Chapter Twenty-Four

Evie was not the only person to breathe a sigh of relief when the order from the wine merchant arrived. Felicia was so thrilled she insisted on opening a bottle immediately, not even caring when Evie told her that the champagne wasn’t properly chilled.

‘It’s come on that cart via the bridge, and it’s snowing outside. It’s chilled. I need a bottle sent to my room, immediately. And an ice bucket, in case it does need to be chilled a little more. And two champagne glasses.’

Evie was tempted to take an empty ice bucket because the harpy with two names had not actually asked for a bucket of ice, but she thought better of it. Felicia was clearly under a lot of pressure if the woman needed champagne at ten-thirty in the morning. Why she wanted two glasses was a mystery. Her boyfriend was out filming with Zachary, and, oddly enough, her boss, Joshua was at Jane Dorset’s cottage having coffee.

Jane and Joshua had bumped into one another in reception. Jane had been visiting Jessie and was on her way home. Joshua was browsing through the leaflets on the console table as if waiting for someone, or something, to arrive. He said it wasn’t the wine he was waiting for when Evie enquired, and that he wasn’t looking for anything in particular when she had asked him that. He was probably keeping an eye out for Jessie. Jane appeared before Evie had a chance to ask, and when Evie introduced them, Joshua offered to walk Jane home – which was very sweet and gentlemanlike. Jane invited him for coffee. That was to find out all about him, Evie was certain of it. Jessie was not at all pleased when Evie dashed into the kitchen and told her. She immediately sent a text to Jane but refused to tell Evie what it said. When Jessie’s phone pinged in reply, Jessie gave a little self-satisfied smile.

‘That’ll show him,’ Jessie said, closing her eyes and nodding off almost immediately.

Evie left her to it, returning to reception and the remainder of the day was fairly uneventful.

Zachary’s parents, Juliette and Jeffrey had gone with Zachary – Jeffrey as producer of the show, Juliette to watch.

Tracy and Trevor Bright eventually managed to get a train to London and hopefully onward to Norfolk, from there, but not at nine-thirty as they had intended. There were delays and cancellations so they waited at the inn and Evie set the train services app to notify them of updates. They finally got a train which departed at eleven-forty-five.

Logan arrived shortly after and dashed straight into the kitchen. Evie was on the landline at the time and was sure he was trying to avoid her but as he would be busy helping her mum prepare the meals, she could hardly badger him about Raven.

Joshua returned at twelve and seemed a little down-hearted, but he smiled and said he was looking forward to a delicious lunch. He was followed in by Roland, arriving just in time to serve it. Only Felicia and Joshua were having lunch, so Roland didn’t have much to do.

After Raven helped Evie finish making the beds and tidying the rooms, Roland hung around Evie, making suggestive remarks. He eventually wandered off after she yawned several times and said, ‘Sorry Roland, what did you say? I’m far too tired for banter.’

Juniper’s message from the tarot cards might seem like nonsense but it was playing on Evie’s mind. She had to do something to put Roland off and when he suggested a quick lie-down might help, she realised a rethink may be required. She asked him to go and find her dad and didn’t mention that he had just gone into Michaelmas Bay to buy Molly a Christmas present. That should keep the infatuated teenager busy for a while and whilst the inn was quiet, Evie had some snow globes to wrap and arrange beneath the tree.

What would Felicia think when she opened her present on Christmas Day and found a snow globe of Snowflake Cove?

Evie grinned at the image that thought conjured up.

But what would Zachary and Joshua think?

Oh dear. Perhaps her strategy with Roland wasn’t the only thing she needed to reconsider. And she was running out of time.

Her mobile rang and the dancing reindeer appeared. Either she was imagining it, or that reindeer grew more manic each day, the closer it got to Christmas.

‘Hi Juniper. How’s Miranda’s knicker elastic? Is it on its way to Spain?’

‘Fancy coming into town right now, hitting the shops for an hour, having a cocktail and still be back by six?’

‘Absolutely. But I’ll have to check with Mum because Dad’s already out and I may be needed here. Come with me and I’ll ask.’ Evie hurried to the kitchen, her phone pressed against her ear. ‘So I take it Gatwick didn’t let you down.’

‘Nope. The flight wasn’t even delayed. Can you believe it? You were right this morning. Gatwick didn’t get it quite as bad as we did. But the best news is that she may not be able to get back. I listened to the forecast and they said that last night was merely a sample of things to come. The whole of the UK can expect severe weather, with heavy snow, blizzards and icy conditions, not just over Christmas and the New Year, but lasting into the first two weeks of January. Isn’t that fabulous?’