When Anita asked her what her plans were for the evening Lydia ended up confiding everything she’d found out about at the weekend.
‘He did that?’ Anita’s voice softened and Lydia could tell there were tears behind it. ‘What a special thing to do.’
‘It really was.’
‘I suppose the booking won’t be valid if he’s not around to confirm it.’ Anita sighed.
‘Well…I’ve spoken with the hotel and they’re satisfied with the explanations and I can take up the booking if I choose.’
‘That’s wonderful!’
Lydia hadn’t expected such a reaction. ‘You sound like my friend, Sally. But I can’t go, it wouldn’t be right without Theo.’
‘It will be strange without Theo but I’d say he’d want you to have it. He may have liked to spend money, but he also hated to waste things. Remember when I had the flu and couldn’t go to seeLes Misérables? Remember how you and he took the tickets even though neither of you were that desperate to see the show?’
‘I do remember.’ Lydia smiled, if only at Anita’s phrase about Theo and how he ‘liked to spend money’. Gambling was the term, but his mum glossed over it in the only way she knew how. ‘We ended up enjoying it.’
‘Then please tell me you’ll go. It’s been a tough time for everyone and you deserve this. And I’ll tell Theo all about it when I talk to him, you never know, it could be another memory that could help.’
Lydia had to hand it to the woman for her positivity, but her niceness was still so unusual it was unsettling.
‘Do it for Theo,’ Anita urged.
After she’d hung up Lydia returned inside Sally Lunn’s and told Sally she’d go.
‘Who are you calling?’ Sally asked after she’d finished squealing.
‘My boss. I’m going to need a couple of days off.’
*
The train pulled in to Paddington station and it was only then that Lydia allowed herself to get quite excited. Her emotions over the hour and a half journey had see-sawed from being happy to feeling really sad.
Grace, Sally and Imogen had all been texting that morning with words of encouragement, excitement, even envy at the luxury hotel she was bound for, and as she checked the tube map before heading for her next connection that would take her to the opposite side of the River Thames, she felt the buzz of London seeping into her.
The Shangri-La Hotel was housed in The Shard along with offices and top restaurants. One of London’s most recognisable buildings, The Shard was visible from all around with its sculpted, tapered form. Lydia had only ever seen it from a distance. She’d heard there was something called The View, which was London’s highest viewing platform and with a three hundred and sixty degree panorama of the city, she knew it would be spectacular.
She took the escalator down a level after she came out of the station and walked round to the hotel’s entrance, and as she wheeled her overnight suitcase into the lift she wanted to pinch herself. She couldn’t believe Theo had done all this, for her.
She was actually escorted up to her room by a member of staff and when she was let into the room her jaw dropped, because the floor-to-ceiling windows looked out over the most impressive vista of the city she’d ever seen. There was an enormous bed in the centre of the room, a television, minibar and a sofa, as well as a desk, and to the right were wardrobes and what must be the bathroom. Once the member of staff left, Lydia looked out of the windows again. She could see Tower Bridge, Shakespeare’s Globe, both instantly recognisable, and from the side of the room, the London Eye. She took the complimentary binoculars out of their leather holdall and spent a while simply taking in the sight of London spread out before her, using the iPad to look up exactly what the various buildings were when she couldn’t identify them herself.
She put down the binoculars and went into the bathroom, and if it were possible, her jaw fell that little bit more. There was a free-standing shower, a bathtub with the same view from floor-to-ceiling windows that matched the ones in the bedroom. There was a TV screen in the mirror above a vanity with his and hers sinks and complimentary toiletries. Tears sprung to her eyes and she put her hands against her lips to stop the emotions threatening to tumble out. ‘Oh, Theo.’ She could imagine him making the booking, getting excited he was doing something she’d never expect. And this spend was okay because he’d been sensible lately and they had managed their finances well, apart from one investment that hadn’t worked out for them, but that was what happened with investments, there were no guarantees.
She went through to the room and sat on the bed, her hand against the luxurious white linen, and when there was a knock at the door she opened it to find a lady offering her a pot of welcome tea. She poured herself a cup and sat on the floor right by the window, marvelling at the views. She’d spent a lot of time in London when she worked here but she’d never looked at the city as a tourist, someone who didn’t have to rush into a job each day and hurry home at night. The whole city operated at a high speed and it was nice to be all the way up here and take in the city in a different way. Even the River Thames looked different, its bends and curves meandering along.
After her welcome tea, Lydia couldn’t resist running a bath. She tipped in half of the bubble bath provided and without shutting the blinds – she hoped nobody in a building down there had binoculars like she did – she stepped in for a long soak. She’d intended to read the book she had with her but she alternated between lying back and closing her eyes or gazing out at the view.
Wrapped in a fluffy robe she dried her hair and when there was another knock at the door, she put her cup beside the leather holdall that housed the teapot, ready to hand back to the woman who’d delivered it.
But when she opened the door it wasn’t anyone who worked for the hotel. It was someone else she definitely recognised, someone she hadn’t seen for a very long time.
And she had no idea what was going on.
