Page 37 of Welcome to Pennycress Inn

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With the last piece of wallpaper in the bag and the floorboards swept of the worst of the plaster dust, Laura straightened her back and looked at Jackson. ‘Thank you so much for helping with this.’

‘No problem.’ He picked up the bin bag and tied the end. ‘We were just in the nick of time, by the looks of it.’

Grimacing, Laura followed Jackson’s gaze to the front door and, sure enough, she could make out two figures coming up the garden path.

‘I’ll slip out the back and take this with me.’ He lifted the bin bag.

‘Are you sure?’ She glanced between Jackson and the front door.

‘I am. I don’t think we should mention anything about last night’s kiss or us dating to Richie before we know what’s going on, do you?’

‘Umm, you’re probably right.’ Laura followed him through to the kitchen and the back door. Richie hadn’t exactly taken to any of her exes, instead letting his protective big brother side shinethrough. Apart from Harry, that was. He’d approved of Harry of all people.

The weak tone of the doorbell reached them, and she looked behind her.

Jackson pulled the back door open and took a step outside before turning to her. ‘One thing before I go, though.’

‘What?’ She smiled as she realised what he was referring to and sank into his arms as he drew her close to him, meeting her lips.

The doorbell rang again, and Jackson stepped away, holding his hand up in a wave before he disappeared around the side of the inn.

Retracing her steps back to the front door, Laura touched her lips before swinging it open. ‘Morning!’

‘Hello, little sis. We didn’t wake you when Dad phoned, did we? I know you’re not usually a morning person.’ Richie drew her in for a hug.

‘That was in the past, Richie, lad. Isn’t that right, Laura? You’ll be up at the crack of dawn cooking breakfast from now on, won’t you, sweetheart?’ It was her dad’s turn for a hug.

‘Uh-huh. That’s right. Come on in.’ Laura held the door open as her brother and dad stepped inside.

‘Oh.’ Her dad spoke first as he turned slowly in the middle of the hallway.

‘I know, I know. But I’ve not finished it yet, it still needs sanding and repapering, and it wasn’t particularly planned. I found a patch of crumbling plaster, filled that in and then one thing led to another…’ She spoke quickly, waving her hands around to indicate the patchwork wall.

‘You did this?’ Richie asked.

‘Yep,’ she answered quietly, and braced herself. As the silence dragged on, she looked from Richie to her dad and back again.‘Like I said, there’s a long way to go and I hadn’t quite realised there’d be this much to fix…’

‘I’m impressed.’ Her dad stepped forward and ran his hand over a patch of dried wall filler. ‘For a first-timer, it’s not a bad job.’

‘You’re impressed?’ She let her jaw drop open.

Her dad nodded. ‘I am. I don’t think even your brother would have taken on a job this size on his own and definitely not Jenny.’

Richie held his hands out, palms outward. ‘Too right, I wouldn’t have. You’ve done a good job.’

‘You wouldn’t?’ Were they being serious? They were actually praising her for the patchwork wall? She pointed to the part of the banister lying on the floor. ‘I think it’s got woodworm too.’

‘Ah, now that’s a shame.’ Her dad walked across to the banister and knelt down on the floor to examine it, before breathing a sigh of relief. ‘It’s not woodworm, sweetheart. Do you see the way it’s splintered? If it was woodworm, it wouldn’t have done that. It’s likely just old age and, judging by the looks of it, someone was quite rough with it.’

‘The twins came round…’ Laura shrugged.

‘Enough said. I bet little Toby was trying to slide down it then. He tried that stunt when me and your mum took the twins to the museum last week.’ Her dad tutted. ‘Nah, that’ll be an easy fix, I should think. It’ll take some work to get it as fancily carved as the rest of it, but a true pro will be able to do it.’

Laura smiled. The two people who she’d thought would criticise her the most had given her nothing but praise since walking through the door. ‘Thank you.’

‘What for?’

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