‘Neeta swapped shifts with me. She’s got to pick up some relatives from Heathrow.’
‘Oh.’ She could have mentioned it to me, but I guess I had been distracted by my panic about running the hotel. ‘Okay.’
Henry tugged off his coat as though it had done something to offend him. ‘Okay? I wasn’t asking for your permission, Princess.’
God, he had his head lodged so firmly up his own backside it was a wonder he hadn’t turned inside out. This attitude couldn’t all be about me. And who was I kidding? I didn’t have an inner ice princess.
‘Oh, Henry, you are such a charmer.’ I batted my eyelashes at him. ‘But just so you know, at the present moment, Iamactually in charge. You may not have asked my permission, but you do need it.’
He paused in the act of hanging up his coat and then resumed what he was doing, slowly, more purposefully. ‘Your mum’s still in Norfolk?’
‘Yes.’
He was quiet for a moment, his habitual frown lifting a fraction. ‘For how long?’
‘Until she comes out of her burrow and sees a shadow I’m guessing.’ He nodded and I checked my watch. ‘Breakfast starts in twenty-seven minutes. You plan on doing any actual prep?’
That brought his sneer firmly back into place. ‘You just do your job and I’ll do mine aye, Princess? The tables need setting, don’t they? Chop, chop.’ He made a shooing motion with his fingers and turned to pick up his chef’s overall. I made a decidedly ruder hand gesture to his back and left him in the kitchen.
No unexpected helping hand sent by my mother turned up throughout the morning the way Yolande and Marvin had the night before. I was facing the prospect of going through the same motions I had the previous day, which included covering breakfast, reception and helping out with the cleaning because of the staff still being off sick. Of course, they were still off sick. The flu didn’t disappear overnight.
Fifteen minutes before we stopped serving hot food, Nick appeared in the doorway. I was in the middle of putting down a large plate of fried food for Geoff, the ex-policeman, as his wife pursed her lips and dug her spoon into half a fresh grapefruit. Some weird kind of tremble overtook my hands and arms, as though the bones had softened, and I nearly dropped beans and bacon all over the tablecloth. Geoff didn’t even notice; he already had his knife and fork in hand and could barely wait until I stepped back before he tucked in.
I had tried not to think about Nick and Stephen being at breakfast and how I was going to play that. Their nan was already here, picking at toast and orange juice in a way that suggested she’d overindulged in her favourite brand of sherry the night before. Her face lit up when she saw Nick though and he smiled back at her. Good Lord that smile. I hadn’t imagined it; it really was that broad and warm and goddamn sexy.
Like a bucket of much-needed cold water on my errant thoughts, Stephen walked in and joined them all at the table in the corner. Perfect. No time like the present for a fresh start with them both.
‘Morning, Nick; morning, Stephen.’ I pasted a bright grin on my face when I reached their table.
Nick raised his head from where he had been reading the menu and wished me a quiet good morning.
Stephen finished tucking in his chair and leaned back in it, fixing me with a lazy grin. ‘Good morning, Beth. You weren’t kidding about the early start, were you. Bet you wish you hadn’t stayed out so late last night.’
There was an ungenerous edge to his comment, but I considered things from his perspective and figured my rejection might be smarting a bit more after finding I’d hung around to dance with his brother. I could let that go.
‘Well, I don’t know about you, but I could always do with a little more sleep.’ I was impressing myself a little with the act I was putting on: little bit of inane conversation; little bit of fake smiling – easy-peasy. I was also surprised by how much easier it was to meet Stephen’s eye than it was Nick’s. ‘I’m pleased I stayed to see the band though. A former student of mine was playing in it.’
‘Student? Are you a teacher too?’ Nick crossed his arms and rested them on the edge of the table. ‘You never mentioned it.’
‘Too busy dancing I guess.’ Stephen smirked and Nick’s eyes flicked to the side, towards the window in what looked like a barely restrained eye-roll.
‘And who shook your tree, young man?’ Dorie interjected and I realised she’d been watching us all very closely and quietly. Even hungover she looked sharp enough to figure something odd was going on. IfIwas picking up on the passive-aggressive comments from Stephen, his nan, who knew him far better than me, was sure to realise.
‘Oh, no one, Nan. I’m fine. Just one too many whiskies last night.’ He was as put together as usual, neatly pressed and immaculate, but there were bags under his eyes.
‘Well, no one begrudges you having a drink. I’m sure you deserve to wind down on your holiday but don’t trouble others with your hangover.’
‘Fair point.’ Stephen held up his palm like he was taking an oath. ‘No more conversing for me until I’ve drunk some coffee and eaten a bacon sandwich.’
‘Well, I guess that’s your breakfast order. Can I get you anything, Nick?’ I tipped my pencil towards the menu on the table.
‘No. Thank you. I’m just going to grab some cereal.’ He was back to being his more serious and quiet self, nothing like the joking and dancing and smiling Nick of last night. And that didn’t matter. No more vows to get him to smile for me. I was a professional hotel worker, not a jester. Intentionally anyway.
‘Okay. How about you, Dorie?’ I turned my attention back to their nan. ‘Would you like anything else?’
‘A pot of tea, please.’
‘The regular kind or something fancy? We have Earl Grey, Darjeeling, Breakfast, Mary Jane—’ I broke off as Nick choked on the glass of orange juice he’d just poured himself. I moved around beside his chair, hand raised, ready to smack him on the back good and hard if required. ‘Are you okay?’
