Chapter 6
T he day of the auditions arrived – and Clem had barely slept last night.
She was running on less than four hours of sleep and a strong coffee her mum had made her this morning, which probably hadn’t helped with the jittery nerves.
Luckily, Sylvie had offered to drive, and they’d just stepped out of the car and into the early morning sunshine.
It hadn’t taken too long to get here – Whisked Away were hosting interviews and auditions not far outside of Windermere, at the Jade Hotel.
Clem was clutching her squeezy cat again – it was a ‘stress toy’ she’d picked up years ago because it looked like Misha.
It was a stripy cat with a round belly and a pink mouth, lying on its back as if sunbathing.
She squished it between her fingers and it made an airy, puffy sound.
If anyone asked, she’d say it was a lucky charm.
‘This place is . . . amazing,’ said Clem, taking in their surroundings. She couldn’t believe she would be auditioning at such a grand place – part of her wanted to turn around and flee as all the doubts she’d had about the application pushed their way to the surface.
The hotel was set on sprawling green fields, meticulously and carefully cut, not a blade of grass out of place, gorgeous yellow flowers springing up everywhere. Tidy brick pathways snaked up a slight incline, alongside a weaving water feature and faux stream, dotted with trees and shrubs.
The hotel itself looked like a cross between a mansion and a cottage to Clem – clearly too big and luxurious to be a quaint cottage, despite the charming brickwork exterior.
A scattering of side buildings filled the grass, extending out.
Huge, modern windows sprawled across the front of the main building, showing off a waiting area filled with plush cream and red seats, and a restaurant with a gleaming bar off to the right.
Every surface inside shone and gleamed like glass, from the mahogany bar and beer taps to the cutlery adorning each table.
Everything was accented in smooth, rounded gold.
‘I bet it costs a fortune to spend the night here,’ Clem said.
‘It’s definitely no teensy bed-and-breakfast,’ Sylvie agreed. ‘I heard it’s popular for weddings.’
Clem couldn’t believe she was here. She’d never been anywhere so exquisite, and she swiped one of her clammy palms on her dress.
They set off up the path, the water feature and smooth faux river rushing pleasantly beside them.
Clem was partly paranoid she’d stumble and break something along the way – there were delicate lights wedged amongst the shrubbery, unlit in the daylight, like glass marbles.
She clutched her squashy cat again tightly, and it made another sound like a puff of air being exhaled.
A furious barking sound came from behind her. And was that a man shouting something? She could barely make out the words over the water, and turned.
Before she could fully process what she was seeing, a blur of yellow bounced into her field of view, bright and shiny in the daylight.
A huge, furry animal hopped up and down around her legs. Clem cried out, unsteady on her feet, doing her best not to cartwheel sideways. She just about avoided tripping and falling straight into the water next to her.
It was a dog, she realised, and flinched away from the animal on instinct.
She wasn’t afraid of dogs, but having a big, excitable creature bounding around her ankles near water was enough to make her tense up. Probably not the best idea to stick close to the dog, unless she wanted to begin the contest as soggy as an overly moist truffle.
She tried to move away a few paces, back up the path, but the dog only followed her, springing up and down. It let out an excitable yip, trying to snuffle around her clothes, its pink tongue rolling around.
Her heart leaped into her throat – what if she fell and broke her wrist and couldn’t audition? The dog wouldn’t stop bouncing.
‘ Reina! Stop it!’
A man was hurrying towards them, out of breath, and he grabbed Reina – a huge, wheat-yellow golden retriever with a wild, bushy tail swinging from side to side. Bent double and catching his breath, the man clipped a lead onto the dog’s red collar.
‘ Sit! ’ the man ordered.
Clem relaxed and smiled at the dog’s happily lolling tongue.
Reina obeyed, plonking her bottom onto the brick path, dipping her head slightly as if embarrassed for being told off, and attempting to lick his wrist. Her big brown eyes remained cheeky and joyful, gleaming slightly.
They were fixed on Clem’s squashy cat toy.
‘I’m sorry, I swear she doesn’t listen to me.’ The man was still doubled over, clutching at a stitch in his side now and giving Reina a quick ruffle on the top of her head, making her ears wiggle and her tail beat hard from side to side.
But Clem was laughing, mainly out of relief. ‘Oh, it’s okay, she’s beautiful. I’m just more of a cat person.’ She shot Sylvie an amused look, and she smiled back knowingly.
The man straightened, and Clem’s eyes widened.
Messy dark hair and equally dark lashes, green eyes framed by heavy brows.
She remembered him, and her heart leaped as if it, too, were hoping to take a tumble into the water feature.
Warmth crawled up her spine and her neck.
Maybe some cold water wouldn’t be so bad right now, actually.
‘You—’ she began, and stopped suddenly. Maybe he didn’t remember her? Would it be weird to him, that she remembered their brief interaction outside the restaurant on Emmie’s birthday?
Before she could decide whether to ask or not, a second man jogged up behind the first. He had dark skin and a bald head that seemed to glow in the spring sunshine, and he wore a pair of large sunglasses. His black shirt was decorated with red ravens taking flight.
‘You got her?’ the man in the raven shirt said, also sounding out of breath. ‘Hey, good taste,’ he added, spotting Clem’s dress. She’d chosen her flared white dress printed with little black cats, since they were here representing the café.
‘You, too,’ she said, smiling and nodding at his shirt. Her neck was still feeling incredibly warm, the feeling spreading to her palms as the first man studied her with those intense green eyes of his.
The man in the sunglasses tipped his chin at his friend. ‘Lucky you didn’t take a dip. I told you she needs better training, Lucas.’
‘She ran off before I could clip the lead on!’ the man named Lucas protested.
So this man – this gorgeous man – was Lucas?
Clem’s pulse quickened, but she tried to shut that down, tried to breathe more slowly.
She was here for her audition; that was what she needed to be thinking about.
Not men with thick dark lashes who looked like they’d stepped out of a TV show about vampires seducing women, or—
‘I’m Dwayne,’ said the man in the raven-print shirt. He gave them a broad smile, running a hand over his thick beard. ‘This is Lucas.’
‘I’m Clem.’ Her voice came out a little quieter than she’d intended as Lucas’s lips tipped into a smile, a slight breeze lifting his dark hair.
‘Sylvie,’ Sylvie said slowly. ‘Don’t I know you?’ she added, directing that part at Lucas.
Clem was confused – had she met Lucas at the restaurant, too?
‘Maybe?’ said Lucas.
Sylvie frowned, as if piecing together clues, then realisation must have dawned, because she clapped her hands. ‘I do! Lucas Bowen, isn’t it? I know your mum – Meredith, works at the cat shelter?’
‘Oh yeah, she does.’
‘I’m pretty sure you did the catering at my friend’s wedding a number of years ago too.’
‘That probably was us,’ Dwayne chimed in. ‘We were doing catering for a while before we set up Muddy Paws Café. Over near Lake Windermere.’
‘Oh, I’ve heard of it – from your mum, and some of our customers,’ said Sylvie, beaming.
‘You must be from Catpurrcino,’ said Lucas, eyes lingering on Clem’s stress toy. She tried to hold it behind her, out of sight, feeling silly.
‘We are.’
Dwayne whistled. ‘Oh hey, that’s some serious competition right there. You hear that, Reina?’ He gave the dog a pat on the head and scratched her neck. Her tail was pounding the path so hard it was a wonder it didn’t split the bricks in two. ‘Dog versus cat!’ He grinned.
‘Don’t intimidate them, Dwayne,’ said Lucas. ‘He’s only joking.’
‘No harm in a little competition,’ said Sylvie, her eyes twinkling.
Clem noticed her attention lingered on Dwayne and his rather large muscles, even though she was probably at least twenty years his senior, and she had to stifle a nervous giggle.
‘May the best animal win,’ Sylvie said. ‘What are you going to do with lovely Reina there while you audition?’
‘They have pet-friendly rooms,’ Lucas explained, ‘so she’ll stay there for a bit while we audition.’
They entered the hotel together. Clem could almost feel Lucas’s eyes on her – like summer heat – as she and Sylvie walked ahead of them, stepping into the reception area.
A bright-faced receptionist greeted them, and asked them to sign in before making a fuss of Reina, who tried to leap up so frantically Clem was surprised the woman’s skirt wasn’t shredded to bits beneath her paws.
‘Get down, Reina!’ Lucas ordered. To her credit, the dog listened this time.
‘Shall we take Reina here across to the farmhouse?’ the receptionist crooned, scratching the dog on the top of the head.
She didn’t seem to mind that the dog had almost torn up her clothes.
She gestured at Dwayne and Lucas to follow her outside, before calling over to Clem and Sylvie, ‘You can make your way to the conference room. It’s down that long hall and up ahead. You can’t miss it.’