Page 39 of Escape for Christmas
‘I’m not. I mean, I am. Interested in you as a friend. Oh, shit,’ he added.’
Sophie shook her head in disbelief.
‘I can see this is only making things worse between us,’ Brody said gloomily. ‘I’m sorry about everything. I know you don’t believe me, but I honestly mean it.’ He touched her arm and Sophie froze, without flinching or movingaway. ‘Idocare about you, Sophie. You may not believe it, but it’s true and, one day, I hope you’ll understand.’
There was such longing in his voice, and pain in his eyes, that she thawed a fraction of a degree.
‘Let’s not talk about this again,’ Sophie said quietly. ‘The most important thing is that it never happens again and you don’t upset Tegan. I would never want anyone to be hurt, the way I was before.’
‘Sophie, I can promise you I am nothing like your ex,’ he said, almost angrily. ‘I would never want you to think I was that much of a bastard,’ he added in a softer tone.
She wasn’t in the mood to let him off the hook any further than she already had. ‘I have to go to Sunnyside. My guests will be here at three and I’ve still so much to do. Have a good Christmas.’
Without awaiting his answer, she jumped in the car and closed the door, waiting for Brody to pull away before she set off. Her heart rate slowed and she took a few deep breaths to calm down before driving off towards the steep lane that led up to Troutbeck hamlet and Sunnyside.
Last night – or the past couple of weeks – had only been a temporary blip in her fresh start at Sunnyside. The important thing was to put the whole affair behind her and concentrate on making her ‘Escape for Christmas’ weekend a massive success. Without Brody on her mind all the time, Sophie told herself, she really could focus on her guests.
With another sigh, she pulled into her driveway.
It was only 9 a.m., but there was a strange car parked next to Vee’s car. It was a vintage Alfa Romeo, in a tomato-redthat stood out against the frosty ground and grey slate walls of the guest house.
Could it be Nico Lombardi. At this hour?
Perhaps he wanted to park at the guest house while he went walking. That was OK, but he definitely could not have his room until 3 p.m. Sophie had way too much to do before she was ready to welcome guests.
Instead of a tall, dark Italian, a small woman with tight iron-grey curls climbed out of the Alfa.
Sophie hurried over. ‘Hello, can I help you?’
The woman peered at her above pink-framed specs, as if Sophie was late for school. ‘I sincerely hope so. I’m staying here for the next few days.’
‘Oh, you must be Mrs Agatha Freeman.’
Her eyes narrowed. ‘I am, but how on earth do you know that?’
‘Um. You – er – mentioned that you drive an Alfa when you booked,’ Sophie said, desperate not to let on that Agatha was exactly how she’d imagined her, apart from the flashy Italian sports car.
‘Did I?’ Agatha frowned. ‘Oh, well. I suppose I’m far too early to check in, aren’t I?’
‘I’m afraid so. We’re still busy preparing rooms. Check-in is at three p.m.’
‘Thought so,’ said Agatha, then shrugged. ‘No matter. To be honest, I just thought I’d work out the lie of the land and do a drive-by, in case the place was a grotty hole and I still had time to bail out and go home.’
‘I do hope you don’t feel like that,’ Sophie replied.
‘It looks pretty promising from the outside, but you never know what you’re going to find when you start turning over duvet covers and inspecting bathrooms, do you?’ She glared at Sophie. ‘I’ve found that appearances can be deceptive.’
Unable to disagree, Sophie simply smiled. ‘Would you like to leave your luggage until you can check in?’
‘No need. I don’t have much. It’s only a couple of days, and we won’t be expected to doll ourselves up for dinner or get involved with any of that fancy-dress nonsense, will we?’
‘No, you can wear exactly what you like,’ Sophie reassured her.
‘Hmm. Bloody good, because I worried that with the Spanish theme I might be expected to don a sombrero and shake my maracas.’
Sophie stifled a snort that she badly needed to let out. ‘That’s only the flamenco troupe. Guests don’t have to join in with the actual performance.’
Agatha harrumphed. ‘Thank God for that. Anyway, like I say, I only wanted to check the place wasn’t a dilapidated wreck or, worse, non-existent. Now that I have, I’m quite happy to wait until the official time. I’m not one of those people who think rules don’t apply to them. The whole country would fall apart if we all did exactly what we pleased, wouldn’t it?’ Not requiring an answer, Agatha ploughed on, ‘No, I plan to head into town, do the waterfall walk and grab a bite to eat. Will anywhere decent be open for lunch?’
