Page 17 of The Boathouse By the Loch

‘He was going to pick her up from the train station and bring her back here.’

Jake would have preferred that; then he would have got to meet her sooner.

‘He had thought staying the night together in their old room here at the guesthouse, where he felt they were happiest, was a good idea. Perhaps even the whole weekend too. It just seems to me, and David voiced this too, that since she left here and moved into the boathouse, she hasn’t been her normal self.’

Jake nodded, wondering whether Gayle should be sharing all this personal information about her friends.

‘David thought, and so did I, that when he popped the question, that would change. He’s beginning to regret asking her to move in with him. I think he did confront her at one point, asking her if she wished she hadn’t moved in with him, but just as I expected, she said of course it wasn’t him. I chatted to her just recently, asking if everything was okay, if she was okay, and she reassured me she was.’

‘But you still think there’s something up.’

Gayle sighed heavily. ‘If it’s not David – and she was over the moon when he proposed, showing me the ring – then we’re both thinking perhaps she’s not happy in the boathouse for some reason. The problem is that the boathouse is David’s home. And it is a gorgeous house. I really thought she’d love it there. I suspect David thought that if they spent the night together back here, then perhaps he could get to the bottom of what was really going on with her. He’s prepared to move back in here with her – start again, so to speak.’

‘But he’s booking a hotel room.’

‘Yeah. I suppose it’s like the old adage – you can never go back.’

Jake didn’t understand.

Gayle caught his expression. She explained, ‘They lived here before it was a proper guesthouse. Obviously their old room is just as they left it. But it’s not just Nick and Marty here now.’

‘Oh, sorry. Is that why David left in a hurry to book the hotel room – because I’m here?’

‘No. Well … yes. Don’t take it personally, Jake. This is a guesthouse now. David knows that. He and Robyn can’t expect to have the place virtually to themselves. I told him that he should check into a hotel if he wants to spend time together with Robyn, just the two of them.’

‘But there will be other guests in a hotel.’

‘Yes, that’s true. But it’s more impersonal, and there’s more space, so they can dine together, just the two of them.’

Jake understood.

‘And besides. I’m not sure whether it’s a good idea for them to return here. If somethingisgoing on with Robyn, what if she decided not to return with David to the boathouse? I’d feel terrible if that happened, like it was all my fault.’

‘But it wouldn’t be, Gayle.’

Gayle smiled. ‘I know. But it’s my guesthouse, and it was my suggestion that they return here, so I’d kind of feel responsible.’

‘But who says that’s going to happen?’

‘Well, it certainly isn’t, because Robyn won’t be staying the night here.’

‘Unless when she returns she decides she’s leaving David.’

‘Don’t say that!’ Gayle shook her head vehemently. ‘She’s happy with David.’

Jake understood. They were both Gayle’s friends, and the last thing she’d want to see was them splitting up.

‘So, there has to be a reason she’s not happy living in the boathouse.’

‘But I just don’t see why that would be the case – do you?’

Jake was just shrugging his shoulders when he heard the front door. He tensed. It might be David. What if he hadn’t managed to book the hotel room? It was no wonder David hadn’t exactly been pleased to see him at dinner; he was yet another guest, there reminding David that Lark Lodge was a guesthouse and that he couldn’t turn back the clock to the way things had been when he and Robyn had lived there and it had still been just a home.

Jake was just about to rise from his chair, thinking that if it was indeed David, he’d retreat to his room, when something large and shaggy and slobbery came bounding into the room.

Jake grinned. ‘Olive!’

Olive furiously wagged her tail and made a beeline for him, her tail taking an unintentional swipe at the cup in Gayle’s hand. Fortunately, it was empty.

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