Page 66 of Not Exactly Mr. Darcy
Gran tsk-tsked as some of the other stewards drew near. “Muddy shoes are not ideal for inside the house.”
They had a brand-new large doormat in the entryway, but it wouldn’t hold up for long given the garden’s paths would soon be turned to mud. “I should’ve bought a second one.”
“We’ll have to have the buckets and mops ready,” Cara said.
Liv held back a sigh. Mopped floors meant slippery floors, and after looking at their insurance, they couldn’t afford any spills today. Or any day. Like, literally could not afford.
“I hope we get some visitors,” someone else murmured. Valerie, probably. She’d decided to show up again today after missing the previous three days. And while her excuse of “other commitments” might be valid, the way she looked at and spoke to Liv suggested she was waiting for her to slip up. “To fall from her pedestal,” Liv had overheard her say, before Valerie had flushed when she’d noticed Liv nearby. Clearly Liv had not won over everyone.
“Well.” Liv clapped her hands. “I’m going to venture out to the car park and see if we have any visitors yet.” She grabbed a clear plastic umbrella and moved outside.
“Uh, Liv, wait a moment.”
She paused, allowing Liam to catch up, and held the umbrella higher to cover both of them. From here, they could still be seen by the crowd standing at the doors and windows, as the first of the raindropspat-pattedoverhead. “Did you want me?”
He nodded. Then his gaze slid away. Then returned. “Um, I just wanted to check you were okay.”
“About today?”
“Yes.”
“Oh. Well, I have to admit that rainy weather isn’t exactly what I planned for, but what can you do? We’ve prepared as best we can, now it’s up for people to come.”Or not, she added silently.
He touched her hand, and maybe it was the fact they were both trying to stay dry under the umbrella that forced them closer, but a ripple of awareness flowed over her. “I should go.”
“Don’t stay out long. I don’t want you getting sick.”
Again, she didn’t know what to do with his words. He sounded like he was worried for her. Or was that simply because she had so much to do they couldn’t afford her to be ill? She wished she was better at understanding men and what they might—and might not—be saying.
The day, which had started off miserable, only grew worse. The plumber cancelled, citing a flood at a nearby farm. The great numbers of visitors didn’t come, and neither did the coffee cart, although inexplicably, the ice cream van did. With the absence of the coffee cart, she’d been tempted to rush into caretaker mode and try to fix things; then Gran had cautioned that they couldn’t legally sell any food or drink product without the proper permits from the council. Marge could, as an outlet from the pub. And Tobias could, as he was considered a charity, with funds from the barbecue to go towards the church’s Kids’ Club.
George reminded her that they hadn’t told anyone there would be food or drinks available, so that was some comfort, as she couldn’t be accused of false advertising, but still, so much about today hurt. When no visitors came after three, they closed early, seeing as the rain had set in. They’d be spending long enough cleaning floors as it was.
“Well, it wasn’t a total washout,” Gran said at the debrief meeting later. “We did get nearly twenty visitors.”
Twenty? When she’d hoped for ten times that amount? She didn’t want to further dampen people’s moods by expressing her own disappointment. “What’s the weather forecast for tomorrow?”
George took out her phone. Winced. “Looks like much the same.”
“Seriously?” At George’s nod, she sighed. “I’m so sorry, everyone. I’d really hoped this opening weekend would be better than this.”
“Last I checked you’re not responsible for the weather,” Liam said.
Tobias nodded. “That’s God’s domain.”
“And it has been a good run-through,” Gran said. “We know that the stickers are fine when it’s good weather, but if it’s damp they might not stay on.”
“So what do we do instead?”
Nobody said anything for a lengthy moment. Then Tobias said, “We could use a stamp like they used to in libraries. You know, with the date on it.”
“You mean stamp our visitors, like the mark of the beast?” Her gaze found Liam’s, and his lips curved halfway, like he also remembered their previous references to Belle and the Beast.
“No, I don’t suppose that will do.” Gran frowned. “Perhaps we should just have paper tickets, like we used to.”
Great. Yet another thing to do. Paper tickets meant hours designing them, printing them off, and then slicing them to size. Just how she wanted to spend her evening.
Her phone buzzed. She glanced at the name. “It’s Drew.” She sighed. “I should’ve cancelled him.”
