Chapter 29
NOW
Somehow, she’d made it to the train, but she was still filled with indignant adrenaline, her hands shaking.
So she’d left him alone for what – an hour? – in the club and he’d managed to pull someone else. And he’d had the audacity to bring her home. Bella’s horror at what she’d seen had given way to sadness, but even that had very soon been jostled aside by anger.
‘Good night?’ she texted him pointedly, then slipped her phone back into her bag.
She stepped off the train into the May sunshine, feeling the warm rays caress her skin; she loved this time of year when the spring weather brought with it the possibility of summer. But today it was as if the sun was mocking her. Far too upbeat and jaunty for her liking.
Reaching H?tel Benjamin, she pushed open the glass door and said a cheery hello to Mélodie, before pressing the button for the lift.
As she waited, she felt a sudden presence at her side and glancing over, realised that Madame Roux was standing beside her, Coco waiting patiently on a lead at her feet.
The old woman had excelled herself today – was dressed in a buttercup-yellow suit, with matching shoes. No hat, but her hair was tied up in a yellow scarf. The only thing about her that wasn’t all sunshine and happiness was her face, which remained pinched; her eyes darting and sharp.
‘Bonjour, Madame Roux,’ Bella said, trying to smile.
Madame Roux nodded and as the lift doors opened, stepped in first, leaving Bella to slip through the doors before they closed, with no offer of holding them open.
A silence descended over them as the lift doors whirred. But next to her, Bella felt Madame Roux turn, sensed that she was being looked at with sharp eyes. ‘Better,’ Madame Roux said at last.
‘Sorry, what?’
‘Better.’ Madame Roux nodded sharply in the direction of Bella’s blouse. ‘The colour. It brings out your eyes.’
‘Oh! Thank you. Actually, it’s been in my wardrobe for a few weeks, but I haven’t felt brave enough to wear it!’
Madame Roux snorted. ‘But you were brave enough to leave the house looking like a rag doll?’ she asked. ‘I do not understand this. What about looking good requires one to be brave?’
She had a point, Bella supposed. Although she wasn’t too flattered by the rag doll analogy.
‘I’m not sure,’ she said, at last. ‘I suppose I just don’t like attention.’
This also seemed to confuse Madame Roux. ‘You are in the prime of life!’ she said. ‘If you do not make the most of yourself now, then when? When you are old like me? No. You must express yourself however you want.’
‘Thank you.’
The old woman nodded almost curtly, as if to signal the end of the conversation.
On the second floor, the doors slid open and Madame Roux hobbled out, Coco at her heels. They began to whirr back into place, but suddenly the old woman put out a foot adorned in bright yellow leather and stopped them.
‘You know,’ she said, looking at Bella with interest, ‘not many people listen to me. Not since I—’ she shrugged, unable to put what she meant into words. ‘But you did!’
‘Yes,’ said Bella, too embarrassed to admit the blouse was more a result of spilled coffee and late laundry.
‘I wasn’t always old, invisible. Did you know that when I was young, I used to work for Gaultier?’
‘Jean-Paul Gaultier?’ Bella said, impressed.
‘Do you know any other Gaultiers?’
‘Well, no. Wow. That’s amazing.’
‘Yes, perhaps. My point is that I know one or two things about fashion. And colour. And hotels, for that matter.’
‘Oh, yes. Of course.’
‘In my heyday, I would travel often to shows. And I have stayed in many, many hotels. Some were terrible, but others were fabulous. And I learned to recognise the difference.’
‘Right.’ Bella nodded.
Madame Roux looked amused. ‘And you do not want to know what I think of the hotel?’
‘Oh. Well, yes. I do. Please.’ Bella said, flustered.
‘It is plain,’ the old woman said, spitting out the word as if it were the worst possible insult.
‘Oh.’
Madame Roux raised an eyebrow. ‘It is not just people who need to be well dressed,’ she said, letting the door slide shut.
When they slid open again Bella was on the fourth floor. She walked to her office, bemused, Yves at her side. ‘You look different today,’ he said.
‘Thank you.’
‘New hair?’
‘Something like that.’
Bella couldn’t get her mind off Madame Roux’s words. Was the hotel plain? Was plain bad? She knew from her own experience that she liked neat, clean hotel rooms when she stayed away. Nothing dust-gathering or historical or overly ornate.
But what were the people going to Hotel Club hotels looking for? Something bijou or quirky or individual. Something with that little bit extra.
It was silly. How could a conversation about a blouse unnerve her? Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right.
This wasn’t helped when, the moment she reached her office, Claudine appeared looking pinched and pale.
‘Hi, Claudine, everything all right?’ she asked.
‘Let’s sit,’ her boss said. She perched on the chair in the corner, so Bella walked around the desk and sat in her usual chair.
‘So, are you satisfied with the preparations?’ Claudine asked her, head askance.
‘Yes. Oh, definitely,’ Bella said, trying to keep her voice upbeat.
‘Let’s see. We have the brochures ready, caterers booked.
I’ve kept the Superior rooms free for the two delegates.
Fresh flowers in all of the rooms, and a huge display for reception.
Oh, and I’m working on the welcome trays, but I think you’ll be pleased. ’
Claudine nodded. ‘That’s good. Only I spoke to my friend – she’s in the industry; her hotel has the status – and she asked me what our theme was. The USP that Hotel Club will be looking for. And I realized you hadn’t yet discussed this with me.’
‘Oh.’
‘You have a theme, of course?’
‘I…’ Bella felt something inside her flip over. ‘Of course! I’m— I’m just working on a few… uh, extra touches. Shall we, um, schedule a meeting to go through the more detailed plans?’
‘Excellent, excellent,’ Claudine said, clapping her hands. ‘I knew you would have it all under control.’
Moments later, she left, and Bella finally let her face fall.
She was tempted to get up, race after Claudine and tell her the truth.
That she simply wasn’t up to the job. She hadn’t even thought to build in a theme, and Claudine’s confidence in her had meant she hadn’t questioned any of the progress so far.
And now, she had no idea how to proceed.
She should tell her, then leave. Walk away.
But if she did leave, what would Claudine do with just a month to go? There was no way she’d be able to engage someone else and get them up to speed. No. Bella would have to find a way to make things work, put together some ideas for tomorrow, ones that could be actioned in a tight time frame.
She put her head on her desk and groaned.
Because she suddenly knew why she’d been feeling so uneasy.
At first, her entire goal had been to keep up the pretence, to be ‘Isabella’, the highly qualified manager whom Claudine thought she’d employed.
And she’d felt all the while that if things went wrong, she could just cut and run.
But things had changed. In the almost two months she’d been there, Claudine had become a friend. The people here – she’d begun to care about them. And she realised, suddenly, the enormity of the task that lay ahead. And how much it mattered.