Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
EVIE
‘Wow,’ I said the following morning reading through the itinerary that Alicia had put together, a little thrill running through me at the thought of ice-skating at the Rockefeller Center in front of the iconic gold statue of Prometheus.
That, among other things, had been on my New York wish list. I’d been prepping for this visit for half of my life.
All I had to do was have fun and post pictures on the Instagram account they’d set up, @EvieAtThePlaza.
‘This looks amazing. I can’t wait. I’ve always wanted to do some of these things.’
‘I know,’ Alicia gave me a kind smile. ‘When I saw that reel and when you explained why you’d fallen for the scam and how you used to watch Christmas movies set in New York with your late mom, it really touched me and so many other people.
My mom and I took a trip to Ireland this year, we’d been talking about it since I was a kid.
We had such a blast and then straight after I saw that TikTok, I felt so bad for you.
I mean, you did wrong, but it was really kind of nasty of those folk to post that reel. ’
She held up her phone and I studied the infamous reel with fresh eyes.
At the time, I had been outraged that my flatmates had posted an image of me at my most vulnerable, when I was shattered that I’d been scammed and that the dream of going to The Plaza and New York had been cruelly snatched from me.
It brought back all my grief at the death of my mother and my tears were as much for her as they were for the shock and humiliation of being scammed.
Now, with a bit of distance and hindsight, I watched the reel as someone who didn’t know the background.
I was pitiful. A snotty, teary mess. First impression: pathetic, stupid and entitled.
Trying to justify what I’d done, refusing to accept that what I’d done to them was wrong.
So wrong. It hadn’t helped that I was trying to explain about my mum and how much going to New York had meant to me while still in a state of high emotion.
The reel showed me at my most vulnerable and incoherent, distraught and not capable of rational thought.
‘I’ll pay you back,’ I wailed. ‘I only borrowed it.’
I’d been pulled in by the classic, coercive urgency of the scammer.
Time is of the essence… If you don’t do this now…
You must hurry… And like an idiot I’d fallen for it.
If I didn’t pay upfront for the flight, I’d lose it and for security reasons, it was quicker and easier to do it through them on my card as that would match my passport documentation.
I didn’t question it. Not for one moment because it was a golden opportunity to fulfil my mum’s wishes.
I basically handed them my bank account on a platter – or rather the house account where we were putting all our savings for our holiday.
Was it any wonder Jamie and Esther hadn’t believed I was good for the money.
How were they to know that my cavalier attitude about clothes, the future, relationships didn’t extend to money?
I might have worked in finance, but it wasn’t exactly hot news over a pint and a glass of wine what that week’s best interest rate was, or which stocks and shares ISA I’d recommend.
Which had led my flatmates to assume I wasn’t good for the money.
Of course, I’d known I had the money, but I hadn’t been able to convince them.
My flatmates and the rest of the world had judged me – and now looking at the reel again, I didn’t blame them one bit.
‘So nasty,’ said Alicia, again. ‘I’m real sorry about your mom, you must miss her. I can’t imagine not speaking to mine every day. It would make me a little crazy, too.’
I swallowed down the little lump and concentrated on being happy, like Mum would have wanted me to be.
‘She’d be thrilled for me, and I have to be happy for her.’ I hauled in a breath. ‘But it’s hard sometimes, especially now I’m here and she isn’t.’
‘Well, I promise you. We’re going to give you a real good time and we’ll look after you. The Plaza is renowned for looking after its guests. She gave me a friendly smile. ‘So, I think that’s everything.’
Alicia was everything I’d like to grow up to be one day.
Not only was she kind but she had perfect white teeth, perfect red lipstick and wore an immaculate two-piece suit, the skirt of which stopped just below her knee to show off fabulous legs.
From the smooth chignon of her blonde hair, right down to the tip of her gorgeous grey-suede shoes with their delicate heels – as unlike me as humanly possible – she was sleek and well groomed.
Despite being up since five this morning – my body clock still had some adjusting to do – I had unmanageable bedhead hair and I’d taken the easy way out and scooped my errant curls into a messy bun.
Clothes-wise, I’d just pulled on my favourite jeans and a jumper that had seen better days.
I was panicking that I didn’t have enough cold-weather clothes.
New York was far chillier than I was expecting.
Alicia shot a quick glance at her assistant, an equally glossy, well-groomed girl who hadn’t said a word yet.
‘What size are you?’
‘Size?’ I asked, assuming she meant for the proposed shopping trip to Bloomingdale’s, which was on my itinerary. ‘I’m an English twelve, but I know your sizes are quite different here.’
She was already tapping on her phone. ‘That makes you an eight.’
‘That, I like,’ I said. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever been an eight in my life.’
‘Shoe size?’
‘A UK Six.’
She tapped out something else then looked up again. ‘Great. Have you got all that, Cora?’
Her assistant nodded.
‘Okay, so we’ll have all that sorted for you. We’re gonna do a bit of a photo shoot this lunchtime. It’ll be a lot of fun.’
‘Great,’ I said with a big grin, wondering if I’d get hair and makeup as well as the clothes. I couldn’t wait. This trip was already exceeding my expectations.
‘We’re just waiting for Angel to arrive. She’s your butler and will show you round the hotel and take you behind the scenes to get an idea of all the things that go on here.’
‘Okay,’ I said, excited to get started. ‘That sounds brilliant.’
There was a knock at the door and a small dark head peeped around the corner.
‘Hey, come on in, Angel, and meet your new charge. This is Evie Green.’
‘Well, hello, Evie Green. Nice to meet you and welcome to The Plaza. I’m one of the butlers and I’ll be looking after you.
’ Angel might have been small in stature, she was knocking five foot, but from the twinkle in her eyes, her low deep voice and wide grin, I could tell her personality outweighed her size.
‘Hi, Angel, nice to meet you.’ My own butler!
How cool was that. I bet Noah snarky Sanderson didn’t have his own butler.
I hadn’t seen him at breakfast this morning, although it had been an early one because I’d been awake for hours.
I was the first and only person in the dining room for the first half an hour, and even then I’d had to wait until six-thirty for it to open.
Angel was dressed in a black suit, with comfy black shoes and wore heavy-black-framed glasses.
‘Right, Evie,’ said Alicia. ‘We’ll see you at twelve in the restaurant manager’s office. Angel will show you the way.’ She and Cora then hurried away as if they had important things to do, leaving me with Angel.
‘And how are you finding The Plaza?’ she asked, standing with her arms behind her back.
‘Lovely so far. It’s gorgeous.’
‘And is everything to your liking?’ she asked.
‘Yes,’ I said.
Apart from my neighbour in room 502.
‘Good, that’s a key part of what we’re about at The Plaza. Nothing is too much for our guests, we want to make sure they have the best stay ever. Especially at Christmas.
Angel showed me every floor of the hotel except the fourth floor, which held The Royal Suite. ‘It’s occupied just now,’ she explained. ‘But next week I’ll be able to give the full guided tour. It’s quite something.’
‘My room’s quite something, too,’ I said, thinking of the mosaic-tiled bathroom, the marble sinks – yes two of them – and the gold taps and fittings.
‘So, is everything to your liking? Do you need anything? And when would you like a Christmas tree set up?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Or would you like to set it up yourself? We do that with some of the families that come for Christmas. They like that. It’s a fun thing to do.’
‘Mmm,’ I said noncommittally. I hadn’t actually had a Christmas tree since my mum had died.
There just never seemed any point. Not so much of a fun thing to do when you are on your own.
‘I’ll think about it,’ I said, knowing full well I’d avoid the issue unless it was brought up again.
Why worry about something now when you could push it down the line until later and a decision absolutely had to be made.
We went and visited the maintenance team down in the basement. ‘This is Bernard and his boys, they keep the place running and replace the crystals.’
‘Howdy. How you doin’?’ greeted Bernard.
‘Good, thanks and you?’
‘Just dandy.’
‘What are crystals?’
He laughed. ‘I’m not sure I should tell you. They’re the little bits of glass on the chandeliers. Guests just love to take a crystal home as a souvenir.’
‘Oh,’ I said. The concept of souvenirs had kind of passed me by. I didn’t like hoarding stuff. There never seemed much point.
He waved a screwdriver at me. ‘Anything you need, just call – except for a crystal,’ he said and continued rewiring the lamp on the table in front of him.
After that we skirted past the kitchens, where they were already preparing for lunch, and dropped in on housekeeping.
‘Hey, Angel, how’s it going?’ called one of the women who was handing Sellotape to another woman wrapping a large parcel in luxury paper.
‘Good, Joanie. Everyone, this is Evie Green. She’s staying in room 501. Who’s looking after that section.’