Chapter Twenty-Nine We Go Together
I’m awakened by my phone buzzing away on the bedside table. It takes me a few seconds to work out what it is and then I go into motherly panic — it can only be Zoe at this time of night. I feel relief then confusion when I see it’s Patty. I look over at Michael who hasn’t been disturbed and is still blissfully dreaming away. I stealthily get out of bed and tiptoe into the bathroom, taking the phone with me.
‘It’s four o’clock in the morning, what on earth...’ I whisper.
‘Come to our room in ten minutes.’
I get dressed then leave a note for Michael in case, by some miracle, he wakes up. I sneak along the hallway. Hotels at night are very otherworldly. This isn’t the type of hotel to have been chosen for a girls’ weekend away or a stag do, so there are no drunken revellers returning from parties and no shenanigans taking place in the lift. Believe me, I’ve seen a few of them in my time during cabin-crew stopovers.
The hotel night shift are quietly getting on with whatever night-shift people do. They’re surprised to see someone wandering the corridors at this hour but are too polite and well-trained to say anything. When I was an air stewardess, I saw married cabin crew and pilots sneaking into each other’s rooms thinking no one knew what was going on. You just learn to look away in the end. Right now, the guy delivering newspapers to the rooms does precisely that. He politely nods at me, then discreetly looks away as I quietly tap on Patty’s door. Jack peers down the corridor before dragging me inside.
* * *
The next morning we set off after a quiet breakfast. None of us talk much on the journey home either and I suspect we’re all deep in thought. We drop Patty and Jack off to get changed, then head back to my apartment. I call Charlie and Josie and ask them to meet us there. When we reach the apartment, Michael gets the coffee cups ready and I pace anxiously until everyone arrives. Charlie and Peter arrive first.
‘So, what’s the mystery?’ asks Charlie. ‘What have you two been up to?’
I shake my head, indicating we have to wait. They take the hint and sit down at the dining table, cups of coffee in hand. Josie arrives next and looks around. She notes the atmosphere and sits down beside the guys. ‘I’m guessing this is serious if you’re serving coffee rather than wine,’ she says. I smile at her.
I’m not sure how long I can hold out without saying something but I’m saved by the bell — literally. The buzzer goes and I hurry to let Patty and Jack in.
‘Ooh, this feels very tense, like the moment before the Oscar is announced.’
‘Well, Angie won’t tell us what’s going on,’ says Charlie.
I join everyone at the table and am relieved that I can finally say something. ‘Patty has some news.’
She takes centre stage, pauses for a dramatic moment and then begins. ‘We’ve had a truly glorious weekend and the highlight for Jack was me agreeing to be his wife.’
‘It most certainly was,’ he says moving to stand beside her and kiss her.
Afterwards Patty flashes the ring to lots of ‘oohs’ and ‘congratulations’ from everyone.
‘But we didn’t get you here to tell you this. Angie told me what happened at the bank last week and I’m gutted, I really am. When Jack proposed, I couldn’t think of anywhere I’d rather get married and I can’t believe it might not happen.’
My best friend squeezes Jack’s hand as she says this.
‘So I have a proposal for you all,’ she says. ‘The sale of my house will go through this week and when it does, the one thing I won’t be short of is money. But if the Aussie is actually coming back to work, and it looks as if she is, then I’ve got nothing to do. You’ve all got the opposite problem so let me help.’
She takes a deep breath, ready to deliver the finale and beams at us.
‘I’d like to invest and become a partner in Mercury. I’ve loved working with you all and I think I can add something. I promise not to get under your feet. I’ll set up in the back room or the dungeon — wherever you want, just let me help.’
Charlie looks at me open-mouthed. I don’t know what he’s thinking, but my feelings are slightly mixed and they have been since she suggested it last night. It’s been fun having Patty around and I’d love her to stay but I don’t know whether she could cope with doing the same job day in, day out. Would she get bored? Charlie gets up and gives her a big hug.
‘That is an amazing offer, Patty,’ he says. ‘Thank you. From the bottom of this little heart, thank you. Would you mind if I just have a few minutes with Angie and Josie?’
‘Of course,’ she says. ‘Take whatever time you need.’
The three of us head out into the grounds to walk and talk.
‘What do you think?’ I ask Charlie.
‘I feel slightly overwhelmed,’ he says. ‘I mean, it is incredibly generous of her but could you work with your best friend for the rest of your days? And would she be bored of being in a shop every day?’
‘That’s what I was thinking. What do you think, Josie?’
‘She’s been ace, she really has. The customers love her. She makes them laugh and she needn’t be stuck in the shop. She could run the wedding business, and who’s to say it has to be based in the shop? It could be all about home visits — we come to you to plan your big day. It would probably be better that way anyhow.’
‘But Charlie really wants to work on the weddings, don’t you?’ I say.
He shakes his head. ‘Not really. I like the ideas part, sorting out the décor and design. And of course I’d love to go over to the island more often, but dealing with brides and their mothers? No thank you. I’d much rather leave that to someone else. Patty would be fab.’
I nod. I can see that, too, and I think she’d be brilliant at it. She could develop themes, the entertainment and she knows how to create the perfect stage for every event. She has that instinct and imagination.
‘My take on all this is quite simple,’ Josie continues. ‘You have a dream but no money. Now you’ve got a chance of the money — has the dream gone away?’
We both shake our heads.
‘Then grab this offer before she goes and spends all that cash on hiring some eighties has-been to serenade her down the aisle or some other rubbish.’
We laugh and Charlie looks at me. ‘So we’re going to say, yes?’
I nod. We most certainly are.
We head back into the apartment and the chatter stops. Bizarrely, Patty looks very nervous, as if she’s on Dragons’ Den waiting to hear whether we’re going to invest. She’s the one getting us out of a pickle, so we should be the nervous ones in case she changes her mind.
All eyes are on us as Charlie steps forward and takes hold of both Patty’s hands.
‘You strange and wonderful creature, I don’t know what to say except thank you. Thank you for stepping in so often over this awful year and thank you for rescuing my dream. We would all be absolutely delighted to have you as a partner in Mercury Travel.’
Patty squeals and throws her arms around Charlie, then me, then Josie, then Michael, then Peter, then Jack, then Charlie again...
Everyone gets hugged to extremes. Michael gets a bottle of champagne out of the cooler and another holler goes up as the cork pops.
‘Thank goodness for that,’ says Patty accepting a glass. ‘I thought I was in the wrong house when I saw you serving coffee.’
‘When does the house sale actually go through?’ asks Peter.
‘Thursday,’ Patty says. ‘So I suppose we could transfer the money on Friday.’
‘You need to read through everything before you sign on the dotted line,’ Peter instructs Patty. ‘You have to be absolutely sure of this. If you’re happy, we’d still be a week late on the investment timetable, but that shouldn’t cause too many issues. We’re a bit behind on getting the resort up and running for the wedding season, though. You’re all going to have your work cut out.’
Michael stands up. ‘Well, that’s where I can help. I can help you make up for lost time. As soon as the deeds are signed, I could take a few weeks off work and go over to Formentera to supervise the work. You need someone you know to watch the construction of those yurts so that they’re in place on time for the health and safety inspection. Someone you can completely trust. Let me do that.’
I hadn’t known he was going to do this but I melt a little at his offer.
‘Wow,’ says Charlie. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Certainly am. I’ve been investigating the construction features needed to get that safety licence. They’re not onerous if you know what you’re doing but there’s little room for error so we need to closely supervise the workforce. If I’m there, I can make sure the work is done on time, that you have an update every night, and of course, I can pitch in with the landscaping too.’
‘It’s a huge amount of work,’ I say. ‘Are you sure you want to take this on?’
‘I’d do anything for you. You should know that by now.’
He leans over and kisses me and everyone sighs ‘aah’, except Josie who just says, ‘Yuk, get a room.’
‘In fact I feel so strongly about this,’ he says, ‘that I just can’t sit here and watch the days tick by not knowing whether or not the construction is going to be finished or not. After all that you guys have been through this year, I have to do it for you. I really do.’
I raise my glass and clink it against his. ‘Then I thank you from the very bottom of my heart and I’m sure Charlie does too. How can we ever repay you?’
‘Well, I’m not sure about Charlie but I’ll think of a way that you can.’ Michael kisses me.
More aahs and yuks from our friends.
Josie stands up. ‘Before we all drown in drool, let me say this. I have a lot to make up to you guys—’ she waves away the protests we make — ‘no, I know that I’ve made some real mistakes this year. So my offer of help is this: I’ll work twenty-four hours a day to get back the bookings we lost and I’ll get people talking about these weddings. We are going to be booked up and back on track by the end of the year.’
We raise our glasses to her.
‘So with all these fab offers, what can we do, then?’ I ask Charlie.
‘You’re going to Scotland,’ he says and I frown, puzzled.
‘The Americans Patty was flirting with a few weeks back,’ Charlie explains, ‘they’ve booked up the treasure trail and after everything we’ve been through, it has to be absolutely perfect. I’ll man the office but you have to go up and recce that first stopover before they arrive.’
‘They booked!’ cries Patty. ‘That’s brilliant. I knew they would. Angie, you have to let me come with you.’
‘It’s your business too now. I’d say coming along was pretty much compulsory.’
Michael brings out another bottle of champagne and refills the glasses.
Charlie holds his aloft and makes a toast. ‘Friends, we have all had what you might call, a difficult year.’
‘You can say that again,’ adds Josie.
‘But thanks to you all rallying round, it might just have a happy ending.’
He tilts his glass towards Josie. ‘First of all, to our Antipodean colleague, thank you and yes, we accept your kind offer to work twenty-four hours a day.’
She bows and takes a sip.
‘Next, to the man putting a smile back on Angie’s face, thank you and yes, we also accept your kind offer to supervise our building work.’
Michael follows Josie’s lead with his own bow.
‘And finally to the lady rolling in cash — welcome aboard. I cannot wait to see what weird and wonderful weddings you conjure up. I’m sure they’ll be unique, if nothing else.’
Patty curtsies.
‘To Mercury,’ says Charlie, ‘and living to fight another day.’