‘Hôtel Gloria, I was right, here we are!’
‘Oh, bully,’ Harriet murmured.
‘Harriet,’ I said quietly.
She gave a little laugh. ‘Okay. Sorry.’
Inside it was far better than I had anticipated. There was an unexpectedly large hallway, and a very smart-looking lady in a silk wrap dress and matching headscarf was standing behind a reception desk, fiddling with some paperwork.
‘Puis-je vous aider?’
‘We have booked,’ Anna said. ‘Anna Metcalf.’
‘Nous avons une réservation,’ I added helpfully.
The receptionist smiled at me and then tapped her beautifully manicured nails on a keyboard and switched effortlessly into English.
‘Of course, I see you reserved three rooms for one night.’
‘It was supposed to be one room for three nights,’ Anna insisted. ‘I’m sure that’s what I booked. I thought at the time it was a bit expensive.’
The receptionist widened her hands above the keyboard regretfully.
‘D’accord. Definitely three rooms for one night, I have it here from the agency.’
We looked at each other, slightly panicking.
‘Can we change it?’ Anna said.
The receptionist looked puzzled. ‘Je ne comprends pas. I don’t understand. You would prefer to share a room? For three people? You could have a room with a double and one of you would have to sleep on acanapé-lit– sofa bed.’
‘Not a chance, I want a room to myself,’ Harriet said firmly, and from her expression she meant it. At that moment I could see her as the professor she had been, able to quell a class of undergraduates with one stare.
‘Peut-être trois chambres pour trois nuits?’ I said. ‘Three rooms for three nights.’
The receptionist did a bit more typing and then pulled a perfect French moué of disappointment.
‘Non. Je suis désolée. Deux nuits, oui. C’est tout.’
‘She says we can have three rooms for two nights but that’s all,’ I translated.
‘And then what do we do?’ Anna asked.
Harriet untied her backpack from the top of my case and dumped it on the floor in a marked manner. I could tell her temper was rising again.
‘This was the only thing you volunteered to sort out, Anna. The one thing! You said you would handle this. Don’t blame me!’
‘No one’s blaming anyone,’ I said soothingly. ‘It was just a simple mistake. Some of the online booking forms are tricky, it’s easy to get things wrong. Let’s make the best of it, get to our rooms and freshen up.’
‘I don’t see what else we can do,’ Harriet grumbled.
‘Then we can go out and find a delicious early dinner. Moules perhaps,’ I said.
‘Well, I’m not sure about that, but maybe,’ Harriet said, mollified.
‘Sorry,’ Anna said unconvincingly, ‘but it looks as though someone’s made a mix-up somewhere.’
Yes, it did, didn’t it?
