Chapter 25
ASHA
I break eye contact with Callum first. I looked at him to see if he knew anything about this, but he looks as shocked as me.
Regardless, we’re both professionals, and I have a tour baby to take care of.
“Oh, yeah. The one job. I remember that now.” As if I could forget this is an interview after I’ve already worked for the company for five years. As if I could forget if I could be out of a job in the imminent future. And it’s not like I have money saved. Who can save in this economy?
The only reason I can even afford to live is because Edinburgh is cheaper than London and my studio is the size of a shoebox. And more like a shoebox for flats, not clunky heels or platforms, and definitely not the luxury of a shoebox for boots.
“I hope you have a great day at Versailles.” I smile, but it feels hollow to me; I can’t imagine what it looks like to others.
I’m uncharacteristically short with the rest of the group, and while I feel bad, I just want them to leave so I can figure out what’s happening.
Finally, finally, the last tourists walk through the golden gates.
“Did you know about this?” I can guess the answer from the shock on his face, but I still need to hear it. Maybe his face is a liar. Lying in a way his mouth might not be able to.
“No,” Callum says, running a hand through his already wild hair. “Fecking Rob. Bloody arsehole.”
“I can’t believe one of us is going to lose their job at the end of this. I didn’t think we were that bad as tour guides.”
“We’re not.” Now Callum is looking livid. “And compared to the rest of the tour guides, we’re candidates for the Nobel Prize for touring. If that were a thing that existed.”
“We have to call him and ask. Maybe Charlotte misunderstood?”
“We can’t just ask.”
“Don’t we have a right to know?”
“He didn’t tell us directly, but he told the guests. I don’t think he wants us to know.”
“He told all the clients, knowing it would probably get out. He just doesn’t want to deal with us directly if we did know, more like. And who cares what he wants, anyway?”
“Okay, Wee Sunshine. But what would it help?”
“Why aren’t you madder? You’re all unhappy about everything and you hear about potentially getting fired and now you’re at peace with the world?”
“I am mad.” He says that, but he’s sounded madder when someone asked him where the bathroom was than he does now.
“Well, I’m madder!”
“Am I going to have to change your name from Wee Sunshine? Do you want to be Wee Rain Cloud?”
“You’re Rain Cloud, if anyone is.” Nothing about him is wee, though. I mean, I imagine. Too often in the last week and a half, from the privacy of lonely hotel beds.
“Call Rob if you want,” he says.
“Are you going to be on the call too, or do you want to be away from the confrontation?”
Callum sighs. “I’ll be on it.” Now he’s back to sounding grumpy. Back to normal, and the right amount of grump required for this situation, frankly. The only situation that has required grumpiness on this trip so far.
I get out my phone and find the boss’s number. “Okay, here goes.”
Rob answers right before the call goes to voicemail, sending me on an emotional roller coaster where I want him to answer so I can find out what’s happening and not wanting him to answer so I don’t have to deal with the situation.
“Hi, Rob. This is Asha and Callum here.”
“What’s wrong? Are all the tourists accounted for? Is someone in hospital? Prison?”
“No, nothing like that. Everything is going well with the tour. Someone said something, and we thought we should clarify with you, directly. Since it involves you. And us.”
“Ooh…kay.”
“Someone said you were looking to fire one of us at the end of the trip? And this trip, and its reviews, are the final deciding factors?”
The silence speaks volumes.
“Who said that?”
“It’s not important,” Callum says. “Are you going to fire one of us?”
Rob sighs. “Bookings are down. They’ve been down since smartphones made traveling easier, and it hasn’t picked up.
I need to cut the budget somewhere, and you two are the most polarizing tour guides.
You get some of our highest marks, but also some of the lowest, for the reasons we discussed. Everyone else has more even reviews.”
“Wow. So one of us is really going to be fired?” I thought this trip was weird from the beginning. It never made sense to have us combine tours when we could have just worked on our weaknesses separately after a warning.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell us before?”
“I didn’t want it to spoil the tour.”
“What? If anything, wouldn’t it have made us work harder and made the tour better? With all that extra motivation?” And we would have had all the pertinent information.
“You should be giving great tours regardless. Listen, I have to go. I’ll talk to both of you when the tour is over.” Rob hangs up on us without giving us a chance to respond.
“That was weird,” I say to Callum.
“It’s a bunch of shite. He just hates confrontation and doesn’t want to deal with our complaints of imminent firing.”
“Apparently. I can’t believe I’m going to be fired. What am I going to do? What are you going to do if it’s you? I don’t understand how you’re taking this so well.”
He shrugs. “Nothing to do about it. We’ve both noticed the tours have gotten smaller since we’ve been here. Maybe I always thought something like this was coming, in the back of my head.”
“What are we supposed to do now?”
“Our job. Like always.”
“No, thanks.”
“What do you mean? Are you going to leave me alone with these eejits?” He looks genuinely worried, which is at least a change from grumpy.
“No, not like that. This is potentially my last trip through Europe for the foreseeable future, since I won’t exactly be able to afford international travel whilst unemployed and I probably won’t even be living on this continent. So, I’m going to make the best of it.”
He’s taken aback for a minute, but he recovers. “We’re back to Wee Sunshine, then? Your foray into negative emotions didn’t last long.” He scratches his head at my rapid change in emotions.
“You’re right. Sort of. If one of us is going to be fired, then one of us is going to be fired. I can’t change that. But I can make this trip the—”
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Don’t say it.”
“…the best trip ever!” I grab Callum’s arm and drag him toward the palace in front of us. “Let them eat cake!”
“First of all, aren’t we the ‘them’ in this scenario? Secondly, that wasn’t a wee outline for how to live one’s life. I’m sure Marie Antionette certainly regretted her pleasure-first outlook. Thirdly, she didn’t even say that.”
“Come eat cake with me at Versailles, Callum.” Sometimes I just have to ignore him when he’s in one of his moods.
He rolls his eyes at me but doesn’t dig his large feet into the ground. Because let’s face it, if he wanted to protest, there’s nothing I could do to move him. Not only is he large, I’m still weak from being sick.
“Grand. Let’s have some cake,” he mutters.