Page 81 of Too Busy for Love

‘It’s OK. I understand. What do we do about you and me, though? I can’t just walk away from you again.’

‘Beatrice, shut up for a minute. I can’t come with you because I need to tie up a couple of loose ends here before I fly south. I need to let Gregory know, give notice to my landlady, those kinds of boring things. When did you say you were opening?’

‘Three and a half weeks from today.’

‘Bloody hell. I’ll be down by the weekend then. Gregory’s going to hit the roof, but I assume you don’t need a reference from him anyway.’

‘Are you serious?’

‘Absolutely.’

He stands, takes my hands in his and pulls me to my feet before wrapping me gently in his arms, tightening his grip as Ifold myself into his embrace. I’d forgotten how this felt and I turn my head so I can listen to the reassuring thump-thump-thump of his heart. ‘I don’t ever want to let you go,’ he says, ‘but I’m going to have to, just for the next few days. What time’s your flight, by the way?’

‘I haven’t booked one yet,’ I say. ‘I wasn’t sure how long I’d need to be up here.’

‘Stay the night,’ he urges. ‘Please?’

I pull my head back so I can look into his eyes. ‘Why would I do that?’ I ask with a smile.

He smiles back. Did I mention that I love his smile? ‘We still haven’t worked out who the phantom spooner is,’ he replies simply.

EPILOGUE

It’s going to be a beautiful day. I can tell because, although it’s not yet six in the morning, the sunlight is streaming through a tiny chink in our thick bedroom curtains. Beside me, Jock appears to be fast asleep, although the way he opens his eyes and stares at me when I gently brush his lips with mine indicates that he’s probably been awake for a while, the same as me. Even though we’ve been working and living together for six months now, I still have to pinch myself sometimes when I wake up and see him lying next to me. Abby was initially sceptical about hiring what she saw as an unknown, but I put my foot down this time, and she changed her tune pretty quickly after she tasted his food. After a lot of legal threatening on both sides, Emilio’s company agreed to sign over the staff they’d hired, but it turned out that Abby had an even better trick up her sleeve, namely Flo. It was Flo who got the word out among her influencer buddies, and between them they generated a real buzz online about McLaughlin at The Mermaid. The restaurant is now fully booked weeks in advance for both lunch and dinner, although not today because it’s closed for a very special function.

‘Cup of tea?’ I ask.

He smiles. ‘Is that “Would you like a cup of tea, Jock” or “Would you get me a cup of tea, Jock”?’

‘The first, actually, but don’t let me stop you if you prefer the second.’

He stretches luxuriantly and yawns. ‘It’s OK, I don’t mind making it. You stay here and run through all the lists in your head another time.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I can practically hear your brain whirring. How much sleep do you think you got?’

‘Not much,’ I admit. ‘A couple of hours, maybe.’

‘You’ll be fine, you know that don’t you? It’s not like this is the first wedding reception we’ve done here.’

‘You’re right, but these aren’t just any guests. I want it to be as perfect as it can be for Ella and Noah.’

‘If something goes wrong, we’ll deal with it like we always do.’

‘And how’s that?’

‘Fudge it like mad and hope they don’t notice,’ he says with a grin as he swings his legs out of the bed and stands up, peering carefully out of the curtains. ‘They’ve lucked out with the weather,’ he observes.

Although I’m mildly annoyed that he’s read me so easily, I do love how well he knows me, I reflect as I allow my brain to run through the mental checklists for the umpteenth time. The wedding is at one, and they’re taking pictures in various locations afterwards. All being well, we’re expecting them to arrive at around three thirty, when we’ll serve welcome drinks and canapés on the beach and also check in the guests who are staying overnight. They’ll be sitting down for the wedding breakfast at four, which is the point that I will hopefully be able to start to relax as they’ll be Jock’s responsibility from then until the end of the party at midnight.

Even though I trust the housekeeping staff implicitly, I’m still going to check every room forensically before the wedding guests arrive to make sure that everything is exactly how I’d expect it to be. Ella dropped off her and Noah’s overnight stuff yesterday; they’re going to go back home before heading off on honeymoon to Crete on Monday so it was just a small bag of essentials. I’ve suggested to her that any other guests who are passing on the way to the wedding can also drop their luggage beforehand to save dragging it in through a throng of wedding and other hotel guests later.

‘How are the lists shaping up?’ Jock asks as he hands me a mug of tea.

‘I think they’re all right. A few things to do. What about you?’

‘I’m pretty happy. They’re all dishes we know, so we should be good.’

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