Chapter 25
With the stargazing evening arranged quite hastily, her friends persuaded Beth to give up the last few weeks of tenancy in her ghastly flat and move into Maple Tree Lodge for a while.
‘We’ve got both spare rooms in the family quarters available,’ Lily told her. ‘You can have one and Noah has the other.’
Beth loved the idea of staying longer than the usual weekends at her favourite place in the world but she still felt uneasy about not paying her way whilst staying there.
‘Look at it this way,’ said Ella, as they drove back into London the following morning.
‘The stargazing night will generate footfall to the hotel which is all good. You’re still helping out Lily with cleaning the guest rooms as well as giving Hannah a hand in the café.
In the meantime, my Saturday night post is always my most viewed.
I’m going to mention your Starry Nights blog so you’ll be drowning in clicks after that. ’
Ella was a social media whiz who was also fast becoming a popular influencer online.
Despite her best friend’s skills, Beth remained nervous about her future. ‘Perhaps I could get another job up here,’ she said, as they pulled up outside the run-down block of flats where she had been living for the past five months.
Ella turned to her and made a face. ‘Working for strangers for an absolute pittance?’ she said, giving her a stern look. ‘And then trying to find somewhere to live in an expensive city? Was that why you studied so hard all those years?’
Beth sighed. ‘It’s just not been as I had dreamt it would be,’ she said.
‘It never is,’ drawled Ella, who had quite a cynical view on life unless it was supporting her friends, in which case she was absolute in her positivity. ‘But listen, give the stargazing guide thing a go. What have you got to lose?’
‘I think that’s what Noah was trying to tell me as well,’ replied Beth.
Ella raised her eyebrows. ‘Well, if two vastly different people are telling you the same thing then perhaps there might be something in it, don’t you think?’
They made quick work of packing up Beth’s rented room. She had no furniture to her name, just clothes, equipment and many, many books.
Ella grumbled about her sore arms as they went up and down the stairs many times but finally Beth’s Fiat was packed to the ceiling with all that she owned.
‘I wish you were coming back with me,’ said Beth, as she stepped forward to hug Ella.
‘Me too,’ Ella told her. ‘But I needed to go into the London office before heading home so thanks for the lift. Saves me one long train journey in any case. Besides, Lily and Hannah have promised me frequent updates on your glowing success on Saturday night.’
Beth blanched. ‘Let’s hope it is a success,’ she muttered.
‘You’ll be fine,’ replied Ella, taking her by the shoulders and giving her a stern look. ‘If most people have got as minimal knowledge of the stars as I have then anything you tell them will be of huge interest. Oh, and wear one of your miniskirts as well.’
‘Why?’ asked Beth.
‘Just in case there’s any male guests,’ Ella told her with a grin. ‘Couldn’t do any harm, would it?’
Beth laughed as they parted company. But her good mood faded as her doubts remained.
Over the long drive back to the Cotswolds, she built herself up into such a fret about how she wasn’t at all capable of running a stargazing evening that by the time she parked her car she was all ready to tell Lily that she had changed her mind.
But just as she had got out of the car, she saw Noah heading towards her across the car park.
‘Saw you pull up and thought you might need a hand,’ he said, going around to open up the car boot.
‘Thanks,’ she told him. ‘Listen, I’ve been thinking, and you’re wrong.’
‘Okay,’ he replied, picking up a box with ease before giving her a look.
‘Don’t you want to know what I’m talking about?’ she asked, pulling a small suitcase out of the boot.
‘Of course,’ he said, as they walked towards the hotel. ‘But, as usual, I feel certain that you’re going to tell me anyway.’
‘Oh. Well, I’m talkative,’ she told him. ‘Always have been.’
‘That is in no way a surprise to me,’ he replied, pausing to shift the box in his hands. ‘What’s in here, by the way? Blocks of concrete? Heavy machinery?’
She looked down at the box in his hands and thought for a moment. ‘That’s where my telescopes are, I think.’
‘Telescopes plural?’ he asked, as they went through the front doors of the hotel. ‘How many do you have?’
‘I have five,’ she told him.
‘Five telescopes!’ he replied. ‘Isn’t that a little excessive?’
‘Not at all,’ she said. ‘They each have a specific purpose. My favourite is my Dobsonian one. I saved up for years for that one. The others all do different apertures as well.’
‘Okay,’ he told her as they went across the entrance hall to climb the stairs. ‘I get why you need telescopes and technology but what about this book on the top here?’
She glanced across and saw a leather-bound book with the words Star Atlas imprinted on the front.
‘I kind of figured that you’d know where all the stars are, having a PhD and all,’ he carried on.
‘Of course, but I’ve had this since I was sixteen.
It was the first book I ever bought about astronomy,’ she told him.
‘I mean, there’s planetarium apps too which you can use.
You just hold your phone up to the sky and the screen shows the night sky labelled with all the different constellations, stars and planets. But I’m an old-fashioned nerd.’
He nodded. ‘I bet you were great at school exams,’ he said.
‘I loved all the lessons at school,’ she told him. ‘Especially the sciences. Except biology. Dissecting that frog made me queasy.’
They walked along the upstairs corridor towards the family quarters. ‘Shouldn’t you be working at NASA or something?’ he asked.
Beth giggled. ‘That would be totally amazing, wouldn’t it?’
‘So we might see you go into space at some point?’ he said, with a grin.
She grimaced. ‘Love to but can’t.’ Then she laughed. ‘I get sick on the London Tube so I think it’s unlikely. Besides, my career didn’t really pan out like I’d hoped so I’m not sure I’ll be an astronaut at any point.’
He opened up the door to the guest bedroom she would be staying in and put down the box on the bed.
Beth pulled up the suitcase to place it next to the wardrobe and wandered across to pick up the Star Atlas from the top of the box.
‘Maybe I should have just left it as a hobby,’ she said to herself as she stared down at the book. ‘Maybe that would have been for the best.’
‘And give up on your dreams?’ said Noah, coming to stand next to her. ‘Never.’
She looked up at him. ‘What if I fail again? Next Saturday, I mean. What if I’m not any good at being a stargazing guide?’
He stared down at her for a moment. ‘Why don’t I join the group as well? Then you can say whatever you want to just me. Forget about everyone else, however many people will be there. Just teach me, like you did the other night.’
Beth felt a lump in her throat. ‘You’d do that for me?’ she asked.
He nodded. ‘As long as I don’t drop any heavy telescopes on my feet helping you carry all this lot in,’ he told her, with a wink.
As she followed him out of the bedroom, Beth smiled to herself. Feeling buoyed up by his support, she truly hoped that she could do this.
Besides, wouldn’t it be amazing to put all her hard-earned knowledge to good use? Just for once? She would find out on Saturday night, she thought.