‘Leave it with me,’ said Maureen. ‘Now, are you sure you don’t want a go of my icy water? Sure? Okay so.’ She smiled. ‘Your mother would be glad that you’re using her cups. She was always like that to me. “Maureen, good things are to be used, not admired.” She loved her china, she really did. Bought this in one of those house clearance auctions things, up in Killiney. Was delighted when she returned to Cliff Top with it all. There must have been hundreds of bits, big plates, tiny ones. I think three sizes of milk jugs.’ She smiled at Rosie. ‘I’ll have this back to you as good as new.’
Bertie had dried his feet and slipped back on his socks and loafers. ‘I feel human again,’ he said, following Rosie out of the laundry room. ‘Maureen, you are a lifesaver. And a genius to boot.’
He and Rosie walked along the corridor towards the main hotel, in silence for a moment as though she could sense what he was going to say. He cleared his throat.
‘I was wondering, if… ahem, well, how you were holding up? If indeed you are holding up? Ahem. Well, with a certain Mr Power having arrived after a long hiatus.’
They had stopped. Rosie didn’t know what to say. She and Bertie didn’t speak about affairs of the heart, but his eyes were so soft and fixed on hers, as though he’d been worried about her.
‘I’m holding up fine, thank you, Bertie.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes… well, as much as possible.’ She tried to smile.
‘I don’t want to pry, obviously, but just wanted to say that if you need to talk, I’m a good listener. My mother used to say that I had ears like an elephant, which sounds like an insult, but she meant that you could tell me anything.’ He paused. ‘You’re not upset?’
Rosie sighed. ‘A little, I suppose. He just left me that time, so abruptly. I wish he hadn’t. Or had explained it better.’
‘I always liked him when he used to come into the Shelbourne,’ said Bertie. ‘Thought he was a fine young man. But he was young, I suppose. People make mistakes.’ He was looking at her again. ‘If you need a break, I can take over. Anything. It’s all hands to the pump this weekend, and now with Maureen’s ice bucket invention, I’m not in danger from keeling over in the heat.’
‘Thanks, Bertie. I appreciate it.’
* * *
Grace collapsed into the armchair in Rosie’s office after her walk up from the village while glugging down a bottle of water, a small battery-operated fan in one hand. ‘It’s so hot. That walk is going to kill me.’
‘Take the bus?’ suggested Rosie, who had been staring at her computer screen for the last hour but not actually achieving very much, a combination of heat and her mind brimming with Patrick.
‘The bus? The bus?’ Grace looked horrified. ‘I can’t take a bus. Walking up to the hotel is the only time my legs actually function as legs. Otherwise they are just useless appendages and my muscles will waste away and, by the time I’m forty, I’ll have none left and you will have to wheel me around in a basket chair, a rug over my lap.’ She brightened. ‘Sounds quite nice, actually. Not the rug, obviously. I’d die of heatstroke before my legs had totally withered away.’ She peered out of the window. One grey cloud hung in an otherwise blue sky. ‘It’s not going to rain for the beach barbecue, is it? I think it might be getting hotter, I really do.’ Her phone vibrated and she read her message. ‘Oh, God… Aoife is ill. Some kind of bug and so can’t help at the beach or barbecue or the picnic tomorrow…’ She looked at Rosie. ‘I’ll have to do it on my own… perhaps Bertie might…?’
‘He doesn’t do beaches,’ said Rosie. ‘You know him and sand… I’ll do it.’ And she realised that of course she wanted to do it. She didn’t want to hide away, she wanted to see Patrick, even if she was serving drinks. Now she and Patrick had talked and broken the ice, it would be fine and she’d only be in the background, helping, invisible.
‘Are you sure? Because I can ask someone else. One of my friends. Claudia?’ She brightened. ‘Which reminds me. She’s getting married. She was wondering if we could hold the wedding here?’
‘This is a trial only,’ warned Rosie.
‘But you might change your mind…?’ Grace looked hopeful. ‘Anyway, thanks for stepping in, if you are sure you can spare yourself?’
‘Quite sure…’ Now it seemed like the most important thing in the world to be at the barbecue and there was no way she was staying in the hotel. She felt a surge of excitement, for some reason, which was silly and yet… he would be there.
‘You don’t mind leaving the hotel today?’ queried Grace. ‘You’re not going to worry about sinkholes or gas explosions or Bertie running amok or Maureen having a conniption because one of the staff haven’t been doing hospital corners?’
Rosie laughed. ‘I’ll be fine, honestly. It’ll be good for me.’ She hoped she was presenting as calm and relaxed, inside she was on fire. She was all for packing up the Land Rover and heading down there now, screaming in excitement.
‘What’s wrong with your eye?’ said Grace, peering at her. ‘It’s twitching. Are you okay? Is it the heat? Are you having a stroke?’ She grabbed her water. ‘Drink this… get it down you… Here, have my fan…’
Rosie fended her off. ‘I’m grand. Please. Look, I’m perfectly capable of leaving the hotel for a couple of hours and assisting you. Tell me what to do and I’ll do it. No drama, no chaos, just me helping you.’ She hoped her eye had stopped twitching.
‘Okay then…’ Grace didn’t look entirely convinced. ‘We’ll put Teddy on sinkhole watch and you can assist.’
‘I’ll do the set-up,’ insisted Rosie. ‘I’ll take the Land Rover and the gear and get the barbecue lit.’
‘Have you ever lit a barbecue before?’
‘Of course! All the time! I love a barbecue.’
Grace still looked sceptical. ‘Okay,’ she conceded. ‘But on one condition, you have to wear beach-suitable clothes. You cannot wear a polyester navy skirt suit to the beach.’
