to the door handle, checking back at the bed to make sure she wasn’t disturbing him.
She allowed herself a slow leisurely check of his handsome face, relaxed in sleep. He was around her age, in his early thirties, with dark hair, a five o’clock shadow across his chin and that bare muscular torso that she had already seen the night before.
She stood there admiring him for a moment, a smile beginning to play on her lips before she abruptly shook her head at herself. What was she thinking of? She had literally just been cheated on by Jeremy! It was definitely time to stay single and let her romantic dreams lie dormant for a while.
With a determined nod, she left the bedroom and headed downstairs.
Everything looked and felt better in the daylight, she realised. The double height of the oak-beamed entrance hall shone in the morning sunshine and she was almost tempted to hum to herself as she headed past the reception desk and into the family kitchen.
At once, she was enveloped in the aroma of home cooking and the sound of the Jackson family milling around, getting the breakfast service ready for their guests and chatting away to each other.
However, as soon as they spotted her, a cry went up around the large oak table where everyone had gathered and various members of the family rushed across to greet her.
Her best friend Hannah was first, her long blonde hair flying behind her as she raced up to Beth.
‘Lily’s just told us that you arrived last night!’ she said, drawing her best friend into a hug. ‘I hate the reason why you’re here but love that you are.’
Sweet Hannah, thought Beth. As usual, she smelt of the delicious cakes and pastries that she made for her café in the old boathouse on the lake.
Next was Alex, Hannah’s boyfriend. An ex-athlete, he was a gentle giant and when he greeted her with a hug, she barely came up to his shoulders.
‘Sorry about your relationship,’ he told her, stepping back and almost standing on Tiny, his enormous Newfoundland dog, in the process.
Tiny didn’t appear to mind, merely wagging his tail at all the excitement in the kitchen.
Beth shrugged away the pain in her heart and reached down to stroke Tiny.
‘Better off without him, to be honest,’ she replied.
Although the worry about how she was going to pay her rent going forward if she had lost her job was beginning to weigh heavily on her.
‘Anyway, I’m just glad to be here,’ she added, as she straightened up.
‘And we’re glad to have you,’ said Faye, Hannah and Ben’s mother, coming forward to embrace her.
She was the kind of mother that Beth had always dreamt of having. Supportive, loving, always available with a shoulder to cry on alongside home cooking to nourish and make you feel better.
After Faye, Frankie stepped forward. She was Faye’s acerbic best friend who had come to live with the family after her marriage broke down. She wasn’t known for having a soft and forgiving take on relationships so Beth braced herself for the inevitable.
‘Listen,’ said Frankie, after she’d hugged Beth. ‘Men cheat because their brains are in their pants. And pants aren’t known for logical thinking. So, how about I put a shot of vodka in your orange juice to keep the pain away?’
There was a chorus of disapproval to which Frankie made a face at them. ‘It’s for the vitamin C! And it’s very important to keep it topped up with winter coming.’
‘Thanks but I’ll stick with the coffee,’ Beth told her.
‘Spoilsport,’ said Frankie, with a wink.
Next to greet her was Ben, Hannah’s brother and manager of the hotel.
‘Hey, good to see you,’ he said, giving her a wave. ‘Can’t believe you crept around in the darkness like that last night.’
‘It was fine,’ Beth told him. ‘And the power cut’s all fixed now, I guess?’
Ben nodded but didn’t look particularly happy. ‘Till the next time,’ he muttered in reply.
‘I keep telling him it’s just electricity,’ said Dotty, Ben and Hannah’s grandmother, squeezing past him. ‘Nothing important.’
Dotty was a diminutive powerhouse despite being nearly eighty and Beth crouched down to hug her.
‘Lovely to see you,’ said Beth.
‘You know, I’m pretty certain I had that exact same miniskirt in the 1960s,’ said Dotty, giving her an appreciative look.
Beth glanced down at the outfit that she had dressed in without much thought that morning. As usual, it was a vintage purchase from a charity shop.
Always struggling to find enough funds growing up, Beth had become used to buying her clothes second hand.
As she had become an adult, she had found herself drawn to the vintage styles of the 1960s and 1970s.
Sometimes she struck gold in the charity shops and found a real designer item where the quality far outshone the modern-day thinner materials.
That day’s outfit was a case in point. She had been delighted to discover an original Mary Quant miniskirt in a charity shop in London many years previously.
The red and black tartan coordinated beautifully with her thick black tights and red V-neck jumper.
‘Dotty, you can borrow my skirt any time,’ Beth told her.
‘Not sure she’s got the legs for it these days,’ said Walter, Dotty’s husband, shooting his wife a grin. ‘Hello, love,’ he added, giving Beth a small hug. Walter’s often gruff exterior masked a soft heart underneath.
‘Walter, lovely to see you,’ said Beth. ‘But I have to disagree with you for once. Dotty’s got fantastic legs.’
‘I know,’ said Walter, with a grin. ‘I just don’t want her getting a big head.’
‘Now, what’s all this about running out on your boyfriend?’ Ever straight to the point, Dotty led Beth over to the table.
‘Maybe she doesn’t want to talk about it, Grandma,’ said Hannah in a pointed tone.
‘Rubbish,’ said Dotty. ‘She’s family and we’re here to help.’
‘Here to stick our noses in, more like it,’ muttered Walter, sitting down at the head of the table.
‘I know what I’m talking about,’ said Dotty. ‘The poor girl’s obviously heartbroken.’
‘I’ll be okay,’ said Beth, putting on her bravest smile. ‘Oh, and talking of family, Walter. I’m afraid I gave your nephew a bit of a fright last night.’
‘Nephew?’ repeated Lily, staring at her with wide eyes. ‘What nephew? Who are you talking about?’
‘Ben and Hannah’s cousin,’ said Beth, turning to look around at everyone.
At the time, she had thought it was odd that Lily hadn’t mentioned him staying at the hotel, given how close they were as a family. But then again it had been a busy night for everyone, she had reminded herself.
‘Our cousin?’ said Ben, still looking perplexed. ‘You mean Noah?’
‘When did you meet Noah?’ asked Hannah, looking as confused as her brother.
‘I think somebody got their lines mixed up in all the confusion of the power cut last night,’ Beth told them. ‘We were both allocated the spare bedroom. You know, the first one on the right-hand side in the family quarter.’
‘Wait a minute,’ said Ben, dragging a hand through his hair. ‘Let me get this straight. Noah is here?’
He looked shocked and now Beth was confused.
‘You didn’t know?’ she asked.
‘No!’ spluttered Ben, looking angry. ‘How did he get here? Did he just break into our home?’
‘Why would he break in?’ Beth began to ask but Ben was looking around at his family for answers.
‘Of course he didn’t break into the place,’ said Walter, smacking his coffee mug down onto the table a little forcefully. ‘He was here at my request.’
‘Your request?’ said Hannah with wide eyes.
‘It’s still my hotel, isn’t it?’ asked Walter, with a glare.
‘Of course, Grandad,’ replied Ben quickly.
‘It’s everyone’s hotel and everyone’s home,’ said Faye, ever the peacemaker in the family.
‘So I can invite whoever I like to stay,’ said Walter, still looking riled. ‘Including my great-nephew.’
‘That’s not what I was getting at,’ Ben told him, shaking his head. ‘But I had no idea he was even here. When did he arrive?’
‘Yesterday evening,’ replied Walter. ‘It was late and I figured we still had that room spare. Didn’t know Beth was coming too.’
‘To be fair, it was a last-minute decision on my part,’ said Beth, anxious that nobody fell out over her bad break-up. ‘I didn’t mean to confuse matters.’
‘You didn’t,’ Lily told her, with a reassuring smile. ‘But wait a minute. If Noah slept in the spare bedroom, where did you sleep?’
‘In the same bedroom,’ Beth told her.
The shocked silence that followed was only punctuated by Walter as he dropped his toast back onto his plate with a soft thud.
‘You, er, the same room?’ he spluttered, staring at Beth in surprise before glancing at his wife. ‘Dotty, say something,’ he added in a stage whisper.
‘You go, girl!’ said Dotty, grinning at Beth.
Alex spluttered into his coffee before reaching out for a napkin to wipe his dripping chin. ‘Sorry,’ he added, shaking his head at Dotty whilst laughing.
‘It’s not like that,’ said Beth, who was also laughing. ‘It was obvious that there was some kind of mix-up with the rooms so I slept on the sofa. Honestly! What kind of a girl do you think I am?’
But as everyone else laughed, Ben was still frowning.
‘It’s not you that we don’t trust,’ muttered Ben.
‘Now don’t be like that,’ said Walter, his laughter fading as he looked at his grandson. ‘The lad had a rough start in life. I’m sure that’s all behind him now.’
‘Is it?’ Ben was still frowning. ‘You know that for definite, do you?’
‘I think I do actually,’ said Walter, his eyes flaring.
‘He seemed okay at the funeral last month,’ added Dotty. ‘But we only saw him briefly.’
‘What do you mean that you don’t trust him?’ asked Beth, looking between the two men. She felt bewildered by the tense atmosphere as the two men had grown so close since Ben had moved back there over a year ago.
‘What I mean is that you’ve no idea who you just shared a room with,’ Ben told her.
‘Why? Who is he?’ Beth was stunned, her mind now racing with awful possibilities.
Hannah looked at her best friend and grinned. ‘You’ve just spent the night with Noah, the biggest bad boy of them all.’
Beth gasped. She couldn’t believe it.
A sudden movement at the doorway made everyone turn their heads and Beth joined them to look at Noah, who had just stepped into the kitchen and had presumably heard every word.