‘No such thing,’ said Meg, brisk now. ‘Don’t even think about any of that today. Just focus on enjoying yourself and being David’s assistant.’
‘Did I hear my name?’ said David, entering the room wearing a very colourful dressing gown.
‘You did,’ said Meg. ‘Now you all stay here while I make you breakfast to eat. And get you more tea!’
Justin was in the kitchen when Meg got there and, having greeted Meg, a process which took a little while, agreed to make scrambled eggs and bring it through to the staff dining room.
Shortly afterwards, although it was only seven o’clock, the actors who were staying in the hotel were starting to appear. Inigo came to collect Dame Miriam’s breakfast. As David said over eggs and toast, performance day had dawned!
Justin and Meg had done the lunchtime service together and she realised what a good team they made, although, thinking back, they had worked well together for that first big, important banquet, even though they were hardly speaking. They shared a brief, hard kiss before Meg left to go and check what was going on in the office.
Vanessa was in the hall and Meg was about to speak when they both heard noises which indicated one thing: Lady Lennox-Stanley was about to emerge through the front door.
They fled to the office and ducked down behind the desk, giggling hysterically. ‘It’s her,’ Meg hissed to a confused Louise. ‘Lady Fussy-Knickers. She’s here!’
‘I can’t meet her. She’ll kill me!’ said Vanessa, no longer giggling, holding on to the waste-paper basket for moral support.
‘I’d better go out then,’ said Louise, and went to greet one of Nightingale Woods’ most important guests.
When the coast was clear, and Lady Lennox-Stanley had been safely escorted to the Yellow Room (newly refurbished with its own bathroom and a delightful view of the gardens and the hills of Dorset beyond, as the brochure declared), Meg and Vanessa stood up and brushed down their clothes.
‘I’ll do office work for you,’ said Vanessa. ‘Then I won’t feel so stupid hiding in here.’
‘I thought you were going to be helping David?’ said Meg.
‘I asked him earlier, but he didn’t have anything for me really. I just need to keep out of sight of my mother. I don’t want a scene right now. Although I do know one is inevitable.’
Meg glanced at her friend, close to tears, and then looked at the desk, snatching up the handwritten menu she and Justin had discussed earlier. She handed it to Vanessa.
‘Could you type this out three times, please? We can’t use carbon copies and Dame Miriam needs her own copy.’
‘Oh, of course I can do that. I did them before when I was here.’
Meg smiled and rubbed her friend’s arm in a supportive way, glad that Vanessa didn’t ask who the third menu was for. Meg had just felt typing only two copies wouldn’t take up enough time.
Putting card into the typewriter and scrutinising Justin’s slapdash handwriting to make sure she had everything right seemed to calm Vanessa down, and quite soon Meg felt she could leave her to go into the kitchen to see how the plans for dinner were going.
Justin was very firm. ‘I’m going to let you make the desserts – they are your forte – but then you’re coming out of the kitchen.’
‘But, Justin, you know how full we are! Two sittings for dinner, the party—’
‘Which is being catered by my old hotel.’
Meg had known this but had chosen to ignore it. ‘There’s still a lot to do for just you and Susan.’
Justin frowned and put his hands on her shoulders. ‘You deserve the time off, Meggy. If it wasn’t for you, none of this would be happening. You deserve to see the play like a proper paying member of the audience.’
Not entirely sure she was happy with the situation, Meg let herself be shooed from the kitchen. At least she’d been allowed to make a couple of really fabulous confections for the dessert trolley.
Lizzie seemed to be lying in wait for her. ‘Come on! You’re going to change into the dress I made you,’ she said.
‘To watch the play in?’ said Meg. ‘We’ll be sitting in the garden. The dress is too grand for that, surely?’
‘David told me that people really dress up for these plays,’ said Lizzie. ‘They treat it like Glyndebourne, especially with Dame Miriam in it.’
‘Really?’
Lizzie nodded. ‘And the party is straight afterwards.’
