“Wow, they clearly partied in here, too.” Abby’s voice came from the bathroom. “Whatisthat on the mirror? Is it lipstick? Was the woman kissing her own reflection or something? What time are the Grangers arriving?”
“Check-in is from four o’clock. Why?”
“Because I’m sure we can rescue the room by then.” Abby walked back into the bedroom, all business. “I worked in a hotel in San Diego a couple of years ago where two of us managed to turn around a totally trashed room in six hours, and that included having the bathroom door replaced. And this isn’t as bad. There doesn’t seem to be any physical damage, apart from the bedcover and that mark on the carpet. No holes in wood-work or broken drawers.”
She bent to make a closer examination of the stained carpet. “This will come out. If not, we can put a rug over it.” She stood up. “Where do you think we should start, Mandy?”
Mandy stared at her. “Me?”
“You’re the expert so I’ll follow your lead but I’m sure that between us we can turn this around in time for the Grangers to check in and have their special stay, aren’t you?”
Mandy glanced around the room, looking doubtful. “Well—”
“It obviously means such a lot to them. It would be great to make this happen so that they can have the special celebration they’re hoping for, don’t you think? I’ll do whatever you tell me to do. Where shall we start?”
Evie was mute with admiration. Whenever she’d had to ask staff members to go above and beyond she usually found herself prostrating herself.Would you mind awfully? …orI’d be massively grateful if you could…
She virtually begged, and most of the time it didn’t work.
Abby hadn’t given Mandy a choice. And that approach seemed to be working.
Mandy straightened her shoulders.
“The Grangers are nice people. You’re right, it would be good to do this for them. Make it special. Okay, where would I start—” She surveyed the room, suddenly businesslike. “I’d pull on a pair of gloves and clear all the rubbish and also bag up any bedding or cushions that are ruined.” She eyed Abby, gauging if that was the right answer. “Then I’d take it a step at a time.”
“Sounds good. And you’ll want me to make a note of anything that’s broken or damaged beyond repair. I’ll do that, and I’ll take a few photos right now so that we have that on record. You can leave this to us, Evie.” Abby was already pulling on gloves from Mandy’s trolley. “If in a few hours we don’t think we can do it, we’ll let you know and you can call the Grangers. Mandy and I have got this.”
Evie admired Abby’s optimism and enthusiasm (and also theway she’d skilfully managed Mandy), but despite her obvious willingness to get her hands dirty Evie doubted they’d be able to turn the room around in that time and not only because of the enormity of the task. Mandy loved to chat, and Abby presented her with a whole new audience. That would slow the pace of things considerably.
Still, the room needed to be dealt with either way, so she left them to it and went to handle the next problem, which was a long line at the reception desk.
She worked there until the line was cleared, then headed back to her office to deal with all the paperwork that was mounting up.
A few hours passed before she even lifted her head to check the time and when she did she discovered it was lunchtime. She couldn’t put the moment off any longer. She was going to have to call the Grangers and work out a way to make it up to them. Whatever she offered would eat into the hotel’s profits, but she didn’t see an alternative.
She closed her laptop and walked through the hotel greeting staff and guests, quietly observing everything before ending up back at the room Abby and Mandy were turning over.
She opened the door with her key.
Two large black bin bags leaned against the wall, both stuffed to the brim.
She heard laughter and Mandy’s voice.
“So she said to him,listen, sunshine, I’m old enough to be your mother, and that’s when he told her!”
“You’re kidding.” Abby was laughing so hard she could barely speak. “I’m convinced you’re making this up. Grab the end of this, Mandy, and we’ll give it a shake.”
“Every word is the truth. He saidyou are my mother, and can you imagine her response?”
“Honestly? No, I can’t. I wish I’d been there to see it for myself. That’s the best story ever. Throw me that pillow, will you?”
Evie paused in the doorway. She hadn’t expected this to be a fun task, but they were both laughing like old friends. Abby hadn’t struck her as the talkative sort, but it seemed she was as chatty as Mandy. Which was good on one level, but presumably meant they hadn’t made much progress.
Resigned to making that phone call, Evie stepped into the room.
“How are you doing here? It’s lunchtime, and you should—” She stopped, stunned.
If she hadn’t seen them both standing there, she wouldn’t have known it was the same room.
