Chapter Seven
Sunday, 29 th October
Moving flats was easier said than done, and the thought that he’d have saved himself all this bother if he’d simply stayed in the family flat in the first place wasn’t helping. Rico loaded three large boxes onto the trolley he’d borrowed from housekeeping, and called to Stacy, who was emptying the fridge into another box.
‘I’ll take this lot over now.’
She barely glanced up. ‘Okay.’
Rico wheeled the trolley across the landing. It was hard to shake off the feeling that Stacy wasn’t comfortable in his company. It wasn’t that she was unfriendly, it was more – she didn’t chat to him the way she had to Flavia and other people yesterday, or the way she did to Emily and Alan. It was a horrible feeling, that the girl of his dreams was left cold by his presence.
He rolled the trolley across to the other flat and dumped the boxes in his bedroom. He was moving back into his old room, and it felt weird. Everything was different here now. No Dad, and they were stuck with the shabby staff flat furniture instead of their family things, as all Mum’s bits and pieces that had made the flat so homelike were in Lugano with Dad. Rico wandered into the living room. It was a lovely sunny room, two big square windows on one side and French doors out to the balcony on the other. Home. Bittersweet memories flooded in along with the sunshine, then a thud from the other side of the landing reminded him what he was supposed to be doing, and he hurried back to the staff flat and Stacy.
Another half hour and they had transferred those contents of the staff flat that were coming with them into – heck, what would they call this one? The new staff flat? Rico wiped one hand over his face. His day was crap already, and it was only half past ten.
Stacy appeared with an armful of empty boxes. ‘I’ll put these on the landing for now, shall I? Hey – are you all right? Anything I can do?’
She’d done it again, seen right through his wobbly moment and offered help. If that was what she was offering. But of course it was; that had been Stacy the nurse speaking.
Rico cleared his throat. ‘Just remembering how the place used to look.’
She touched his arm, but immediately moved away and headed for the kitchen. ‘Coffee coming up. It can’t be easy, Rico, and saying you still have your memories won’t help, I know. What would your mother tell you if she was here now?’
Nothing like taking the bull by the horns, was there? Stacy the nurse was nothing if not direct, and Rico was glad she was busy in the kitchen and not standing gawping at him. He wiped his eyes on his sleeve, and cleared his throat before joining her.
‘She’d say, “stop faffing, Rico, and get on with your life.”’
‘Sounds like good advice to me.’ Stacy put a steaming mug in front of him, then gazed straight into his eyes. ‘Did you ever think of going for bereavement counselling after your mum died?’
He reached for the milk to give himself an excuse to look away. ‘Not really. We just got on with things, Dad and I. It was all so quick. Mum was here and then she was gone – and then I was back at uni in Berne, and for a while it felt as if nothing had happened.’
She was silent, sitting at the table with her coffee, and Rico found himself telling her about his mother, how she’d loved to cook but seldom had the chance, how she’d danced around the flat to old eighties hits, how she’d laughed at all his doings. When their mugs were empty, he sat straighter.
‘Thanks. It helps to talk about her.’
She grinned. ‘Any time. That’s what flatmates are for.’
She went back to her room to finish unpacking, and Rico did the same. And maybe she had looked at him in a more un-nursey way back there. Maybe.
By ten to twelve the flat was as ready as it was going to be, and Rico’s stomach was rumbling. The restaurant was serving lunches, or…
He knocked on Stacy’s half-open door. She was organizing things in the wardrobe, but she stopped and smiled at him, and of course, off went his heart again. Rico swallowed.
‘How about a trip to Rorschach for lunch, in Lakeside Lady ? She’s coming out of the water for the winter tomorrow, so this’ll be the last chance until spring.’
Stacy’s grin widened. ‘You bet. I’ve never been on a cabin cruiser. Won’t it be choppy? Or cold?’
‘It’ll be both, but you don’t get seasick, do you? It isn’t far. Wrap up warmly and you’ll be fine. Meet you at the landing place in ten.’
It was choppy on the lake, a stiff breeze belying the bright October sunshine. Rico sat at the wheel, the wind biting at his cheeks as they chugged towards Rorschach. The views were good today – the water was shimmering blue, Germany on the opposite bank was bathed in sunshine, and the mountains had a sprinkling of snow already.
Stacy gestured to the Alpstein range to their right, sharp against the sky. ‘I can hardly believe I’m sitting here, boating up a lake connecting three countries in the heart of Europe – you don’t get much more special than that, do you?’
‘I think that’s why Mum and Dad made their home here.’ Rico breathed out. This time, it felt natural to be talking about his mother. She was still part of his life, and it felt good. Or maybe it was because he was talking to Stacy…
‘Is Ralph taking Lakeside Lady to Lugano? You said something about that in summer.’
Rico shook his head. ‘He was going to take her, but that was when we were selling the hotel. She’ll stay as long as I’m here, now. Guido – Dad’s brother – has a boatyard on Lake Lugano, so he won’t be stuck.’
They were approaching Rorschach, and Rico swung the boat into the guest section of the harbour and attached Lakeside Lady ’s mooring chains to the rings on the quayside. Stacy scrambled out while he locked the steering wheel and pulled himself up beside her. ‘Lunch is on me. What do you fancy?’
‘Something light – I don’t want to spoil my appetite for tonight.’
‘We’ll go to the Altstadt Café. They have a good salad buffet.’ He led the way to a timbered building off the main street.
Inside was busy, but they found a table in the corner, and Rico ordered a Bratwurst and green salad while Stacy filled a small bowl with tuna and lettuce at the salad bar. Back at the table, she smiled at his choice.
‘Emily would envy you that! She loves the sausages here.’
Rico raised his glass of mineral water. ‘To absent friends.’
Her face fell for a second before her smile reappeared, and they clinked. Rico’s heart ached. If he’d been Flavia, or – heck – Roland, would she have said something about missing her friends? She was so good at getting him to talk about what was troubling him, but she was keeping her own worries buttoned up. From him, anyway. Her next remark proved this.
‘Tell me about some of the other lakes in Switzerland.’
The topic lasted them all through lunch, then they had a stroll along the promenade before heading back to Lakeside. Rico took his seat in Lakeside Lady and switched on the engine. It had been a pleasant outing and a nice lunch, but it hadn’t brought him any closer to Stacy. Ouch.
***
Home again, Stacy shut herself in her room to call her mother. It felt like much longer ago than Thursday since Mum and Dad had waved her off at Manchester Airport, and a new wave of homesickness swept through her as the familiar ring tone sounded in her ear.
‘Stacy, love! How are you getting on?’
It was tempting to tell her mother everything, but Rico was in the living room and Stacy wasn’t sure how soundproof the walls were. She couldn’t exactly spill it all out that she was afraid her boss liked her too much when he might be aware of every word she uttered. But at least she could give Janie the details she’d be dying to have.
‘It’s weird being in a completely new place, but I’ve met a couple of people I know from summer. Kim…’
Janie listened, and Stacy could picture her mother’s comfortable face nodding away and smiling.
‘That’s wonderful, darling, and a few friendly faces will make such a difference to your time there. Your dad and I can’t wait to have you home again.’ Her voice broke on the last sentence.
Eek. This was getting a little claustrophobic. Stacy tried to inject some humour into the conversation.
‘Don’t wish the time away! It disappears quickly enough without being chivvied off!’
‘Not when I don’t have my children around me, it doesn’t. We haven’t heard a word from Gareth since he left.’
‘Give him a break, Mum, he’s on his honeymoon! He’ll have other things to think about.’
‘That’s what I’m afraid of,’ said Janie darkly.
Stacy laughed. ‘You’re incorrigible!’
She chatted with Janie for a few more minutes then had a word with her father before ringing off and flopping back on her bed as two contrasting feelings swamped over her. She missed having her family a short walk away, but oh dear, it was good to have a little space, too, wasn’t it? Especially now she had such a nice room. Stacy gazed around her new quarters, a grin stretching over her face. Her accommodation had definitely gone up a notch. No balcony in her bedroom, but there was a huge one off the living room, and her room did have lovely autumn sunshine streaming through the window. She had a big en suite, too, and loads more cupboard space. Which reminded her, she should iron her top for tonight’s staff dinner.
She took the blouse through to the kitchen, pondering. This had been Rico’s mum’s kitchen. It wasn’t even two years, of course, but anyone could see that Rico hadn’t come to terms with his mother’s death. She should bring up the idea of bereavement counselling again; it was never too late to start.
***
Excitement fizzing inside her, Stacy ran down the four flights of stairs that evening. This was where she would get to know her future fellow employees better. The atmosphere in the hotel was different today, as if it was standing on the brink of something different, and of course it was. The restaurant had closed at four-thirty after the last handful of coffee and cake visitors had gone, and Lakeside was empty of guests for the duration. A hotel-in-waiting…
The staff were meeting in reception then walking to Amore, the Italian restaurant in the centre of the village. Stacy pushed through the swing doors on the ground floor and found herself in the middle of a chattering crowd by the reception desk. Rico was there, and Karen, and Eva the waitress and several of her colleagues, and a young woman called Vreni who Stacy remembered from the housekeeping team last summer. Flavia couldn’t come, unfortunately, and the others were all strangers and they were all talking Swiss German. Stacy joined the group Eva was in, then Rico saw her and came over, slinging a casual arm around her shoulders and beaming down at her. Stacy smiled back carefully. Looking at him tonight, you’d never think there was all that angst and anguish going on in his head. He was good at hiding his nerves. And oh, his expression just now – he was enjoying being with her way too much. It was still too soon after David, but there was no way to stop him being attracted to her, was there? The sooner the working week began, the better. It would be easier to keep things on a ‘friends-only’ basis when they had work stuff to talk about. She eased away from him to look at the photos Eva was showing round on her phone.
To her dismay, he followed her. ‘We’re waiting for Martin, our build accountant – ah, here he is! Okay–’
His next few words were in Swiss German, addressed to everyone, and Stacy gathered they meant ‘Let’s go.’ They walked along the wide front driveway in a gang, then to Stacy’s relief, Vreni joined Rico to walk along the pavement.
A moment later Martin caught her up. ‘You must be the English expert,’ he said, flashing brilliant white teeth.
Heavens, she was smiling carefully at everyone tonight. Talk about a Mr Darcy lookalike; this guy had it all, and she had a feeling he knew it, too. Stacy pulled on her gloves. ‘That’s right. I hope I can have a positive effect on the hotel’s bank balance for you.’
Rico spoke over his shoulder. ‘Oh, you will. Between us, we’re going to make Martin’s job easy-peasy. All he’ll need to do is count up the millions we’ll be raking in.’ His voice was light, but Stacy picked up an undercurrent between the two men. Rico had said something about doing the day-to-day accounts himself. Possibly Martin resented the idea.
Martin ignored the remark. He stuck to Stacy’s side, telling her about his holiday in London that summer, and Stacy revised her first impression. Martin was both chatty and charming, with none of Mr Darcy’s standoffishness, telling a joke against himself about how he got lost on the London Tube and panicked. He was quite happy conducting a monologue as they walked along the main street, but it was an entertaining monologue in excellent English, so he was an easy person to be with.
The pizzeria had a long table waiting for them at the back, and Stacy sat down between Rico and one of the waitresses, with Martin opposite and Karen on Martin’s right. Good – with Karen so close by, they were bound to talk during the meal. Maybe she’d be able to get rid of the feeling that the older woman didn’t like her. The waiter was handing out menus, and Stacy’s mouth watered as she opened hers. It was in German, with Italian translations beneath, but pizzeria was a language all by itself, wasn’t it? Stacy chose pizza ai funghi, which she knew was with mushrooms, and Kapern must be capers, but–
‘What’s Knoblauch ?’ she asked.
To her surprise it was Karen who answered. ‘Garlic. You should take German classes, Stacy. It would make your work and ours so much easier if you spoke enough to get by.’
‘I intend to,’ said Stacy, struggling to keep her voice neutral. There hadn’t been much friendliness in Karen’s voice there, anyway. You’d think the woman had to spend all day running around correcting her German. She tilted her chin up and looked Karen in the eye. ‘I started to brush up my school German before I left England, but I haven’t come across Knoblauch before.’
‘Well, it’s one of the important words, given that most people either love or hate garlic,’ said Martin, crinkling his eyes at her.
Stacy laughed. ‘I love it – and I’ll never forget it now!’
Rico was talking to Vreni on his other side and hadn’t heard the garlic conversation, but he turned back to her and pointed at her menu.
‘Found something?’
‘Yup. Karen was recommending I do German classes. Where would be the nearest?’
Rico poured her a glass of water from the jug on the table. ‘Arbon or Rorschach. The thing is, people here speak Swiss German, but the written language is High German. You should think about which you’d prefer to concentrate on.’
‘High German,’ said Karen, turning away from her other neighbour. ‘It’ll be much more useful in the long run.’
Rico nodded. ‘Have a think,’ he said to Stacy. ‘We’ll sort out something for you next week.’
The waiter arrived to take orders, and Stacy sat back. She looked up and down the table where the twenty-odd employees were gathered, and was uncomfortably reminded of the evening David and his classmates had celebrated the end of medical school, and Lucy spent the entire time making eyes across the table at David. And David had made them right back, though she hadn’t known about that until later.
The food arrived, and Stacy tucked in. Sandra, the girl on her right, began teaching her the German for various things on the table, and Stacy repeated everything as well as she could between bites, amidst much giggling from Sandra. She was conscious of Karen and her neighbour glancing across every so often, and couldn’t shake the feeling they were muttering about her. Then Karen’s neighbour, who Stacy recognised as one of the cooks, patted the older woman’s hand, and all at once Stacy understood. Karen must have wanted the job Stacy was starting. The receptionist’s hours were being cut drastically until January, so possibly Karen, whose English was perfect, resented a newcomer half her age who was to take over duties Karen might feel she could do just as well herself. Stacy took a sip of wine. Rico was deep in conversation with Vreni and Martin and hadn’t noticed what was going on. Stacy pushed the problem with Karen to the back of her mind for the moment. Sometimes ‘least said, soonest mended’ was the best way to go.
The party broke up around half past ten, when Peter the restaurant manager walked around the table to murmur something in Rico’s ear, then left. Rico called for the bill while a buzz of chat ran round the table, and Stacy sat still. What was happening? She glanced across at Martin, but he was looking as puzzled as she was.
Rico put his wallet away and winked at her. ‘We’ll go for a little fresh air by the lake before we say goodbye, folks. Come on!’
A cheer came from the staff. Stacy hurried out ahead of Rico and joined Eva and Vreni as they marched across the main road and down to the lake path. Oh – they were going to the stony beach where Elijah had so nearly drowned last summer, and look – was that an alphorn?
Peter was standing by the path, a long wooden horn stretching in front of him to rest on the stony beach. Stacy’s breath caught. To her right, the lake was a mass of still, dark water moving almost silently, only the odd little splash against the rocks reminding them it was a lake. Further out, moonlight was tracking across the water, and the lights along the German bank were pin pricks in the distance.
The staff assembled silently, and Peter took a deep breath, then blew. Stacy didn’t know the melody, but the sound was rich and deep, and here in the darkness it was almost eerie. She hugged both arms across her front, surprised at sudden tears in her eyes. How lovely was this?
The tune came to an end, and she joined in the applause. Rico stepped forward and spoke a few words, and the staff cheered. Peter blew again, and this time everyone hummed along with him. At the end, Rico slid over to Stacy and murmured in her ear.
‘I said a heartfelt thanks to all, and told them to rest up and be ready for the big reopening.’ He nodded towards Peter. ‘Pretty special, isn’t it?’
‘It’s magical. Especially in the middle of all this.’ Stacy looked out over the lake again. Autumn had come, but the place was just as special as the one she’d fallen in love with that summer.
The staff tramped back to the carpark at Lakeside, where they started a round of fond farewells. Stacy was rather taken aback when she was kissed goodbye three times – right cheek, left cheek, right cheek, by most people. Everyone did it here, but it did seem a little OTT, and Martin gave her shoulders a squeeze too. Yikes. She noticed that Vreni three-kissed Rico with great enthusiasm, gripping his arms and gazing into his eyes as she spoke to him afterwards. He seemed to have a fan there, but he wasn’t treating her any differently to the other women.
It was oddly quiet when she and Rico were left standing alone on the driveway. He unlocked the front door and they stepped into utter silence in the hotel.
‘Spooky, isn’t it?’ he said cheerfully, leading the way to the lift. ‘It only used to happen in the four weeks we closed over Christmas and New Year. Remind me to give you a set of keys tomorrow.’
Stacy followed him into the lift. He pressed the button and beamed down at her. ‘Enjoy your evening?’
His eyes were shining fondly, and Stacy nodded dumbly, resignation replacing her new feeling of contentment. Brilliant. She was sharing a flat with a guy who was positively drooling over her. And one of the people she’d be working closely with totally resented her presence and wasn’t scared to show it. Not to mention Martin, who had shot several sparkly toothed grins in her direction that evening, then squeezed her goodbye. Did she have an admirer there? That might be fun, but it might be complicated, too. As if she needed any further complications…