Chapter 14 #2
is since you came. I’ve been plotting how I can persuade you to stay forever.” She pushed aside thoughts of the two interviews
she’d had.
Abby opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say a word Donna crashed back into the room carrying a loaded tray.
“I explained our problem to Luscious Luca,” she said, winking at Evie, “and he put together what he calls the perfect hangover
breakfast. He was muttering something about hydration and nutrients. So here’s the result.”
“Thanks, Donna.” Evie ignored the luscious Luca reference.
Donna put the tray on Evie’s meeting table. “Sourdough toast, poached egg and avocado, black coffee and freshly squeezed orange
juice. Also water and painkillers.”
Abby took the painkillers with the water but ignored everything else.
Evie was impatient to hear whatever it was that Abby wanted to tell her, but she obviously wasn’t going to say it with Donna
in the room.
“That’s great, Donna. I know you have a lot of guests checking in today, so I won’t keep you any longer.”
Fortunately, Donna took the hint for once and left the room, closing the door behind her.
“Right. Time to talk.” Evie joined Abby at the table and helped herself to coffee. “Donna’s probably right. You should eat
something.”
“I couldn’t eat a thing.”
“It might settle your stomach. At least nibble a piece of toast.” She sliced off the corner and put it on a plate for Abby.
She held it out. “Here. You should—”
“I’m not who you think I am.” Abby blurted out the words and Evie stared at her, the plate still in her hand.
“What?”
“I’m—” Abby closed her eyes briefly. “I’m not some random summer employee. I’m a member of the senior management team. I’m
based in head office in Boston, although I do spend a lot of time on the road and in hotels and it’s true that I’ve worked
in almost every role during my time. I’m not only here as an extra pair of hands for the summer. I’m in charge of special
projects. I was sent here to help out for the summer, that’s true, but also to give the board a full and honest picture of
how the hotel is functioning.”
Evie put the plate down. Slowly she picked through what Abby had just told her. “I don’t understand. What do you mean ‘a full
and honest picture’?”
“The hotel is not performing as well as it should, but you already know that.”
“Yes, I do. I’ve been worried that—”
“And you were right to worry.”
Evie felt as if the ground had shifted beneath her feet. Panic gripped her with icy fingers. “What are you saying? Are they
going to sell us? Are we all going to lose our jobs?”
“No! I—” Abby rubbed her hand over her face again. “Honestly? I don’t know what she’s planning.”
“She?”
“Alexandra Strong.” Abby swallowed. “My mother.”
“Your mother?” Evie stared at her. She knew who Alexandra Strong was, of course. The woman was a legend. She’d started the company from
nothing and now she ran a thriving hotel group (although The Alexandra, Cornwall wasn’t so much thriving as barely surviving).
But she’d never met her, of course. To Evie and the rest of the staff, she was nothing more than the person behind the name
of the hotel. And talking of names . . . “But you’re not Strong. You’re Jones. Abby Jones. Did you use a fake name?”
“No. My mother changed her name to Strong when we moved to Boston. It was important to her. A statement. I think it was all
part of leaving her past behind, but it’s not something she talks about in any depth. She wanted me to keep her mother’s name,
as a tribute. My grandmother. She was Madeleine Jones. I’m Madeleine Abigail Jones. Known as Abby. As well as being a reminder
of her mother, her goal was always for me to work in the company and she thought it would be easier for me to be accepted
if I wasn’t immediately recognised as her daughter. So at work I’m Abby Jones. Sometimes I use—”
“Stop. Enough. It doesn’t matter.” Her heart thumping, Evie cut her off. “I don’t care what you call yourself. The only thing
that matters is the reason you’re here. And it seems you’re here to spy on us.” She couldn’t sit for another moment. Stressed
and shaken, she sprang from her chair and walked across her office to the window, trying to hold it together. Trying to figure
out the implications of what she’d just learned. Tristan had warned her, hadn’t he? He’d said that she was too trusting, and
he’d been right.
Tears of fury and misery stung the back of her eyes.
She felt stupid.
Panic rippled again. What exactly had she said? What had she told her?
So much.
Too much.
“Evie.” Abby’s voice was quiet. “I know you’re upset and I don’t blame you.”
“Why didn’t you tell me the truth?” Evie turned to face her. “I don’t understand how you could do such a thing. We ran together.
You sat in my garden and we talked. And you never once even hinted—” She swallowed. “Why?”
“The theory was that if I was under-cover I would be able to do a more accurate assessment of the situation. If the team had
known I was from head office, they wouldn’t have been so open.”
“And you were okay with that?”
“No, I wasn’t.” Abby looked so wan and miserable that Evie almost felt sorry for her.
“So why not tell her that?”
“Because my mother is persuasive, and I spend my life trying to please her. And despite my aversion to the idea of not revealing
who I was, I could see the logic of what she was saying.”
It was too much to take in. Evie couldn’t believe anyone would do such a thing.
“I let you into my life.” Overwhelmed by the enormity of it, she took a breath. “I invited you to my home. Introduced you
to the people in the village. I told you things.”
Abby held her gaze without flinching. “Yes.”
“Anything you say is just between us—that’s what you said to me.”
“I know. I didn’t expect you to reveal so much of a personal nature—”
“That’s who I am. I did that because I liked you! And I trusted you. And that probably makes me a terrible judge of character. You lied, Abby.”
“I didn’t exactly—” Abby stopped and her shoulders sagged. “You’re right, I did lie. I don’t blame you for being angry. But
you should know that I really did believe that everything I was doing would lead to a better outcome.”
“A better outcome? You mean for the company.”
“I mean for the company and the employees. For you. Would you have told me the truth about how things were if you’d known
I was from head office?”
“Yes! I have been trying to talk to someone from head office for a while. I told you I emailed and I had no response.”
“That’s right. But when you didn’t get a response, did you go higher up the chain? Did you try again with someone more senior?”
Evie frowned. “No, but—” She paused, forced to admit the truth. “I didn’t want to get anyone into trouble. And also it felt
safer to keep my head down and not draw attention. I had this vague hope people might not have noticed our numbers.”
“They noticed. There was an offer from a developer—”
“Mr Weasel.” Evie felt a rush of anger. “I knew it.”
“Yes, I suspect it was your Mr Weasel. But his offer was rejected.”
“Did anyone tell him that? Because he was spotted having tea in the gardens a couple of days ago.” She saw Abby nod.
“I know. And I told my mother that.”
“And what did she say?”
Abby turned scarlet. “I don’t know. We haven’t had a conversation. I left her a message last night.”
“After you’d had three glasses of wine?”
“Yes. But the fact that I’d drunk a little too much didn’t make the content of the message any less pertinent. I don’t know
why that man keeps showing up.”
“Maybe he happens to love our afternoon tea, but somehow I doubt it. So if he increases his offer will your mother sell the place?”
“No.” Abby’s answer was immediate. “She was adamant that she wouldn’t sell and she doesn’t change her mind about things. But
there is something strange about this whole situation. Something specific to this hotel and I don’t know what it is—it all
started here, of course, but my mother isn’t the sentimental type so I’m not sure what’s going on in her head.”
“Why don’t you ask her?” Evie snapped out the words and then regretted it. “Look, I don’t mean to be rude, and obviously I’m
far too trusting, but I’m not a pushover. To you this is another of your hotels. An ‘asset’, is that what you’d call it? But
to me, and all the people who work here, it’s like home. And yes, sometimes the staff can be frustrating, especially when
they insist on doing things the way they’ve always been done, but they’re loyal and great and decent people. I love them.
I will fight to the end for them.”
But maybe this was the end, she thought. Maybe this was it.
And what could she do about it really? She had no power at all. No say in anything.
Maybe they’d be better off without her. She knew they had a big problem, but she hadn’t been able to turn it around. Maybe
someone else would have more success. Someone more experienced. Someone the staff took seriously.
She thought about the job application she had sent off.
It would feel as if she was abandoning the sinking ship. But what if she was the one driving the ship onto the rocks?
“You’re a good manager, Evie. The staff are lucky to have you.”
Evie straightened her shoulders. “No, I’m not a good manager.
No one takes me seriously around here because they’ve known me since I learned to tie my own shoelaces.
People do things the way they’ve always done things, and I can’t get them to change.
I don’t have the authority to change anything because I’m just covering while Gerald is ill.
” And no doubt Abby had already briefed her mother on Evie’s inadequacies.
“That’s one of many things that need to be resolved,” Abby said. “You are a good manager. And you need to be given the tools to do the job.”
“Or maybe you need to appoint an experienced general manager to cover until the situation with Gerald is resolved. I’ll step