Chapter 16
The following afternoon, Ben was trying and failing to talk to one of his best friends on the phone.
‘What?’ he heard Jake shout for the second time in less than a minute. ‘I can’t hear you!’
Ben wasn’t surprised. He could barely hear himself talk above the hammering and endless noise from the renovations all around him. At least the new oak skirting boards were looking good, he thought, as he looked around the entrance hall.
They would be painted white once they were finished, sticking with the pale scheme of the bedrooms. He was pleased that Lily had agreed with his ideas to copy a more corporate hotel theme. He had yet to see the results but was looking forward to the first viewing.
He couldn’t continue his conversation outside as there was no phone signal out of the hotel. So in the end, he shouted to Jake that he would call him later and hung up. Almost immediately, his mobile rang once more.
Figuring it was Jake trying with another number, Ben picked up. But it wasn’t his friend this time.
‘Mr Jackson?’ said the man on the end of the line.
‘I’m Hans Haubermann. I’m so sorry it’s taken so long for me to get back to you but we’ve had a cancellation so I would be happy to discuss your ideas for the hotel redesign at some point in the near future, if you would still like to use my services. ’
Ben was nonplussed. ‘I don’t understand,’ he replied, thinking that he had misheard. ‘Your designer is already here and working on the project.’
Now it was Mr Haubermann’s turn to sound shocked. ‘Our designer? Who exactly is there, might I ask?’
‘Lily Wilson,’ he replied. They didn’t seem a particularly efficient company if they couldn’t even keep tabs on their own staff, he surmised, less than impressed.
‘There must be some mistake. Miss Wilson was fired from this company two weeks ago.’
Ben was shocked. ‘Fired?’ he repeated.
Mr Haubermann confirmed the details and Ben hung up, feeling puzzled and extremely concerned.
He rushed up the stairs two at a time, determined to get to the bottom of the problem.
He strode down the hallway towards Bedroom No.
2 and hesitated, seeing the ‘Fresh Paint’ sign on the door.
In the end, he decided one splodge of paint wasn’t going to stop him getting to the bottom of the matter.
So he turned the handle and went inside.
Lily wasn’t in the room but that didn’t stop him staring around in shock.
What had happened to the white design that they had discussed?
Three of the walls were now painted a delicate but quite strong shade of green.
The wall behind the bed had had its plasterboard removed and the thick logs were exposed from floor to ceiling.
On the floor was a soft pale pink rug, which matched a cushion on the bed as well as a blanket that hung over a leather chair that he didn’t recall seeing before.
However, it was the use of the colour that was a shock. Where he had been expecting white and cool, it was completely different. The colours were warm but vibrant and the use of wood helped as well. He had to admit that it felt modern, warm and comfortable. And deep down, he liked it.
But that wasn’t the point, he reminded himself. That wasn’t what she had been hired to do!
Incensed, he spun around on his heel and stalked out of the bedroom, determined to get to the bottom of the issue.
‘Where’s Lily?’ he barked at Frankie, whose eyebrows raised in surprise at his harsh tone.
‘She went out for a walk around the lake with your mum,’ said Frankie.
She opened her mouth to ask him what the problem was but it was too late. Ben was already striding out of the hotel.
With each step, he was feeling more and more annoyed. By the time he came across his mum walking on her own, his temper had risen even more.
‘Where’s Lily?’ he snapped.
She looked shocked. ‘She’s in the boathouse, having a look around,’ said Faye. ‘I had to leave her because I’m taking your grandmother into the village. What’s the problem? Hey!’
Ben heard her call out but he was too busy walking towards the boathouse, determined to get to the bottom of the problem.
Lily was walking around the interior of the boathouse, feeling in awe.
It was beautiful, she thought. She hadn’t been inside it before but after seeing it on her walk around the lake, she had been desperate to peek at the interior.
Now she was standing in the middle of the floor, she could appreciate how large a room it was with its double-height oak-framed ceiling.
There was even a wide balcony along the whole of the first floor, although it looked a bit rickety so she wasn’t going anywhere near it.
In the far corner, there was an opening in the floor where the top of a ladder could be seen peeping above the gap. It led down to the three docks below where she could hear the water lapping against the ancient boat that Faye had just shown her.
Faye needed to leave for an appointment but Lily had found that she wanted to loiter in the space for a while longer. There were no windows but the openings in the wall out onto the water made her feel as if she was floating above the lake itself.
The air was cool, coming in from the shutters through to the open front door. It still needed a complete renovation as all the floorboards were a little rickety and even the front door itself had to be wedged open with a heavy lump of wood that they had found.
‘There’s no handle on here,’ Faye had said, showing her the smooth door. ‘You won’t be able to get out otherwise!’
Not that Lily was in a hurry to leave. The peace after the endless noise and hammering of the workmen in the hotel was blissful. And for all its run-down state, the boathouse felt a warm and welcoming place.
She suddenly heard footsteps outside and figured it was Faye coming back.
But it wasn’t Faye at all, she realised, turning to look at the open doorway. It was Ben and he was looking extremely cross.
‘There you are!’ he said, standing in the doorway and filling the space with his wide shoulders.
‘Yup. Here I am,’ she said, somewhat worried about his tense expression.
‘I’ve had a very interesting time this afternoon,’ he carried on.
‘How nice,’ she said, wondering where this was leading.
‘Not really,’ he replied. ‘I thought I’d see progress on the decorating. So I’ve just been into Bedroom No 2!’
She took a sharp intake of breath. He had seen the room! The truth was finally out on her secret design.
‘You totally disregarded all of my ideas,’ he told her.
‘Only because they were awful,’ she replied, finally feeling relieved enough to tell the truth.
‘That’s only your opinion and besides, that’s not the point!’ he wailed, before checking himself. ‘I wanted the minimal look.’
‘Which was completely wrong for the place!’ she told him. ‘Look, I know design and trust me when I say that I was on the right track. You’ve got to admit that the room looks much better.’
‘They were my ideas! Mine! I’m in charge around here, although heaven knows nobody seems to realise that!’ he shouted.
‘Listen,’ she began.
But he was in no mood to hear her ideas.
‘But why should I be surprised that you ignored everything that I hired you to do,’ he carried on. ‘I mean, if your own design company can sack you then you’re not exactly the most professional person at this, are you?’
Lily gasped, as a chill ran through her. ‘You’ve talked to Hans?’ she asked, with a gulp.
It was her worse nightmare coming true. Her dream job, her future, now coming apart at the seams. Worse still, she wouldn’t have anywhere to live either when he threw her out. She would be both homeless and jobless. Her career wasn’t just on a temporary hold, it was at a complete and utter end.
‘I spoke to your ex-boss just half an hour ago,’ he told her. ‘So, do you want to tell me exactly what’s going on around here? Why have I hired someone who’s been given the sack? Why have you lied to me? To my family? To Hannah?’
On the last word, he gave the lump of rotten wood keeping the door open a kick in anger. It slid across the floorboards and the front door swiftly closed with a click.
‘Well?’ he asked.
But despite everything that he had just accused her of, Lily suddenly had a more pressing problem on her mind. ‘You’ve just closed the door,’ she told him, peering around him to double check the horrible thought that she now had.
‘Yes, I’m aware of that, thank you,’ he replied in a cool tone. ‘Don’t you think we’ve got bigger things to discuss?’
‘Bigger than being stuck in here, you mean?’ she asked.
‘Stuck?’ Ben’s eyes widened before he spun around to reach out to the door. Lily watched as he felt around where the door handle would normally be and slowly realised what Faye had already told her. That there wasn’t one.
He turned back around. ‘Well, that really isn’t an issue, is it?’ he said, patting the back pockets of his jeans. And then his front pockets. Before patting the back pockets once more.
‘I haven’t got my phone either,’ Lily told him, with a heavy sigh, thinking of her mobile, which she had left in the kitchen on charge. ‘I mean, with no signal outside of the hotel there was no point taking it out for a walk, was there?’
Ben’s mouth turned into a flat line as he pressed his lips together. ‘So we’re trapped in here, are we?’ he asked, sounding as if she were the last person that he wanted to be with at that moment.
She nodded slowly. ‘Yup.’
She didn’t know what was worse. Being stuck in the boathouse alone or with Ben. Although one glance at his scowling face and she had the answer to that question. She would much rather have been stuck in there by herself!