Page 11 of Second Chance Summer
‘Thanks,’ she muttered, relieved to be on solid ground again. After twelve hours of travelling, she also felt a little light-headed.
Sam plucked her bags from the cabin. ‘I’ll come back for the supplies after I’ve shown you to your cottage.’
Lily cast her eye over the pile of goods on the jetty. ‘Is there anyone who can help you move that lot?’
He frowned. ‘Only me – I run this place.’
Lily felt her jaw drop. ‘Justyou? You mean, you run it on yourown?’
‘Well, no. That’s not strictly true. My niece Morven – who you just met on Bryher – is going to lend a hand with the changeovers when she can and Auntie Elspeth will step in too, if I need her. At least, that’s the plan.’
Lily was struck dumb for a few seconds as the pieces of the jigsaw slotted into place and formed an alarming picture.Not finished … soft opening … amazingly cheap … available at short notice.
‘I’m your guinea pig, aren’t I?’ she said, her spirits plummeting towards rock bottom.
‘Guinea pig? No, of course not. Please come this way. Your cottage is only a short walk from here.’ He picked up her bags and set off up a path as rain began to fall heavily.
Determined not to be put off, Lily trotted behind. ‘I’m your first guest, though?’
‘One of the first, yes.’
‘Who else is here, then?’ she said, stopping halfway up the path.
Sam was forced to come to a halt. ‘I can’t tell you that. It’s confidential.’
‘Really? I don’t think N. O. Body is going to complain about you telling me.’
‘Reception is up here,’ he said brightly, forging off towards a stone building, just visible through the drizzle. ‘There’s a spot of mizzle, so you might need this.’ He offered her a green golf umbrella, bearing the logo of the retreat. ‘Of course, it would have been a good idea to prepare yourself for the elements …’
‘And if you’d come prepared to meet your first guest – it might have been an even better one!’
Judging by his open-mouthed expression, Lily’s riposte had hit home.
‘Yes, well, er–– We’ll be inside soon.’
He offered the umbrella again and she took it but didn’t unfurl it. The mood she was in, she might have other ideas for it. Lily stomped after him, simmering with annoyance at his rudeness.
Ten seconds later he stopped outside a stone building with a wooden porch. Although plain, it did seem at least to have a roof, which was more than Lily had been expecting after the gardener’s remarks. A wooden sign lay on the ground outside.
‘This is it,’ said Sam. ‘Sorry I didn’t have time to fix the sign. Welcome to the reception hub of Stark Island Retreat.’
‘Andspa,’ Lily said, huffing. ‘It did mention a spa on the website.’
‘Did it?’ He seemed puzzled. ‘Morven must have added that. Therewillbe a small spa at some point,’ he elaborated, waving his hand airily towards the shrouded coastline. ‘In the meantime, there’s that big bubbly thing all around us.’
‘You mean the sea?’ Lily said, hoping he was joking. ‘And what about the wellness retreat? My assistant definitely said there was a “wellness retreat”.’
‘Step out of your door and look up at the sky.’
‘I am. It’s chucking it down.’ Exhaustion and disappointment finally overwhelmed her. ‘So, let me get this straight. You’ve no spa, no staff and I’m the first and only guest.’
Sam looked at the ground because he could barely meet her eyes. ‘Look, I made it clear to your PA that the retreat is on a soft opening. Actually, I wasn’t going to accept any guests yet but Richie insisted you were desperate. He said you needed to get away from it all, and I quote: “no calls, no hassle, complete tranquillity and privacy”. I felt sorry for you so – against my better judgement, if I’m honest – I agreed. I’m sorry if you were expecting Champneys.’
‘Firstly, there’s no need to feel sorry for me,’ Lily said, hardly able to believe what she was seeing and hearing. ‘Secondly, I wasn’t expecting Champneys, but I was hoping for a boutique retreat in a stunning location with personal service. You do know you’re breaking the Advertising Standards Code? And that you’ll never recover from thecrappy reviews on every travel site when visitors get here and find your website doesn’t live up to the reality of HMP Back of Beyond!’
‘Back of Beyond this may be, but a prison it is not!’ Sam shot back. ‘Maybe some aspects of the place don’t live up to the website as yet, but as for a stunning location and personal service, you’ll definitely get that.’ His eyes held a fiery challenge.
Lily glanced around in despair. She was a whisker away from bursting into tears again. This so wasn’t her. She was truly desperate for a break, buthere? ‘I suppose the next thing you’re going to tell me is that there’s no cottage?’ she said. ‘That I have to build my own from driftwood? Bathe in a rockpool to wash? Skin a rabbit with my bare hands for food?’ She laughed but Sam wasn’t smiling back. ‘Frankly, I’d rather go camping on a traffic roundabout on the North Circular.’
