by Anya Palvin
"Diana, you know we love you. We would do anything we could to save your job."
Diana sat down next to Kate and squeezed her hand. "I know. And that's why I can't ask this of you. It's alright, Kate. I'll figure this out myself." She forced a smile. "I'll be okay." The phone rang before Kate could say anything else, and Diana answered. "Hello? Oh hi, Haley. Yep, you can send them through." Diana put down the phone. "My next appointment is here."
Kate nodded and stood, but turned back before she walked out the door.
"Don't say anything yet, okay?" Kate's hand lingered at the door. "At least give me some time to get used to the idea of you not being here."
Diana nodded even as her heart broke at the words. "I'll see you later."
Kate walked out and closed her door, and Diana barely had a moment to grieve for the job she would surely lose before there was a knock at the door. She took a breath and squared her shoulders, and walked to open the door for her guests.
* * *
Diana stopped dead when she walked into the hotel restaurant later that day. She lingered in the doorway, and for a full minute, contemplated turning around and making up an excuse for missing her and Connor's lunch date. But her brother saw her before she could act on it, and waved her over. Diana blew out a breath, and walked to the table she usually shared with her brother when they ate together. Except now, in her spot, sat the person she wanted to see least in the world. Her shoulders tightened when William looked her, and when his eyes lit up, she felt her body temperature increased in an abrupt manner. Imagine how you would react if you did want to see him. She ignored the thought, and greeted them with effort.
"Hi. Am I interrupting something?" She asked, and meaningfully eyed the papers scattered across the table. She saw glimpses of cutlery between them, and a coffee pot strategically placed at the edge of the table.
"Hey Cals." Connor rose to greet her. "No, of course not."
"Actually, I'm the one who's interrupting." William moved to clear the table. "Connor and I must have lost track of time. But I'll leave you two for your lunch date."
"Do you have lunch plans?" Connor asked, and helped William gather the papers.
"I was probably just going to have them send something to the office."
"Why don't you have lunch with us?" Diana heart sunk as her brother made the offer. "That is, if the only reason you're eating in your office is because you don't know anyone here yet."
Connor grinned, and Diana's heart lose track of its usual rhythm. Connor had taken over the hotel's management from a man who had severely mismanaged it for years. Her brother had worked incredibly hard to pull the hotel back from where Landon Meyer had seemingly tossed it, which was why the arrival of the general manager of the Grace hotel chain was so difficult for him. Connor had had to accept that William would be evaluating the Cape Town Grace Hotel, which meant that his hotel would be examined and any unnecessary expenses or measures be minimised. And while they were the second largest hotel among the Grace branches, Connor had warned that their staff numbers far outweighed the others, and that the chances were high that many of the employees would have to prepare themselves for the rundown.
Connor had hated that possibility, and it had pained Diana to see her brother so stressed. And yet here he was, joking with the very man he had sworn to only have a professional relationship with. This could only mean that Connor liked him. Diana hoped it meant that the evaluation was going well and that she wouldn't have to worry that she’ll be soon bidding her job goodbye. She felt as though she had put herself directly in the spotlight with the flirtation she had somehow started with William. Even if their jobs were all safe, she was surely going to be asked what her purpose at the hotel was. And though she liked to think her job improved the lives of their guests, she wasn't sure that would be a valid enough argument for William.
"I wouldn't mind having lunch with you guys. If Diana doesn't mind, that is."
And how could Diana mind when her brother was giving her a look to ensure that she said yes. "I don't mind."
"Excellent." Connor grinned again, and held his hand out for the papers William had. "I'll put this in the office while you two have a look at the menu. I hear they have the best food in town here." He winked before walking away.
Silence hung over them for a moment, and Diana shifted her weight from one foot to the other. And then she realised they were still standing, and awkwardly said, "Should we sit?"
"Yes, of course," William said quickly, and ignored the voice in his head calling him an idiot. He had already made a fool of himself earlier by flirting with her, and now he couldn't even pretend like he wasn't affected by her. Because he was, no matter how big a part of him wanted to deny it. He accepted her reason for stopping things before they became – something. But he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something she wasn't telling him. And that feeling made him want to convince her to give him a chance.
"How has your day been thus far?" He asked, hoping to break the tension in the air between them.
"It's been good, thank you." She paused, and then tentatively elaborated. "It's been a productive morning."
"Oh?" William picked up the menu and stared at it, hoping that she would give him a little more detail.
"How was yours?" She asked him instead, and he almost smiled when he realised she had recognised his play.
"It was good, too. Connor and I seem to be on the same page when it comes to the future of the hotel."
"That's good news. He really wants what's best for the hotel."
"So do I." William watched her brow furrow. "You don't believe me?"
"I –" She stopped for a bit, and then said, "I believe you think that."
He smiled at the cautiousness of her words. "That's a very diplomatic answer."
"I can be, at times."
"Which is I admit to be quite a disappointment to me."
Diana began to frown, but then couldn't help the smile from escaping to her lips when she saw his grin.
"You should tell me if you'd like me to leave." The words were so unexpected that Diana didn’tknow how to respond. "I can tell that Connor has been bullying you into saying yes to me about joining to your lunch date. I wouldn't blame you if you wanted me to leave. And I'd make up an excuse to do so without letting your brother think it was because of you."
Diana felt her heart went out for him and before she could stop herself from saying it, the words unconsciously flowed out from her mouth. "No, it's okay. I don't mind." But I should, she thought, and her heartbeat accelerated by the way he was looking at her. "So," she said brightly, hoping to move the conversation to safer ground. "Have you always lived in Cape Town?"
"No, I'm actually from Port Elizabeth. I lived there until I was ten, and when my parents got divorced, I moved to Cape Town with my dad. I've been here since though, apart from the travelling for work."
"Are you the only child?"
"I have a baby sister." He smiled. "She'll be eleven this year."
Diana couldn't quite help the frown to form on her face.
"My father got married again." William elaborated, smirking slightly. "And they thought they couldn't have children for years, until one day, when they both least expected it – and quite late in their lives – my stepmother got pregnant. Hence the age gap between my sister and me. Which I know you must have been calculating in your head."
She couldn't deny that. "She's lucky to have you as a big brother. You probably spoil her, too."
He laughed. "What makes you think thatway?"
"It’s written all over your face. You’ve been smiling widely the minute I mentioned her." She felt one – a genuine one – widen on her own. "I'm not judging you. I am that spoiled baby sister, so I can hardly complain."1
"Connor does take on that proud-big-brother glow when you're around." He paused. "I can't blame him." Her shoulders stiffened and he immediately said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel unease."
"It's okay. We just shouldn't do this."
"Because of Connor."
"Because of everything."
Her words were so gloomy that he decided not to ask any further. Their chat was put into stop when Connor returned to the table at that moment. They had a nice, civil lunch, but William keeps throwing her glances. He turned his attention with some effort to her relationship with Connor. It was something special, he knew, and he had only spent a few moments with them. He could see how much Diana loved Connor, and saw the effort she made to ensure Connor knew that, too. She would listen to everything he said attentively, crumpling her nose each time she didn't understand what he said. It seemed to be a signal between the two of them as Connor would immediately launch into an explanation which would relax the furrow in her brow. William didn't think that he could be more intrigued by her, but the respect that lined her every word, her every expression, when she spoke to her brother spoke so loudly that he wished he knew what had informed it.
Diana was aware that he was watching her and she kept her best not to show the anxiousness she’s feeling with him causing the butterflies in her stomach.William easily fell into their conversation, and she was pleasantly surprised that despite the way he made her feel, she could still converse with him normally. She didn't deny that Connor's attendance made it easier for her to talk to William on equal terms, and she enjoyed his take on things. But her mind never gives her peace about the fact that he has no idea as to who she really was and that she wasn't there as an equal – she was there as Connor's sister. And if she hadn't been there as Connor's sister, she would have been there as an employee or more precisely, not there at all. The thoughts stumbled over in her head and she breathed a sigh of relief when the meal was finally over.
"Thank you for letting me be a trouble with you," William said, and rose. "I enjoyed your company, so I'm not entirely sorry for it."
"Nor should you be. Not when we enjoyed your company as well." Connor stood as well, and Diana was grateful that she had already grabbed her handbag as she rose to join them.
"Absolutely," She spoke her agreement, and heated when his gaze met hers.
"Well, hopefully we can do it again soon, then." His eyes loitered onher face then he gave off his knees-weakening smile as he grabbed his briefcase. "But for now I haveanother meeting. I'll see you soon, Connor. Diana." He nodded at her, and moved his way out, leaving her feeling even more confused about what she would have todo...and how she felt about him.
4.
It’s five in the morning when she woke up, since she feels it was still too early, she tried to go back to sleep but badly, couldn’t. She was exhausted from tossing and turning, but knew that she wouldn't get in any more than the four hours she'd managed. She finally surrendered and got up to get ready for work. She was there within the hour, and reveled in the silence as she walked through the entrance hall of the hotel to her office. It wasn't completely quiet, of course – there were always people bustling around in a hotel – but the morning stillness was there. The knowledge that the world was yet to wake up gave the morning such a sense of calmness that she couldn't help but give in to it. Her diary told her that she had three appointments for the day, and one tour through Cape Town central. She shook her shoulders in pleasure at the expectation of being out the office – away from the reminder of William and the pending doom he brought – and with her tour guests.
She didn't have to think back that far to acknowledge that her job had saved her from the deep depression she had sunk into after the passing of her parents. They'd died the day before her final first-year exam, and she remembered how she had insisted that she would write it. Denial had drenching every part of her for the first week, and she had somehow managed to compose herself enough for her aunts and uncles to pat themselves on the back for giving her enough support to survive the funeral. But once she had seen her parents' coffins descend into the ground, once she had watched people say their farewells and return to their lives as usual, she had found herself slipping.
Her mother had been the kindest person she had known. Cora Jones's heart had always led her, and Diana cannot recall a time when her mother hadn't sacrificed her own happiness just tomake sure that Diana would find hers. Diana knew her mother could have lived with a great amount of hurt if she had been with the wrong person, someone who hadn't appreciated her sensitivity or who had simply not cared. But her father hadn't been that person. Derek Jones had loved his wife more than life itself. Diana wasn't sure whether the fact that her mother had been his second wife had anything to do with it. Her father had been married for only a few years to his first wife – Connor's mother – when he had noticed his wife's erratic behavior. Luna Jones had been pregnant at the time thus he had thought that it was probably because of the hormonal imbalance.But Derek couldn't ignore Luna's highs and lows when it affected the life of his new-born son. He couldn't ignore the cries of his child when Luna was depressed and refused to see a doctor for what he had mistakenly thought of as postnatal depression.
Eventually, Luna had been diagnosed with bipolar, and the diagnosis had rocked her so much that she had filed for divorce and left Connor with Derek not long after it. He wouldn't speak of his mother very often, but Diana knew that Connor wouldn’t befriend the abandonment he had from his ill mother. Which was why, she supposed, he is a family-oriented person. He had been six when their father had remarried, and while she knew it had been hard for him to accept his father's new wife, he had always been a supportive big brother she admired so much.
It made her heart soften to think of him, of their bond, and how he had stepped up for her after the car crash that had ended their parents' lives. She had been such a mess that she had spent months in complete chaos. She didn't remember much of it, but she knew that she had lost a university scholarship and more than a few friends when she hadn't managed to motivate herself to go back for her second year. When Connor had realized what was happening, he had forced her into taking a job at the hotel. Forced was the best word to describe itsince he had showed up at her house one morning and had refused to leave unless she went with him to work.
For the first month, their routine was based on this, and Diana would go with him just so that she wouldn't have to deal with the guilt of keeping him from his job. He'd asked Kate and the other concierges to show her around, and she had done so hesitantly at first. Until she realized that she liked communicating and entertaining with the guests, especially when they would come to her for advice on what to do in the city. After a while, she started offering to plan trips for them, and they would often ask her to join so she could talk them through the city. She had had to refuse at first – it wasn't something she was allowed to do – but there had been enough hype about it that Connor had heard. He'd set up a trail period for it at first, and it had become so popular that he gave her the green light to do only that. She found herself researching Cape Town – its history and its culture – in such depth that the exploration of the city was a realization of knowledge. She enjoyed the tours, working with the guests – pleasant and not-so-pleasant – and before she knew it, she was living again, not merely surviving.
And now she was going to lose all of it. She sighed, and push from her desk to look out the window of her office. The Grace Hotel stood at water's edge in the heart of Cape Town. She watched as the sun rose, warming the earth, persuading it to wake. The water rippled in a rhythm that steadied her, and she shook herself out of the funk, thinking that coffee might be the only aid. She made her way to the staff lounge, and smiled when she saw Miranda and Jim Kruger having breakfast.
"Good morning," she said, "isn't it a bit early for me to be grossed out by your intense love?"
Miranda laughed and shifted her chair closer to her husband of a few months. "It's never too early for that. You should be glad you hadn't walked in a few minutes ago. I was giving Jim some bacon from my plate...on my fork!" Miranda pulled anoutraged face that Diana couldn't do anything but laugh.
Jim smiled his shy smile and nodded his head. "Good, thank you, Diana. You?"
She smiled at his predictable succinct style of response. "I'm doing well, too. I've just sorted through my emails, which frees up a lot a time to work on some proposals for the new packages we're thinking about. Are you ready for the breakfast rush?"
Jim stood and picked up his white chef's hat from the table. "I'm about to be." He leaned down to kiss Miranda, and gave Diana a squeeze on the shoulder on his way out.
"My husband definitely has a way with words, don't you think?" Miranda stood, and grabbed a mug from the cupboard.
"Unquestionably." Diana laughed as she poured coffee in both of her and Miranda's mugs. "How long do you think this coffee fix will last you on the first day of a three day conference?"
Miranda groaned. "Not long enough to mention, especially when I have to put on my "how may I help you" smile at the front desk." She looked at her watch and sighed. "It might not even last me the ten minutes before my shift starts. Why did I agree to the morning shift?"
"So that you could go home with that very sweet new husband of yours after his shift ends?"
"Oh yes." Miranda breathed and Diana swore she saw hearts in the woman's eyes. "I still can't believe Carina allowed me to change my shifts!"1
"Come on, she’s not as evil as you were thinking she is." Diana still couldn't quite reconcile Miranda's descriptions of her hard-ass boss with the petite blond.
"She's fair." Miranda said carefully. "And this was quite the exception she gave into." Her face broke into a smile. "You know what? I'll agree with you today. She isn't that bad. She's been great with allowing Jim and me to coordinate our schedules. She even postponed our meeting with the new GM so that I can get settled after coming back from honeymoon."