Felipe gave a hollow laugh. ‘Iamthe manager. The owner. The boss. The one everyone brings their problems to.’
Rebecca suddenly felt very stupid. It was obvious now. How could she have missed it? The deferential way all the staff treated him… she’d assumed it was because he was part of the family.
‘When you say the manager… you mean of the whole hotel?’
‘Yes.’ He slumped wearily in his chair.
‘How long have you been the manager?’ asked Rebecca, little fragments of realisation filtering into her brain, like chinks of light forcing their way into the dark.
‘For the last ten years. SincePaiandTiodied.’
Rebecca did a rapid calculation. ‘Is that why you gave up cycling?’ She thought of the hotel, his mother, sisters andcousins… What a daunting weight had been placed on such young shoulders.
The brief, raw look of anguish that tortured his face was enough of an answer, even though he composed himself quickly.
‘I’d do it again. The family needed me. We could have lost everything.’
Her heart contracted in sympathy, sad for all that he’d lost. ‘Oh God, I’m so sorry,’ she whispered, reaching out to touch him on the shoulder.
He shrugged with such fatalism that her heart hurt even more. ‘It was a long time ago.’
She sat down opposite him, appalled by how badly she’d misjudged him. The number of times she had compared Will’s work ethic to his… She had been completely taken in by the carefully cultivated front of smooth-tongued charmer who didn’t have a care in the world, when in fact he’d sacrificed so much for his family.
‘That day in the laundry. It wasn’t for fun, was it?’
He lifted his shoulders once again. ‘I was lucky I had family to support me. Not everyone has that network. Luisa is a single parent. Her daughter was ill. This way I don’t have to pay someone else to do it and I can still pay her.’
‘You told me you were bored,’ accused Rebecca, cross as much with herself for taking what he said at face value as with him for lying to her.
‘I like working in the laundry. No one can find me and I get a bit of peace and quiet. Thinking time.’ His eyes, despite the tiredness, suddenly twinkled. ‘And no one thinks to look for me there.’
She eyed him, knowing he wasn’t telling the truth. There was so much more to this man. He looked after other people, his cousins, his mother, his sisters. No wonder he avoided relationships! He had enough on his plate and yet he nevercomplained. He had never so much as hinted at the burdens he carried.
She thought of all the times she’d teased him about his ego and his flirting and felt bad about it. Really bad. However, she knew Felipe well enough to know that he wouldn’t thank her for her sympathy. He’d hate it. He liked to intimate to the world that he was invincible, carefree, and that everyone close to him could rely upon him. But who was there to save him? Who rescued him when things got tough?
‘And what is so urgent it has to be done tonight?’
‘Payroll. I have to pay people. And the accountant insisted on imposing a new system, which I haven’t got to grips with– no time to train with the software. If I’m to pay people tomorrow, the only way I can see of doing it is to do it all manually and set up individual bank transfers. If I don’t do it tonight, they won’t get paid in time for the end of the month.’
‘Why don’t I take a look? I managed payroll at the brewery. It was one of my jobs. A lot of these systems are quite similar.’
The quick flash of utter relief on Felipe’s face made her feel like a superhero.
‘Would you?’
She nodded, although what she really wanted to say was that she couldn’t make any promises. She couldn’t help herself– she touched his hand. ‘Two heads are better than one.’
‘Hmm,’ said Felipe, his mouth a little bullish. ‘I’ve never been convinced of that.’
Suddenly, awareness dawned on Rebecca. It was as if all the pieces of a jigsaw suddenly came together and she could see the whole picture properly. ‘Inês.’
‘Yes. Inês. How did you know?’
‘Because if you’re the boss, she doesn’t treat you like it. She’s so antagonistic towards you and me. She’s disliked me from day one.’
‘She doesn’t dislike you; she dislikes that you were imposed on her.’ He ran an impatient hand through his dark hair. ‘She wants the spa to be more spiritual– but we need to make money from it. She feels you shouldn’t put a price on wellness, that it should be a complimentary part of the stay, but then she wants to use the most expensive products but doesn’t want to sell them. The spa should be all about the mind, not the body. Meditation instead of Pilates. Aromatherapy instead of tissue massage. I have a more commercial mindset and that apparently makes me aphilistine.’
‘I see,’ said Rebecca. ‘I wish you’d told me. I might have handled her slightly differently.’
