The Wedding Promise by Kinkade Thomas & Spencer Katherine

Author:Kinkade, Thomas & Spencer, Katherine [Kinkade, Thomas & Spencer, Katherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Literary
ISBN: 9780425245576
Google: -ChM6a5u6M8C
Amazon: 0425245578
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2011-04-05T13:39:24+00:00

Chapter Nine

WHEN Claire arrived at work on Thursday morning, Liza was in the kitchen, eager to greet her with some good news.

“The leader of a cycling club called late last night and asked if we had any vacancies for the weekend. ‘How about a completely empty inn. Is that vacant enough for you?’ Of course, I didn’t say that,” she quickly added.

“Of course not.” Claire slipped off her light cotton jacket, exchanging it for an apron that hung on a hook by the kitchen door.

“It turns out there are fifteen people in the club. They’re based in New Jersey somewhere, and they’re coming up to New England to ride around Essex County. They booked a bed-and-breakfast in Ipswich, but something got confused with their reservation and now that place is filled up. So they looked on the Internet and found us.”

“We’re on the Internet?” Claire asked with surprise.

“I took a listing on the Chamber of Commerce website, and there’s another group of local innkeepers who have a site. It wasn’t very complicated and doesn’t cost us much.”

“Seems it’s paid off already. How many will be coming?”

“Fifteen,” Liza said happily. Claire didn’t say anything, but Liza could tell from the look on her face that she was wondering where all these guests would sleep.

“I know it’s more than we can accommodate in the renovated rooms. But they agreed to take a few of the rooms that haven’t been renovated yet, on the third floor, and I might move out of my room for a night or two,” Liza added.

“Anything for the cause,” Claire offered with a smile.

“It’s not a big deal. But I gave them a good deal—an off-season group rate and an additional discount for the old rooms. The person I talked to sounded very happy. They don’t plan on being in their rooms very much. They’ll be out biking all day and will just drop into bed at night, exhausted. They won’t even notice the old wallpaper. I hope,” she added.

“I don’t think those biking groups are hard to please, as long as we serve a good breakfast and put out a lot of bananas,” Claire added decidedly.

Liza gave her a curious look.

“Oh, cyclists love bananas,” Claire said as she poured herself a mug of coffee. “Gives them lots of energy and keeps them from getting leg cramps.”

“Oh, right. The potassium or something,” Liza recalled. “Well, let’s put that at the top of the shopping list. We need to start getting the place ready. They’ll be arriving separately, some as early as noon tomorrow. They asked to have a group dinner on Friday. Can we do that?” Liza realized suddenly she should have asked Claire before agreeing to the request.

“No problem. I enjoy cooking for a good-sized group.”

“That’s what I was hoping you’d say. I already told them it was fine,” Liza admitted.

The two women laughed and began to make their plans, sitting at the big oak kitchen table. Liza felt suddenly as if she were flowing along in a gentle current, a force of nature, nothing to fight against, just enough to carry her along.

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