Chapter 25
25
The spa night, High Tides Hotel, St Aidan
Clam shells and falling pennies
Tuesday
‘O kay, one more shot to show me you’re all having a splashing time!’
Clemmie’s skirting around the hot tub with Arnie still asleep in his sling. She finally steps back, skims through the pictures on her phone and nods. ‘Great, that’s a wrap!’
There’s a clatter as Nell puts her plate down on the side table and struggles to her feet. ‘Excuse me, but I’m not even in any of them yet. I might as well dip my toe in, now I’ve finished my salad.’
Plum laughs. ‘“My salad” are two words we never thought we’d hear you say together, Nell.’
‘If they had pork sandwiches with crackling they might have more guests,’ Nell jokes.
I smile. ‘If they ask for feedback that’s one for the suggestions box.’
Clemmie’s watching as Nell goes up a step at a time. ‘Do you need a hand there?’
Nell shakes her head. ‘No, but I’m so wide, you might want to switch the camera to panoramic.’
Sophie looks up at Nell. ‘Sit on the top step and dangle your feet in.’ She frowns as Nell hesitates. ‘Everything okay up there?’
Nell’s paused, standing still with her legs apart, leaning slightly forward. ‘Stuff me! I might have accidentally peed!’ She’s staring down at her legs in bafflement. ‘There’s definitely something, it’s still coming out, I can feel it!’
Nell’s shaking her head as she drops back down to the ground. ‘I know I’m broadminded because I grew up on a farm, but peeing on the High Tides pool deck? Some of it went in the water too! I don’t think I’ll ever live this down.’
Clemmie’s still holding her phone. ‘I’ll just grab a couple more photos, then you might all want to come out onto dry land.’
Sophie climbs out of the hot tub and puts her arm around Nell’s shoulder. ‘Don’t worry, Nelly-melon, I don’t think it’s wee, I think your waters may have broken.’
Nell’s shaking her head. ‘Why didn’t they warn us about this at antenatal class?’
Sophie smiles. ‘The good news is, once this happens, the baby won’t be too far behind.’ She takes in Nell’s wide eyes. ‘If you haven’t got any pain yet, it’ll probably be tomorrow rather than today.’
Plum stops at the top of the hot tub steps and waves towards the bay. ‘Perfect timing! Kit and Rye are just arriving now.’ Her shout is so loud they can’t possibly miss it. ‘G-u-ys! Come and join us!’
Back down on the ground, I’m handing out towels and passing round the robes. I’ve got as far as throwing a wrap around my shoulders when Kit and Rye bounce up the hill, hop over the last box hedge and come striding onto the terrace.
Kit gives me a grin. ‘You don’t mind us crashing the party?’
Unlike Plum, I’d rather not be caught with my nipples on show in a soaking wet swimsuit, with my hair in rat’s tails, but I’m not going to say that. ‘It’s as much your party as ours.’
Rye hitches up his surf trousers. ‘We’d have been here to see you earlier, but I was called away to the fire station.’
In my head I’m reliving the flames, roaring towards the beach hut. ‘Nothing serious, I hope?’
Rye laughs. ‘St Aidan’s usual. A cat trapped in a bedroom with a broken door handle, obligatory tea and cake afterwards.’
Plum leaps down the steps and lands next to Rye. ‘We were very well looked after by the staff on reception.’ Her hands are on her hips, and she’s in no hurry to cover up her goosebumps.
I shoot Mum a look. ‘David Byron was very attentive too – wasn’t he, Mum?’ I stop short of saying the phrase hitting on guests , because even though that’s technically what he did, I don’t want to wreck the evening.
Rye smiles. ‘I’m pleased you all felt the warmth of a High Tides welcome.’
Sophie jumps forwards and slides a robe around Plum’s shoulders. ‘Here, put this on before you freeze!’
Plum shrugs. ‘I’m really not cold.’ But she relents, ties the belt tight around her waist, and puts her hand on Rye’s arm.
Sophie smiles. ‘The good news is that thanks to your chef’s salad, the baby should soon be on the way.’
Clemmie lowers her voice to the guys. ‘Her waters broke. You’ll have to do a clean-up operation, I’m afraid.’
Rye is nodding. ‘No worries, dealing with the unexpected is what we’re good at.’
Clemmie whispers in my ear, ‘He must deal with crises like mole hills on the lawn all the time.’
Plum gives a shudder. ‘That vinegar dressing was strong enough to strip paint!’
Rye looks concerned. ‘We haven’t had any complaints before.’
Milla laughs. ‘Why would you if you’re outside?’
Nell’s voice pipes up from the lounge chair where she’s reclining. ‘I’ll just luxuriate here for a few more minutes if that’s okay with you?’
Rye smiles. ‘Don’t stay there too long. We’d rather not risk what happened when Clemmie had Arnie.’
Plum gives him a nudge. ‘The fire brigade is already here this time.’
Kit laughs. ‘I can see the headlines now! High Tides manager delivers baby beside hotel hot tub! might not be the publicity you’re looking for.’
Plum frowns. ‘The manager isn’t here though. Reception said he’d been called away.’
Kit nods. ‘Yes, called away – to the fire station .’
Plum blinks. ‘So the manager is a part-time fireman too? How fabulous is that?’
‘Well, yes – but no.’ The lines on Kit’s forehead deepen. ‘There aren’t two people, there’s just Rye. Rye is the manager here. How do you not know this? ’
I’m trying to get my head around this. ‘But surely Rye is the dog warden…’
Milla joins in. ‘Who doubles as a gardener…’
Sophie’s not one to be left out. ‘And gives out the parking tickets?’
Rye’s biting back his smile. ‘It’s true, I do all of those, but I also run the place.’
‘Well, blow me down, who’d have thought!’ Nell explodes.
There are a few seconds of silence as we all readjust, then Milla exclaims, ‘So you weren’t making out with a manual worker after all, Plum. He’s management!’
Sophie pulls a face. ‘Muscles like that, anyone could be fooled.’
Plum shouts. ‘For the last time, we weren’t making out!’
Then Kit clears his throat. ‘If you didn’t get that Rye is manager, there’s something else you might have missed.’
Plum rolls her eyes. ‘Don’t tell us – he’s been abducted by aliens and brought back to earth?’
‘Not quite.’ Kit laughs. ‘David Byron is Rye’s dad.’
The rest of us are picking our jaws up off the floor as we take in what feels like a huge information dump, but Plum’s straight on this. ‘So how does that one work, Rye Radley ?’
Rye rubs his chin. ‘Radley is my stepfather’s name; he brought me up. I only got to know my real dad in my twenties.’
I’m not sure why this is unnerving, but as I look around at Mum and Plum, it feels like everything suddenly got a whole lot more complicated.
Rye isn’t just a random employee – as boss of the place his father owns, he couldn’t be any more involved. And as Rye’s lifelong friend, Kit is up to his neck in it too.
I turn to Kit. ‘So is that everything? Or are there other surprises?’
He shrugs. ‘No, that’s it – for now.’
Except it isn’t, because this changes everything.
Rye smiles. ‘I can only apologise. If I’d been behind the desk in my work suit when you arrived, you’d have realised sooner.’ He picks up an ice bucket. ‘Let me get more fizz to make up for the misunderstanding.’
By the time he comes back we’ve had time to reset, and once he starts popping corks and filling the glasses, he’s such a natural we can’t understand how we didn’t get it earlier. But the slicker Rye looks, the more doubts I’m having, and I know I need to get this straight in my mind.
I take a swig of my Fizzero to build my courage and look at Kit. ‘In which case I assume your relocation to St Aidan wasn’t entirely by chance either?’
Kit stares down at the bubbles in his glass before he looks up to answer. ‘Rye wanted to make his dad’s place a success. The deal they offered me on Latitudes was so generous it knocked all the other places I was considering out of the running.’
‘You got a friends and family discount?’
Rye laughs. ‘Given that it meant having a good friend like Kit around, the terms were bound to be preferential.’
Whatever I said to the gang earlier, it’s obvious Kit is so much more involved than I imagined. Under these circumstances I can’t possibly work for him.
‘Before we go on, we have a surprise for you too,’ Nell says.
I can’t think what she’s going to say. Something about the baby’s name?
She lets out a laugh. ‘Flossie’s made up her mind, Kit. She’s going to take your job!’
There are whoops and squeals. It’s only when I hear Rye calling, ‘Let’s drink to that! Welcome to the High Tides team, Floss!’ that the full impact of what just happened sinks in.
It feels like there’s no backing out. I’m on the inside, not the outside. And the game has changed. I just hope I can handle what’s coming.