Gayle walked down the hallway, pulling a reluctant Olive along with her. Gayle called out from the kitchen, ‘This evening, there’s a pot roast or a cottage pie. If you’re vegetarian I do a vegetable curry, or vegetable lasagne with lashings of cheese sauce.’
Marcus commented under his breath, ‘I think I’m going to throw up.’
‘You’d better not!’ Jake exclaimed. He threw Marcus a black look. ‘For god’s sake, get up.’
Marcus held on to the banister and pulled himself up.
‘What was that?’ Gayle asked, emerging from the kitchen and closing the door.
Jake turned around as Gayle rejoined him at the bottom of the stairs. He was thankful she hadn’t heard Marcus’s comment. Jake glanced at his bandaged hands. ‘Um, you mentioned thatyou used to be a hairdresser. Sorry, but I thought you said you’d been a nurse?’
Gayle chuckled. ‘Yes, I took early retirement when I returned home to look after my parents. Then I fell back on hairdressing, something I used to do before I went into nursing. My father passed away and left me this house. It was my friend’s idea to turn it into a guesthouse.’
‘Your friend, Robyn?’ Jake asked.
‘Yes, that’s right.’ Gayle smiled. ‘Now the guest house has really taken off, I gave the hairdressing up too – although if my guests need a haircut or colour, I will certainly oblige.’
Jake furrowed his brow.
Gayle must have caught his expression. ‘Ah, you’re thinking that if my little guesthouse is doing so well, why have I got so many rooms free?’
Jake nodded. ‘Yes, the thought had crossed my mind.’
Gayle chuckled again. ‘Ah, you’ve been lucky. Apart from my two longer-term guests, my last holidaymakers, who were on five-night breaks starting Friday, left today. There are just two nights, tonight and Thursday, when I have no one booked in. Then it’s busy again from Friday onwards, apart from the odd single-room vacancy. You see, I do special offers on three, five, and seven-night breaks, and that does attract a lot of guests.’
Jake thought it was his lucky day. Two nights fitted in with his plans perfectly. He was away in Scotland for seven nights – his return flight booked for a week’s time. Once he’d seen Arnold Wright, and Martha – whoever they were – he hadn’t planned on sticking around Aviemore any longer than he had to. Scotland was a big place. There were plenty of other areas to explore that wouldn’t come with painful memories of the previous Christmas.
Gayle said, ‘Sorry, I didn’t mention that I’m fully booked from Friday. I hope you weren’t planning on staying longer.’
‘Not at all. Two nights fits in perfectly with my plans.’ Jake glanced at Marcus, hoping that he had bucked up by the time they checked out of Lark Lodge on Friday, when Jake intended to take him back to the airport. Marcus was not accompanying him on his onward journey for the remaining five nights of his stay in Scotland. Besides, Marcus had a business to run. Thinking of which, he raised his eyebrows, wondering whether he’d told Lydia, or anyone else, where he was.
‘Shall we head up to the room?’
Jake looked at the suitcase. He could manage it, but not his bag as well. ‘I’ll nip back down for the bag.’
‘I’ll take it.’ Gayle picked up the bag and put the strap over her shoulder.
Marcus started up the stairs first, holding tightly to the banister, taking it slowly.
Jake frowned at his back, wishing he’d just get a move on.
A little way along the landing, Marcus came to an abrupt halt outside a bedroom door. He was still sweating, Jake noticed.
Marcus turned to him. ‘I need to lie down.’
Gayle continued past them. ‘The room is along here, at the end of the hallway.’
Jake glanced at Marcus. He sighed and called out to Gayle, ‘Is this room free?’
Gayle turned around. ‘Yes, but—’
‘Great, we’ll take it,’ Jake replied.
‘Um … alright,’ she said slowly.
As he watched her walk back down the hallway towards them, it occurred to Jake that she’d just had two men walk into her house. One looked ill, and the other as though he’s been in a fist-fight. They were lucky – if it wasn’t for that fact that Gayle knew who they were, it would not have surprised him in the least if, like her mother, she’d just shut the door in their faces.
Gayle paused at the door. ‘I’m afraid this room just has adouble bed.’
