But she’d started to build herself up now without his help. To find her way.
She simply couldn’t let him come into her life again and risk his tearing it all down. She replied at last:
Bella
Sorry Pete. I’m really busy at work. I’ll just sign electronically if that’s OK. All the best.
Pete
OK. Fair enough. But I would still like to see you. Kitty told me you’re in Versailles? I’m over for a bit, sorting some stuff out. Can I pop over and see you?
Thanks, Kitty.
Bella
Maybe at some point. Look, I’m in the middle of something right now. I’ll be in touch in a few weeks, OK?
She pressed ‘Send’ and watched the email disappear from her screen. Any traces of the high she’d felt from the thought of a job well done had disappeared with Pete’s words. Another email from him quickly appeared in her inbox but she couldn’t bring herself to open it. Instead, she deleted it and after a moment, blocked his address.
She would be back in touch. She would be friendly. They could catch up if that’s what he wanted. Just not right now. She had more important things to do first.
38
NOW
‘Ta-da!’ she said, opening the door and gesturing enthusiastically with her arms.
Claudine gave her a puzzled look, which could be interpreted as ‘What is the crazy English woman doing now?’ but stepped inside the completed Superior room.
Bella was reminded of the nineties home makeover programmes where the host would show the owner into their newly decorated room and the audience would hold their breath, waiting to find out if they’d like it or burst into tears.
Claudine’s hands flew to her mouth and for a moment Bella felt more sympathy for Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen than she’d thought possible. She’d been sure that Claudine was going to fall in love with the renewed decor as quickly as she had, but the pause was more unbearable: the kind of long silence usually reserved for judges’ verdicts on TV talent shows.
Claudine had approved the mood boards, she’d seen the linen samples and pictures of the artwork. She’d even had a sniff of the scented candles that Bella had put on the beautifully varnished chest of drawers. But she hadn’t seen the combination of them all together: the curtains hung, the cushions scattered, the painting adorning the wall and the candles’ flickering flames.
‘Do you like it?’ Bella asked at last, timidly, looking at her boss’s back as she toured the room, inspecting the painting, the walls, the newly acquired bed linen.
Claudine turned to her, eyes shining. ‘It’s beautiful!’ she said. ‘Oh, it’s amazing. When they see what we can offer our guests in the Superior rooms and hear our plans to roll out the design even more, I am sure they will be thrilled!’
‘Thank you.’
Claudine smiled. ‘So, what’s next? What is left to do?’
The four Hotel Club delegates would arrive in a week’s time, and be shown to the Superior rooms. They’d do a tour of the hotel as a whole, with Madame Roux squirreled away somewhere no doubt. They’d eat at the hotel restaurant, then there’d be the meeting, the presentation and presumably some time after that, the verdict.
Bella had a fizz of excitement inside her, similar to that she’d had at school before her GCSEs. Part of it was nerves, fear. But part was a feeling that things were going to go well, that she had finally proven that, qualifications or not, poor choices or not, she was good enough. She could succeed.
She beamed at Claudine. ‘Well, we have a photographer coming later to take some pictures of the new rooms for the presentation, so I’m going to leave them dressed like this, welcome trays and all.’
Claudine nodded.
‘Then it’s a case of rehearsal and checking on suppliers’ arrival times, that sort of thing. But I think, Ithink, we’re pretty much there!’
Claudine made a noise that from a more frivolous woman would have been described as a squeal, but was so out of character that they were both momentarily stunned. Then, rather than leave the room or whip out her phone and schedule in times for a rehearsal, she sank suddenly to the bed – almost as if her legs no longer had strength to hold her.
Her hands went to her face again, this time covering her eyes, nose and mouth entirely.
It was only when her shoulders started to shake that Bella realised what was happening.
