Daisy pulled the textbook closer to her and saw that it was about learning French. ‘I thought you all learnt French at school?’
Fi shrugged. ‘We do, but I skived most of the lessons and now need to brush up on it.’ When Daisy looked confused, Fi added, ‘We get paid more if we’re bilingual and working in the hospitality market.’
Daisy hadn’t realised that, which didn’t really matter because she couldn’t speak anything other than English. ‘The fog,’ she said, wanting to know why Fi was so insistent that it wouldn’t be lifting any time soon.
‘What? Oh, yes.’ Fi smiled knowingly. ‘This sort of thing happens occasionally. The fog descends out of the blue and stays a few days.’
‘Days?’ Daisy was horrified. ‘But what about theparty? The guests need to get here.’
‘Well, itmightlift,’ Fi said. ‘I wouldn’t really know, but I think they should make plans to take the ferry if they’re travelling from England or France, just in case.’
‘I agree,’ Gabe said, coming up to them. ‘This looks as if it’s here for the next few days.’
‘That’s what I said.’ Fi winked at Daisy.
‘What shall we do?’ Daisy asked Gabe, hoping he had a suggestion. ‘I suppose you’ll be getting in contact with as many of the guests as possible and suggest they make bookings for the ferry. Rather they arrive here late than not at all.’
‘I will,’ he said. ‘And the sooner they book seats the better. It’s a busy time of the year and they’re not the only ones who’ll be trying to get a place.’
‘Can we do anything?’ Daisy asked, as Gabriel walked to his office.
‘Not really. If any guests phone, tell them about the boat and give them the number to make the booking.’
She nodded and gazed out at the pale grey view, stunned that it was so dense and at the lack of any breeze to move it away from the island. ‘I’ve never seen anything quite this bad before,’ she said, thinking how eerie it seemed.
‘I remember a couple of years ago leaving college,’ Fi said, staring out the window. ‘I’d spent a gloriously sunny day sitting in a hot classroom and couldn’t wait to get home and sunbathe by the pool. Seb drove me home and literally all I did was walk into the house, run to my bedroom, and change into my bikini. When I stepped outside moments later there was a sea mist, as thick as this, billowing around from the back of the house and I had to go inside to put on some clothes because the temperature had dropped so much.’
Daisy shivered at the thought. ‘That must have been disappointing,’ she said. ‘How amazing, though, havingyour own pool. I wish we’d had one when I was growing up.’
‘I guess,’ Fi said, sounding less than impressed. ‘What else did you wish for in your home back in England?’
‘A front door,’ Daisy said, recalling her disappointment when a maisonette her mother had found for them years before fell through and her dream of having their own front door that stepped from inside their house out to a garden vanished.
‘Surely you must have had your own front door,’ Fi said, pulling a face.
Daisy nodded. ‘Yes, to our flat, but it always led to a corridor, never to our own front garden.’
Fi stared at her, eyes narrowed, as she thought about Daisy’s comment. ‘Seriously?’
Daisy nodded. ‘It’s fine,’ she said. ‘I suppose we’ve just grown up wishing for different things.’
‘You can say that again,’ Fi said. ‘You’re more than welcome to come and sunbathe at Seb’s house with me if you like,’ she added.
Daisy hoped she hadn’t caused Fi to be embarrassed. ‘Maybe one day,’ she said. ‘I really want to get on with my painting on my days off just now.’ She rested her hand on Fi’s arm and smiled at her. ‘I wasn’t having a go when I said what I did, you know?’
Fi returned her smile. ‘I know. I just hadn’t ever thought about something like a front garden before. Seb is always telling me how I should get out into the real world and experience other things, but then when I come up with ideas, he won’t let me try any of them.’
‘I’m sure he’s only looking out for you,’ Daisy said. ‘He sounds really lovely.’
Fi leant in closer to Daisy as if she was about to confide something very confidential to her. ‘He is,’ she whispered, laughing. ‘But I like winding him up. He can be a bit stuffy at times.’
Fi turned out to be correct with her prediction about the weather. The fog didn’t move from the ground and Daisy could tell that Gabriel was beginning to worry about the party. When he came through to reception just before the end of her shift, she asked if he’d managed to contact everyone on the guest list.
‘Most of them,’ he said.
‘What do we do if Bryn and Soraya can’t make it to the island?’ Fi asked. ‘They are the hosts, after all. Do we get on with all the work we need to do to get the orangery ready for tomorrow evening?’
‘We carry on as usual,’ he said. ‘Daisy, please call the girls from Lapins de Lune to check that they have everything they need to decorate the party room. Fi, you can call the musicians to make sure they’ll be there on time, and I’ll go and check that the kitchen and bar staff are ready for tomorrow.’
