to him. Maybe some of that conflict was visible. Louise took pity. She clicked back to the spreadsheet. “Look, I hadn’t factored you coming back this summer into the projections.” She changed some macros. “It makes a hell of a positive difference.” The graph looked much more healthy. “With your extra manpower, we could reopen early, and I can cut down on kitchen staff costs.”
The door opened again, Rob in chef whites now, tying his apron. “You can be my kitchen porter.”
“I’m not clearing up after you.”
“I was joking.” Rob walked in to stand behind Lou, both of his hands on her shoulders, his expression conciliatory, at least. “But I’m guessing you aren’t finding much of this funny, right now.”
No, Jude really wasn’t.
“We’ve had a long time to get used to the idea,” Louise said, glancing up at Rob before wrapping her hand around Jude’s. “I get that it’s going to take you a while to catch up, but I hope you do, Jude.” Her gaze was as watery as it had been at the crack of dawn. “I hope you do because Rob’s been wonderful, but having him here didn’t make up for how much I missed you.”
Those few sips of cognac must have left Jude weak-willed. Rob said, “I missed you too,” and all of his resolve fractured.
“So, what is the plan, exactly?”
Rob deferred to Louise. “You want to talk Jude through it while I get back to the kitchen?”
“Not really,” Louise clicked on a calendar icon. “What I actually need to do right now is finish working on the bedrooms. You didn’t think I stayed up late last night just in case you decided to come home, did you?” She nudged Jude, her teasing so much better than her former teary smile. “There’s still a lot to get ready before our first potential bookings. See?” White paint spotted the back of the hand she used to click open an online booking system. “This is when we’re scheduled to reopen.” Jude couldn’t help but notice that every single room was vacant. She listed chores on the rest of her fingers, also spattered with paint. “I still need to decorate the second bathroom, finish making the last few sets of curtains, and paint Dad’s study.”
“You’re going to turn it into a bedroom as well?” The final room off the upstairs hallway had been lined with books about sailing ever since he could recall, framed photos from his dad’s time in the Merchant Navy hanging from beams like the ones in their bedrooms.
“Yes. Boxing everything up will help speed up that process. Moving all of his stuff to the boatshed makes sense until we…. I mean until I have time to sort through it all, next winter.” She frowned. “But only making the study habitable won’t be nearly enough, not if we’re going to charge boutique hotel prices for every bedroom.”
“Boutique?” Jude’s face must have conveyed confusion.
“Niche,” Louise explained. “One-of-a-kind, instead of standard. Boutique hotels have something special about them,” she gestured at the window that framed a perfect picture of the harbour and green glints of Cornish water, “like their location for instance.” Then she included Rob in the conversation. “Or having a prize-winning chef in residence, supplying fine-dining for a steep price.”
Jude didn’t like the idea of moving the contents of a room that his dad had spent so much time in, his world-tour plans likely still visible in every nook and cranny, but it sounded like Louise had already scaled that mental hurdle. At least she’d left their parents’ bedroom untouched, thank God. That, he couldn’t handle. “I’ll pack his study up if you want,” he offered. “And do anything else left on your list. Tell me what else can I do for you?” Doing something physical might stop him from feeling as if he was shipboard for the first time, constantly needing to rebalance. His glance over his shoulder was involuntary.
Rob still stood in the doorway.
Him seeming so at home here, leaning casually with his arms crossed, didn’t help to anchor Jude, not since he’d shared a little about what mattered the most to him. Jude refocussed on the calendar instead of fixating on his surprise that people meant more to Rob than money. Also, he had to stop staring at his mouth. He had to. It had been a goodbye kiss, that was all, like Rob said. “Give me plenty to do,” he got out gruffly. “I’m used to being busy.”
“I can see that.” Lou