Chapter Fourteen
By the time Soraya finds a flight leaving at lunchtime, I decide that I can’t possibly go home without my laptop. I don’t have much choice but to somehow explain my predicament to the owner of the apartment. Could she possibly calm down enough for me to explain that there has been this horrendous misunderstanding? Something tells me she won’t, but I have to give it a shot. Everything is on that laptop, including my emails and my social media; even worse, I need it to write my book. I had planned on spending the day writing after being so inspired by my wonderful day at sea with Elias. How can it be that the moment I am finally brimming with inspiration, I lose my laptop? What a twist of fate!
To make matters worse, a message comes through from Elias thanking me for my company yesterday and telling me how much he enjoyed our time together. He is looking forward to this evening. I am going to have to tell him that dinner is cancelled, and since I could really do with a friend right now, I pick up the phone to call him. I need to hear his caring, friendly voice.
‘Hi, how nice of you to pick up the phone. People never seem to do that any more,’ he says.
‘Oh, I know. My daughters never phone anyone. It’s always got to be messages. Anyway, I just thought it’d be easier to pick up the phone than message you because my trip just became very complicated.’
‘Really? How come?’
‘I have to leave. You won’t believe this, but the girls and I have been staying in the wrong apartment. I honestly couldn’t make it up. A screaming woman came back from a trip to find a strange woman in her bed – me, but she thought I was the housekeeper, and let’s just say she was not best pleased.’
‘How on earth could that happen? Weren’t you picked up at the airport?’
‘I know. Only Soraya could have so much champagne that she dragged us into a car with the wrong chauffeur who didn’t speak English, and not one of us was any the wiser.’
‘Oh, no. Well, that’s a story for your book, then.’
‘Yeah, except my laptop is now being held hostage in the lady’s apartment.’
‘She took it from you?’
I explain how I left it behind in my rush to leave, and once again, my Mysterious Mancunian of Monaco is eager to save the day.
‘Look, my French isn’t too shabby. We’ll go together. I’ll explain you need your laptop back and say how sorry we are for the confusion. We’ll get your laptop back, so don’t worry.’
When Elias says it like that, so calm and confident, I start to believe him. I don’t think I can face the lady on my own, that’s for certain.
‘Would you mind? I’m so sorry about this.’
‘Of course, I don’t mind. You’re my favourite damsel in distress. I’ll meet you at the apartment block in twenty minutes.’
Is that what he thinks of me? A damsel in distress? I feel pathetic for the situations he has found me in since we met.
Twenty minutes later, I stand outside the apartment block and watch Elias as he comes bounding along towards me with a big smile on his face. I could burst into tears again with the relief of seeing the only friend I have here. As always, he is calm and kind; with no faffing about, he puts our plan straight into action.
‘Right, we’ll obviously have to speak to security first and ask if we can get upstairs. You’re lucky you came in with the driver to get access when you first arrived. Hopefully he’ll recognise you.’
Elias chats in French with the security guard and explains that he needs to speak to the lady of the apartment. I gasp as the security guard points at me and waves his finger around.
‘Non, non, non!’ he says.
Elias places both hands on my shoulders and talks quietly.
‘I’m so sorry, but he says you’re banned from the building. She’s given him strict orders that you’re not to come anywhere near here. She says if you do, she’s instructed him to call the police.’
‘Oh no. What am I going to do?’ I try not to cry in front of Elias, but I am truly panicking that I may never see my laptop ever again.
‘I’ve explained the situation to the guard, and I’m not banned. I’m going to see if I can speak with her and try to get the laptop back. Look, I’m sure she isn’t going to want it hanging around. Security’s calling her to ask if I can go and pick it up. We just need to give them a minute, but you’ll have to wait outside the building, I’m afraid.’
‘Yes, of course. I don’t want them calling the police.’
‘No, indeed. I won’t be long, okay?’
I do as I am told and stand outside. Time seems to stand still as I wait for Elias, and I keep checking my phone in case he has any updates. I watch as convertible sports cars and Italian mopeds whizz by me whilst I stand on the pavement like some kind of fugitive.
Ten minutes later, Elias walks out of the building clutching my laptop in one hand and a pair of flesh-coloured pop socks that I use for my ballet flats in the other. Mortified!
‘She said you left those too.’ I blush as Elias hands over the pop socks and quickly smuggle them into my pocket. Then he hands over the laptop to me.
‘You, Elias, are an absolute superstar, you know that? How on earth did you manage to convince her?’ Instinctively, I throw my arms around him and give him the biggest hug. For a moment, it feels as though neither of us want to be the first to let go. Then, finally, he speaks.
‘Ah, I smiled charmingly, gave her my best French and explained what a terrible mistake this has all been.’
‘That easy? I don’t believe you!’
‘Well, no. She did have a bit of a rant. She explained that her chauffeur, who was called Franco and not Paulo, was instructed to collect a new housekeeper from the airport. Now he’s been questioned and admitted that three women ran over to him, and he picked them up, assuming his boss had asked for more staff and didn’t think to question anything.’
‘Oh no. Now she realises it wasn’t just me staying at her place.’
‘Yeah, I know. She went ballistic when she found out there were others. But she’s checked everything and can see nothing’s missing. But, anyway, the fact is you were in the wrong apartment, and Franco should never have let you in. He’s been fired and is to blame for the fiasco. It seems the housekeeper who should have arrived never showed up for the flight, so she’s also demanding compensation from the agency. I tried to appease her by telling her that you’d tried your best to keep the place looking nice. Unfortunately, you’re all still banned from the apartment block though.’
‘Oh no. I wish I could help Franco. Poor man. It was partly our fault, too, that we just went bounding over to him. I feel so awful. I wish I could explain.’
‘I think you’re best leaving things alone. She’s dead set on the police if she sees you again. There are lots of chauffeur jobs. I’m sure he’ll find something.’
‘Oh, what a mess. Well, she won’t have to see me again. Now I’ve got my laptop back, I can give Soraya the go-ahead to arrange the flight later today.’
‘You’re set on leaving?’
‘Yes, I’ll just get whatever flight comes next. I suppose I’ll have to get over to Nice.’
I look at my watch. I can be home by dinnertime if I get a move on.
‘Do you have to leave? It’d be a shame not to stay a bit longer and get some writing done in the sunshine.’
‘Oh, Elias. That’s a lovely thought but, I’ll be honest, the hotels here are going to be way out of my price range. I’m only here because Soraya knew Gianni and we were supposedly staying at his apartment. It’s better I head home now.’
‘You could stay at mine?’
‘Yours?’
‘Well, when I say mine, I mean where I’m staying. It’s not mine, obviously. But there are two rooms on the yacht. I have one and you can have the other.’
‘Goodness. I couldn’t do that. What would your boss say?’
‘It’s fine. I’m allowed guests to stay. The boss is very easy-going, as I said before.’
‘Oh.’
‘Yeah, look, the Andalusia trip is seriously delayed. It’s fine. Please, come and stay on the yacht. It’d be wonderful to have company. In fact, you’d be doing me a favour. I promise I’ll be the perfect gentleman. There’s even a lock on the door if you don’t trust me.’
‘No, of course I trust you, but I can’t stay on someone’s yacht. Especially after what’s happened. Can I speak to the owner, perhaps, just to confirm it’s okay?’
‘I promise, it’s fine. The owner is very busy. To be honest, they hate micromanaging everything and would be more annoyed if I checked every detail with them. They leave everything to my discretion, and I say you’re welcome to stay.’
The sound of my phone ringing interrupts Elias as I see that Carol is calling. Soraya must have already shared the news with her. I can hardly even answer before I hear her practically screaming down the phone.
‘I can’t believe we stayed in the wrong place. Oh my god, we could have been arrested, and a hunky French policeman could have handcuffed us. No, seriously though, I can’t get over the fact that we got in the wrong car.’
‘I know. Imagine how shocked I was this morning.’
‘Soraya told me all about it. You poor thing. You must’ve been terrified.’
‘Yup, it wasn’t the best start to the day.’
‘So what you gonna do now? Are you on your way back?’
I look at Elias, who is standing close by.
‘Well, you remember Elias? He’s just kindly offered me a room on the yacht until I’m due for my flight, but yeah, Soraya’s looking at flights for today.’
‘Oh no she’s not. I’m ringing her as soon as I put the phone down to tell her not to let you come back. You’ve got the offer of staying on that fabulous yacht and you want to get on a budget flight home? Are you completely bonkers?’
I look up at the blue skies, the sea in the distance and Elias’s smile as he waits for me to get off the phone.
‘Look, I have to go. Poor Elias is standing here waiting for me.’
‘Oh my god. He’s there with you now? Well, I’m not going off this phone unless you promise you’re staying on that yacht tonight.’
‘Carol!’
‘Say it!’
‘Okay. Okay. Right, I’ve got to go.’
‘I’ll let Soraya know the news, and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.’ I can hear Carol giggling down the phone as I put it down.
Elias has been so patient waiting for my reply, although I’m sure he must have heard every word. Carol always talks so loudly.
‘Will we be moored at the marina? Or out in the middle of the sea?’
This makes all the difference since I would prefer that people aren’t too far away if anything goes wrong in the middle of the night.
‘At the marina,’ says Elias.
‘Okay then. Thank you. But it’ll only be for a couple of nights. I promise I won’t outstay my welcome.’
‘I’m sure you’d never outstay any welcome.’
Elias looks at me, and something tells me that this is either going to be the best decision or the worst decision I ever make. I can’t quite decide which. But I do realise that I need a bit of an adventure to write this book and inspire my writing, so I really want to do this. However, I unblock Michael’s number just in case there is some kind of terrible emergency, and they were right after all.