The Love Trilogy: Room For Love / An A To Z Of Love / Summer Of Love. Sophie Pembroke

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       Chapter 11

      When she woke up on Friday morning, Carrie’s first instinct was to crawl under the blanket and stay there.

      She’d spent two weeks in thrall to The List, and in places the inn still looked like a run-down 1970s motel. On the plus side, at least the Seniors had stayed out of her way—she didn’t think she’d seen Stan or Cyb since she’d spoken to Ruth, and even Moira had only popped in to deliver Nate’s lunches, as far as Carrie could tell.

      Nate, unfortunately, had been similarly absent. Which wasn’t to say he wasn’t busy working. Carrie would leave a note with Izzie in the morning about something she’d thought of for him to do, and when she went to check that evening, it was always done. She just never actually saw him do it. Weirdly, she was starting to miss him and his interfering ways.

      Still, for better or for worse, it was show-round day, and there were still some things Carrie could do to get ready for the invasion.

      Showered, made-up and dressed in her best grey suit and lilac shirt, Carrie descended the stairs to find Izzie and Jacob poring over something at the reception desk. Her heart clenched. “Everything okay?” Because really, what else could go wrong?

      Jacob looked up with a wide smile. “Fine. Just perusing the new menus. They look fab.”

      “New menus?” Carrie asked, stepping closer. Yes, she and Jacob had discussed the actual dishes they had planned for the wedding brochure so she could talk to Ruth and Selena about them, but they didn’t have any real menus.

      Except the one Izzie held up and waved. Carrie took it from her.

      “This looks really great,” she said, aware of the surprise in her voice. The heavy, creamy card had swirling dark green borders, with thick, clear print detailing the dishes in much better words than the ones Jacob and Carrie had come up with. “They’ll go perfectly in the new brochures.” When they got around to printing them. “Where did they come from?”

      Izzie shrugged, eyes wide and blank. “They were on the desk when I came in this morning.”

      “Is there a packing slip?” Carrie reached over to rifle through the box. Nothing. Not even a label. “Well, someone must have ordered them.”

      “It was probably Nate,” Izzie said, after sharing a look with Jacob that, try as she might, Carrie couldn’t quite translate. “You should ask him.”

      “I will,” Carrie said, adding a few of the menus to her clipboard. “Once I manage to find him.”

      “He’s sorting the flowers in the dining room, I think,” Jacob told her. “And I need to get back to the kitchen.” He disappeared through the double doors to the dining room, and Carrie considered following.

      But Ruth and company could arrive at any moment. With a sigh, she pulled out The List again and headed for the drawing room.

      And promptly paused in the doorway. In the centre of the room stood the low coffee table from the other sitting room, surrounded by five of the more upright chairs and a tray with coffee cups and saucers, sugar and spoons. A note propped against one of the cups told her that Jacob would keep the coffee machine running all morning and bring out a fresh pot, with cream, when her guests arrived.

      God bless Jacob, she thought, and crossed set up meeting area off her list, wondering how he’d known it was one of the many things she just hadn’t been able to get around to before she’d fallen into bed in the early hours of the morning.

      There were fresh flowers on the window sills, too, she realised, presumably courtesy of Nate and Moira. Poor Nate would have no flowers left in his garden by the end of the visit.

      Carrie consulted The List again, ignoring the items she could do nothing about—Fix terrace! New windows, etc.—and focusing instead on the things that might be achievable before everyone arrived.

      She’d have liked time to make the bridal suite more impressive, but had settled for sorting out the main reception and ceremony areas. There was nothing to be done for the carpet in the dining СКАЧАТЬ