Page 74 of The Village Inn of Secret Dream

‘I thought we were going to leave it tonight,’ he whispered to her.

Belle gave him a shrug of her shoulders. ‘People were complaining of feeling cold,’ she replied before walking away.

‘It looks great,’ said Amber, ever the peacemaker and smiling up at Pete from the table. ‘You’ve worked so hard.’

‘He didn’t do anything,’ said Josh, pulling a chair out of the table for his mother to sit on. ‘It was the builders and Belle that did all the hard work.’

Pete looked at his brother and raised his eyebrows.

Josh gave him a wide grin. ‘Just kidding, bro. You’ve done brilliantly to get it ready in time.’

Pete grinned back. ‘Thanks.’

He hadn’t wanted his brother’s approval, or any of his family’s, to start with. But now he realised that he did want them to approve of the changes to the restaurant. This was to be their local restaurant in the local inn. He wanted it to be good. Better than good, in fact.

He glanced around the room, but there was no sign of the restaurant critic yet. Just what appeared to be local families and couples who had all been invited for the launch. The place was filling up and the chatter of conversation began to fill the air.

Once his family sat down, Pete handed them all the brand-new menu.

‘Shall I get you all a drink?’ he asked, as they all looked down at the menu.

‘How about some wine?’ said Amber, beaming around the table before looking back at her fiancé who was sitting next to her.

But Josh was frowning down at the menu. ‘What’s this?’ he said, looking up at his brother with incredulous eyes. ‘Wild boar? Langoustines?’

‘What’s a langoustine?’ asked Grandma Tilly, making a face. ‘Is that, whatsername, vegan?’

Amber gave Josh a nudge with her elbow, but Josh ignored her. ‘Where’s the local food?’ he asked.

‘Every ingredient has been sourced from top suppliers,’ Pete told him in a lofty tone of voice.

‘Yeah, about 300 miles away from the looks of it,’ said Josh.

‘I’m sure it’ll all taste lovely,’ said his mum, glancing between both her sons. ‘Now, shall we go for white or red wine?’

Josh crossed his arms in front of him and scowled whilst his mum and Amber decided on a bottle of wine.

Pete decided that once they had chosen their wine he would be quite grateful to leave the somewhat awkward atmosphere at his family’s table. His big brother had always been environmentally conscious and had carried on that ethos in the shop, always trying to source as many items as locally as he could. Pete wondered if perhaps he should have gone down the same route with the food, but it was too late to change everything now. He was sure it would be all right.

Just then his nerves ratcheted up a notch as he spotted a single man, smartly dressed, who had just headed in the door and walked directly to the restaurant area.

‘Well, I’d better check on the front of house,’ said Pete. ‘I’ll leave you in Cassie’s capable hands.’

‘Good luck,’ whispered Amber before he left.

‘Thanks,’ he said, before fixing a smile at the gentleman who was waiting, a little impatiently, at the entrance. ‘Good evening. Can I help you?’

‘Yes, I have a reservation in the name of Mr T Faulks,’ said the man.

‘I thought so,’ said Pete, holding out his hand. ‘Welcome to The Black Swan. I’m the proprietor, Pete Kennedy. We spoke on the phone.’

‘Ah yes.’ The critic looked down at Pete’s hand which was still held out as if to be shook but instead placed his coat into it instead.

‘Let me show you to your seat and then I’ll hang up your coat,’ said Pete. Everyone else had hung their coats on the back of the chairs, which wasn’t really giving the desired effect, he realised. He seemed to recall Belle mentioning something when they had got rid of the old coat stand in the inn lounge, but it had then completely slipped his mind. So he hung the coat next to the entrance to the restaurant by the cutlery and then headed straight back with the menu.

The critic had naturally been given the best seat in the house, which was by the window, overlooking the river. Which, Pete now realised, was a huge mistake because it was dark outside and perhaps he should have placed him nearer the fireplace as it was such a wild night out.

The lights flickered once more and Pete prayed that they would stay on. Maybe Belle’s other idea about some tea lights on the table would have helped calm his nerves as well, if the lights went out.