4. Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Sheila
N o reply. Of course he hasn’t texted me back. He’ll be hoping that I’ll have calmed down by the time he’s back. And he knows I can’t stop him leaving the house, especially whilst I’m working full time. I scroll through my phone book and find Nicholas’ number. It rings only once before he answers.
“Hey, love, how are you?”
“Aside from Gregory battling me again, everything’s champion.” I drop onto the sofa.
“Gee is testing, I give you that. I messaged him earlier about them coming round next week, and he replied that he doesn’t want to come over because he has other priorities.”
“What are we going to do?” I sound defeated even to myself.
“What every parent does, keep nagging at him to make sure he doesn’t completely screw up his future with crazy teenage ideas and wait for him to grow out of it.” I know I can rely on Nico to be by my side when it comes to issues with the boys .
“You do realise that in a couple of years we’ll have two of them,” I groan.
“Nah, Kieran has a different personality. He’s always been the quieter one and I have a feeling he’ll be easier to handle.”
“I’ll hold you to it, Nico, otherwise I’ll send them both to live with you and Peter. How are you both? Sorry, maybe I should have started the call with that.”
“We’re good. Actually, the reason I want the boys over is because we want to tell them something. Sheila, we... , Peter and I are getting married.”
“Oh my god Nicholas, that’s fantastic. I’m so happy for you!” And I absolutely mean it. We’ve become good friends. I almost know him better than myself and Peter is perfect for him.
“Do you think the boys will react the same way?” I hear concern in his voice. Nicholas is always laid back and relaxed; to hear he’s anxious about this is completely out of character.
“Of course they will. They love Peter. Don’t worry. They’ll be happy for you, trust me.”
“I know, you’re right. I’m not sure why I’m so nervous about telling them. Anyhow, we were thinking of getting married at Greenview.”
“You’re talking to the right woman,” I chuckle. “I’m in meetings all day on Monday but why don’t you drop by when you bring the boys back?”
“Thanks, Sheila!”
“Of course! You and Peter are part of this family!”
The door falling into the lock wakes me up. I must have nodded off in front of the TV again. Nowadays, I can barely make it through a film before my eyes shut on their own accord. I glance at my phone and see that it is just before ten. Well, at least he stuck to his curfew.
“Gre...Gee!” I call out when I hear footsteps on the stairs. He’s not going to escape that easily.
“Hi, mum,” he calls back. The little twerp .
“Get in here.” I sit up and cross my arms, giving him my sternest look when he slouches into the room.
“What did we agree?” I ask.
“Mum, Kieran’s fine on his own. I’m not a bloody babysitter. I just went to the cinema, what’s the big deal?”
“The deal it that you promised me you’d stay at home and then didn’t do as you promised. How can I trust you when you are not sticking to your word, Gee?”
“Oh my god, it was one afternoon.”
“If I tell you to do something, I expect you to do it.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m the parent and you are the child. I’m not doing it to piss you off, Gee. I’m doing my best here and I need your support.”
“Fine.” I can tell he wants to say something more, but my son isn't stupid or cruel. Whatever teenage meanness is swirling through his head, he's got enough control not to voice it aloud.
“Your dad and Peter will pick you both up on Monday.” Might as well have that argument right now as well .
“But, muuuuum!” I have to hide my grin at his reaction. They want to be treated like adults but then react like toddlers.
“No discussion here, Gee. You will pause your so-very-busy personal life for a week and give your dad and Peter some of your time.”
“Fine,” he hisses and stomps off without another word. Well, that turned out better than I expected.
I give myself a few more minutes of mindless TV before I head to bed myself. Whilst I brush my teeth, my mind drifts to Josh. I really meant it when I said I don’t have time for a relationship. How could I possibly fit someone else into this chaos? Still, it would be nice to have some adult time once in a while. Maybe it doesn’t need to be a full-blown relationship? I’m pretty sure that my hoo-ha wouldn’t mind the feel of a real dick after so many years of just a vibrator. Can I be a one-night-stand woman?
I’m not sure, but if I were it would have to be someone like Josh, that’s for sure.
I’m just about to sign off the payroll when a message pops up on my phone.
Marisa
Need your help on reception. GIK woman.
GIK stands for 'The Guest is King'. It’s an old-fashioned notion where guests believe they have the God-given right to do as they please when staying in a hotel. While we pride ourselves on providing first-class service, it doesn’t mean we can or will accommodate every request.
Hotel guests can sometimes be real arseholes. Just yesterday, one guest shouted at reception, claiming he had paid for a room for twenty-four hours. It took Tommy to come down and explain to that twat that if he has the room for twenty-four hours, and so does the next guest, when exactly do we clean and address issues? He had no answer but still insisted on his entitlement to a full day. Tommy ended up booking him into a competitor's hotel, which is less busy and could accommodate his early check-in at 10 a.m. We even covered the price difference in the room rate, mainly to get him out of our hotel. Starting a stay like that usually signals a tough time ahead for everyone.
As I reach reception in the grand hall, I'm greeted by the shrill, high-pitched nasal voice of someone demanding, “I need you to guarantee there won’t be a fire alarm. Surely you can do that!”
“Hi, I’m Sheila, the General Manager, can I help you?” I smile at the woman. She looks to be in her early forties, glamorous and strangely familiar—I think she might have stayed here before.
When I address her she squints at me. Marisa is rolling her eyes behind her, signalling to me this is a guest to be wary of.
“Where’s Tommy? I said I want to speak to the person in charge,” she sneers at me. I try to keep my customer service smile on my face.
“I’m the General Manager, Miss Lloyd,” I spotted her name on the guest registration form in front of her. I wonder if she’s one of Tommy’s groupies. Tommy is a good-looking man and some guests and staff have always fancied the pants off him. Not that he ever looked at any of them in any other way than professionally. Well aside from Ella, his new wife.
“Last time I stayed here the fire alarm went off. Can you guarantee me that it won’t happen again?”
I’m stunned for a minute before I find my voice. “I’m sorry, no. The fire alarm is there to keep you safe and if there is a reason for it to go off then we need it to.”
“But it was a false alarm.”
“It was probably set off by a guest smoking, and in that case the alarm was doing what it was supposed to do.” I try to stay calm and hope she’ll be satisfied with that.
“Well that’s not good enough. I don’t want to be disturbed by the fire alarm.” She doubles down and glares at me.
“Well Miss Lloyd I can’t guarantee that.” What more can I say?
“But—” she stops talking and stares behind me. I turn and spot Tommy strolling through the lobby, Nicky cradled against his shoulder. Her big, baby eyes take in everything while he talks to her and gently rubs her back. When he notices us, he turns Nicky around and uses her tiny fist to wave at me. I wave back, and he grins before heading towards the kitchen. His latest routine is taking Nicky on his rounds around the hotel. Since becoming a new dad, he's mellowed considerably. He still expects the hotel to run smoothly and with excellence, but he's also proud to show off his baby and his softer side. The staff adore Nicky; she's going to be a pampered little princess as she grows up.
“Is that Tommy’s baby?” Miss Lloyd asks with disappointment in her voice. Yup definitely one of his groupies .
“Is there anything else I can help you with?” I ask without answering her question. I will not discuss anyone’s personal life, let alone Tommy’s, with a guest and I’m pretty sure it was a rhetorical question anyway.
“No,” she mumbles before grabbing the key card from the counter and stalking off towards the lift.
“Sometimes I think this job could be glorious if it weren’t for the guests,” Marisa whispers to me. But we both know the majority of guests are absolutely fine and every so often you have special guests that make it all worthwhile. “Wonder if she’d be so opposed to the fire alarm if she saw the firefighters,” Marisa winks at me whilst tidying away the guest registration form. “Especially your Josh.”
“He’s not my anything,” I whisper back.
“Stop fighting it Sheila, and snap him up before someone else does.” Her words do make me feel a twinge of jealousy, even though I know I have no right to be.
“I—” Before I can reply, the phone on the desk rings. Marisa picks it up, giving me the perfect chance to slip away unnoticed.
“Sheila,” Marisa calls after me and holds out the receiver. “It’s about your son.” Those are the words every mother dreads.
“Hello?” I hold the receiver tightly to my ear.
“Sheila hi, this is Nora from the Scouts.” Kieran is on his emergency service day today and her call can’t mean anything good.
“Is everything okay?”
“Yes, no, well, Kieran fell down the fire pole and we think he may have broken his leg. The team here have given him first aid but he needs to go to hospital,” Nora explains, sounding flustered. “I can’t leave the kids.”
“Oh. I’ll be there in 10 minutes,” I assure her, already moving to end the call.
“Everything okay?” Marisa asks.
“Kieran broke his leg at Scouts. Can you please ask Tommy to cover for me? I have one meeting this afternoon but if he’s not free to step in we can reschedule,” I reply hastily. I need to calm down. It’s just a suspected broken leg, it could be worse.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get Tommy to take the meeting. You focus on Kieran. Go, go!” she calls after me as I head towards the stairs to get my bag from the office. This is so not what I needed today.