Page 3 of The Village Inn of Secret Dream

Josh murmured something in Amber’s ear that made her blush and smile.

For a moment, Belle envied the close relationship they had and surprised herself with the idea that perhaps love wasn’t something to be avoided. That perhaps she too could be happy, if she ever met the right man.

She sighed and drained her glass in one gulp. As expected, the champagne was not of a stellar vintage, but she hoped it might help make her feel better.

Josh appeared on the other side of the bar to place his own empty glass down on the counter.

‘Congratulations,’ she told him, heading around the side of the bar to give him a kiss on the cheek.

‘Thanks,’ he said, with a warm smile.

Despite her misgivings about marriage, she was very fond of Josh. When Belle had first arrived in the village, Josh and his family had played a huge part in welcoming her into the community. The Kennedys owned the corner shop, The Cranbridge Stores, and she had grown close to both Josh and his younger brother, Pete, despite them being a few years older than herself. They had become the surrogate big brothers that she had never had, being an only child herself.

‘Can’t wait to tell Pete he’s got to be my best man!’ carried on Josh, laughing. ‘That’ll shake his jet lag off when he arrives at the airport in the morning.’

‘Absolutely!’ said Belle, fixing a wide smile on her face.

But as she walked away, her smile quickly faded. Josh’s brother, Pete Kennedy, was coming home the following day. She had managed to temporarily forget about Pete for a whole five minutes, but now it was all she could think about.

‘We need more crisps,’ she heard her Aunt Angie say.

‘I’ll get them,’ said Belle quickly, before turning to head into the small hallway beyond and downstairs into the cellar.

Once she was alone, she sagged against the wall and leaned her head against the cool bricks to try and clear her feverish mind.

There were so many problems in her life right now. But Pete coming home from Singapore was yet another one.

They had always been so close – Belle, Josh and Pete. But where Josh was a little more serious, Pete had been the one to make her laugh with his silly jokes and had brought her out of herself, especially in those early years when she was still reeling from her parents’ disastrous marriage.

The brothers had been friendly, flirty and fun, which was entirely what she had needed after the many years of misery hiding inside her bedroom to avoid the rows between her parents.

Josh was the older brother of the two, equally handsome and charming but dependable. Pete was a wild card, always looking for the next adventure. He was a natural flirt, even at the age of thirteen, and all the girls at school had fallen for him, including Belle. She had had a huge crush on Pete growing up, but he had always treated her like a sister and, because of her tomboy ways at that age, sometimes like a brother as well. So she had watched from the sidelines as he had dated and kissed every girl in the village except her. But it didn’t bother her. At least, that was what she had tried to tell herself.

As the years passed, Pete had lived all around the world, but he came home frequently, and Pete and Belle had continued their easy, close friendship. He had carried on dating many women and Belle had carried on shrugging off any offers of romance from anyone who showed any interest in her, eager not to replicate the wretched past of her parents’ marriage.

But everything had changed three years ago when Pete had been about to head off to Singapore to work. Pete’s father, Todd, had unexpectedly passed away. It had shaken the whole family, but Pete appeared almost numb with shock about losing his dad.

The evening after his funeral, Pete had been in the deepest despair that she had even seen him and had sought out Belle’s shoulder to lean on. He had been so sad, so grief-stricken, that Belle had barely known how to console him.

Then, to the surprise of them both, Belle had found herself leaning forward whilst they had been sitting so close and had kissed him on the lips.

It was supposed to have been a kiss of comfort, to try to ease some of his pain and perhaps to also say goodbye as he left for the Far East. But she had been astonished to find him responding to the kiss with passion for a brief, glorious couple of seconds until he had pulled away, staring at her in disbelief.

‘I can’t,’ he had stammered, shaking his head. ‘Not with you.’

‘It’s okay,’ Belle had said quickly.

But it hadn’t been. Pete had immediately stood up and walked away from her.

And she hadn’t seen or heard from him since that day.

She had made a terrible mistake in kissing him and had ruined everything between them, that much she knew. She carried the pain within her, not telling even her closest friends about what she had done. It was too shameful that he had rejected her, so she kept the secret to herself.

And now he was coming back. She didn’t know how long he would be staying for, but she hoped that any awkwardness wouldn’t last whilst he was living just over the other side of the river above the shop with Josh and Amber.

But the fear of seeing Pete again and facing up to her secret crush was nothing compared to her other worries. The inn was going out of business. And without the inn, she had no home and no job. What would she do? Where would she live? She had no qualifications and no real skills to her name.

Worst of all, she was scared to leave the sanctuary that The Black Swan had provided for so many happy years. She didn’t want change. Feared it, in fact.