Page 2 of Welcome to Pennycress Inn

‘I am too, sweetheart. Very proud.’

‘Thanks, Mum.’ Laura ran her fingers across the wallpaper as she circled the hallway. Pausing, she tried to smooth a bump in the paper which loosened beneath her fingertips and peeled at the join. Oops. She’d have to get some super-strength glue on that.

‘And just so you know, we do have a pot of savings we can dip into if you need it.’ Her dad’s voice had returned to the quiet authoritative tone she knew too well.

‘That’s right, sweetheart. And your brother and sister won’t need to know about it. You can still tell everyone you’ve done it on your own.’ Her mum’s voice was hushed, as though Richie or Jenny were right in the next room.

‘Yes, our little secret.’

Here we go again. Laura rolled her eyes. Now they could no longer try to convince her to withdraw from the purchase, they were trying to throw money at her instead. ‘I don’t need your savings. I’m perfectly capable of doing this myself.’

‘Of course you are. We know you are. We just want you to remember you have options. That’s all, isn’t it, Phil?’

‘Yes, yes. Options. And if you need to put the place back on the market and come home, then we can cover the mortgage until it sells.’

Laura gritted her teeth as she unfurled another piece of wallpaper she’d noticed was beginning to peel. She lowered her voice, hoping her words sounded more confident than she was currently feeling. ‘I don’t need you to do that. I know what I’m doing. I didn’t go into this lightly. You know how much research I put into it. Besides, Pennycress Inn was up and running until a few months ago. The regulars will be back as soon as I reopen, I’m sure.’

‘We’re not doubting you. Far from it. We know you’re now a strong independent woman. We’re just offering a safety net, nothing more, nothing less.’ Her mum’s voice was kind despite what she was inferring.

‘Thanks, but I don’t need it. Any of it. I’ve got this.’ Laura jumped back and failed to stifle a scream as a lump of plaster crumbled beneath her fingers and fell to the floor.

‘Are you okay? What’s happened? Do you need your dad to drive down?’ Her mum spoke quickly, her voice full of concern.

‘No, no. I just…’ Laura looked down at her trainers, a dusting of plaster having turned the black fabric to white, before she focused on the wall again. Tentatively, she pulled the wallpaper back a little more, revealing cracks and dips in the plaster. Why hadn’t she noticed this before? During the viewing? Because she’d been so excited at the prospect of owning her very own inn that she’d failed to notice, that’s why. Now she’d just have to deal with it herself unless she wanted to give her parents the opportunity to utter those words – ‘I told you so’. The words they’d made it clear they expected to say to her. Well, she wouldn’t give them the chance. No, she’d show them that they could, they should, believe in her, that she was capable of this. ‘I almost dropped my phone, that’s all.’

‘Okay. Well, we’ll be off now. Jenny has just this minute popped over with the twins. Speak soon and remember, if you…’ Her mum’s voice trailed off as the phone line suddenly filled with excited screeches from Jenny’s children and Ruth turned her attention to greet her youngest daughter and grandchildren before returning to the phone. ‘Sorry, sweetheart. Jenny wants a quick word.’

‘Hi, Jenny.’ Taking a step back, Laura tilted her head and perused the wall. Would the problem area be just that little patch of plaster beneath the wallpaper she’d pulled back or would she need to get the whole wall skimmed? Surely it would just be that little patch, wouldn’t it?

‘Hey, sis, the innkeeper!’ Jenny, now in full control of the phone, laughed down the line. ‘I can call you that now, can’t I? Innkeeper? It just makes you sound so weird – and old!’

‘Haha, thanks.’ Looking down at her fingers, covered in white plaster, Laura rubbed them together before wiping the powdery crumbs down the leg of her dark blue jeans.

‘Everything all right? You sound distracted.’

‘Yes, yes. All good.’ Taking a step forward again, Laura went to pull back more of the wallpaper before thinking better of it. She’d have a proper look at it later. After the phone call. ‘Just taking a look around, that’s all.’

‘And how is it? Is it—’ A child’s scream interrupted Jenny’s voice, followed by the line going quiet momentarily. ‘Sorry about that. Tammy and Toby are hell-bent on trying to kill each other. I blame the fact that Rob woke them up at five this morning when he went to work early.’

‘Ouch.’

‘Exactly. You did the right thing in choosing to buy an inn rather than having kids.’ Exasperation laced Jenny’s voice.

‘Well, I wouldn’t…’ What was the point? She knew her younger sister was only venting at her. Jenny was very awarethat the decision Laura had had to make hadn’t actually been between having children and buying Pennycress. She’d had to decide whether to stay with Harry or not. Having kids with Harry hadn’t been the right choice, but having children at all? Well, she’d longed to be a mum ever since she could remember. She sighed. ‘That’s super early. No wonder the twins are tired. You must be shattered as well.’

‘Oh, you’ve no idea. What Rob forgets is that I’ve got to work too, in addition to running these two horrors to school and back and entertaining them until he gets home from the office.’ Jenny’s voice became distant again. She was probably trying to cajole the two six-year-olds into being kind to one another.

‘Right, well, I’ll let you go now then. It sounds as though you’ve enough on your plate.’

‘Yes, yes. Okay. We’ll have to pop by, and you can give us the grand tour. Love you.’

‘Love you too.’

Ending the call, Laura perched on the bottom step of the large ornate staircase and tapped the edge of her phone against her palm. She hadn’t wanted children with Harry, but she’d wanted them. She still wanted them. She always had. But definitely not with Harry. She hadn’t been able to see a future with him for years now. Seven-year itch? Maybe. They’d been married for seven years. Maybe that’s why he’d begun to close down, to emotionally shut down their relationship, to push her away.

Yes, about a month before she’d made the move from their marital home and slunk back to her parents’ house, he’d suggested they start a family, but she’d known a baby would have only acted as a sticking plaster. And not for long either. Besides, that had been the final nail in the coffin in making her mind up to leave. She’d realised then that he’d been grappling atstraws. He’d felt it too. He’d realised their marriage was over as much as she had.

And this place – Pennycress Inn and her vision for it – wasn’tinsteadof starting a family. She hadn’t even dreamt of running her own business when she’d walked away from her marriage. No, this wasn’t a consolation prize, as Jenny suggested. This was the next chapter in her life. She couldn’t hang around waiting until her Prince Charming came and rescued her from a life of living back home with her parents and rocking up to her overly dull admin job every day. No, she didn’t have that luxury. She was on her own and she had to carve out a life for herself now. She had to be independent. To survive.

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