Authors: Miranda Barnes
There was so much to see to as hand-over day approached. There were suppliers to be contacted. Banking arrangements made. Utility companies approached. A drinks licence to be applied for. Launderers contacted. Staff to be addressed, and either let go or recruited. An accountant to be consulted. The business plan to be fine-tuned – and put into effect. It was almost too much. Always Kirsty felt as if she were balanced on the leading edge of a giant wave that might or might not bring her safely ashore. She couldn’t have managed without Carol. She couldn’t have coped at all. Everything would have collapsed in ruins around her.
‘You know so much about the place, Carol.’
‘I ought to. I’ve grown up here. I’ve been here since Henry’s parents had it. There’s not much about this old place that I haven’t had to mend or sort out over the years.’
Kirsty smiled. ‘I couldn’t have done it without you. I would never have got this far.’
‘Nonsense. You’d have managed. Anyway, we’re nearly there now.’
‘Nearly.’
She frowned and thought quickly. What was happening tomorrow? Something. Oh, yes. The man from the bank was coming to talk to her about the report from the second survey of the building. She’d wanted him just to tell her on the phone, so she could get on with everything, but he hadn’t wanted to do that. It was something he needed to do face-to face, he’d said. Oh, well. She couldn’t really complain, or object. It was their money she was borrowing.
Meanwhile, the sale of her mother’s house was proceeding nicely, and Mr. Edgar had high hopes that the sale of her own house wouldn’t be far behind. So much was happening.
It was a good thing she didn’t have to go to work in the office any more. With some reluctance, and even more trepidation, she’d given her job up a week or two ago.
‘We’re all coming to see you, you know,’ Emma promised. ‘Let us know as soon as you get settled.’
‘Yeah,’ Jason echoed. ‘We’re coming. We’re going to hire one of them things – what do you call them? Them things they used to have before they got buses?’
‘Charabancs?’ Kirsty asked whimsically.
‘That’ll do. I was thinking trams, but a chary-what’s-it will do. Better get a decent beer in, as well. We won’t want any of that Cumbrian rubbish.’
‘It’s going to be a temperance guest house,’ Kirsty said quickly.
‘Temperance? Never heard of it. Where’s that beer from?’
‘Get on with you!’ Emma spluttered. ‘But we will come,’ she assured Kirsty again. ‘Just as soon as you let us know.’
‘Keep my job warm,’ Kirsty said with a wry smile, ‘in case it doesn’t work out.’
‘Oh, it will!’ they chorused.
With that, she left the office, possibly for the last time, daring to hope her friends there would be proved right.
***
Now Joyce was coming for her first look round. Alan, too. Kirsty was on tenterhooks. She was so excited. She couldn’t wait to show them around. In fact, she couldn’t wait to see if they could even find Fells.
But they did.
‘This is where you are!’ Alan called, as the car drew to a halt. ‘We’ve been all over the Lake District.’
‘Do you mean to tell me, Alan, that Joyce can’t read a map?’ Kirsty called.
‘It wasn’t that. I just didn’t believe her.’
‘He kept saying it can’t be down here – it can’t be. Kirsty wouldn’t want to live somewhere like this. Can you believe him?’ Joyce said, rushing to greet her.
Kirsty gave her a hug.
Alan paused a moment. Then he gave Kirsty a peck on the cheek. ‘My, oh my!’ he said, turning round. ‘Just look at it. What a place!’
‘That’s the mountain, Alan. This is the inn,’ Joyce told him.
All three turned then to gaze at Fells Inn.
‘It looks lovely,’ Joyce said excitedly. ‘Can we go inside?’
‘That’s why you’ve come, isn’t it? Of course you can.’
‘Quite a place,’ Alan murmured. ‘I’m impressed already. And all yours, eh, Kirsty?’
‘Not yet. Not quite. This is a sort of transition period. I’m working myself in before the contracts are exchanged.’
They went inside. Kirsty showed them around. A couple of customers offered cheerful greetings. Kirsty felt proud of them. Already she felt they were her customers.
Carol arrived. ‘Hello, both of you. Welcome! Kirsty told me you were coming. Tea, anyone? Drinks? Food? Lunch?’
‘Carol is all work,’ Kirsty explained, laughing.
They settled for lunch. Kirsty and Joyce shared a pot of tea. Alan decided he needed to sample the local ale. It was a nice beginning. The day unfolded as well as Kirsty could have hoped.
Later, when lunch was over, Alan got into a conversation with the chef about man things. Football, it sounded like. Kirsty and Joyce put their heads together.
‘It’s lovely, Kirsty. Wonderful. I can see why you fell in love with the place.’
‘You really do like it, Joyce? You don’t think I’m making a mistake?’
‘Of course not.’ Joyce looked serious for a moment. ‘It’s a big challenge, but... It’s perfect. You needed something like this, Kirsty. You’re not one for sitting doing nothing very much, are you? I’ve always known that. You have more ambition than me. More energy, as well.’
‘I’ll need it. Carol’s wonderful, though. I don’t know where I’d be without her. She understands how this place works.’
‘She seems a very sensible person. I liked her.’
Kirsty nodded.
‘What’s wrong?’ Joyce asked, sensing a small hesitation.
‘Nothing.’
‘Come on. I know you. What isn’t perfect?’
Kirsty shrugged.
‘It’s that Bob, isn’t it?’ Joyce said perceptively. ‘Are you still disappointed about him?’
Kirsty said nothing for a moment. Then she shrugged again and looked away.
‘Listen, Kirsty. You have the chance to make yourself a wonderful life here. You’re well on the way already. You’ll meet plenty of other people, especially in a place like this. Don’t fret over Bob, for heaven’s sake.’
‘It’s all right you saying that, Joyce,’ Kirsty said plaintively.
‘Kirsty. If a thing’s not meant to be, it’s not meant to be. Full stop.’
Kirsty nodded reluctantly. ‘You’re right. Of course you are. It’s just that... Oh, come on! Let me show you round the rest of the place.’
It wasn’t only the administrative arrangements that needed sorting out and setting up. There was work to be done on the building, too. Lots of it. Kirsty had always known that. Now she began to plan ahead and sort out priorities. She wouldn’t be able to afford to do everything that wanted doing immediately but she wanted to make a start as soon as she could. For that to be possible, with Henry’s agreement, she started contacting local tradesmen and inviting their quotes for different jobs.
It wasn’t easy. Even to get men to come and look at the problem wasn’t easy. They all seemed so busy. One or two that did come could promise nothing so far as timing was concerned. It would be months before they could come, they admitted, even if they got the work.
She had thought she would have the place re-painted first, as an easy way to start, but the painter and decorator who came about that shook his head.
‘I wouldn’t even look at this,’ he said dolefully, staring up at the upstairs windows.
‘Why ever not?’ Kirsty asked, thinking he was trying to be funny.
‘The frames are all rotten,’ he said, gesturing towards the nearest ground-floor window. He dug a tough, yellow finger nail into the window sill and scooped out a hole in the wood. ‘Rotten!’ he repeated.
‘Is it that bad?’ she asked fearfully.
He nodded. ‘I could use filler, as I go,’ he said, ‘but there’d need to be a lot of it. By the time I finished, there’d be more filler than wood. You need new windows, missus. Get the brewery to put some in.’
‘The inn isn’t owned by a brewery. It’s private.’
He nodded but he didn’t stay much longer. She had the impression she’d wasted his time. It was a bigger job than he wanted.
Carol wanted to know what the man had said.
‘He said he couldn’t do it. He said the frames are all rotten.’
‘Well...’ Carol frowned. ‘I suppose they are. Henry found someone to paint over them, anyway, from time to time. But it was never a good job.’
‘Right,’ Kirsty said, taking a decision. ‘New windows, then.’
‘You’ll have to see the planners first,’ Carol pointed out. ‘At the National Park offices.’
‘Oh?’
‘You’ll have to get their permission.’
‘That won’t be difficult, surely?’
‘Probably not, no, but you’ll have to satisfy them that you’re putting in the right kind of windows.’
Kirsty hadn’t thought of that. But it made sense. It made work, as well, of course.
‘I’m going to be busier than I thought,’ she said lightly. ‘I’m learning something new every day.’
‘Well, you didn’t think it would be easy, did you?’
They looked at each other and began to laugh. It was moments like that that took away the strain.
But Carol had hit a nail on the head. Kirsty hadn’t expected it to be easy, exactly, but she had expected it to be easier than it actually was in danger of becoming. There was such a lot needed doing.
But she started lining up the people she needed. The man from a windows company came and looked, and wasn’t at all daunted by what he saw. Joiners and stone masons all said they would come just as soon as they could, which would be goodness knew when, of course, but was still a commitment of sorts.
She found an electrician who was a different sort of man, though. He came the day after she asked him.
He took one look and said, ‘When was this place last re-wired? Never?’
‘Probably,’ she said. ‘Not since they put electricity in, anyway.’
‘I can tell you now,’ he said, ‘you’ll have to re-wire the whole place.’
‘I thought so. It will be a big job, will it?’
‘Not really.’ He pursed his lips and stood still for a moment, head to one side, locked in concentration. ‘It’ll take a week, probably. You won’t be closing the place while the work’s being done?’
‘Probably not, no. Could you manage with it open?’
‘No problem. It’ll just take a bit more time, that’s all.’
No problem? Kirsty thought with relief. That made a welcome change.
The electrician looked quickly round the building, just in case there were issues he hadn’t identified. Then he said, ‘Give me a few days. I’ll send you an estimate. Do you want it here?’
‘Yes, please. I’m staying here now.’
That was another thing sorted, she thought with relief. More important than windows, as well.
Another high priority was the heating system. Again, that wasn’t difficult. Two firms of heating engineers came out and promised estimates.
‘You’re making progress,’ Carol said.
‘We are,’ Kirsty said decisively. ‘That only leaves everything else to sort out!’
She had already been warned that the building needed a damp-proof course fitting. Along with that came the need to drain the cellars and try to make them dry. She suspected that the kitchen needed upgrading, too. Then the plumbing needed some attention, not least to stop the pipes whining and shuddering whenever a tap was turned on. Making the rooms en suite would have to wait a while, but meanwhile the existing bathrooms could be re-fitted and made more pleasant – perhaps given showers that worked properly. And there were carpets and curtains that needed replacing.
‘I’ll have to do it gradually,’ she confided to Carol. ‘It won’t be possible to do everything at once.’
‘Of course not. But let’s face it, whatever you do will be a big step in the right direction.’
That was true. Still, though, she worried about how far she would be able to make the money go. Even to get the essentials done was going to use most of the money she knew would be available.
She would manage, she told herself firmly. Somehow she would manage.
***
Just as she had worked all that out, there came the big shock. The report from the second survey, the one the man from the bank had wanted to talk to her about, said investigation had revealed that the building needed a new roof. The cost was estimated to be in the neighbourhood of £20,000. The man from the bank, with regret and a sorrowful smile, said replacing the roof would be a pre-condition of the mortgage being made available. Would she please think about it and let them know if she wished to proceed?
In other words, the money they were lending her would not be sufficient. She would need to find extra money, a lot of it. Not unreasonably, they wanted to know if she still wished to go ahead.
It was finger nail-biting time. Frantically, she scribbled on bits of paper, doing the arithmetic. The mortgage money allowed for some repairs and maintenance, and for some improvements. But nowhere near enough. She had always intended ploughing in some of the money from the sale of her mother’s house, but there had to be a limit. An extra twenty thousand pounds was way over that limit, and replacing the roof could not be staged or done later. It had to be done at the outset. Dare she commit so much?
Carol guessed a problem had emerged but diplomatically she kept quiet. Kirsty was grateful for that. In the end, it was a problem for her alone to sort out. Was she in danger of biting off more than she could chew? She didn’t know. She wished she did. If there had been someone knowledgeable she could have talked to, it might have been easier. But there wasn’t. It was all down to her. And she needed time to work it out.
She decided to return to Newcastle for a couple of days and take a cool, hard look from a distance. Perhaps her plans were unaffordable. No use panicking, or getting in over her head. She needed to get it right. She needed to be businesslike and practical, not storm ahead on a romantic whim.
At least she could still do that. She wasn’t committed yet, not legally. If the worst came to the worst, she could pull out. It would earn her the undying hatred of Henry, perhaps, and goodness knew what Carol would think, but if that was what it came to she would have to live with it. There was no point deluding herself and everyone else.