“Sorry, I thought I’d switched it to silent.” He looked at the screen and then back at Gaby. “Actually, do you mind if I take this? It might be important.”
“Of course not. Go ahead.”
He accepted the call and Gaby sipped her wine while he chatted for a few moments. The conversation was brief and most of it came from whoever was on the other end of the line.
“Don’t worry about it,” Peter said to the caller. “It was a long shot and you don’t have to apologise… No, I understand… Of course… I’m sure something will come up… Okay, speak soon, mate.”
He ended the call and blew out a breath.
“Is everything okay?” Gaby asked.
He gave an exasperated shrug. “Just a problem I’m trying to sort out at school but I’m not having much luck.”
“What’s the problem?”
“I’m organising the school careers fair and one of our guest speakers pulled out. I’m having trouble finding a replacement. The fair is on Tuesday afternoon and that’s just too soon for most people to be able to rearrange their diaries or get time off work. That call was the last feeler I’d put out, from an old university pal getting in touch to say he can’t help.”
“That’s a shame. I’m sure something will turn up.”
Peter drank some beer and gave her an assessing look. “I don’t suppose you’d be interested in stepping in, would you?”
She stared at him. “Me?”
“Yes, you’d be perfect!” he said, warming to his theme. “We’ve organised the careers fair around guest speakers coming in to chat to the kids about how the subjects they learned in school have directly helped them in their current jobs. We want the kids to see that we’re not just forcing them to learn stuff and sit exams for the sake of it. We want them to see that the subjectsthey’re studying can have a huge impact on what they do in life once they leave school. You’d be perfect.”
“I don’t see how. I didn’t study hospitality management until I went to university.”
“But you use language skills, right? You said you studied Spanish at school and because you enjoyed it you went on to study Spanish and Italian at university because you wanted to have language skills under your belt.”
She hesitated, realising where he was going with this. “Well, yes, I did say that.”
Peter looked thrilled. “Then that’s what you could talk about to the kids! You could tell them about the amazing hotels you work in around the world and explain how your Spanish and Italian language skills were so important in getting those jobs, and that you first started learning Spanish in school and how that was the spark that got you going. Kids would love to hear all that.”
The conversation had taken a completely unexpected turn. “Peter, I’ve never done anything like that before. I’ve never given atalktoschool kids.”
“But you’d be brilliant at it. You’re confident and personable and you’ve made a huge success of your life. You’re young enough for them to identify with you, which is a big deal when it comes to getting the kids to engage. And most important of all, I’m really, really desperate!”
His pleading expression was so pathetic she couldn’t help laughing. “Look, put me in front of a couple of dozen hotel workers and I can talk and issue instructions and whip up team spirit like you wouldn’t believe. But a bunch of scowling fifteen-year-olds? I’d be a quivering wreck, Peter. I’d hate to mess it up and ruin your careers fair.”
“You wouldn’t mess it up. And not all the kids will be scowling, only the really evil ones.”
“Peter!”
He laughed. “Come on, Gaby. Please do this. Look, if you can volunteer to help some random guy you never met just because you overheard him talking about a hotel staffing crisis, then you can volunteer to help your old teenage boyfriend out of a tight spot.”
He made a good point. She had jumped in and offered to help Harry Goodwin when she didn’t even know him, and Peter’s wielding of this fact in aid of his cause was ruthless and impressive.
“You should’ve gone into the law, Peter, with debate skills like that,” she said with an arched smile.
Instead of responding, he just gave her a look that was half-challenging and half-begging. Gaby sighed, knowing he had her cornered.
“Fine, I’ll come and give a talk to your school students. But just for the record, you should know that between now and then I’ll be living in terror.”
“You’ll be fine. In fact, you’ll blow them away. They’ll love you, Gaby. I promise.”
His smile was electric. Gaby wasn’t sure if that’s why her heart was racing again or if it was purely the prospect of talking to a room full of teenage kids that had caused it.
“So when exactly is this careers fair happening?” she asked. “And you’d better give me more information on what I should say and how I should structure this talk so I don’t end up looking like a fool.”
