Chapter Five
Stacy took the empty wine glasses back to the staff quarters, leaving Rico locking the door to his old home. It would be good to see the rest of the hotel. She joined him back in the lift, the trained nurse in her noticing the tense set of his shoulders. He was different. Oh, the long legs and skinny good looks were the same, but something inside him had changed since the summer. During her first visit here, he’d been preoccupied and down, not coping with the potential loss of everything his mother had worked for. The second visit he’d been even more down, desperate, almost, as losing the hotel loomed ever closer. Now, there was an air of excitement about him, but it was more like nervous energy than pleasurable anticipation – and there was still that shadow in his eyes. Was he regretting postponing his master’s degree, or maybe he was missing his friends at university – or a girlfriend in Berne? He’d said something in summer about having split up with his girlfriend, but anything could have happened since then. Emily’s voice popped into her head. ‘He’s nuts about you, Stacy.’ But that wasn’t right. Maybe in a parallel universe, things might have been different for them, but inside, she was still in turmoil over what had happened with David, and no way did she want a repeat of that episode. It had been more than an episode, actually, her love life had turned into something worthy of a long-running soap opera. The lift arrived on the ground floor, and Stacy stepped out into reception. She could relate to Rico missing his friends; she was, too. Roll on tomorrow’s aperitif when she’d meet more people.
Rico unlocked a door leading off the entrance hall. ‘Okay, this is where the major changes will be. We’re turning these rooms and the storage behind them into the main spa area. The large conference room will be the tub room, and we’ll partition the smaller one off to make booths for beauty treatment, massage, and a hairdresser. We’ve got people for the massage therapist and hairdresser jobs lined up already, but the beauty therapist is still a work in progress.’
Stacy followed him into the small conference room with its oval table and twenty-odd chairs. There was plenty of space to make three smaller rooms in here, but one problem was screaming at her already.
‘You’ll need pretty good soundproofing if you want the massage therapy here too. People want peace and soothing music when they’re being massaged, not hairdryers and people chatting right next door. Stud walls won’t cut it.’
Rico stood still. ‘Good point. The massage room should ideally be well away from everything noisy.’
Stacy went back into the reception area. The storeroom where she and Rico had looked for a wheelchair in summer was across the hall. She pointed at it. ‘Why not make that the massage room? Then we can have the storage room between the hairdresser and the beautician?’
He narrowed his eyes. ‘That’s an idea. You should definitely ask your boss for a pay rise. Come and see the large conference room.’
He led the way into a generously proportioned room, and Stacy walked around. This was a huge space; they’d have loads of room for tubs and so on, in here. ‘Sauna?’
‘In the cellar. I’ve got the project manager and the build people coming on Monday morning to discuss the final plans.’
Both conference rooms had wall-to-ceiling windows opening onto the garden, and Stacy imagined relaxing in a hot tub, then going to lie on a lounger outside. In summer, of course. ‘We’ll need a relaxation area inside as well as out,’ she said.
‘On the plans. Let’s go for dinner and discuss your role in all this.’
Autumn at Lakeside meant that eating on the terrace wasn’t an option, and Stacy followed Rico into the restaurant to a table overlooking the garden. Darkness was falling, and the stiff breeze whipping the bushes this way and that was another contrast to the warm, sunny evenings she’d enjoyed in the summer. And not a happy one. What was Emily doing tonight?
They ordered Schinkengipfeli – puff pastry shaped like a croissant and filled with ham – and a side salad, then Rico vanished upstairs and reappeared with the bottle of wine in a cooler. He poured them each a generous glass, and Stacy gave him a wry look. Being plied with wine at work was a first.
He raised his glass. ‘To Lakeside!’
They clinked, and Stacy sipped before putting her glass down. By the look of things, one aspect of her job might be to stop her boss falling into a bottle to drown whatever sorrows he was carrying about with him. His eyes were clouded as he gazed across the half-empty restaurant. Should she ask what was worrying him? Was it ‘only’ the hotel? The Weber family must be sinking a lot of money into such a huge project, so it had to succeed, but while Rico was clearly happy to be with her, he wasn’t telling her what going on in his head. But then, there was no reason why he should. He was the boss and she was the employee, and after the disaster with David, she certainly wasn’t looking for anything more right now.
***
Kim waved goodbye to her nail client and dived back into the dining room, tripping over one of the three hundred or so toy cars strewn over the hallway floor. A brief glimpse into the living room en route promised no better in there. A kids’ CD was playing at full volume upstairs, though Eli and Ben were fighting over something in the kitchen. In other words, the house was an absolute tip and Tobias would be home in – oh, no, here he was already. And since when had she started to feel so apprehensive about her husband coming home from work? This was all wrong.
She hurried out to meet him coming in, kicking cars to the side and closing the dining room door on the mass of nail equipment on the big table. Old-fashioned houses with separate rooms had their advantages.
‘Hello, Tobi, love! Good day?’ She raised her face for a kiss to the sound of a crash in the kitchen and the tinkle of breaking glass, followed by a wail from Ben.
Kim reached the boys first. They’d been playing at the table, but now the Lego bricks were swimming around in a sea of raspberry syrup, and Elijah was picking up shards of glass from the floor.
Kim ushered him away from the mess. ‘Leave that, Eli! I’ll do it. What happened?’ As if she couldn’t see perfectly well what had happened. She threw a cloth on the table and bent to lift the glass from the floor.
Tobias was checking Elijah’s hands for cuts. ‘You’re fine, Eli, but you were lucky. And what have you been told about using glasses? We have plenty of plastic beakers for you boys.’
Kim winced. She’d been a rubbish mother all over again, hadn’t she? Doing someone’s nails while her children were in a different room. She never worked when both boys were home, but this had been an emergency. Susi along the road had a job interview first thing tomorrow, and she had broken a nail.
‘It was my fault, Tobias. I was helping Susi, and I didn’t see him take it. I guess Eli was thirsty, weren’t you, love?’
Eli folded his arms, pouting. ‘I’m a big boy! Beakers are for babies. Marcel always has a glass.’
‘Beakers don’t break.’ Tobias finished mopping up the table. ‘What’s for dinner?’
‘Quiche. I’ll do it in a moment.’ Kim put the broken glass to one side to deal with later. ‘Ben, there’s no need to cry, sweetie, your bricks are fine.’
‘They’re all sticky!’
‘You can take them into the bath with you later, and wash them clean again. Put them in here for the moment.’
She handed him a plastic bowl. Fortunately, the notion of bricks in the bath charmed Ben, and peace was restored. Elijah helped sweep the bricks into the bowl, and both boys vanished upstairs with them.
Tobias came round the table and slid both arms around Kim. ‘I’ll have that kiss now! Stick the quiche in the oven, and I’ll set the table in the dining room. We’ll have to wash down this table and the floor, too, but let’s eat first. I’m starving.’
He was trotting down the hallway before Kim could open her mouth. Another argument was looming, wasn’t it?
Tobias was back in ten seconds, his mouth a thin slash. ‘Oh Kim, we agreed you wouldn’t work when the boys were here. You’d better deal with the dining table. I’ll make dinner.’
‘It was a one-off. I couldn’t say no, could I?’ Kim explained, and Tobias rolled his eyes.
‘Okay, but make sure it doesn’t happen again. Eli could have cut himself.’
Kim’s frustration exploded. Who did he think he was? ‘First of all, you know yourself no one can watch a child every single second. And secondly, I think you’re being a little too overbearing about this. I’m perfectly capable of deciding when I work.’
He looked away. ‘You need to decide where your priorities lie, then. The boys are more important.’
His lips were trembling. Kim went over and hugged him from behind. He’d had a fright. Eli was precious, and they were both still digesting what had happened at the beach last summer. ‘Of course they are. Accidents happen, Tobi, but no one was hurt. Let’s start the evening again, shall we?’
He nodded, and Kim trailed into the dining room to tidy up her nail kit. The two years until Ben started kindergarten and she could have a proper job had never seemed so endless.