‘You have? Where is it?’
‘Holland Park,’ he replied.
‘Holland Park? Isn’t that where all the celebrities live?’
He shrugged. ‘I believe so. But it’s a great area to bring a family up in. It’s still not too far from central London, but has a village feel. There are lots of cafés and restaurants, and with the park on the doorstep I think it’s just perfect.’
In the years when she’d first set up her business and had scrimped and saved to make ends meet, she’d never imagined she’d even consider living somewhere like Holland Park.
‘But can we afford it?’
‘We can. Business is going well and with the sale of my apartment and your contribution from your inheritance we’ll be okay. We’ll still need to make sure we get it for the right price, though. From the photos, it looks as though it belonged to an older person. It needs a bit of work, which will bring the askingprice down. And although it’s going to be a family home, it could also be an investment.’
Liz smiled. Trust Alex to be thinking of it with his business head on.
‘Wow,’ she eventually managed to say. She hardly dared hope that this would be the perfect house and she would end up living in Holland Park. Today was turning out to be a remarkable day and she didn’t want the bubble to burst.
Chapter Eleven
‘Right, you’re on paperwork duties again today,’ Heather said as soon as Emma walked into their shared office. Her heart sank. What tedious last-minute job did Heather have in store for her today? As she took off her coat, she looked across to the towering pile of paper dumped on her desk.
She gingerly picked up a piece of paper from the top of the pile. ‘What do you want me to do?’
‘Customer feedback,’ Heather said with a satisfied smile. ‘It all needs to be collated into a spreadsheet. Management wants to see how we’re doing.’
‘Okay,’ Emma said. There was no point arguing with Heather. She was sure the woman had been storing this up for ages and like the health-and-safety documents had sprung it on her at the last minute, no doubt hoping that she wouldn’t finish it in time. She knew the spreadsheet she had designed had gone down well with the management team, but she was certain Heather would have claimed it as her own. It didn’t seem fair, but she’d just have to grin and bear it, and hope that eventually someone noticed the office was being run a lot more efficiently now that she was in it. And somehow, subtly, without putting Heather’s nose out of joint, maybe she could make them see that it was actually herself who was responsible for the changes. For now, though, she’d just have to get on with the task in hand.
‘You can grab yourself a coffee before you start if you like,’ Heather said. ‘Can’t have you deprived of your caffeine now, can we? And you can get me one while you’re at it.’
Emma smiled to herself. Of course. She might have known her boss was too lazy to get her own coffee.
‘So how did your chef get on yesterday?’ Heather asked when Emma returned with the coffees.
Emma stifled her surprise at the question. ‘He did really well. He’s got through to the next round.’
‘Ah, that’s good,’ Heather said. ‘So what are we going to be tasting next?’
‘I don’t know. He hasn’t had the brief yet. Although I’ll be glad not to eat pie and mash for a while, as lovely as it was.’
‘I’m sure you will. If he gets much further, he’ll really be going up in the world.’
‘I suppose so.’
‘You’ll have to watch yourself.’
Emma twisted in her chair to face her boss. ‘Why?’
‘Stands to reason, doesn’t it? With his success he might not want to know the likes of a trainee junior hotel manager.’
‘I’m sure our relationship is stronger than that.’ Emma turned back to her desk so that Heather couldn’t see the tears she was struggling to blink back. Because whether she knew it or not, Heather had struck right to the very heart of Emma’s own fears.
On the night she’d met Jay’s mum and nan, she’d thought they’d grown closer and their relationship was stronger, especially when he’d opened up to her about his family’s relationship. But since then, he’d become distant again. She knew this competition meant so much to him, and he was putting every ounce of effort into making sure he was successful, but it was all he seemed to think about.
Yesterday had been a huge achievement. She was so happy for him, and she’d assumed they’d celebrate his success together. Instead he’d gone to the pub with some of his fellow competitors while the meal she’d cooked for him had congealed in the oven. And when he had come home, it had been to give her a blow-by-blow account of the day and the praise he’d received from the judges for his food, not even stopping to ask how her day had been. She’d put it down to him being high onadrenaline. She knew she’d have to be patient with him while the competition was all-consuming, but Heather’s comment had struck a nerve, even if it had been said to taunt her. Emma shook her thoughts away and focused on inputting customer feedback onto the screen.
Several hours later, when Emma felt as though she was going cross-eyed, Heather got up from her desk and announced she was going to a meeting and would be back in an hour. When she was sure she was gone, Emma leaned back in her chair with a sigh, glad that she had the office to herself for an hour. As she’d been going through the feedback, she’d been developing ideas on how things could be improved in the hotel. Now that Heather’s beady eyes were off her, she opened up a new document on her laptop and began to type them up before they slipped from her mind. Perhaps she could find a way to bypass Heather and send her ideas through to higher management herself. It was the only way she could think of to get herself noticed.
Five minutes later, there was a knock at the door and Nick popped his head round.
