Page 26 of The Village Inn of Secret Dream

‘So I thought we could get a few things straight so that the sale goes smoothly,’ said Pete, with a smile.

He was all easy charm, thought Belle. The same charm that had won over so many women in the past. But it wasn’t going to be quite so easy winning her over when her future depended on it.

‘Because the inn is freehold and therefore not tied to a lease with any brewery, my solicitor assures me that the sale should go through within the next six weeks or so,’ said Pete.

‘That quick?’ said Mick, looking pleased.

‘It’s a straightforward purchase,’ replied Pete.

Belle sat and wondered whether purchasing commercial properties worth at least £350,000 was an everyday occurrence for Pete. She knew that his various jobs around the world had been in finance so perhaps he was used to dealing with those kinds of large sums of money.

Belle looked at her aunt and uncle, but they seemed quite relaxed about the fact that they had to find somewhere else to live in the next six weeks.

‘Six weeks doesn’t give us long,’ she said in a pointed tone.

But sitting next to her, Aunt Angie was all smiles. ‘I don’t think that’ll be a problem. In fact, that will tie in with our plan,’ she said.

‘What plan?’ asked Belle, with a frown.

‘Well, you know we were thinking about a cruise,’ began Uncle Mick.

Aunt Angie giggled. ‘We’ve decided to upgrade a bit,’ she said.

To Belle’s amazement, her aunt and uncle were actually smiling and laughing with each other. It was as if they were a completely different couple.

‘Now that the sale is definitely going through, we’ve decided to use up all of our savings. So the cruise we’ve chosen sets sail in a fortnight’s time, in fact,’ said Aunt Angie, turning to look at Belle.

‘In two weeks? Isn’t that a bit soon?’ asked Belle, looking across to her uncle. ‘That doesn’t leave much time to pack up when you get back.’

‘Well, that’s the thing,’ said her aunt, grinning. ‘We’ll be gone for three months, so we’ll have to do all our packing before we leave.’

Belle looked at her aunt in amazement. ‘Three months?’ she spluttered.

‘Actually it’s 109 nights,’ said Mick, with a grin.

‘With an extra night in Southampton before we set sail,’ added her aunt.

‘I assumed you were just going around the Mediterranean,’ said Belle, stunned.

‘No, love. We’re going around the world!’ said Mick, laughing.

‘The whole world?’ murmured Belle.

‘We’ve always wanted to,’ said Angie, her eyes gleaming. ‘We were keeping the money to pay off some debts, but it doesn’t matter now, does it? Thanks to lovely Pete here, we’ll still have a small nest egg when the sale of the inn goes through.’

‘But when you come back you’ll have nowhere to live,’ said Belle. ‘And I’ll be homeless before that.’

‘Actually I wanted to talk to you about that,’ said Pete quickly. ‘I don’t know much, or anything really, about running a country inn. I don’t even know how to change a barrel of beer.’

‘I can show you,’ said Mick.

‘Thanks,’ said Pete. ‘But when you’re halfway across the word, I’m going to need an experienced pair of hands.’ He turned to look back at Belle. ‘So I was hoping that you could stay on as a live-in manager.’

Was it really too good to be true? That she didn’t have to move?

‘For how long?’ asked Belle, with a gulp.

Pete shrugged his shoulders. ‘At least until I sell the inn,’ he told her.