Read sample Return to the Lakeside Hotel

Chapter One

And they were off. Stacy Townsend smoothed her pale pink bridesmaid’s dress with one hand, then gripped her bouquet of roses and gypsophila and followed the procession down the aisle to the strains of Pachelbel’s Canon in D major. It was lovely, it was traditional, it was everything a bride could ever dream of – everything she’d dreamt of, when she thought she would be an October bride too. But here she was, second bridesmaid at her brother’s wedding, with the main job of keeping an eye on the four-year-old flower girl in front of her. Hard to believe how her life had changed in the past few months. She was single again, while in a few minutes’ time, her big brother was going to be a ‘happily married man’, and you only had to look at him and Jo to know that in Gareth’s case, the cliché was bang on.

Stacy blinked back tears as they continued down the aisle, but she was in good company there. Mum was in floods and so was Jo’s mum and oh, she was happy for Gareth and Jo, she really was. Those two had taken one look at each other last spring and they’d known, hadn’t they? Stacy had to force herself not to look at her empty engagement finger. That part of her life was well and truly behind her. Or no, it wasn’t, because while David might be history, the ghosts of everything she’d planned were still right up there in her head. And why on earth it had taken her years of her life to realise that David’s list of priorities was in direct contrast to hers, she had no idea. Stacy tilted her chin in the air. She wouldn’t make that mistake again.

And here they were at the bottom – or was it the top? – of the aisle, and the vicar was waiting with a Cheshire cat smile on his face as Gareth claimed Jo’s hand and the ceremony began. Stacy heaved a shaky sigh, and settled down in her pew beside Maisie the flower girl. The worst part about today was, every single member of her family in this church had expected to be going to Stacy’s wedding this autumn, and here they were at Gareth’s. She was going to need all her courage to keep smiling through the reception. But today was Gareth’s day, and Jo’s, and she was damned well going to do her best to make it a good one for them. Go, girl.

‘All right, Stacy?’

Stacy smiled through gritted teeth. If she had to answer that question one more time, she would scream. There couldn’t be many people left at the reception who hadn’t poured sympathy over her. This time, it was Amira the chief bridesmaid’s grandma who was wearing the concerned expression, so not even her side of the family. Did everyone here know that she’d been dumped by the guy she’d been head over heels with ever since she was fourteen? Correction, he hadn’t even had the decency to dump her; his new girlfriend had done that for him. Mind you, when she thought about it for more than two seconds, she knew David was a class A scumbag and she was well rid of him, but… Stacy shook herself and gave Amira’s grandma the now-standard answer.

‘Yes – and doesn’t Jo make a lovely bride?’

The old lady took her hand and gave it a little squeeze. ‘You’ll have a wedding ring on there one day too, lovey, and when you do, you’ll wonder why you ever spent a single second moping after a dud like the one you’re well rid of.’

Stacy couldn’t stop the smile spreading over her face. ‘My friend Emily calls him David Dastardly. He’s actually a very good doctor, but I take your point. I wouldn’t go back, not really.’

‘No, you wouldn’t. You’d want things different, but life doesn’t always work out the way we want it to. Look, they’re calling everyone to sing Auld Lang Syne. On you go and join the bridal party.’

Amira’s grandma gave her a little push. Stacy dashed off to find Maisie the flower girl, and took her to their place beside Gareth and Jo and Amira. She’d made it to the end of the reception, so she only had tomorrow morning to get through, and then it would be over.

In spite of the late night, Stacy was up early the next morning. She pulled on jeans, glancing at the pink bridesmaid’s dress hanging on the back of the hotel room door. The morning after a wedding was usually a bit of an anti-climax. Unless you were the bride or groom, of course, in which case it was the start of a whole new life. But thank heavens it was the morning after now. The hard part was done, and she’d managed so much better than she’d thought she would.

The best bit was, there would be no more weddings for her in the foreseeable. In fact, the way she was feeling now, if she never saw another man again it would be too soon. For the next year she would concentrate on her lovely new job at the Lakeside Hotel in Switzerland. The week she and Emily had spent there last summer had changed both their lives. Em had fallen for Alan, a summer barman, and Stacy had helped Rico, the manager’s son, realise that he was destined to turn the failing hotel into a spa. Whereupon he’d offered her a job as spa nurse, and bring it on.

A tap came at the door. ‘Stacy, darling? Ready to go downstairs?’

Oh dear – Mum’s voice was all quavery again. Stacy opened the door and was immediately pressed to her mother’s ample bosom.

‘Mum! Let me breathe!’

Janie Townsend sniffed dolefully. ‘I only have another two days to hug you. I want to make the most of them.’

Stacy grabbed her bag. Poor Mum – one chick away on his honeymoon for two weeks, the other about to flee the country to start a sparkly new job. She linked arms with her mother as they joined Dad at the lift.

‘Chin up, Mum. We can facetime as often as you like.’ And hopefully she wouldn’t regret saying that.

Her father winked. ‘Don’t worry, Stacy. Your mother and I have a shop to reorganise for Gareth and Jo’s return. She won’t have the energy to mope.’

Janie joined in the laughter. ‘I’m ready to shift stationery around, John Townsend, but if you think setting up a craft room at the shop is going to make me miss Stacy less, you’ve another think coming.’ She marched into the hotel dining room, where the wedding guests who’d stayed over had a big table to themselves.

Stacy collected scrambled egg and bacon, and sat listening as Mum chatted to Jo’s aunt from London. And oh, help – next time she was sitting at a table with a crowd of other people like this, they’d all be speaking a different language. Had she learned enough German to let her join in? A couple of large-sized butterflies started crashing around in her stomach.

Two o’clock saw her back in Elton Abbey, in her room in Emily’s flat. Her friend came in while Stacy was unpacking her overnight bag.

‘Bet you can’t wait to be spa nurse!’ Emily plumped down on the bed.

‘I won’t be doing much nursing for the first few months. We have to renovate the hotel, install a few spa facilities, and find the guests to use them first.’

‘At least you have a nice boss. Rico’s a darling.’

Stacy shot Emily a pointed look. According to Em, Rico, the acting manager of the hotel, was head over heels in love with her already, but that was wildly exaggerated. He liked her, yes, or he wouldn’t have offered her the job, but she wasn’t going to start anything with anyone until she’d squashed David right behind her. ‘I don’t need – or want – a darling. I need a job, and at least in Switzerland…’ She stuck out her tongue at Emily.

In Switzerland, she wouldn’t have happily married Gareth and Jo in her face all the time, or loved-up Emily and Alan. Or the ghost of her broken engagement, or the danger of running into David and leggy Lucy, his new girlfriend, every time she went to a bar or restaurant. Switzerland was escape, and boy, was she glad to have the chance to live in Grimsbach by lovely Lake Constance and help renovate the gorgeous old wooden chalet that was the Lakeside Hotel. Rico was a nice boss, sure, but she wasn’t in any kind of place to think about anything more with him, no matter what Emily said.

Chapter Two

Rico Weber stepped into the Geneva café round the corner from his B&B and dropped into a chair at his usual table. His intensive weeklong course of learning how to balance books and sort out business tax affairs was beginning to feel like a long time, and it was only Wednesday. Three days down, one and a half to go, and the course would be worth it in the end, even though it had meant travelling to the diagonally opposite corner of Switzerland. Geneva could hardly be further away from Grimsbach and the Lakeside Hotel, but he was going to need all the skills he could drum up for this renovation, including accountancy. Converting the hotel into a hotel-spa was a huge undertaking in itself, then when it was finished, they’d need to find a whole new set of guests to use the place. They had a real accountant for the build, of course, but the more day-to-day stuff he could do himself afterwards, the better it would be for the bank balance. Accountants were expensive.

A somewhat hoarse cuckoo popped out of the clock on the wall, and Rico hugged himself. Six o’clock, and this time on Friday, he’d be back at Lakeside, with Stacy there as his assistant. It was a dream come true – with her help, he could rekindle some of his mother’s ideas for Lakeside, her ‘English hotel in Switzerland’. The new concept would hopefully fill a hole in the market as well as carrying Mum’s dream on into the future. She’d have been all for it, and who knows, maybe she was looking down on him now, nodding in approval. Rico put in his order – Frankfurters and a side salad – and leaned back in his chair. This might not be how he’d intended to spend the next year, but he was going to give it everything he had. His master’s degree in IT could wait; the hotel couldn’t, but it had taken Stacy to point that out to him last summer.

And oh, it was so great to have her on board. She wouldn’t be over her broken engagement enough to think about a new relationship, he knew that, but hell, he was hoping, wasn’t he? Even though she’d never given him the slightest indication that she thought of him as anything other than a friend. And now he was her boss, which felt even more distant. Maybe in a month or two? He would have to take things very, very carefully. This was his chance, and he mustn’t mess it up.

He was striding back to the B&B after his meal when his phone rang. Ah – Karen, the Lakeside receptionist. He tapped to take the call.

‘Hi, Karen. How’s Lakeside?’

She sniffed. ‘You wouldn’t know it was a hotel at the moment. We have no guests at all until tomorrow, when a group of ten have booked a three-night stay. You need to get in touch with your project manager, Rico. He keeps calling with questions I don’t know the answers to.’

Karen’s melodic Swiss German had never sounded more fed up, and Rico searched around for something encouraging to say.

‘I’ll give Andi a call. This is the last week, Karen. Things will be different when we re-open in January with all our smart new facilities, you’ll see.’

‘I hope so. Your mother would have hated to see what the place has become.’

Rico took a deep, steadying breath. What she’d said was true, but pointing out the obvious wasn’t helpful right now. Karen and Mum had been friends, working side by side at Lakeside all those years, and if the cancer hadn’t taken Mum, they’d still be working side by side and the hotel would still be its old successful self. Karen was finding it hard to adjust to the new reality.

‘We’ll make sure Lakeside flourishes again. That’s what Mum would want.’

‘Yes. I’ll see you on Friday, then.’

‘Don’t forget Stacy’s arriving tomorrow – you’ll need to welcome her for me.’

Karen sniffed. ‘It’s in the diary, don’t worry.’

She rang off, and Rico pushed his phone into his pocket and went into the B&B, pondering. Karen might have sounded bit happier about Stacy coming – or had he imagined the bored tone in her voice? Karen wanted Lakeside to go back to being the place it had always been, but without Mum, that simply wasn’t possible. Their ‘English hotel’ only worked when someone English was in charge, and both he and Dad were as Swiss as cheese fondue. Stacy would help bring a little of the English concept back, and who knew…

He pushed the thought as far away as he could. Stacy’s contract was for a year only. He mustn’t count on her staying longer, same as he mustn’t hope they would ever be more than friends. And now he should do some of the fascinating accountancy homework for the last full day of his course tomorrow.

Rico settled down in his room and opened his laptop.

He was hoping, though, wasn’t he?

Grimsbach church clock was striking half past six as Kim Burri stood at her front door waving goodbye to the woman whose nails she’d spent the last hour manicuring for a wedding anniversary party. Where had the afternoon gone? A sharp north wind was blowing across from Germany on the opposite bank of Lake Constance, and Kim shivered. It was dusk already, and what with that and the cold weather, it felt as if winter was on its way early this year. Brr.

She turned back into the dining room, and winced. Organised chaos was the kindest description you could give to this room. Her manicure things were spread out over half the table and Ben’s toys were occupying over ninety per cent of the floor. Fortunately, he’d been obliging enough to play peacefully, if not quietly, while she was working, and her client hadn’t minded, so no problem. Kim fished the three-year-old up from under the table and was about to suggest that a clear-up might be fun, when the back door banged open and five-year-old Elijah ran in.

‘Mama! Marcel has a new garage! And lots of new cars! Can I have one too?’

Kim ruffled his hair. In one way it was good that Eli went so often to his friend’s to play after kindergarten; it gave her time to fit a few more nail clients in. Working with Ben at home was tricky, but with both boys here it was impossible. Oh, to be back at the salon again, but that wouldn’t happen until Ben started kindergarten, two years from now. Tobias earned so much more than she ever would; it would be madness for him to reduce his hours to let her find a job as beautician and manicurist. It had been fine when her parents lived in the next village and were able to take on some – okay, quite a lot – of the childcare, but Mum and Dad had set off on the trip of a lifetime last Easter. ‘Round the world in two years’ was their retirement present to each other, and good for them. Kim smiled sadly. She wasn’t wishing them home, but she missed her job more than she’d ever imagined. Tobias wouldn’t hear of the children going to a childminder, so they were stuck. Or she was, anyway.

Elijah was waiting for an answer, and she bent to kiss the excited little boy. ‘A garage, huh? Why don’t you put it on your Christmas wish list?’

‘Yay! Come on, Ben! Let’s play with the zoo!’

Elijah thundered upstairs with his brother in his wake, and Kim was left standing in the dining room. She whisked the toys on the floor into Ben’s toybox any old way, and dived through to the kitchen. Tobias would be home soon, and the dinner was still in the fridge. She chopped swiftly, and oh, for the day when she didn’t have to multitask quite so much. Stay-at-home mum wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Kim blinked hard. She had no reason to feel sorry for herself. Get a grip, woman.

Happy laughter floated down from the boys’ room upstairs, and Kim stopped chopping to listen to it. There wasn’t a day went by when she didn’t think of that terrible evening last summer when Elijah had so nearly drowned in the lake. If the English nurse, Stacy, hadn’t been staying at the hotel that week and been right on hand when they’d needed help, it could have ended horribly differently. Kim ran her knife under the tap and slid it back into the knife block. It was a pity Stacy hadn’t been back. She’d said she might be, in autumn, and would get in contact if she was, but the hotel was closing at the weekend, so that wouldn’t happen now.

Kim swept her vegetables into a pan and turned to deal with the chicken marinading in the fridge. She was ready to cook for her own little family. Life was good.

But it would be better if she had a job to go to, wouldn’t it?