Page 29 of An Ill Wind in Seabury
‘Don’t worry, you already have,’ said Lilly, with a sigh. ‘Thanks for letting me offload a bit. It might mean I can keep my cool while everyone else around here loses it. Anyway, enjoy your visitor?—’
‘How do you know I’ve got a visitor?’ said George in surprise.
‘My aunty saw the pair of you in the hotel last night,’ said Lilly. ‘She seemed to think you both lookedverycosy.’
George rolled his eyes. ‘This town has no shame!’
‘You’ve got that right,’ Lilly sniggered. ‘Anyway, I hope you guys have fun. Oh, and if you happen to find any designers with nothing to do lying around, send them our way!’
‘Okay, deal.’ George forced a laugh, but the mention of Claudia had reminded him that he was in a hurry. He’d promised to meet her at the hotel as soon as he’d finished his round. ‘Good luck with it all,’ he said, waving over his shoulder as he made a beeline back towards the van.
The temptation to put his foot down and whizz back into town was almost too much for George, but the memory of his close call with Claudia the day before forced him to take the narrow lanes with even more care than usual.
George couldn’t wait to see her again. It had felt like they’d only just scratched the surface the previous evening. Before he knew what was happening, they’d finished their meals and had already lingered longer than was normal over coffee.
In the end, Claudia had been the one to call it a night, stating that she didn’t want to incur the wrath of Lionel and Hattie more than she already had.
George swallowed nervously as he parked his van and hurried towards the hotel. As much as he’d been the one to propose that toast last night about figuring things out as they went along, he’d be absolutely gutted if Claudia decided to head straight back home instead of taking him up on his offer to stay.
‘Morning Lionel!’ he said, forcing a smile onto his face as soon as he spotted his old friend behind the reception desk.
‘Come to make more deals you aren’t going to stick to?’ said Lionel, raising an eyebrow.
‘Ah, come on,’ wheedled George. ‘You know I didn’t have a choice in the matter. She spotted me!’
Lionel grinned. ‘Don’t worry, my boy—I was only pulling your leg. Anyway, that drink Claudia sent me certainly softened the sting of your betrayal!’
George chuckled.
‘You know,’ said Lionel, ‘she’s not so bad, your Claudia.’
‘Not sure she’smyClaudia,’ muttered George, casting his eyes around for the woman in question. The last thing he needed was for her to hear a comment like that and retreat back inside her shell. Not when she’d been so open with him the previous evening, andespecially not if there was even the slightest chancethat she might stay in Seabury a few more days. ‘Have you seen her yet this morning?’
Lionel nodded. ‘She joined us for breakfast, as a matter of fact. Apologised for yesterday, too. Sounds like the poor girl has had a bit of a time of it, eh?’
George nodded. He had no idea how much Claudia had shared with Lionel, and there was no way he was about to divulge any of her secrets by mistake.
‘Well, you clearly had a good effect on her, that’s all I’ll say.’
‘What makes you say that?’ said George, trying to sound casual.
‘She seems… different this morning.’ Lionel frowned, clearly thinking about it. ‘Less… spiky.’
‘Yeah, well, I don’t think those spikes actually belonged to her,’ said George. ‘I think she might have borrowed them from her awful mother! You know, I don’t think she’s changed much at all, and I?—’
‘Speak of the devil!’ said Lionel quickly, cutting him off and nodding to the main doors of the hotel.
George turned in surprise, only to spot Claudia jogging up the steps from outside.
‘Wow!’ The gasp slipped out of him before he could stop himself, and he heard Lionel chuckle behind him, clearly enjoying the moment.
‘Erm… hi!’ said Claudia.
‘Hi yourself!’ said George. ‘You look…’
‘A bit less like I’m about to foreclose on someone’s mortgage?’ said Claudia.
‘I was going to go withlovely,’ said George with a little shrug.
