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‘Leave it with me,’ Mark replies. ‘I’ll give you a call in a few days.’ With that, he unplugs his laptop and stacks the notepad on top of it, indicating that the meeting is over. I take the cue, place my notebook back into my bag, and stand up. Mark gets up and opens the door for me.
‘Thanks for coming in today, Madison. We’ll speak soon.’
Once I’ve left theVoyages Luxesoffices and stepped back onto the street, I exhale loudly, trying to release some of the tension of the last hour. Although it’s cold, the sun is shining, and I find I’m enjoying the freshness of the air after the stuffy atmosphere of the meeting room. I make my way down to a coffee shop that I like in the Pantiles. When I get there, I order a flat white and a Danish pastry, and sit down at one of the tiny rickety tables outside to enjoy them. There’s a chilly breeze but I’m warm inside my thick winter coat. As I eat and drink, I reflect on the meeting. I’m pretty pleased with how I handled it and thought on my feet, although I shudder when I think how close to disaster I was. Bloody Peter Smallbone. I know I’m not out of the woods yet, but Mark had definitely come around to the idea by the end, so I’m hopeful that it will come off. I liked Toby too, and not just because he helped to bail me out. I’m not used to travelling with anyone else and I don’t know him, which is far from ideal, but he seems nice, and I have a good instinct for people, so I reckon we’ll probably get on OK. What was it he had said? Oh yes, I have ‘nothing to fear’ from him.
Called it – he’s definitely gay. I’m not saying that I’m God’s gift to mankind or anything, and that no heterosexual male could possibly resist me. It’s just the subtext in the way he said it, and the way he emphasised the word ‘nothing’.
I’m pleased, because that will make the whole business of having to share a room much easier. I can relax, knowing that he’s definitely not going to try it on, and we can get on with the work. With sexual chemistry firmly off the menu, what could possibly go wrong?
4
JANUARY – A FEW DAYS LATER
I’m at home, working on the travel advice column that I have in one of the Sunday broadsheets, when the phone rings. The caller ID shows me that it’s Mark, and my heart starts thudding in my chest. This is it. Casting aside Irene from Doncaster’s email asking for ideas for a big family holiday in Tuscany in summer, I take a moment to prepare myself mentally for bad news before I press the button to accept the call.
‘Hi, Mark,’ I say, as brightly as I can.
‘Hi, Madison, how are you?’ I’m trying to second-guess whether it’s good or bad news by the tone of his voice, and I’m encouraged. He sounds pretty upbeat.
‘I’m good, thanks. How did you get on with my proposal?’ I decide to short cut the pleasantries and chit-chat that usually precede our business discussions. I need to know whether I’ve pulled it off.
‘Well, Peter was dead set against it, saying that it was a poor use of resource and that you were just trying to use us to dig yourself out of your own mess, but I mentioned it to Oliver, the CEO, and he was very enthusiastic. He thinks it could be a unique selling point for us, so we’re going to give it a trial run initially, to see how it goes. The difficulty is that the Bellavista doesn’t open until April, when the tourist numbers in Corfu start to pick up, and Oliver doesn’t want to wait that long to trial your idea. However, we are planning a feature for our March edition on last minute ski holidays, to try to catch the Easter holiday market. I’ve been in touch with three hotels in Courchevel, and they’re all interested. They’re going to email famil packs across to me, along with vouchers to cover the cost of the room, so I’ll forward those to you when they arrive. It’s a six-night trip – two nights in each hotel – and I’ll need draft copy from you by the tenth of February. Do you think you can manage that?’
I do some hasty calculations in my head. It’s the fourteenth of January now, so that gives me just under four weeks to do the trip and write it up. I’ve already got a trip to Istanbul booked next week for one of the airline magazines I write for, so the timing is really tight. A lot will depend on when the hotels can fit us in, and what Toby’s schedule looks like.
‘Do we have any idea of availability?’ I ask.
‘I checked that. They all have good availability for January at present.’
‘And have you spoken to Toby?’
‘No. In the end I thought it would be better if you liaised with him directly. Do you have his number?’
I admit that I don’t, and he reels it off for me.
‘I’ll email you all the details now. Tenth of February, Madison. Don’t let me down,’ he says, and finishes the call.
Almost immediately, my laptop pings to announce the arrival of a new email. I click to open and read off the names and addresses of the three hotels Mark has sent me. The five-star Hotel Mirabelle is right in the centre of Courchevel, and offers direct access to the ski slopes, as well as indoor and outdoor pools, a sauna and a spa. The restaurant holds a Michelin star. We will need to include that in the review, so I check the dress code. Thankfully it’s described as smart casual, but it does say that gentlemen have to wear a shirt with a collar, and jeans are not permitted. I make a note to tell Toby. I see that Superior rooms have a hot tub on the balcony, but as we’re going undercover that won’t be a luxury we will be enjoying. The second hotel, La Residence, is also in the centre of Courchevel. It’s only three-star, but also offers direct access to the slopes, a spa, and boasts that it has been recently renovated. I have a quick look on booking.com and it does look very modern, chic and minimalist. I like the look of it, but hope it doesn’t prove to be all style and no substance. The final hotel, Les Suites de Bellevue is, as its name suggests, a set of self-catering apartments in a block, although I note that there is a restaurant and spa on site as well. Again, the pictures look promising, and the self-catering aspect will give us an opportunity to try more of the local restaurants and bars.
I dial Toby’s number and, after a couple of rings, he picks up.
‘Hi, Toby, it’s Madison, fromVoyages Luxes. Is now a good time to talk?’
‘Hi, Madison, absolutely. How are you?’
‘Fine thanks. I’m calling because Mark has just rung me with the details of a trip for the two of us. Are you still interested?’
‘Yes, of course!’
I fill him in on the details. Unsurprisingly, it proves difficult to find dates that work for both of us at such short notice, but we finally manage to agree on the twenty-fourth. This isn’t ideal for me, because it’s the day after I get back from Istanbul, but I’ll just have to find a way to make it work.
‘There’s just one thing you need to know,’ he tells me towards the end of the call. ‘I’ve never been skiing before.’
‘But, Toby, that’s brilliant news!’ I exclaim. ‘It adds an extra dimension to the piece. I’ll book you into a ski school, and you can write about your experiences of it as a novice.’
‘I thought the writing part was your job,’ he replies, and I can hear the smile in his voice.
‘Fine. You tell me about it and I’ll write it down, OK?’
