Dave shook his head and laughed. “It’s fine, I don’t mind. Another one for you too?”
“Yes please.” Stella spun around on her stool and turned to the women. She wasn’t normally so chirpy early in the morning, but for some reason she was in a really good mood. “Coffee, ladies? Lovely Dave here has offered to make you one.”
“Thank you, Dave, we’d love a coffee,” the voluptuous one with peroxide blonde hair said. Her sparkly purple sundress and matching shades had clearly come straight out of the packaging, and her hair contained so much hairspray that it didn’t even move in the wind.
Her friend was dark haired, skinny and covered in floral tattoos, and she wore a pink velour onesie, the neckline also studded with rhinestones. “Only if it’s no trouble,” she added. “I’m Magsie, and this is my friend Carla.”
“No trouble at all, and lovely to meet you, Magsie and Carla. I’m Dave,” Dave said as he turned on the old coffee machine that made an awful noise as it spat out the dark brew. “So, what brings you to Paradise?”
“It’s actually our first holiday together,” Magsie said, slicking back her dark, shoulder length hair. “And it’s Carla’s first holiday ever.”
“Ever?” Stella’s heart welled at how happy Carla looked as she passed on a coffee to her before sliding one towards Magsie. She’d heard it before, but it still touched her. Paradise offered a cheap package holiday and this was many of their guests’ first holidays. “Then I’m sure you’ll have a wonderful time,” she continued, stirring sugar through the bitter hotel coffee. “There’s an aqua gym class this morning, if you want to join. The bar opens at noon for alcoholic beverages and Saturday is karaoke night, so you’re in luck if you like to sing.”
“That sounds amazing. Oh Mags, we’re going to have the time of our lives this week.” Carla put an arm around Magsie and gave her a kiss on her cheek.
“Have you been friends for long?” Dave asked, putting a plate of cookies in front of them.
“Four years to the day,” Magsie said. “And I don’t know what I’d do without her.”
“That’s sweet. How did you meet?”
Magsie hesitated, glancing at Carla for a moment, then continued when her friend nodded. “We met at a women’s shelter in Manchester four years ago. We’d both escaped an abusive relationship and left our lives behind to start over with nothing but the clothes on our backs.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that,” Stella said.
“Yes, we’ve had some rough years, but we’ve come out all right, haven’t we, Carla? And look at us now, sitting here in sunny Spain.”
Carla returned Magsie’s smile and squeezed her arm. “Apart from my son Georgie, Magsie’s the best thing that ever happened to me. We’ve helped each other through difficult times and now we just want to have fun.”
“Oh, you will.” Dave smiled. “How old is your son?”
“He’s six.” Carla opened a picture on her phone and showed it to them. “He’s a good little boy and he probably saved my life. If it wasn’t for him, I don’t think I’d have the courage to leave my husband.” She glanced at the picture lovingly. “He’s with my mum while we’re away. He loves his grandma.”
“He’s very cute.” Stella turned to Magsie. “And you? Do you have any kids?”
“No, but I consider Georgie to be my stepson. We all grew close when we shared a room at the shelter, and we’ve been sharing a room ever since.”
“You live together?” Stella asked. She wasn’t worried about being too nosey. After working in hospitality for so many years, she had a sixth sense for who wanted to talk and who didn’t.
“Yes. The shelter helped us get jobs at a warehouse and we moved into a flat together so we could share the rent. We’re like a little family,” Magsie said.
“The perfect family,” Carla added. “Georgie is growing up surrounded by love and Magsie’s like a second mum to him. We take turns looking after him because I work nightshifts and Magsie works dayshifts, and we’ve been saving up to come here since we got back on our feet.”
“I’m honoured you decided to come to Paradise for your first holiday.” Stella looked at them over the rim of her cup. It wasn’t very often she had such personal conversations with guests, and she certainly never choked up while talking to them. Mostly, it was about the weather, about where to score the most handsome men in Benidorm, where to find the biggest and strongest cocktails or the best English pubs. The alarm on her phone pulled her out of her thoughts, and she put her cup down and stood. “I’m so sorry but I have to get to work. It was really nice to talk to you, ladies, and I sincerely hope you have a wonderful time here.” She pointed to the sunloungers and winked. “I’ll go open the gates now, so you’ll have first pick. The row over there has sun all day.”
13
“I’m sorry, darling. You weren’t included in the candidate selection for the VC interviews.” The headhunter—the fifth who had called Lisa with bad news this week—tried her best to sound regretful, but Lisa knew she didn’t care as long as she got her commission in the end. “Again, it’s no reflection on your CV or achievements. They just felt these people fitted their team better.”
“I understand. What was their feedback?” Lisa kicked a pebble across the road before she crossed it. She’d been for an early evening walk and was just arriving back at the hotel.
“They didn’t provide feedback, only the candidate selection.”
“No feedback whatsoever? But I need to know what I have to work on in my interviews going forward?”
The headhunter cleared her throat. “I can ask, but they had over thirty very qualified people to choose from. It may take weeks before they come back to me with the interview notes, if they have them at all. Initial telephone interviews aren’t recorded as thoroughly nowadays.”
“Of course.” Lisa sighed and sat down on the wall by the hotel’s front entrance. The long evening walk had done her good initially, but this phone call threatened to send her into another sleepless and anxious night. “So, what do I do now? Are there even any more vacancies in marketing? Because I think I’ve applied for just about every job out there by now.”
