Page 59 of Too Busy for Love

‘Yup. He was worried Abby was working too hard and not playing enough. Don’t be fooled by him. Underneath the gruff exterior lies a real teddy bear.’

‘I can hear you, you know,’ John calls from the corner of the room.

‘You were meant to,’ she replies with a smile.

‘Gotcha, you bastard,’ John exclaims triumphantly as he and Noah lift a large sheet of wood off the floor. ‘Oho. Come and have a look at this.’

It’s absolutely filthy, but underneath the piece of wood that John and Noah are now leaning against the wall is a clearly recognisable pattern.

‘Assuming they’re not too damaged, they’ll probably clean up pretty easily,’ Noah observes. ‘I wonder why they covered them up?’

‘All BudgetWise hotels have to have the same look and feel,’ I explain. ‘Grey carpet with the company logo in the public areas, dark blue in the bedrooms. You might not be able to tell which town you’re in, but you’ll always know you’re in a BudgetWise hotel. I did a case study on them when I was at university.’

John is evidently not at all interested in the BudgetWise business model, as he’s now examining the light switch, flicking it on and off a couple of times.

‘Power’s off,’ Abby tells him.

‘I figured. The wiring looks modern though, so we might not have to replace it. Another big win. What’s through here?’

We follow him into the dining room and the three of them spend a moment taking it in.

‘Vision?’ Ella asks.

I show her the picture of the room set out for the wedding.

‘Those mirrors are gorgeous,’ she remarks. ‘I wonder where they are now?’

‘Flogged off, I expect,’ John replies.

‘They won’t be cheap to replace,’ Ella observes, still staring at the picture.

‘I don’t know,’ Noah says, taking the picture off Ella and carrying it over to the window for a better look. ‘I reckon we could knock something together that would look the part, even if it wasn’t genuine.’

‘What about furniture, though?’ Ella persists. ‘If you’re going for art deco as the room vibe, modern furniture is going to clash. Either that or you’re going to have to track down someone who can make it in the same style, and bespoke is always pricy.’

She’s got a point and my mood slumps again.

‘Can I suggest something controversial?’ Noah says suddenly. ‘What if you didn’t go art deco in here?’

‘What do you mean?’ I ask.

‘What kind of food are you planning on serving?’

‘If I get the chef I want, it’ll be modern British, showcasing local, seasonal ingredients. Why?’

‘That’s what I thought. If you restore this room to its art deco days, you’re kind of creating an expectation that the food will also reflect the period. Do you see what I’m saying?’

‘But if we don’t, it will clash with the rest of the hotel,’ I point out.

‘That’s not always a bad thing. Hang on a minute. There’s a hotel my brother-in-law took my sister to for their wedding anniversary last year. Let me see if I can find it.’ He fishes out his phone and, after a minute or two of searching, shows me a website. The hotel is exactly what I had in mind when I described my dream to Jock all those weeks ago. It’s a stone country house with mullioned windows set in beautiful gardens. He scrolls through some of the photos, showing me wood panelled sitting rooms with huge fireplaces and gorgeous bedrooms with sumptuous ensuites.

‘What’s your point?’ Abby asks after a moment.

‘What I’m showing you is a historic building with all its period features, right?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Now look at the dining room.’ He flicks to a picture showing an incredible modern room, with glass walls opening onto the garden.

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