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It was then that I spot Will, the front-of-house manager. He’s Julian’s equivalent here in Ambleside and like all of the senior staff, he’s been here since before my time running this place.
‘Mr. Stanhope,’ he nods towards me. ‘I wasn’t aware you’d be dining here this evening,’ he says, affronted.
‘A last-minute decision,’ I reply. ‘How’s everything been?’ I try to ask casually.
‘Yes, fine, sir.’
He’s clearly not going to give up anything this way. ‘That right? We’ve had a few issues in the other restaurant in Keswick...’
His eyebrows raise and he quickly looks around the restaurant. ‘What... What’s been the problem?’ he asks quietly.
I can see I’ve caught his interest. ‘Erm... It’s a bit of a sensitive issue. Not something I can talk about here like this. But I wanted to check with you.’ I need to press him on this again. ‘Is everything okay?’
Will looks nervous. But he also looks...scared? He shakes his head ‘No’ but he says, ‘Everything is fine, sir.’
He’s clearly very uncomfortable and I don’t want to press him. I don’t want to make a scene in front of what few customers there are here. I simply nod my head—I’ll have to find out another way. ‘I want you to know that if there’s ever anything... out of the ordinary, you can call me. Anytime.’
He nods and I walk back to the table where Leyna is waiting patiently. ‘Let’s go,’ I say and start walking towards the door.
‘Did you find out anything?’
‘Not a fucking thing.’
We leave that evening with more questions than answers.
Chapter 32
Leyna
Ican’t help but feelthe impending sorrow of having to leave this magnificent place tomorrow. This magnificent life where we pretend to be a fully-functioning, normal couple. Jack seems distracted, too, and is wandering around the cottage, looking for things to do.
‘We’ll head back tomorrow,’ he says, as if I didn’t already know.
I’m not ready to go. I want to shout,No. I never want us to leave because I don’t know what awaits us on the other side. I do know, however, that whatever this time is, it’s special. That we ought to enjoy every second because we’ll never get it back once we leave.
‘I promised Huguette I wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye,’ he continues.
