The Village of Gerard's Cliff Read Online Free PDF

like
any other morning at the inn. Tilda was already in the kitchen
working on the Eggs Benedict. Allie greeted her with warm
familiarity, and looked out into the dining room. Seeing no guests,
she went to the sink counter and poured herself a mug of coffee,
peering out the window over the sink as she was doing so. "Looks
like we may have rain today," she commented ruefully, turning and
leaning back against the counter. She didn't mind the cold weather
in this part of the country; she just wasn't fond of cold and rain
together. She sipped the hot brew, and watched Tilda fry up the cod
cakes. The back porch door slammed, and Sarah hurried in, seemingly
eager to get into the warm kitchen and get a cup of coffee as well.
She hopped up on the stool and leaned forward, elbows on the
island. Allie and Tilda greeted her in their usual manner, and the
women chatted while waiting for their three guests to come down for
breakfast.
    "Allie." Tilda looked
tentatively over at her employer, as she placed the cod cakes in a
container for holding. "That young couple are leaving this morning
after breakfast, you told me, and there are no other guests
arriving for a week." She turned her plump frame toward Allie one
dimpled hand resting on the counter, the other still holding the
spatula. "Do you mind if I take a week off? I would love to accept
that temp job I was telling you about. It would only be for one
week."
    "Tilda, that's fine with
me, really." Allie held the steaming coffee up to her lips. "I can
handle things myself here with just one guest." She teased the
woman. "But don't you go and jump ship on me!"
    "Never in a million
years!" Tilda grinned, her red cheeks looking even rosier. "I'm
here to stay, don't you ever have a worry about that. I'll go over
the menu with you before I leave."
    "So now it's just the two
of us, alone with the mystery man, eh?" Sarah raised her eyebrows
in feigned horror as she laughed.
    "He is not a mystery man, Sarah," Allie replied
reprovingly, rather dismayed at her employee's intimations.
Although, if she were honest with herself, she was beginning to
view him as such herself. "By the way." She looked up at Sarah,
"You may as well take the week off, too. " She laughed.
" Your mystery man doesn't
need his room cleaned, remember?"
    Sarah nodded, pouting her
lips in a mock sulk. "I could use a week off, I guess." She sipped
her coffee thoughtfully, then raised her head and laughed softly.
"He must know when we're talking about him." She lowered her voice,
tilting her head toward the dining room.
    Allie and Sarah watched
Connor stride into the dining room, and sit at the same table as
before, his back to the kitchen. Tilda was too busy immersing an
egg in the pot of simmering water, now that at least one guest had
arrived, to join them.
    Allie willed herself to
remain aloof. She sipped her coffee. She would go out in a moment,
she decided, and tell him that she hoped he had enjoyed a good
night's rest....the same pleasant conversation she had with all her
guests. She set her mug on the countertop.
    She straightened her back as she walked out of the kitchen
and up to Connor's table. "I hope you had a good night's rest." She
tried to look everywhere but his eyes, which she could tell, were
fixed intently on hers. "Tilda will have your breakfast ready in
just a moment," she added, looking somewhere in the vicinity of his
ear, not waiting for his reply to her opening question. She turned
and walked back into the kitchen, feeling slightly ashamed for her
abrupt behavior to a guest at her inn.
    The rest of the morning
ran smoothly. Connor went back up to his room immediately after
finishing breakfast. The Hollands ate, then left the inn, with hugs
all around, and many thanks to Allie for a wonderful two nights at
The Colborne Inn, which they would never forget. Sarah finished her
work around the inn, then hurriedly departed for her second job,
apparently deciding that a week off from The Colborne Inn was a
great