Page 9 of The Village Inn of Secret Dream

‘What do you mean?’ said Cathy, looking at Pete with worried eyes. ‘You’re staying home for a while yet, aren’t you?’

‘Mum,’ groaned Pete. ‘I only landed in the country this morning.’

‘He didn’t answer the question,’ murmured Grandma Tilly, also looking concerned.

‘I’m here for at least a week, okay?’ said Pete. ‘I’ve got a Zoom interview set up in the city later this week. So after that, who knows?’

Cathy said nothing but, to Pete’s dismay, immediately began to blink rapidly, as if she were going to cry. The last thing Pete ever wanted to do was cause his mum any more grief as he had obviously done spending so long away from home.

Amber reached over and squeezed Cathy’s hand before saying, ‘The roast looks amazing as usual, Cathy.’

‘It’s my recipe for the roast potatoes that makes it,’ said Grandma Tilly with a wink.

‘Of course it is,’ said Amber, smiling at her.

But Cathy was still looking concerned at her youngest son. ‘You’re really leaving again?’ she asked, this time her voice a little tremulous.

Pete sighed. ‘There are no jobs for me around here, Mum,’ he replied. ‘It’s not exactly a thriving financial market, is it?’

‘And we can’t afford to hire him in the shop, can we?’ said Josh. ‘Not that he’s exactly qualified for the role anyway.’

‘You know, I deal with customers all the time,’ said Pete, in a pointed tone despite not really wanting to hang around and work in the shop.

‘Yeah, it must be tough for all those millionaires deciding which luxury yacht to buy with all their shares,’ said Josh, with a grin.

But his fiancée was giving him a stern look across the table.

‘He started it,’ said Josh, with a shrug.

‘When?’ asked Amber, raising an eyebrow.

‘When he was born,’ said Josh, with a wink.

Amber smiled as she shook her head at Josh. Pete liked her. She was quite quiet but warm and kind. And attractive, of course. He could certainly see why his brother had fallen in love with her.

The conversation flowed over dinner, with Pete mostly listening and trying to catch up with all the goings-on in the village. He found out about the community hub that had been set up by the local newspaper in the building next door. And he found out about the new vicar, Glenda, who apparently was already pencilled in for Josh and Amber’s wedding next summer.

‘It’s such a pretty church,’ said Amber, smiling.

‘And a lucky one too,’ said Grandma Tilly, taking her hand and squeezing it. ‘After all, it’s where I got married and later on Todd and Cathy as well.’

‘Hopefully you’ll have better weather than we both did,’ said Cathy, with a grimace. ‘It actually hailed in July, would you believe?’

‘Good job we’re thinking of late August then,’ said Josh, finishing his dinner and putting his arm along the back of Amber’s chair.

‘That’s almost a year away,’ said Cathy, looking dismayed. ‘Such a long time to wait.’

Josh shrugged his shoulders. ‘We’re in no rush, are we?’ he said, looking at his fiancée.

Amber shook her head. ‘Not at all,’ she replied.

‘As long as you don’t change your mind in the meantime,’ he said, with a soft smile.

‘No chance,’ she replied.

‘Your father and I got married a month after getting engaged,’ said Cathy, turning the diamond ring around and around on her finger.

‘Well, Dad was always impatient for everything,’ said Josh.