LITMIR.BIZ

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      ‘No no,’ she said, not wanting to encourage his mind to wander. If she hadn’t wanted guests here, then why had she designed it in this way? Angry with herself, she pushed the door open quickly, forcefully, almost falling into the room. She turned on the light and took another two steps, allowing Will to follow her. Darcy ran ahead and put her paws up on the duvet.

      ‘No, Darcy.’ Will covered the room in a couple of strides and gently lifted her paws off the fabric, stroking her fuzzy coat. He stood up straight, his eyebrows rising as he noticed her looking. ‘Are you sure this is OK? You’re not bending your rules for me, are you?’

      Robin shook her head, enamoured by how softly he spoke to his dog. ‘Not much,’ she admitted. Will’s attention turned to the room, to the telescope in front of the balcony doors, a framed map of the constellations next to the glass, the modern, slate-grey furniture with subtle silver accents. She chewed the inside of her cheek. She’d put solar-powered sun and moon jars on the chest of drawers alongside the mini Kilner jars containing teabags and sugar sachets, but realized that unless she turned the LEDs on, guests wouldn’t know what they were.

      ‘The bathroom’s in there.’ She pointed to the only other door in the room. ‘And details about breakfast, and all the other information about the guesthouse, is in the pack on the dressing table.’

      ‘It’s a beautiful room,’ he said, as she put his holdall on the floor. ‘Are you a bit of a stargazer, then?’

      ‘Not at much as I’d like to be,’ she admitted. ‘I have good intentions, but never seem to take enough time to learn what everything is. But I do love the stars, and this room has a perfect view of them on a clear night.’

      ‘No light pollution over the sea.’ Will was moving slowly around the room, looking at everything. He stopped at the balcony doors, the curtains still open, and flipped the light switch that Robin had put there for that very purpose. The room was plunged into darkness, and she held her breath as Will peered out. After a moment, he turned. ‘It’s too cloudy tonight, so – oh!’

      The pinprick lights that Robin had installed in the ceiling began glowing softly, casting the room, and Will, in an eerie bluish hue, like moonlight.

      ‘Nice touch,’ he said quietly. ‘So you get stars, even if they’re hiding behind cloud cover.’

      ‘They fade after a while. You can set the time they stay on, so you don’t have to sleep with it like this.’ She pointed to a small timer on the wall behind the headboard, then hugged her arms tightly around herself. It was close to one in the morning, but she felt as tight and fidgety as a wind-up toy desperate to be released. She hadn’t quite prepared herself for a guest staying in Starcross, and had definitely not been ready for Tabitha’s nephew to turn up and be so imposing. Was he imposing? He was certainly making his presence felt, but then Starcross was the smallest room, and there were three of them in it – if you counted Darcy.

      ‘Does she need some water? I’ve got a bowl downstairs.’

      ‘I’ve got that covered, at least.’ Will pulled a metal bowl out of an end-pocket of his holdall. ‘I didn’t know what I’d be faced with when I arrived. Clearly, I didn’t account for all eventualities.’ He indicated his sodden shirt.

      ‘I’d better leave you to it,’ Robin said, backing towards the door. ‘Let you get some sleep.’ She realized she hadn’t given him his keys. ‘Here you go. One key for this room, and one for the front door.’

      ‘Thank you,’ he said, his voice weighted with sincerity. ‘This room is perfect. Unique, granted, but not in the way I was imagining.’

      ‘What were you imagining?’

      His green eyes fixed on hers for a moment, the smile there rather than on his lips. ‘Maybe I’ll tell you when we know each other a bit better. I’m not sure you’d appreciate it, and the last thing I want to do is get kicked out now I’ve found a great place to stay.’

      Robin gave a nervous laugh. ‘OK, sleep well, then. I’m on the ground floor if you need anything. You or Darcy.’

      ‘Thank you, Robin. For coming to my rescue.’

      ‘You’re very welcome.’ She backed up to the door, slid through it and closed it. No dancing on the landing this time; she fled down the stairs as quietly as she could, scooped Eclipse into a hug as he pattered into the hall, and then went to bed herself, pulling the cover up to her chin, her kitten buzzing gently, his soft fur warming her feet.

      Most of her guests appeared for breakfast at the same time. Officially, Robin ran it from seven thirty to nine thirty, though she was prepared to deal with requests that deviated from her plan. On her first morning everyone picked eight thirty to appear, and so she led them, en masse, out to Honeysuckle, the patio garden where she would serve breakfast on days the weather allowed it.

      Robin was prepared for this. She had learnt much of it by osmosis, by just being there during her teenage years, and now she had her mum and dad’s bible. Running the guesthouse, Sylvie and Ian assured her at the top of the first page, was completely different to being on the periphery.

      Robin kept her focus, staying in the kitchen while Paige served and cleared the tables. Molly’s daughter was the perfect balance of polite and cheerful with the guests, and Robin could hear chatting and laughter through the open door. She had baked sourdough and parmesan bread, and had found a recipe for shredded hash browns. Outside, each room had its own table, so Robin could keep track of any food requirements or allergies included on booking forms. Mr and Mrs Barker both went for full fried breakfasts with extra hash browns, Neil had the vegetarian version and Catriona picked scrambled eggs and smoked salmon on toast. Ray and Andrea, the guests in Wilderness, opted for croissants, and Dorothy seemed happy with muesli and toast.

      The only empty places were at the Starcross table, but Robin thought Will was probably having a lie-in after his late arrival.

      Robin could have done with a lie-in too. She was usually a morning person, and had pictured herself rising at five thirty during the summer to walk on the beach before breakfast, but after dealing with Will she had lain in bed and stared at the ceiling, wondering how long he had set the timer and watched the gently glowing lights above him. She had known that her first guest in Starcross would feel strange; she would care what anyone thought of it, regardless of who that person was. If it had been an old married couple, instead of Tabitha’s nephew, with the broad shoulders and green eyes and that way of being completely present, even in the long, high-ceilinged hall, she would have felt equally anxious. That’s what she told herself as, the cooking finished, she took a pot of Marmite out to Dorothy.

      ‘Thank you,’ Dorothy said, squinting as she turned her face up to the sun. ‘The weather seems to have welcomed our arrival.’

      ‘This is the first properly warm start we’ve had in a while,’ Robin said. ‘It feels like summer is almost here.’

      ‘It always feels closer by the sea, somehow,’ Dorothy said. ‘Probably because summer memories are beaches, sandcastles and ice creams. Down here you get a bigger summer quota than in big cities.’

      ‘I don’t know,’ Robin said, picking up an empty juice glass, ‘there’s something lovely about sitting outside a city pub and soaking in the atmosphere and the heat from the tarmac after a long day at work.’ As she said the words, she contemplated whether she still felt that way. She’d loved doing that with Neve and other friends in London, but had it ever come close to being by the sea?

      Dorothy was looking at her closely, her pale eyes unblinking. ‘It’s not the same though, is it?’

      Robin shook her head. ‘No, you’re right, it’s not. I should be promoting Campion Bay, not sending everyone scurrying back home.’

      ‘Nobody wants to leave once they come here,’ Paige said, wiping down the Barkers’ table. ‘Campion Bay ticks all the boxes.’ Robin stared at her for a moment, searching for signs of sarcasm, but couldn’t

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