“I so hope not!”
In the main part of the hotel, they headed towards a young woman, smartly dressed in similar uniform to Steve; burgundy jacket, and cream blouse with a silk scarf around her neck. They waited at the reception desk for her to finish with a customer, before Ruby spoke, “Hi, Lydia, I want you to meet my brother, Stuart.” Steve smiled at Lydia, adjusting his glasses. “He’s joining our team.”
“Hello, Lydia.” Steve shook Lydia’s hand, more delicately than the way he’d grasped Callum’s. So she was the owner of the voice at the end of the phone the other day, and she turned out to be pretty and young, not old-enough-to-be-his-mother as he feared. He would enjoy working here.
Lydia frowned. The penny had obviously dropped for her too. “You said you’re name was Steve.”
“Ha, yes, I did,” – had he? God, he had – “well, I was worried you were going to ruin the surprise, so I made up a name…”
For a moment Lydia eyed him suspiciously, then nodded. “I wouldn’t have said anything.”
“I couldn’t be sure. And so by giving you the wrong name, if you had said anything it wouldn’t have rung true for Ruby.” Steve anxiously chuckled. Oh, God this was awkward. Luckily, the telephone started ringing – saved by the bell! – and so Lydia gave a delicate, apologetic smile, tucking strands of blonde hair behind her ear and answered it, talking into the microphone on her headset. She had layered, bobbed blonde hair. She was probably Ruby’s age. Steve noticed there were no rings on her left hand either. It had become a habit, checking out for wedding rings, as he’d been surprised at how many supposedly happily married women had thrown themselves at him as his fame increased.
“I know you’re predominantly going to work in the bar, but sometimes you will need to help out on the reception desk, so I’m going to leave you with Lydia for a bit first.”
Steve stopped studying Lydia – she was pretty – drawing his attention back to Ruby, and nodded.
“The fastest way to learn reception is when it’s busiest.”
The hotel was buzzing with more people around now. Everyone had woken up, had breakfast and were checking out, or getting on with their business.
Not for the first time that day did Steve feel the anxiety crawl up his back. How hard could it all be?
“Lydia, could you please show Stuart the ropes as occasionally he’ll need to help you out.” Ruby turned her attention to Steve, smiling. “And when you’re ready, Stuart, you can take a call, but Lydia will listen in and help you if you get stuck.”
Lydia nodded. “Don’t look so nervous, you’ll be fine.”
He took a deep breath. Man up, Steve, it’s a telephone, not a bomb.
“I’ll come get you later, to show you the bar,” Ruby said. Actually, was she smirking at him, enjoying this?
Lydia tapped him, to get his attention. “Listen and watch me. We have to man the phone and deal with customer requests face to face.” She adjusted her headset, the phone softly rang, and she answered the call. Steve listened carefully to her, the patient tone she took with the customer. Her voice could melt butter, warming and gentle. He noticed the pad in front of her where she’d scribble notes while listening, or occasionally doodle. Little cherub like faces. Happy, sad or mischievous. All incredibly cute. As she spoke, she flicked through the computer system to check hotel availability.
An hour flew quickly as he watched and listened to Lydia and helped her where he could.
“It’s time for my break, so let’s get a cuppa, then you can have a go answering the phone and dealing with the customers who come to the desk.”
“Oh, uh, okay.” Steve’s nerves were real. Why so much fear over a telephone? It’s not like the people at the other end could reach down and throttle him if he got things wrong. They certainly wouldn’t recognise him.
“This is Maxine, she also works on reception.”
“Hello,” Steve said, nodding friendly. Maxine was in her early fifties, with short brown hair. As she smiled the creases in her face deepened. She faintly smelled of cigarette smoke mingled with her perfume. He wouldn’t need to act too dorky around Maxine, but then would he? What was he thinking? He couldn’t let anyone realise who he was, not just the pretty women who were potential love interests. He had to stay on the ball and not let this act slip. He had to convince everyone. One word of who he really was and the game would be over. He’d be back in Hollywood before you could say shooting stars.
Lydia led Steve down the narrow staff corridor, although he was starting to learn his way around. He had a good sense of direction, and the hotel wasn’t huge.
“The staff room,” Lydia said, entering, the very small room. “I know it’s a bit of a joke.” It contained two tables with orange plastic chairs tucked underneath them and a vending machine. A fridge sat under the counter, while the basic kitchen appliances sat on top. Lydia continued, “This is where you come to take all your breaks. Do you want anything to eat?” Lydia asked, slotting coins into the vending machine and pressing the button to retrieve some biscuits.
“No, I’m all right thanks.”
“I’ll share my biscuits. Tea?”
“Yes please.”
Lydia showed him where the tea and coffee was, with an urn full of hot water. “If you want posher coffees, you have to pay for them.” She gestured to a machine where you could push buttons for cappuccinos, lattes etc. But they were powered milk variety and not the real thing in Steve’s opinion. Tea would be just fine.
“Sugar?”
Steve grinned. “No, I’m sweet enough as I am.”
Lydia giggled and he watched her cheeks redden as she concentrated on adding milk and removing the teabag, and not making eye contact with him.
Maybe he should lay off the flirting. It was only the first day. He was a natural charmer though, his mum had always said so. From about the age of three, he’d had old ladies eating out the palm of his hand. He only had to look at his teachers doe-eyed when he’d been cheeky and he’d get away with it. For now he’d turn down his charm-o-meter.
As they only had fifteen minutes, Lydia and Steve didn’t get to talk much. She’d run through the basic chit-chat when two people don’t really know one another and don’t know what to say. Steve had decided to let her talk, and listen. She’d only worked for the hotel a year. It wasn’t a career move, just a job to pay the bills and allow her to live. She lacked confidence, but it could have been an element of shyness, Steve decided, plus he was a stranger. Maybe he’d get her to open up more with time.
Lydia suddenly glanced up at the clock. “Oh, we better be getting back.”
They swallowed down the last of their drinks, and pushed the orange chairs with a scrape under the table. Lydia took both mugs and placed them on a rack with other dirty dishes.
Back behind the reception desk, Lydia handed Steve one of the two headsets. He grinned, realising he was still nervous. She giggled.
“It’s not that bad, honest,” she said.
He was actually going to do this. Actually answer the phone and deal with queries, and serve any customers who came to the desk. Was he having an early midlife crisis – or something worse? His life was in LA, making movies…
Think Clark Kent…trying to find Lois.
He felt more nervous than being butt naked in front of a film crew doing a love scene. This shirt was doing nothing for him. He felt hot and awkward. The heating in this hotel needed turning down. He wanted air. In fact, he could just bolt. He didn’t really need to do this job, he wasn’t even getting paid. He could go back to LA…His comfort zone.
He’d find someone eventually, amongst the gold diggers. Not.
Running away, because he had the money to do so, was not an option. He wasn’t a coward, he chided himself. If he wanted to find someone to love…and who loved him, he did need to try this. He had nothing to lose. If the press got wind, he could always say he was working undercover for research purposes. Anything. It would probably give his PA, Mar
ie, the biggest headache of her life but he could get round it. He’d give her a pay rise.
He took a deep breath, and pulled up his sleeves. “I can do this.”
“You’ll be fine, and I’m here. If you get really stuck just say you’re handing over to a colleague and I’ll take over.” She squeezed his arm and when the phone started ringing his heart sped up. Taking another deep, calming breath, he answered it.
Chapter 6
Ruby put the phone down then glanced at her watch; quarter past ten. Steve had done a long enough stint on reception for one day. He could do some more tomorrow. She’d take him to the bar where she wanted him to work most of the time. She felt guilty really, making him work, but there was no way she could have him here doing nothing. She’d have all of her employees complaining, or worse, walking out.
“How was your morning?” Ruby said, leaning against the reception desk, watching Steve fill the printer with paper.
Steve nodded confidently. “Good. Didn’t make too many mistakes did I?” He nudged Lydia.
“Oh, no, you were fine,” Lydia said. Then her smile dropped. “There was just that one time…Sorry, Ruby, we might have a complaint coming in—”
“Shhhh…” Steve’s expression was mischievous, revealing the dimples in his cheeks, “I told you not to tell Ruby about it.”
“About what?” She frowned quizzically.
“Nothing…” Lydia giggled. “Don’t panic, he’s pulling your leg. He told me to say it. I’m a terrible liar.”
“I never!”
Ruby narrowed her eyes at her brother. He’d always teased her as a kid, and here he was winding her up again, getting Lydia to do it, too. Swine.
His flipping smile and sparkly eyes. Whether he was famous or not, they’d get people to do his bidding. I give him a job and this is how he repays me.
“Oh, Ruby,” Lydia reached under the desk and pulled a book out from under it, “here’s that book I said I’d lend you.”
Ruby took the hardback, admired the cover then tucked it under her arm. It was sweet of Lydia to remember the book. She’d only mentioned it in passing a couple of weeks ago. “Thanks. You’ll have to pop over sometime and take a book off my shelf.”
“There’s no need.”
“No I insist.” Ruby turned her attention to Steve, whose expression sobered. “There’s some time before lunch, let’s show you this bar. By the end of the day, I want you producing the best cappuccinos this side of Bristol.”
“See you later, Lydia,” Steve said, and joined Ruby in step as they headed towards the bar.
“How was it really?” Ruby asked, once out of the earshot of Lydia.
“Not bad. I was nervous the first time I picked up the phone.”
“Hopefully you won’t have to man reception too much, only quiet periods when the girls need to take their breaks etc.”
“It was fine, honestly. I’m clocking it up as research.” He chuckled. “And Lydia’s really nice.”
They walked into a room just behind reception. This was Ruby’s favourite area of the hotel, where they usually held their functions. Because the hotel originally was an old Georgian house, this room had a large fireplace. In the winter she always ensured the fire was lit day and night, providing a cosy refuge from the cold for her guests. Two large leather sofas, the colour of caramel, sat in front of the fire, with a low coffee table made of solid oak between them. These were the most popular seats in the room. Scattered around the bar were other comfortable sofas and armchairs, tucked around small tables. Soft music played in the background. It all came together to provide a relaxing atmosphere. At the back of the room was the bar area, where Callum stood wiping glasses and placing them on the back shelf. Ruby was relieved to see he was actually working.
“Callum, would you mind showing Stuart how to work the coffee machine, and where everything is in the bar. Show him how room service works and the general routines.” See, there, didn’t stumble over his name.
“Yes, boss.” Callum saluted and Ruby scowled.
“Callum, less of the cheek, please. You’ll be working with my brother a lot, so I need you to go through your job and what you do – sensibly.” She kept her expression stern, then she turned to Steve. “I’ll leave you here with Callum. I’ll come find you and we could have lunch together?”
“Yeah, Roo, that’ll be great.”
***
“Roo?”
“She’s my sister. You call her that and she’ll probably fry your balls,” Steve said firmly to Callum.
Callum held his hands up defensively. “But I’m okay to call you Stu, right?”
“If you must.” Steve wasn’t enthralled about the name Stu, but as it wasn’t actually his name, he’d let Callum off. Plus, he needed to make friends not enemies, and Callum was young and impressionable. Callum was trying to be ‘cool’, or so he thought.
In the time leading up to lunch, Callum had shown Steve the bar, what drinks they sold, how to work the till, where the cellar was for changing the barrels – they had a couple of beers available on tap. It was all stuff Steve knew through working in bars at Callum’s age. The guy had to be in his early twenties. His attitude sometimes was immature, but generally Callum was a good guy. Steve had probably been the same, though he’d had more confidence with his looks. He’d never been struck with acne like Callum, and being sporty meant he had filled out early on.
“All right, Stu, let me show you how this big boy works.” Callum patted the coffee machine and grinned.
Callum was scrawny, talked a lot about games on his PlayStation, and whenever a pretty girl entered the bar, whether hotel staff or a guest, he’d give Steve a nudge and wink. Again, Steve let Callum talk while he worked. The less Steve spoke the better, he thought, while he was getting used to his new role. This way he reduced the chance of giving something away.
“We get more room service orders in the evening, but sometimes during the day, guests want a posh coffee sent up.” Callum had to raise his voice over the noise as he frothed milk in a stainless steel jug. He wiped the nozzle, then gently tapped the jug on the counter to send the froth to the top. He poured the foamy thick milk into a cup of espresso, sprinkled it with chocolate and grinned. “A perfect cappuccino is one third coffee, one third milk and one third froth.”
“I know.” Steve drank enough coffee to know how he liked it.
“You do?”
“Yeah, I can’t live without coffee.”
“Oh, I can’t stand the stuff. Don’t like tea either.”
“So who’s this for?” Steve pointed the coffee. Callum found a tray under the counter and placed the cup on it.
“Room 106. Come on, I’ll show you.”
When they returned from delivering the coffee, Ruby was standing at the bar waiting.
“Hey,” she said, smiling at Steve. “Did you want to get lunch together?”
Steve’s stomach rumbled as if on cue. “Yeah, that would be good.”
“I’ll bring him back to you after lunch, Callum.”
Callum nodded as he went back behind the bar to serve an approaching customer.
Steve held the door open for Ruby to enter the small staff room. Unwrapping two food parcels, Ruby placed one in front of Steve. They had a mouth-watering club sandwich each, doorstop sizes with lashings of mayonnaise. Steve’s stomach gurgled with hunger.
“Where’d you get these?” Steve asked, bringing the thick granary bread to his lips.
“Brett makes me up a lunch,” Ruby replied nonchalantly.
“Hmmm…” He nodded and swallowed. It tasted good. “Does he now?” He raised his eyebrows.
“It’s not like that.” Ruby dabbed her lips with a napkin which had also been provided. “He offers, and I can’t say no. He only does it because I’m his boss.”
“If you say so.” He’d noticed how Brett had looked at Ruby earlier, even if she hadn’t.
“So how’s your morning been?” Ruby asked, deliberately chan
ging the subject, Steve thought.
“Not as scary as I thought.”
“Good, I just hope your cover doesn’t get blown.”
“Relax, Ruby, I’m feeling confident about this.” For good measure, he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, which he’d almost forgotten he’d been wearing. “I even broke a glass to appear clumsy.”
“Don’t break too many!” Ruby stared, horrified. “Or I’ll have to fire you.”
***
“Ready, Bro?” Ruby arrived at the bar, coat over her arm.
Steve nodded, wiping a glass and placing it on the shelf behind him.
At times, she found it easier to stick to calling him Bro rather than Stuart. Butterflies fluttered inside her stomach every time she thought about this little lie, and whether she’d let his true name slip. So far, Steve had managed a whole day in the hotel and everyone he’d worked with or spoken to seem satisfied. To her relief, no rumour floated around saying ‘Steve Mason is in the building.’ She realised, with a pang, she didn’t want him to leave. Not yet, and if his identity was revealed he’d have to. This game had to work. For her sake, she thought selfishly, as much as Steve’s.
She was the least worried about Callum – he wouldn’t know a celebrity if they whacked him in the face with a script. Lydia was fairly quiet, kept herself to herself – that’s why she’d chosen her to train Steve on reception duties. Only someone like Alice could be the real problem. Even with Steve’s disguise, he was still a handsome man.
Disguise? Was she kidding herself by giving Steve a boyish haircut and a pair of glasses? It had worked for Superman, but that was fiction. Comic or film. It wasn’t real.
Callum and Brett, and the rest of the hotel staff did not call Alice ‘Man Eater’ behind her back for nothing.
Dear God, that woman practically had a new conquest every weekend – or at least it felt like it the way Alice would talk of who’d taken her out to dinner. She was always dating – compared to Ruby who was never out. Ruby didn’t know where Alice found the time, considering she worked as a beautician privately too. She had a lot of private clients she tended to on her days off and evenings.
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