Love Me Or Leave Me. Claudia Carroll

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СКАЧАТЬ you’re needed upstairs, quick,’ the poor girl almost hyperventilates at me. ‘He’s here! Actually here. Now. One of his spot checks. And I had no idea we were even to expect him … I mean, nobody rang me from the UK to warn me, or anything, and the place isn’t nearly ready! So what are we going to do? The decorators are still working in the bar area and it’s a total mess … and then there’s the garden that still isn’t landscaped fully … and don’t get me started on all the snags we’re still dealing with …’

      ‘Shh, shh, Chris,’ I tell her as soothingly as I can, while half looking round my desk for a brown paper bag I can get the girl to breathe into. ‘For starters, who exactly has just landed in on us anyway?’

      Either President Michael D. Higgins, from the way she’s going on, or possibly one of U2 with the full entourage? And then it dawns on me.

      ‘Chris, by any chance are you trying to tell me that Rob McFayden is here? Upstairs? Right this minute?’

      ‘Waiting for you at Reception,’ she nods breathlessly. Almost with ‘and sooner you than me’ tattooed across her forehead.

      I gulp and try very hard just to breathe. This is okay, I tell myself, this is fine. I haven’t actually seen him since the day he first interviewed me, but of course I’ve been in almost daily contact with him over the phone. He has a habit of calling me at the oddest times and from the most unexpected corners of the globe, checking in on our progress. Hard not to get the impression that he still isn’t quite there yet when it comes to fully trusting me, but there you go.

      He was in Dubai, I know, last week. Paris before that. Then Rome the week before. Last time we talked, he said something about Milan. The guy must just live out of a suitcase and survive on plasticky airline food and little else. And all his calls are brisk, businesslike and generally all over in under four minutes.

      Of course, I’ve been keeping Rob McFayden fully updated. And okay yeah, so maybe I have painted a slightly more positive picture than I should have. Maybe I have, ahem, glossed over the cracks a little more than I should have done, but come on. Who doesn’t, when their boss calls demanding updates?

      Everything’s coming together beautifully, I’ve been calmly telling him. We’re as close to being on track and on target as it’s possible to be at this point. After all, someone as busy as Rob McFayden doesn’t need to be bothered with details about light fittings in the bedrooms and a bit of mud out in the back garden, I figured.

      But did I really, honestly think he wouldn’t land in on us to see how the place is coming together for himself? Course not. Just assumed I might get a bit of advance warning first, that’s all.

      Taking a deep breath, I squeeze Chris’s arm, say ‘Wish me luck!’ as brightly as I can, then trip up the main staircase that leads from the basement maze of offices up to Reception.

      Do NOT let nerves get the better of you, I tell myself sternly, clipping along as fast as tight shoes will allow. He hired you because somewhere deep down he must believe in you, so all you have to do is just believe in yourself. You CAN do this. And yes, agreed, the hotel is currently a work-in-progress and of course, Rob McFayden could find holes to pick with a thousand things if he really wanted to. But after all, we’re all working flat out here, aren’t we? How can it be humanly possible for us to do much more?

      I reach the top of the back stairs and sure enough, there he is, the man himself. Tall and lean, with salt and pepper hair, dressed like he just rolled out of bed in his own personal ‘uniform’ of a Gap t-shirt, jeans, trainers and a light blue sweater. Like it’s permanently dress-down Friday round here.

      Don’t get me wrong, I like my uniform, but the sight of Rob McFayden looking so Sunday morning casual instantly makes me feel like a right prissy frump, in my Ferndale Hotels navy blue suit, with name badge neatly pinned to it. Tall and authoritative, he’s chatting easily on his mobile with his full back to me. He hears the clickety-clack of my work high heels though, as I briskly walk along the marble tiled floor behind him, and turns round to face me.

      I mouth ‘Hi!’ and give a quick, nervous little wave, thinking, Do not, under any circumstances allow yourself to be intimidated. Just walk tall, act confident and sooner or later, the whole world will believe the lie.

      After all, it’s the first time I’ve seen him since the day he interviewed me, feck it, I’m entitled to be a bit antsy.

      ‘Just gimme one sec,’ he mimes back at me, with a quick half-wink and a ‘winding up’ gesture, as if to say he’s trying his best to end the call.

      Right. So obviously I’m expected to hang on then, and try and not look like I’m earwigging. Which is awkward, to say the least, given the conversation he happens to be having.

      ‘Yes, darling,’ he’s saying in a low voice down the phone. ‘Well, if that’s what you want, then that’s absolutely fine by me. You’re the boss!’

      Ahem. Well, you’re certainly not onto the bank manager, I think, eyes darting down and pretending to busy myself with much pointless tapping at the computer behind Reception. Tell you one thing though, whatever woman he’s talking to right now, she certainly knows how to keep the likes of Rob McFayden well and truly under her thumb.

      ‘Now you’re absolutely sure about this, love?’ he’s saying. ‘I just want you to be completely happy wherever we go, you know that.’

      Wow. Suddenly, it strikes me just how completely different his whole tone of voice is, even since the last time I met him. Right now, he sounds absolutely nothing like the intensely focused, businesslike whirl of energy who first interviewed me, all those weeks back. Instead, if anything, he sounds tender to whoever he’s onto, gentle even. Loving and warm. The exact polar opposite to what’s received wisdom within the industry about the mighty Rob McFayden.

      Wonders will never cease. Got to hand it to whoever this particular girlfriend is. If you can keep an alpha male like this in check, then world domination probably wouldn’t present too much of a challenge afterwards.

      Jeez, wait till I tell Chris, is my immediate, tacked-on thought.

      ‘Alright, say I pick you up on Saturday, usual time?’ Rob asks softly, like he doesn’t want me to hear. But even though I’m madly trying my best to pretend that there’s urgent business under the shelves behind the reception desk that needs my attention, it’s just impossible not to.

      ‘Alright, love,’ he says, finally wrapping it up. ‘That’s a date. Till then. Yes, me too, you know that.’

      Eeugh. Overhearing that almost feels like I’m invading his personal space. But he appears to have no such qualms though, just clicks off the phone and strides over to where I’m standing, hand outstretched.

      ‘Apologies about that. Had to take that call, you understand,’ he says, meeting my gaze with all the cool confidence of someone just off the phone to their stockbroker.

      ‘Of course, emm … Mr McFayden,’ I smile back, brightly as I can, hoping against hope that I’m not flushing and sweating like a wino.

      ‘I told you, it’s Rob.’

      ‘Sorry, Rob. I have to warn you though, we weren’t expecting you to be in Dublin so soon. And as you can see, we still have a few snags we’re sorting out right now.’

      No sooner are the words out of my mouth than a power drill goes off in the background, СКАЧАТЬ