Chapter 24
Noah felt quite pleased that Beth had agreed to his idea about running a stargazing session the following weekend. Surely someone with that amount of passion and knowledge alongside her talkative nature, had to be a natural teacher?
But he left her alone with her friends so they could ease her obvious nerves and headed into the snug to get himself a well-earned beer. It had been a long day driving to Brighton and back, he realised, suddenly feeling tired.
Ben spotted him as soon as he walked into the snug and beckoned him over to the snooker table.
‘Hey, you okay?’ he asked. ‘That was a long drive in a day.’
Noah nodded. ‘Yeah, thankfully the traffic was okay.’
‘Here, take my beer,’ said Ben, handing over his bottle. ‘I haven’t touched it yet. I’ll get another.’
‘That won’t help you win!’ called out a man who was standing next to Alex by the snooker table.
Alex smiled at Noah. ‘This is Jake,’ he said. ‘Our far noisier other best friend.’
Noah had heard that Jake had been due to arrive that evening for an overnight stay. With so many hotel rooms still empty after the storm, there were plenty spare to choose from.
Jake grinned and held out his hand to shake Noah’s. ‘Hi,’ he said, as they shook hands. ‘Good to finally put a face to the name after all I’ve heard about you.’
Noah wondered what had been said about him already. He could normally guess the description given about him to anyone from his past.
Alex’s smile immediately went rigid with politeness. ‘What he means is that Ben has told us all about you staying to help build the lodges,’ he said quickly. ‘Everyone is hugely relieved.’
‘Yeah, that’s a good thing that you’re doing for the family,’ added Jake. ‘Although of course, technically you’re family so you’re doing it for yourself, I guess.’
Alex rolled his eyes. ‘Here,’ he said, placing a nearby bottle of beer into his friend’s hands. ‘Take this and fill your mouth where your foot might otherwise go.’
Noah smiled.
‘Thankfully he’s a chef so he’s better with food than good manners,’ said Alex. ‘And he’s also the resident bachelor around here, supposedly able to woo most women at twenty paces.’
‘Not all women,’ said Jake as Ella walked into the room with an empty glass. ‘Ella!’ he called out. ‘Not surprised you’ve downed that cocktail so easily. Witch’s Brew? Suits you down to the ground.’
Ella glared at Jake. ‘Don’t make me flip my witch switch,’ she snapped and carried on walking towards the bar where Frankie was experimenting with lots of different-coloured drinks.
‘She loves me,’ declared Jake, laughing.
Alex caught Noah’s confused expression.
‘She really doesn’t,’ he told Noah. ‘Ella and Jake have one of those relationships based on pure hate. For some reason, they rub each other up the wrong way every time they meet.’
‘That’s because she’s crazy about me,’ announced Jake loudly. ‘She doth protest too much otherwise.’
Ella picked up her drink from the bar but stopped walking on her way back towards the lounge to glare at Jake.
‘I would totally agree with you but then we’d both be wrong,’ she told him.
‘Let’s be clear, it’s not just me you hate but every male, is that right?’ he retorted.
‘Surely not Tiny,’ said Alex. ‘Who could hate Tiny?’
‘Dogs are always welcome,’ Ella told him. ‘It’s men that are merely tolerated.’
Obviously desperate to bring about some kind of peace between them, Alex then asked Ella, ‘Are you going to come for the Halloween night swim next weekend?’
Ella shuddered. ‘Not on your life,’ she replied. ‘Besides, I have to work.’
‘She’s like the Wicked Witch of the West,’ announced Jake. ‘She can’t go near water for fear of melting.’
‘I’d wade through that lake if it meant getting away from you,’ snapped Ella.
With one last glare at Jake, she strode out of the room.
Noah thought that Ella was a handful but from what he had seen, she was also a good and supportive friend so he wondered if perhaps it was just Jake who wound her up.
‘And this is why we’re keeping those two apart this evening,’ said Ben, returning to the table. ‘Before anyone ends up in the water unexpectedly.’
‘Yeah and I haven’t got my lifeguard suit with me,’ said Alex, with a grin.
‘So what’s this about a Halloween-themed night swim?’ said Noah.
Alex nodded. ‘Next Friday night. We’ve got a ton of people coming,’ he said, his eyes gleaming with enthusiasm. ‘You’re welcome to join in.’
‘Or you could just remain on dry, warm land like a normal person,’ drawled Jake.
‘I might be busy helping prepare Beth for her stargazing lecture,’ said Noah, thinking quickly of an excuse not to swim in the freezing-cold water that weekend. ‘Especially as it was all my idea.’
All three men turned to look at him.
‘Beth’s what?’ spluttered Alex.
‘She’s just agreed to run a small course on Saturday night teaching some of your hotel guests about the stars,’ Noah told Ben.
Ben’s face lit up. ‘That’s great,’ he said. ‘Was it Lily’s idea? She’s normally spot on with things like that.’
‘Actually I think I take the blame for that particular idea,’ Noah told him.
Ben’s grin grew wider. ‘Brilliant,’ he said. ‘If you keep going with the business ideas then we’ll be in the black by the end of the winter!’
Noah didn’t want to explain to his cousin that he had actually suggested it for Beth’s good rather than the hotel’s. But if both benefitted then perhaps that would be a double win.
‘Hey! I know a guy who’s got loads of space stuff I can get hold of,’ said a man sitting nearby on a bar stool.
Noah recognised him as Frankie’s godson Del who had driven Walter to the hospital in his taxi during the storm.
Despite his kind offer, Noah was surprised to hear the other men immediately groan.
He looked at Ben with raised eyebrows.
‘Whenever Del decides to help us, we all suffer,’ Ben told him, with a weary smile.
‘Which is why he has the nickname Dodgy Del,’ added Jake.
‘It’s not that he’s not generous,’ said Alex. ‘It just that it always ends in disaster for whoever he tries to help.’
‘Hey!’ protested Del. ‘Don’t be like that.’
‘Might I remind you of the wetsuits you tried to sell me,’ Alex told him. ‘When I tried one out, it immediately filled with water and I nearly drowned in the lake.’
‘Honest mistake,’ said Del, quickly. ‘That was a supplier issue. Listen, let me talk to my mate. He’s into all that space NASA stuff.’
Del picked up his phone and wandered away, seemingly oblivious to the men’s groans.
‘Let’s just hope that’s the end of Del’s involvement around here for the time being,’ said Ben, before looking at Noah. ‘Right. Do you want to join us for the next game? I’ve been losing badly up to now and could use all the help I can get.’
‘Sure,’ said Noah. ‘Just to warn you, I’m pretty good thanks to spending too many hours in the pub with Dad growing up.’
‘Excellent,’ replied Ben, with a grin. ‘Family vs mates it is,’ he told his best friends.
‘Bring it on, Jacksons,’ said Jake, chalking up his snooker cue.
It had been a long time since Noah had been part of a team. But as he played and won the next game of snooker with Ben, to his surprise he found himself enjoying it.
And he began to wonder whether perhaps staying at Maple Tree Lodge that winter might not be quite as bad as he had initially feared.