Page 35 of The Village Inn of Secret Dream

As another splash of water dripped onto his cheek, he looked directly upwards into the eaves of the roof where the rain had begun to leak into the middle of the room.

It was then that he finally got Belle’s private joke about him moving the bed.

Back in her own bedroom, Belle smiled to herself as she heard Pete drag the bed back across the room to put it under the window before she turned over and went back to sleep.

19

Belle was staring into space, waiting for the kettle to boil the following morning, when Pete came into the kitchen.

‘So I now have proof that the roof leaks,’ he announced, sounding pretty grumpy.

‘And a good morning to you too,’ she replied.

She did feel a little mean about not warning him about the leaking roof in the master bedroom, but he seemed so determined to ride roughshod over everything in the inn, including her, that a tiny bit of playful revenge had made her feel slightly better.

To be fair, he did look positively dishevelled. Normally so well turned out and immaculate, that morning he had bags under his eyes and even his dark hair was messed up.

‘I hope there’s a mug of coffee somewhere in this kitchen that you’re going to make me to apologise for not telling me about the leaky roof,’ he said, yawning.

Belle looked at him with an arched eyebrow. ‘Yes, but first off there needs to be a “please” in that sentence,’ she told him. ‘And second, if we’re going to be sharing this apartment for the foreseeable future, we need to set some house rules.’

‘Do we have to do this now?’ he groaned. ‘I’ve had barely any sleep. I’m frozen in my bones and pretty soggy around the edges too.’

‘Yes, we do,’ she said. ‘For the record, I won’t be doing any of your laundry, cooking or any other housewifely type duties.’

She was surprised to see a smile played on the corner of his lips.

‘What?’ she asked, wondering what on earth he had found funny.

‘Just trying to imagine you wearing a frilly apron,’ he told her.

She made a face at him. ‘Funny, but I can imagine you wearing one very easily.’

He gave a short grunt of humour before moving over to the nearby breakfast bar. He had already drawn out one of the stools before Belle even had a chance to shout, ‘Wait!’

All too late, she watched as Pete sank onto the rickety stool which instantly broke underneath him, plummeting him to the floor.

He swore and leapt up to glance around at Belle in utter disbelief. ‘Does nothing around here work?’ he exclaimed. ‘I spent half the night being dripped on through the leaky roof, then the other half huddled under the covers in the coldest room known to man.’ He looked down at the broken stool. ‘Is the whole place riddled with woodworm or is it just some kind of giant cosmic joke that the universe has decided to play on me?’

‘That stool has been dodgy for some time,’ she told him smoothly, going to pick up the pieces from the floor. ‘And I did suggest that the bed was better off under the window.’

‘You failed to mention the leaking roof,’ he added.

‘Yes, I did, didn’t I?’ said Belle, smiling as she straightened up to place the broken stool next to the kitchen bin.

Pete sighed heavily. ‘Can we just start again?’ he asked. ‘I can’t fight you this early in the morning.’

‘It’s half past eight,’ she told him in a pointed tone. ‘But listen, I agreed to carry on living and working here because you said that you’d be a silent partner in this place with me being in charge.’

‘And?’ he asked, hesitating before leaning against the breakfast bar with his full body weight and crossing his arms in front of him.

‘And I haven’t seen much of the silent bit so far, to be honest,’ she told him.

‘I lied,’ he replied, with a grin.

Belle rolled her eyes. ‘Great. Anyway, Iwillmake you a coffee just this once,’ she said, turning her eyes to grab another mug. ‘Seeing as you’ve just fallen on the floor. But you’re going to have to wise up that this wasyouridea to invest in the inn, which most certainly isn’t perfect, I agree. So can you please just try to enjoy being here for however long we’re stuck together?’

‘I know you’re not happy about all of this,’ he said. ‘But with a successful restaurant and a decent chef, I think this will make an attractive proposition for one of the large inn chains, I’m sure.’