Chapter 14
NOW
‘Come in.’ Claudine’s voice sounded clipped and efficient.
Bella pushed open the door, fixing on a smile. ‘Hello again,’ she said in careful French.
‘Yes, hello, Isabella.’
Claudine smiled and gestured to a chair in front of the desk on which Bella perched, first nervously and then, remembering, in a manner she hoped looked confident and together.
She reminded herself that she already had the job – she wanted to impress Claudine, but she wasn’t on trial here. Hopefully.
‘It is good to meet you properly in person,’ Claudine said, arching an eyebrow. ‘I’m sorry our call was brief the other day, but given your experience, you will understand that things are very busy in the industry.’
Bella nodded politely, thinking of the B the standard room, which was almost identical except for the bed being a little smaller and the bath being replaced by a shower in the en suite.
Then the basic room which was decked out with a twin or double bed and small en suite.
All rooms were painted in a light, inoffensive cream colour and had prints of Paris on the walls.
It struck Bella that if she’d been a tourist visiting the hotel for the first time, she might have been disappointed.
The outside was all Parisian – faded grandeur and carved stone detail.
But inside, the hotel, while clean and bright, felt generic.
More like a hotel from a chain than something individual.
She didn’t know a lot about Hotel Club, but she’d heard of the group and had the impression that the hotels it offered tended to be quirky, original. No wonder Claudine wanted someone on board to add to the offering before the decision was made.
They were just exiting the final room – a standard, but with a view of the street outside – when Yves grabbed her arm and almost pulled her into the wall.
‘Wha—’ she began, but he put a finger to his lips.
‘Shhh,’ he hissed. ‘Wait.’
He stood with his back to the wall, slightly concealed by a brick pillar as a door halfway down the corridor opened fully.
A small woman dressed in a tartan suit complete with hat came out, holding a string of some sort.
No, not a string. A lead. She pulled it to reveal a small white dog, the type that looks as if it is permanently scowling, an impression unmitigated by the fact it was sporting a pink bow.
The woman looked up the corridor, almost directly at their location, and Bella watched, confused, as Yves appeared to try to shrink farther into the wall. Then, thankfully, the woman turned and walked towards the lift, disappearing from view.
‘What was all that about?’ Bella asked, dusting her jacket where she’d leant against the paintwork.
‘That,’ Yves said, his face looking rather pale, ‘is Madame Roux.’ He nodded at Bella meaningfully as if she ought to know exactly the significance of the name.
‘Who?’
He looked surprised. ‘Claudine didn’t mention her?
Ah, OK. Well,’ he leant forward as if imparting a state secret, ‘Madame Roux used to be a friend of Claudine’s mother when she was young.
She fell on hard times a few years back and Claudine offered her a room at the hotel to live in while she sorted herself out.
Only Madame Roux misunderstood the length of the offer and now it appears she lives here.
Claudine is unable to ask her to leave – or perhaps she doesn’t have the heart. ’
‘Oh. Wow.’
‘Oui. She is usually harmless, don’t worry. But cross her at your peril,’ he warned.
‘And dogs are allowed in the hotel?’
He shook his head vehemently. ‘Non. Only Coco, Madame Roux’s dog. Claudine doesn’t speak of this. I think she is lost to know what to do.’
‘Right.’
‘It is imperative,’ he hissed, ‘that nobody at Hotel Club finds out about Madame Roux, you understand?’
‘Of course.’
Yves, having imparted his secret, seemed to relax. ‘Anyway,’ he continued, walking normally now. ‘You will find the restaurant and breakfast room on the ground floor. And the rest I think you now know. Do you have any questions?’
Back in her office, Bella started by typing in ‘Hotel Club’ into her laptop, and looking at the various premises.
Then, getting up and closing the door, she searched ‘presentations’ and ‘Hotel Club accreditation’ and looked at the ‘About Us’ sections of hotels who’d already made the grade.
The hotels accepted for accreditation were beautiful; and although H?tel Benjamin was a nice place, she could see that in some ways they were worlds apart.
But at least that meant she had some idea of what to do.
And she felt a fizz of excitement in her chest – the kind of feeling she’d left behind years ago in Maths class when she’d solved an equation that had proven tricky, or when she’d won first place in the egg and spoon race on sports day. It was unexpected, but welcome.
By the end of the day, she was walking taller. Because although she was still in deep water, uncharted territory, she was managing at least to stay afloat.
And when she popped into the bathroom to wash her hands before going home, she noticed that there was another new ‘her’ in the mirror. This woman looked older, more confident. She’d tucked her hair behind her ears while working, and even stuck a pen into one of her waves.
Bella looked to all intents and purposes like a woman who had indeed run a chain of hotels, who was more than capable of taking on a large project at her new workplace.
The kind of woman who had an assistant, an impressive CV, her own office and a bank account that was destined to have quadruple or quintuple figures in it in the weeks going forward.
She was Isabella – business executive extraordinaire. And it felt good.