‘He said he’d rather have me to himself. The friends are a married couple that were friends of Alicia’s.’
Felipe lifted a telling eyebrow. Rebecca felt a little foolish and wished she hadn’t added that information but for some reason she wanted to get it off her chest because if she were totally honest, it aggrieved her that Will didn’t want her to meet his friends. Alicia had been dead for five years– surely that was time enough for him to move on?
‘Were you invited?’
‘No, and I feel cross about it, but I have to understand that it’s awkward.’
Felipe’s mouth clamped shut in a mutinous line, and before she could ask what was wrong, they were interrupted by Katerina asking Felipe if he’d done the rotas for next week.
‘Can I not work in the laundry? It’s so hot in there.’
‘Someone has to,’ said Felipe. ‘It’s your turn.’
‘But I hate working in there.’
‘We all have to take our turn,’ said Felipe mildly.
‘Ana doesn’t. Neither does Tia Maria.’
Felipe sighed as if he’d had this conversation many times. ‘Ana and Maria work in the kitchen– they have skills.’
‘Hmm, I have skills,’ said Katerina with a pout.
‘Not in the kitchen where I need them,’ said Felipe with a smile, although now Rebecca could see the taut lines around his mouth.
‘It’s not fair,’ said Katerina.
‘No, it’s not. I’m a big, bad, mean boss.’
‘I want to work in the spa. Inês would let me.’
‘I don’t need you in the spa. Unless you are a qualified masseuse?’
‘But Rebecca works in the spa.’
‘Rebecca also works in the hotel, teaches Pilates, and in the spa she’s on reception when Inês is doing massages.’
‘But I could do that.’
Felipe rolled his eyes. ‘Yes, you could, but I don’t need you to because I have Rebecca.’
‘Yes, but I could do it instead of Rebecca.’
‘And then what would Rebecca do?’
‘She can work in the laundry.’
‘But that’s not what I employed her to do, and her most important job is teaching Pilates because no one else can do that. If she’s not working on reception, or cleaning rooms, I would want her to teach more classes.’
Cristina started pitching in with her requests. ‘If Katerina works in the spa then I want to work in the garden. I can pick the fruit.’
‘You’d eat it all,’ piped up Katerina. Ana sat demurely and didn’t comment. Much as Rebecca was glad she wasn’t joining in, she also felt that Ana ought to be defending Felipe. Didn’t they all realise how much they owed him?
She thought of how she’d been taken for granted by her brothers at home and how her parents had never stuck up for her.
‘Why don’t you all give Felipe a break?’ she said suddenly. ‘He’s taking you to the market. You should be grateful instead of giving him grief.’
There was a shocked silence and when Felipe sent her a sidelong glance, she couldn’t tell if he was displeased or not. Maybe she shouldn’t have interfered, but the image of him sleeping at his desk last night was embroidered into her brain, along with the inescapable new awareness that he’d spent hours working and worrying about making sure he paid all the people he was responsible for. Maybe it was guilt that she’d misjudged him that made her stick up for him but the man deserved more from his family.
