Christmas at Porthglen Inn: A heartwarming small town winter romance (Love in Porthglen Book 5) by Tamsin Bracknell

Author:Tamsin Bracknell [Bracknell, Tamsin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: April Showers Publishing
Published: 2022-11-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

The Camera

Three days until Christmas

Despite the clean-up from the party and my tension with Andy, the next morning I felt positive about how the opening had gone. Most of the locals had teetered out to their taxis well past midnight, slightly tipsy and singing Christmas songs merrily into the cold night air.

Even if I was only just starting to win them around, I was sure the opening had swayed public opinion from overwhelmingly negative to somewhat closer to indifference.

Andy’s words were ringing in my ears as I cleaned up but needed to push them aside. I had a job to do, and a family to get back to on Christmas Eve. I had two days to get the inn working like a perfectly oiled machine so that it could function without me.

“Mila, we’re out of towels,” Lily, one of the maids said to me, coming into my office with a flushed face as I tried to make a filing system for the financial papers. Colin Trunder really had made a mess of everything.

“Out? What do you mean?” I asked, putting down the papers.

“There aren’t any clean ones,” Lily explained, getting more and more panicked. “We thought we had enough for all of the guests, but we don’t.”

“Okay,” I said, breathing deeply. “There are spare towels in the luxury suite. I’ll go out there and get them now. In the meantime, phone the department store in Foweybridge and sort out more towels to be delivered tonight. Tell them we’ll pay extra.”

“Thank you,” she said, finally looking a little less flustered as I swept past her and put a comforting hand on her arm.

I wasn’t exactly looking forward to seeing Andy after our conversation the night before, but as he had said, I was good at being professional.

I took the garden path up to the suite and used the brass knocker.

“Mila – I thought it might be you,” he said, opening the door with a towel wrapped around his middle and nothing else on. He was slim and toned – almost, dare I say it, good-looking. “Get in here – it’s freezing.”

I averted my eyes and walked into the living room.

Professional, Mila, I reminded myself, looking directly into his eyes as I said, “Sorry for the interruption, but I need the guest towels from the spare room.”

“I see,” Andy smiled, running his fingertips through wet hair. “You’re welcome to them, I only need one towel.”

“Thank you,” I said, relief spreading through me.

We walked through to the spare room, and I piled the clean towels into my arms.

“So,” Andy said, stopping me before I reached the door again. “I was hoping to talk to you this morning.” I drew my breath in, expecting him to bring up our disagreement. “I think I’ll stay another few nights – until Christmas Eve, actually.”

“Oh?” I asked, taken aback. I would have thought he would be glad to get away from me, now that his obligations had been fulfilled.

“Yes,” he nodded thoughtfully, readjusting the towel at his middle.

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