Chapter 7
7
BEATRICE
Wandering around the beautiful grounds of the hotel, checking that we’ve got everything in place for the upcoming long weekend’s event, I feel a swell of appreciation at the magnificence of the setting.
It’s a real oasis of calm here.
Which is a balm after the tension of the last couple of days.
A change of venue at the last second has been an incredibly stressful thing to navigate, both for me and for Jay. He’s had to make sure he’s contacted everyone who bought a ticket and offer additional transport to anyone who’s been put out from the change in location. Luckily, it seems that most people won’t be affected, so it’s not cost him much in monetary terms. But the mental load has been quite considerable. Hopefully, this means he’ll be interested in holding the festival with us in the future again, as we’ll be a known quantity from this point on.
Something Dee will have in her arsenal for when she comes back to take over.
I take a deep, calming breath, pushing away the strange new tension that’s invaded my chest at the thought of handing this back to my sister.
I should be pleased with what I’ve achieved in the last few days – and I am. But there’s an unsettling feeling of having to let go of something I’m not quite prepared to give up yet.
The buzz I’ve felt from problem solving in the last couple of days is something I wasn’t expecting.
And I’m loving working here at Gladbrooke House. It’s such a beautiful place – something I’m going to really miss once I’m back in my basement office.
The setting here is something else.
The land surrounding the house is bordered by mature, evergreen trees on all sides, so any hint of the sights and sounds of the world outside are shielded from view.
Behind me, the Bath-stone-fronted house glows in the fading, late-winter sun and I realise I’m actually envious of Jonah for his family owning this magical place.
To the right of the house, the hot tubs, which are shielded by a dense hedge, are being heated ready for chilly guests to warm themselves through. Jay assures me that all the decorations that are being strung about the place are eco-friendly and made with repurposed materials. He has a team of artists and prop makers who take care of dressing the venues for the festivals and it’s been a marvel to watch them transform the place into a winter wonderland.
To stretch my legs, I wander through a small thicket of trees a few hundred metres to the left of the house and find myself at a large lake. This is also surrounded by trees, making it completely private from the rest of the estate.
I sit on a fallen tree trunk and watch a group of ducks glide gracefully across the rippling surface. There’s a sweet, musty smell in the air given off by a combination of the water and the floating lily pads and reeds dotted across the lake, which I breathe in deeply. I’ve always loved the scent of water, especially the mustiness of it. I can’t quite explain why. It just does something provocative to my taste buds.
Relaxing back onto the rough bark of the log, I stare up at the sky and watch the birds wheeling above me, feeling for the first time in a long time a sense of being properly connected to the earth and nature. I’ve been working so hard in the last few years – all through my schooling, university degree, then straight into the business with Jem – that I’ve barely taken any time out to just be.
Completely forsaking the instruction of my own name. Bea. Be .
Huh. I’m not sure where that thought came from. I hope I’ve not been breathing in invisible floating spores from a patch of magic mushrooms nearby.
Ahh , but it’s so wonderfully peaceful here.
I’m suddenly aware that I’m feeling something completely new.
I think it’s contentment.
Now I know what I’m doing with this job, I’m loving being on my feet all day and outside in the fresh air for a lot of it. It’s very different from my usual day-to-day experience of being tied to my desk in the office staring at words on a screen.
I remind myself, for the umpteenth time today, not to get too attached to this place, or this role. It’s unlikely I’ll ever be able to visit here again once I hand the reins back over to Dee. It might put her position in jeopardy again if Jonah even has an inkling that he’s been duped by us.
I push away a shiver of disquiet. I’m doing this to help Dee out, I remind myself. And it’s not like we’re trying to trick something out of Jonah. He may be an arrogant, taciturn grump but I don’t wish him any ill.
And I do feel bad about lying to him.
I’m distracted by the sound of my mobile ringing. Sitting up, I pull it out of my pocket and check the screen. My heart flips when I see that it’s Dee calling me.
Uh oh, what now?
‘Hi, Dee? Is everything okay?’ I ask, the moment I connect the call.
‘Hiya, Bea. Er, yes, all good here. How’s everything going there?’
‘Yeah, fine. Busy. Was there something you need?’ I’m acutely aware of the impatience in my voice, but I don’t have the brain space for chitchat with my sister right now.
‘Er, no, not really. Just wanted to check in.’
‘Oh. Okay. Well, everything’s going to plan here. Don’t worry.’
‘As if I’d worry with you in charge,’ she scoffs.
Is that a twang of bitterness I hear in her voice? Nah, she must just be fed up with sitting around in my flat. I hope she’s not making a nuisance of herself and bothering Jem when he’s trying to work.
‘So, the funniest thing happened yesterday,’ Dee says.
My stomach does a slow roll. Uh oh, this sounds like it has the potential to turn into something I’m not going to want to hear.
‘Really? What?’ I ask hesitantly, screwing up my face in readiness for the next disaster.
‘Well, I was really bored and still in a lot of pain with my ankle, but I thought I might be able to help Jem out in the office with some basic things like looking at emails, you know?’
My heart sinks as I immediately start to worry about the new way Dee has found to annoy the crap out of my business partner.
‘Dee, you need to leave Jem alone. You can’t go distracting him. He’s really busy at the moment, especially as I’m not there to take up the slack because I’m here doing your job for you,’ I whisper into my phone, hoping to goodness that Jonah isn’t about to burst out of the trees and confront me after overhearing my conversation.
I get up and look around me, but luckily the place seems deserted.
‘Yes, I know that, Bea. That’s why I was trying to help and not just sit around like a useless lump.’
I feel a surge of guilt at the hurt in her voice. ‘Okay, sorry. So, what’s the funny story?’ I ask.
‘It’s just that I took some of those painkillers that Mum used to take for her bad back, so I could concentrate…’
Oh, no, this couldn’t be good. Those were strong meds and ones Dee really shouldn’t be messing with.
‘And it was weird because they made me act a bit wild!’ She giggles after saying this.
I can only imagine what that means.
‘It was pretty funny though,’ she adds when I don’t immediately respond with a giggle of my own.
‘Okay, well, for goodness’ sake, don’t take any more of them. You shouldn’t use meds that aren’t prescribed for you, especially when I’m not there to look after you.’
‘All right, Bea, I know,’ she says crossly. ‘No need to mother me. I’m only telling you because it’s a funny story. And anyway, I was fine in the end. Jem looked after me.’
My friend’s face flashes into my mind and I can just picture the grim expression on his face, having to deal with a stoned – and what sounds like a potentially frisky – Dee.
Poor Jem.
I’m going to owe him big time for this.
‘Anyway, then Dad turned up at your flat this morning. Just let himself in and strolled into the bedroom in his usual entitled way and he kind of got the wrong end of the stick about Jem being in bed with me.’
‘What!’ My exclamation is so loud, birds rise from the trees in alarm.
‘Don’t panic. Nothing happened. He stayed with me ’cos I got a bit anxious about being alone. Anyway, I didn’t want to tell Dad that Jem was only looking after me because of the mistake with the meds, so he’s now under the impression that we’re a couple and that you’re away in Scotland at a friend’s mum’s funeral rather than pretending to be me at my job at the hotel.’
‘Oh my God, Dee.’ I shake my head at the sky in utter bewilderment at my sister’s innate ability to get herself into these ridiculous scrapes. Which she’s now dragging me into too.
Before I can say anything else, Dee says, ‘Dad actually came over to invite you and me on a business trip with him. Apparently, he’s been trying to woo this hotshot billionaire so he’ll invest in his business and sit on the executive board or something, which will be a major coup for Dad. The guy’s a real family man, apparently, and makes a point of only working with people who have similar family values to him. As you can imagine, that’s a bit of a stretch for Dad to prove. The man’s not exactly father-of-the-year material.’
‘That’s a little unfair, Dee,’ I say, though with less conviction than I’m sure my dad would want to hear. He’s been good at paying for anything we need, but he’s not exactly the touchy-feely type and the most attention we ever got from him when we were young was when he was giving us lectures about our future prospects. I know he loves us both, but he has a real problem showing it. His own dad was the same – emotionally restrained – or so our mum told us.
‘Dad clearly thinks the guy needs persuading otherwise,’ Dee continues, ignoring my interjection, ‘so he wants us to go to this billionaire’s swanky private Greek island, where we’ve been invited to join him for the weekend. Obviously, you can’t go cos you’re “in Scotland”, so he’s reluctantly suggested he and I go without you. He’s promised me he’ll pay off my student loan with some of the money he makes from this deal if I pretend to be a doting daughter while we’re there. And,’ she continues, before I can respond to this lunacy, ‘because Jem’s now my “boyfriend”, he’s asked him to come too, no doubt thinking Jem will keep me in line.’
‘What!’ I say again. ‘Why can’t this wait till I’m “back from Scotland”?’
‘It’s time sensitive apparently because the billionaire’s off to some important summit, then climbing Everest or some such idiocy and Dad needs to lock in this deal before one of his business rivals gets in there first.’
‘Right. I see.’ I’m not sure how I feel about this, but it’s not like I have the option to scupper it. I have to be here at the festival all weekend. I can’t just walk away now and leave Jonah in the lurch. ‘What about your ankle?’
‘I’ve got some crutches and Jem will be able to help me if I need someone to lean on.’
I can’t imagine Jem’s wild about the idea of spending the weekend with Dee pretending to be her boyfriend and skivvy, but I imagine he thinks it’s better to stay on my dad’s good side. I wonder why he didn’t put my dad straight about the misunderstanding though? He must have a good reason. I’ll text him in a minute and check he’s really okay with all this.
‘I can’t believe this is all happening right now. Talk about bad timing,’ I grumble.
‘I’m not exactly thrilled about it either, you know,’ Dee says, tetchily. ‘But this is the first time Dad’s ever asked for my help and I want to show him I’m a worthy part of this family too.’
I sigh. ‘Yeah, fair enough. But, please, Dee, you have to look after Jem while you’re there. Be kind. And no monkey business, you get me?’
‘I promise,’ Dee says in her most solemn voice.
I’m not entirely sure whether to believe her, but I guess I really don’t have a choice.
As soon as Dee cuts the call, I text Jem.
Are you really okay to go on this trip with my dad and Dee? You can say no, you know. And what’s this about you and Dee pretending to be a couple?!?!
His reply comes back a minute later.
It’s fine. I’m happy to help. I assume Dee told you what happened? She begged me not to tell him the truth and I felt sorry for her, so I agreed. I didn’t think it would be a big deal to go along with it, then pretend we’d broken up the next time I saw him. What I didn’t anticipate was your dad inviting us to go away for the weekend with him. I couldn’t backtrack on it by then for fear of looking like an idiot. He’s not a man I want to get on the wrong side of. Conversely, he IS someone I’d quite like to owe me a favour. Plus, I’ve never had the opportunity to visit a private Greek island. I’m planning on sizing up the area for when you and I make our millions and we’ve got some spare cash to splash around ;-)
I smile, relieved he doesn’t seem too put out by all this nonsense and text back:
Well thanks. You’re a good friend and I appreciate you looking after Dee. I owe you big time for all this.
No sweat
I slide my phone back into my pocket, still not entirely convinced this weekend will go the way any of them anticipate.
But it’s not my problem right now. The festival is. Speaking of which, I’d better get back there before Jonah finds me here and tears a strip off me for slacking off.
Ignoring a strange flip in my stomach at the thought of him, I stand up and take one long last look at the peaceful lake before making my way back towards the hotel.
Once back in the house, I wander into the kitchens to make sure everything’s ready and available for the festival’s catering crew.
Apparently, Pete’s not going to be able to come this weekend and I’ve decided not to introduce his partner, Jay, to Jonah, so as not to make things awkward or complicated for anyone.
I didn’t tell them that I’m posing as Dee this weekend because, firstly, I didn’t want to ask anyone to lie for me and secondly, I was afraid Jay might reconsider holding the festival here if he thought there was anything screwy with the set-up. We need this to work in order for Dee to pass her probation and it’s only a short amount of time I have to keep the ruse up. So, I’ve posed as Dee to do all the comms with Jay.
Thankfully, Jonah seems happy to let me just get on with the running of things.
In fact, he’s been really chill about the whole thing up till now, which has surprised me. I thought he’d want to micromanage the hell out of it, but he seems reluctant to do anything client-facing. For someone as famous as Jonah is, I’m amazed he’s not capitalising on it.
But then, from his grumpy manner, I get the feeling there’s more going on under the surface than he’s letting on.
There’s a tale to be told.
Not that I should be interested in uncovering it.
I’m fully aware that I mustn’t get emotionally involved with Jonah in any way.
Yet I can’t help but be intrigued by him.