Page 45 of The Village Inn of Secret Dream

‘… Go out,’ said Belle.

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Plunged momentarily into darkness, it took a few moments for Belle’s eyes to adjust.

Thankfully, the glow from the fire took the edge of the inky black and she was able to see Pete’s horrified face.

‘And this happens a lot?’ he said, glancing around him in dismay.

‘Most of the time when it gets really windy,’ she told him. ‘The trouble with living in a rural area is that all the electricity comes from overhead lines and they often get ripped up in high winds. You don’t remember this from when you were younger?’

Pete shook his head. ‘I guess not. What if we had had a restaurant full of customers this evening?’ he said, running a hand through his hair.

Belle shrugged her shoulders as she headed over to the high mantelpiece above the fire and picked up a couple of candles which weren’t only there for show.

‘They’ll have to eat a sandwich instead,’ she told him, before bending down to light the wicks on the candles from the fire.

‘Well, that won’t do,’ she heard Pete say. ‘We need an emergency generator of some sort as backup.’

‘It’s a fact of countryside life,’ she said, as she straightened up. ‘There are torches under the counter of the bar, by the way. And more candles too.’

But Pete wasn’t listening. ‘I’m going to talk to Mr Reynolds first thing,’ he said, bringing out his phone to make a note. ‘We can’t lose business just because of bad weather.’

Belle watched him for a moment. He was so tightly wound up these days. What had happened to the relaxed Pete of old, joking and laughing as he and Josh tried to push each other into the river.

‘Well, I’m going to text the girls and then pour myself a drink,’ she told him. ‘What can I get you?’

He looked up from his phone, somewhat startled. ‘Oh, yeah, thanks,’ he said. ‘A glass of red wine would be nice.’

‘You wouldn’t say that if you’d already tried the wine,’ Belle told him but headed over to the bar anyway. Uncle Mick had never been too fussy about the quality of the wine that he had bought.

She felt around in the dim light under the bar for a torch, which, thankfully, she had checked the batteries of only the previous week. Then she poured out two rather large glasses of red wine and brought them over, along with the torch to the fireside.

Pete had already sat down so she sank into the soft chair opposite and placed the wine glasses on the table between them.

‘Thanks,’ he said with a sigh. ‘What a night!’

‘You get used to it,’ she told him, thinking that he just wasn’t used to rural life any more. She supposed that living in a major city was a stark contrast to life in sleepy Cranbridge.

He took a sip of the wine before making a face. ‘Remind me to source some new wine suppliers,’ he said, with a grimace.

She brought out her phone from her jeans pocket and checked the WhatsApp group she used with the girls. Amber and Lucy had already posted that they and their families were okay. Molly was at her mum’s, so Belle knew that she would be all right there.

‘Lucy says it’s the whole area that’s out, according to Tom,’ she said out loud. ‘Power’s out for at least five miles.’

She watched as Pete was about to place his wine glass on the table. ‘I suppose I should check on the family,’ he said, almost to himself rather than Belle.

‘No need,’ she told him. ‘Amber says that Josh has done that already.’

‘Oh. I see.’ Pete frowned before taking a large gulp of wine to fill the silence.

‘I guess Josh has always been local so he’s used to it,’ said Belle softly.

Pete stayed quiet, watching the flames in the fire next to them.

If Belle had to guess, she’d have put money that he was actually feeling guilty about the burden of the family falling onto his older brother.

‘Josh had to get on with it,’ she carried on, keen to ease Pete’s pain a little. ‘There was no choice when he took over the shop.’