The Little Bed & Breakfast by the Sea. Jennifer Joyce

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СКАЧАТЬ cups of tea and working their way through a packet of custard creams. ‘What’s going on? I need to know everything.’

      ‘Everything’ turned out to be devastating. Willow didn’t understand a lot of what the builder was telling her, but the gist of it wasn’t promising. The foundations were no longer secure and the house might need underpinning. Willow wasn’t entirely sure what underpinning a house involved, but the builder warned her it could take several weeks to do, eating severely into their budget and extending their timeframe.

      ‘I’d strongly advise you to find somewhere else to live until we’ve made the foundations safe again,’ he told Willow. ‘I wouldn’t stay and, if you were my daughter…’ He shook his head. ‘There’s no way I’d let you either.’

      The problem was, Willow didn’t have anywhere else to stay in the meantime. They’d already given up their rented cottage when they’d moved into the new house, and both sets of parents lived over fifty miles away, which was impractical both for getting to and from work and overseeing the refurb.

      But it would be okay. They would work something out. At least that’s what Willow told herself as she walked away from the house and climbed back into her van. She sat in the immobile vehicle for a few minutes, staring out of the open window at the pier and the sea beyond, listening to the cacophony of seagulls, holidaymakers and crashing waves she’d been drawn to. Pulling out her phone, she dialled Ethan’s number but it went straight to voicemail, as she suspected it would.

      ‘What are you going to do?’ Liam asked, wandering towards the van. Her builder’s face was creased with concern, and Willow was pretty sure it mirrored her own.

      ‘I don’t know.’ Willow shrugged and started the engine. ‘But I’ll figure something out.’

      She had to. With Ethan’s absence even more noticeable now, it was down to Willow to sort this mess out. It wasn’t in her nature to crumble, no matter how tempting it was, and she wasn’t about to let herself – and Ethan – down now. She set off in the van, eyes peeled for the nearest B&B. She knew there were several in the seaside town and she managed to locate one easily, further along the seafront. She parked the van, jumping out and rushing along the pavement when she saw a woman and her child leaving the property. She didn’t know whether the woman was the proprietor of the B&B or a guest, but she didn’t have time to pop inside first. If this woman was in charge, she couldn’t miss her.

      ‘Excuse me…’ Willow was breathless from her dashes that morning. ‘Is this your B&B?’

      The woman was in her late twenties but looked as though she’d been plucked from the wrong decade. She wore a red-and-white polka-dot dress, cinched in at the waist, with matching heeled, peep-toe slingbacks, and her dark hair was pinned back in victory rolls. The style suited her, though, and Willow suddenly felt frumpy in her striped T-shirt and dungarees.

      The woman slipped the quirky red, heart-shaped sunglasses from her eyes. ‘It is, but I’m afraid we’re fully booked for the next few weeks if you’re looking for a room.’

      Willow’s shoulders slumped. ‘Oh.’ Maybe finding alternative accommodation at a B&B wasn’t going to be as easy as she’d thought. ‘It’s just I’m refurbishing a house up the road.’ Willow pointed further up the seafront towards the pier. ‘But there’s a problem with the foundations and it isn’t safe to stay there.’

      The woman’s face softened and she patted Willow’s arm briefly. ‘I’m sorry. That sounds terrible.’ She bit her lip, which was a glossy pillar-box red, and shook her head. ‘But I’m afraid I can’t fit you in. Have you tried any of the other B&Bs? There’s a lovely little one in the harbour that’s a little quieter, being away from the beach and everything, so you might have better luck there. Or there’s the hotel up by the pier, but that’s a little more expensive, or you could try the caravan site?’

      ‘Nanny says we can stay in a caravan when Mummy isn’t so busy,’ the little girl standing with the woman piped up, squinting in the sun as she looked up at Willow. She was cute and had a rather more relaxed look than her mother with her sundress and wellies combo.

      Willow crouched down to the little girl’s level. ‘That’d be nice, wouldn’t it? I’ve never stayed in a caravan before but it sounds fun.’

      The girl nodded. ‘You get to sleep in a little room in a little bed and watch a little telly.’

      Willow gasped and widened her eyes. ‘That sounds amazing! I hope you get to stay in your caravan soon.’ Willow stood up again. The woman had returned the heart-shaped sunglasses to her face. ‘Thank you for your help.’

      The woman nodded. ‘Good luck.’ She turned to her daughter and took her hand. ‘We’d better get going. I need to drop the keys with Mrs Hornchurch and then get you to Nanny’s.’

      Willow watched as the woman and her daughter disappeared into the neighbouring house before climbing back into her van. She’d work her way through town and try the other B&Bs, the hotel and caravan site. There had to be a room available somewhere.

       Chapter Three

      Melody

      The train was packed with bodies, heat and noise as Melody crab-walked down the aisle in search of a seat, battling with the hefty rucksack and laptop bag she held in her hands, tucked in tight to her body so she didn’t bash anybody about the head with them. Melody was thankful she’d decided to travel light during her trip, packing only the essentials: a handful of outfits she could chuck into a washing machine at a laundrette every few days, her washbag with the necessities, a couple of pairs of pyjamas, her laptop, and her camera. Okay, the laptop was hardly light, and her rucksack was cumbersome, but it would have been much worse if she hadn’t been so strict with her packing. She was hoping to find a seat so she wouldn’t be forced to hold on to her bags for the duration of the journey, but it wasn’t proving an easy task.

      ‘Excuse me.’ She flicked the corners of her mouth up into an apologetic smile as she attempted to squeeze past elbows and shoulders. ‘Sorry. Can I just…’ She managed to shuffle past without knocking anybody out cold with her rucksack and then she saw it, just ahead. An empty seat! Or rather a seat empty of a human bottom. She waddled towards it sideways, resting against the headrest with a relieved sigh when she finally reached the seat without somebody else nabbing it first. She looked down at the laptop bag currently sitting there and then over to its owner in the neighbouring seat. The owner – a suited man in his mid-to-late twenties, currently tapping away at the laptop in front of him – glanced in her direction briefly before returning to his screen.

      ‘Excuse me,’ Melody said, using her most polite voice. ‘Is this seat taken?’

      By anything other than a bag? she silently added.

      The man sighed heavily and turned away from his laptop, performing an elaborate eye-roll as he moved his face towards Melody.

      ‘I need to keep my bag close by.’

      Melody nodded. ‘Fair enough.’ The man shifted his gaze back to his screen. ‘I assume you’ve bought an extra ticket for your bag, though.’

      The man frowned, sighing again as he snapped his head back up to Melody. ‘What?’

      ‘I assumed you’ve purchased two tickets, since you’re СКАЧАТЬ