Free A New Beginning by Miranda Barnes

a state of total confusion. Panic, almost.
    So it really was Bob that had made the offer? She had to accept that it was. But why on earth hadn’t he said anything to her?
    He’d had plenty of opportunity when they were talking things over. And when I was foolishly revealing my hopes and dreams, she thought bitterly. Not to mention holding him in my arms, and beginning to dream. Oh, what a fool I was! What on earth must he have thought of me?
    Well, she might have been stupid but Bob had been pretty sneaky. Not saying anything. She was surprised at that. Shocked even. And disappointed. She’d thought she was getting to know him. She’d thought he was a kind and decent man, and had even begun to harbour faint hopes that their friendship might grow into something more. Wrong – again!
    Her mood changed. Bewilderment gave way to anger. What on earth was he playing at? Why hadn’t he told her of his own interest in the inn? Why had he led her to believe he was something he wasn’t?
    She could find no answer to those questions. None at all. Just to contemplate them made her feel unutterably depressed. They also took away all her enthusiasm for the inn. She just couldn’t contemplate it any more.
    So she dropped it all and tried to get on with her life. It wasn’t as if she had nothing to do. Going to work and being responsible for two houses was more than enough, she told herself. She didn’t need a man and a dilapidated old inn, as well. Besides, what would she do with them if she had them?
    She would just forget it all, and get on with the life she had.
    Joyce wasn’t so sure. ‘It’s no good stopping in a job you don’t like,’ she said. ‘Life’s too short for that.’
    ‘I do like it. Whatever gave you the idea I didn’t?’
    ‘You did,’ Joyce said, laughing.
    ‘Well...’ Kirsty smiled reluctantly and conceded the point. ‘But I don’t really dislike it. My job is very interesting. Dealing with furniture from all over the world. Sorting out problems. Working with people I like. It’s just that...’
    ‘You’re fed up with it. You fancy a change – or you did.’
    Kirsty laughed. ‘How well you know me, Joyce.’
    ‘I ought to, by now.’
    ‘But I’ve got past that point. It was just me feeling a bit unsettled.’
    ‘Yes?’ Joyce said dubiously.
    ‘I’m happy again now.’
    Joyce just looked at her.
    ‘Really. I am.’
    ‘Well, you should know.’
    It was true, Kirsty reflected. She should. But she didn’t. Not really.
    She was determined to put recent happenings behind her, and was hoping she could, but... Joyce was right. She had fancied a change.
    Oh, it was all so difficult!
    The inn would have been too big a challenge for her. She wouldn’t have been able to cope with all that, especially on her own. It was time she stopped dreaming and sorted herself out. Lived the life she had, instead of trying to create a new one that in all probability would have been a disaster.
    ‘You haven’t told me yet,’ Joyce said.
    ‘What? Told you what?’
    ‘Why the change of mind, or heart.’
    ‘Yes, I have. Of course I have.’
    Joyce shook her head. ‘You haven’t.’
    ‘Well, one problem is I’ve got too much to do. Work, two houses...’
    ‘Sell one,’ Joyce said crisply. ‘You’re never going to live in your mother’s house again, are you? So sell it. You can’t leave it standing empty any longer. Get it on the market. Right now.’
    ‘Is it the right time of year?’
    ‘Never mind that. Get it valued and on the market. Do it today!’
    Kirsty wasn’t sure. She had intended selling it, of course, but now her enthusiasm for Fells Inn had waned the urgency was gone. She didn’t need to sell it now. She could wait.
    ‘Just do it, Kirsty,’ Joyce insisted, breaking into her thoughts. ‘Then you can begin to relax.’
    Kirsty nodded and smiled. ‘You’re right, I suppose. There’s no point dithering any longer, is there?’
    ‘None at all.’
    They sat in silence for a