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Next week they were welcoming their first trickle of guests—fifteen rooms booked. And the week after that they had a further twenty. Claudia had set a target of fifty per cent occupancy by the time the spa opened a few months down the track and hoped to be back at full occupancy for the summer season at the end of the year.
It was March—it was doable.
They were never going to have the numbers they had before simply because the accommodation units that had been scattered throughout the property had been flattened and were not going to be replaced.
The hope was that the higher-end customers would make up the shortfall.
Claudia and Luke set a couple of hours aside each afternoon to work on plans for the spa. They’d contacted a local builder who Claudia trusted to do the job and consulted a local architect. They just needed to get plans drawn up and then council approvals and other such legalities under way.
They kept things businesslike between them, barely talking outside what was needed for the Tropicana and rarely seeing each other outside anything to do with the plans. Unlike their childhood, the interconnecting door was not chocked open and they never entered each other’s rooms without knocking and receiving clear direction to do so!
It was a grope-free, nudity-free zone.
And things could have been awkward between them had they not been so busy. But everyone was busy, everyone had their heads down, so it was easy for them to just follow suit and pretend there wasn’t time for chit-chat.
Luke was probably busiest of all working two jobs. After a back-breaking day out landscaping, he was up late into the night working on UK time in the world of advertising. He rarely got into bed before two a.m. And if he was tired, well, he knew there was a queue he could join. Everyone was working hard. Everyone was tired.
* * *
On Friday morning at breakfast, Avery slipped a sheaf of papers across the table to Claudia. ‘I spent a few hours on the net last night and I think we should check out these three day-spas in Cairns.’ She looked at Luke. ‘You too. Seeing them firsthand is much better than getting second-hand descriptions.’
‘Yep. Count me in,’ he said.
Claudia flicked through the printed pages. ‘These look good.’ She handed them to Luke.
‘I can make a booking for us to have something different at each one for tomorrow?’ Avery said.
‘Tomorrow?’ Claudia worried her bottom lip. ‘Do you think we should be tripping off for mani-pedis with the first guests arriving on Monday?’
‘It’s the perfect time,’ Gloria encouraged. ‘There’s nothing much to do between now and then and you won’t get a chance after Monday.’
Claudia nodded. ‘I suppose.’
‘Jonah can take us all in the chopper, make a bit of a day of it,’ Avery suggested.
‘You kids have worked really hard,’ Brian said. ‘Why don’t you make a night of it? Get away from here for twenty-four hours and relax? Stay in a swanky hotel, be waited on. You’re going to be the ones doing all the waiting soon.’
‘Oh, yes,’ Avery said, clearly warming to the subject. ‘We could go dancing,’ she said, turning to Jonah, gliding her hand onto his forearm. ‘It’s been ages since we danced.’
Jonah smiled and kissed the tip of Avery’s nose. ‘Yes, it has.’
Avery squeezed his arm. ‘Claude, what’s the name of the hotel where Raoul hangs out? That has that Latin dancing on Saturday night?’
Luke frowned. Raoul? Why was that name familiar?
‘The Quay,’ Claudia said, wondering how a trip to a day spa had suddenly become twenty-four hours of debauchery complete with Latin dancing.
‘Yes, that’s it,’ Avery exclaimed. ‘Oh, let’s do that,’ she enthused, looking first at Claudia and then at Jonah.
Luke looked at Claudia. He didn’t want to dance with her. Getting that close after what had transpired between them didn’t seem like such a good idea. He turned to Jonah. ‘No,’ he said to his friend. ‘I have to work tomorrow night.’
‘It’s Saturday.’
‘My job’s twenty-four-seven.’
‘Good thing you’re so attached to your phone, then,’ Jonah said mildly.
Luke shot his friend a measured stare. ‘I don’t dance.’
Jonah grinned at Luke. ‘So don’t.’ Then he smiled down at Avery. ‘Your wish is my command,’ he said.
‘Oh, I’m not sure—’ Claudia started.
‘Oh, go on, darling,’ her mother quickly interrupted. ‘It’s a brilliant idea. You guys have been working yourselves into the ground. Go and let your hair down for a night.’
