by Mandy Baggot
‘She could come too,’ Chase said.
‘No, I … thank you but …’ Hannah would be a hundred per cent more effervescent than anything fizzy and alcoholic that was served up. And that wasn’t always a good thing. She was already wondering who to sit her next to at the Christmas party after last year’s fiasco, which she had spent doing tequila shots with Laura from accounts’ fiancé.
‘But?’ Chase queried.
‘We’ve actually made a lasagne for tonight so …’
‘God, I love lasagne,’ Chase remarked, fingers rubbing his eyes. ‘There’s this restaurant in New York that does the best lasagne.’
She swallowed. What to do? She had turned down his dinner invitation and divulged that she and Hannah were going to be wolfing down his very favourite dish. This was awkward.
‘Well, you enjoy every béchamel-sauce-covered inch of it,’ he said.
Argh! She hated her conscience and, right now, she hated it was the season of goodwill to all men. There was only one option.
‘You could … come and help us eat it, if you wanted?’ How wooden and insincere had that invitation sounded? Perhaps it was a good thing. He was now bound to say no. Or think she had asked him on a date! Her cheeks flushing furiously she blurted out: ‘You and the girls … obviously.’ She added an eye roll.
‘Hey, when I said I loved lasagne I wasn’t hitting on you … on the meal …’ He swallowed. ‘I mean … the food.’
Now he looked a little awkward. She had overstepped the mark. What had she been thinking inviting him to dinner? She hated being his Go-To Girl. She loathed the super-hotel. She really needed to spend tonight fingertip-deep in Christmas party planning.
Isla spoke quickly. ‘It’s probably not as good as the one they serve up in New York but—’
‘Well, if you’re sure it wouldn’t be a problem.’ He smiled. ‘My girls are lasagne lovers too.’
No, she wasn’t sure. But she had made the offer and there was no going back on it. And now her sister was going to have the current man of her big Notting Hill Christmas kiss dreams in their house. At least they had two children as chaperones. Perhaps she should find out where Raj lived and invite him too.
‘Yes,’ she breathed. ‘Quite sure.’
‘Great,’ Chase answered, closing down his laptop.
‘You’re ready now?’ Isla asked.
‘You have to get your sister, right?’ Chase said, getting to his feet.
Yes, she did. But not before she called Hannah and warned her they had guests for dinner. Her sister was either going to love her or hate her and the worrying thing was that could all be dependent on how many bouquets of flowers she’d sold today.
Twenty-Four
Beaumont Square, Notting Hill
‘Do you have pets at home? Maddie, you look like a doggy person to me and Brooke, you look like—’ Hannah began.
‘She wants to look like Bella Thorne but Mom won’t let her dye her hair red.’
‘Shut up, brat!’ Brooke bit back.
Isla closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on how good this lasagne was rather than the bickering that was going on at their makeshift dinner table. Their small table for eating at had been extended by propping up their coffee table on hardback books and an ottoman. Hannah had wheeled around adding glittery fir cones and red taper candles to the table settings and had selected a Christmas playlist from Spotify. Currently Justin Bieber was rapping about the Little Drummer Boy. She wasn’t sure it quite worked.
Maddie was sitting on Isla’s dressing table stool and Chase was in the office chair. Ordinarily, the only time they had to cater for more than two was when it was their turn to host the Beaumont Square Food Night. Everyone in the square made a plate and one house hosted the night and the community descended to eat the communal feast.
‘Brooke, watch your manners. We are guests tonight. Show some respect,’ Chase ordered.
Maddie made faces at Brooke, poking out her tongue in a taunt.
‘And you, Maddie,’ Chase chastised. He looked to Isla. ‘I apologise for my daughters. They seem to have forgotten how to behave.’
‘That’s okay,’ Hannah answered. ‘You should see me and Isla when we get going.’ She ate a forkful of food then turned back to Maddie. ‘So, do you have a dog?’
‘No,’ the young girl replied. ‘We had a cat but we had to give her to our neighbour when we left New York.’
‘You don’t live in New York any more?’ Hannah queried.
‘No,’ Chase interrupted. ‘That is, I do still live in New York but the girls, they live with my wife, my ex-wife, in Montgomery, Alabama … near her parents.’
‘Is that far away?’ Hannah asked.
‘Yeah,’ Brooke answered. ‘Like the other side of the freakin’ country far.’
‘But I bet you have a cool new school and new boyfriends?’ Hannah suggested quickly.
‘Hannah,’ Isla said, warningly.
Hannah grinned then whispered, ‘Don’t worry, you can tell me later when your dad isn’t listening.’
‘The lasagne is superb,’ Chase said.
He’d directed the remark to Isla and she could already feel her cheeks blushing at the compliment. She knew she didn’t get it quite as perfect as her mother had, but just trying to make it the same way seemed to have therapeutic qualities.
‘Thank you,’ Isla responded.
‘I like the garlic bread too,’ Maddie said, munching down on a slice in her hand.
‘I’m surprised you can eat at all after that Father Christmas,’ Isla said.
‘What Father Christmas?’ Hannah queried.
‘Maddie bought one of the huge Santas from the Little Blue Chocolate Shop.’
‘You’re kidding!’ Hannah exclaimed. ‘You didn’t eat it all, did you?’
‘Thankfully not,’ Isla said.
‘I was sick,’ Maddie admitted.
‘Which we don’t need to talk about at dinner,’ Chase stated.
‘What did you buy, Brooke?’ Hannah asked her.
Isla raised her head. Brooke had hardly touched her food and looked like she would rather be absolutely anywhere than eating Italian food in Notting Hill.
‘I don’t have any money,’ Brooke responded. ‘And Dad’s taken away my phone.’ She shot Chase a hard glance.
‘She set off the fire alarm at the office,’ Chase informed.
‘Really!’ Hannah exclaimed. ‘Cool. I bet there were a lot of really cold, really stiff business types moaning into their laptops and artisan coffees.’
Isla opened her mouth to berate her sister until she saw Brooke smirk. ‘So, what happened with you today?’ Isla asked Hannah.
‘Oh, nothing much. You know, a few displays for funerals, a couple of husbands who’ve done the dirty and think a bunch of flowers is going to fix things. But someone did come in to plan their wedding flowers. That was nice.’
‘Hannah works in a florists,’ Isla told the group.
‘You can do that?’ Maddie asked. ‘In a wheelchair?’
‘Maddie!’ Chase exclaimed, his fork hitting his plate.
Hannah laughed. ‘Yes, I can sell flowers in a wheelchair.’ She lowered her voice to a whisper. ‘Sometimes I set the buckets of roses up and do a slalom when no one’s looking.’ She winked at Maddie. ‘My best time is eleven seconds. That’s spiralling around six buckets and tagging the birds of paradise at the far end of the shop.’ She grinned. ‘That fastest time I was up on one wheel at one point.’
Isla was horrified. ‘You’re not serious.’
Hannah shrugged her shoulders. ‘She worries like a mom.’
Both Brooke and Maddie laughed at Hannah’s attempt at an American accent.
‘Would you like another beer?’ Isla offered. Chase had gone to the off-licence while she had collected Hannah. He had bought a six pack of beer she had never heard of and two bottles of wine. The wine was a smooth, yet spicy Merlot that went ridiculously well with the lasagne. She was on her sec
ond glass and feeling a little light-headed.
‘I think I would,’ Chase replied. ‘But I can get it if you show me where.’ He got to his feet.
‘Can I have another Coke, Dad?’ Maddie asked.
‘Me too,’ Brooke mumbled, finally picking up some cutlery and digging into her meal.
‘It’s just through … I’ll come with you,’ Isla said, standing up too. She had left the kitchen in a state. If she got there first she could sling some tea towels over the full washing-up bowl and the bin whose lid didn’t shut properly.
Chase followed her out of the room, through the hall and into the kitchen. This place was cute. It was traditional, yet somehow unorthodox and very, very English. It was a home, filled with cushions and easy chairs and scraps of paper pinned to boards. He’d almost forgotten what that was like. Living on his own he had his e-calendar and little else. Before the move he’d had drawings from Maddie slipped into his messenger bag, the odd Barbie shoe or, one time, Ken and a pink Jeep. He might tell himself daily he didn’t miss the chaos, repeat the mantra as part of his self-affirmation routine before he left for the office, but, in down time, it was as far from the truth as you could get.
‘So, what are your plans for Breekers tomorrow?’ Isla asked, opening the fridge, retrieving the beer bottle and reaching for the bottle opener.
‘Do you mind if we don’t talk about work?’ Chase asked, leaning against the worktop.
Isla flipped off the top of the bottle and it hit a cloth that seemed to be draped over pans and plates in the sink.
‘Oh.’ She sounded surprised.
He smiled. ‘I guess you pegged me as someone who never switches off.’ He had been that someone. Completely. But he also remembered what had happened when he had not let anything else into his life. He had lost his wife and he had almost lost himself. And he wasn’t going to go back there. Also, this new super-hotel was super-secret. The very last thing he wanted was for Brooke to go posting about it on social media. He knew that sooner or later he was going to have to give her back her phone. There was only so much sulking and heavy sighing he could cope with under the misery of jetlag.
‘Well, I’m not quick to judge anyone but—’
He laughed. ‘Miss Winters, that was almost genuine.’ He smirked. ‘Almost, but not quite.’
She thrust a beer into his hands and looked a little contrite. It was cute … and hot. God, how long had it been since he had even noticed if someone was cute or hot? Sometimes that was the cause of a marriage break-up, but in his case he wasn’t sure he had ever had a chance.
‘If you must know, speaking as someone who invited you for dinner, and hoping it won’t be held against me on a professional level … I’m struggling a little with the whole Go-To Girl scenario.’
‘You are?’ He was intrigued.
‘It’s just, Christmas at Breekers London, it’s always very, very busy. I have client meetings—’
‘You mean parties,’ Chase interrupted.
‘So, some of them may be along the lines of a meeting in the evening, with perhaps some wine but—’
‘A party.’
‘It’s more to it than that,’ she said, sounding flustered. ‘I have the Ridgepoint Hospital project at a very difficult stage and—’
‘You don’t have time for me, Miss Winters?’ Chase asked. ‘Is that what you’re saying.’
‘No … I—’
‘You don’t have time for the CEO of Breekers International?’
‘I wasn’t exactly saying that.’
‘Hey, I know all about multi-tasking. I’m the guy who turned up here with two kids and no one to look after them.’
‘So, you understand my dilemma?’
He watched her pour herself another glass of wine.
‘Absolutely,’ he agreed with a nod. ‘That’s why we’re both gonna delegate.’
‘We are?’
‘Sure,’ he said. ‘I’m gonna find someone to mind my kids from tomorrow and you’re gonna delegate your hospital project to the guy I met earlier. What was his name? Aaron?’
Chase had said Aaron with soft ‘A’s. And right now Isla wasn’t of the mind to correct him. She wasn’t just about to hand her hospital project over. She had spent months building a relationship with the NHS trust involved. She prided herself on her personal service. That’s what got her recommendations and referrals and clients requesting to work with her. She was going to tell him, right now, that this was not how it was going to go.
‘I need you working with me on the super-hotel project,’ Chase said. ‘I have a lot of work to do in only a couple weeks. I need the best Breekers London has and I’ve heard that’s you.’
Had he heard that? Her first thought was to plump up like a turkey being fattened for Christmas, feathers erect, wattle shaking. Then she came to. He was skilled in getting people to do what he wanted. He was a business coach. This was cheap flattery.
‘You mentioned Aaron,’ Isla began, taking a sip from her wineglass. ‘He’s very good too. And he did love the whole entertainment habitual vacation concept.’
‘I want you,’ Chase reiterated.
Had he deliberately made his voice provocative then? If he had it was working and she utterly hated that fact. And the way his dark eyelashes were framing those deep russet eyes …
‘I know you’re not one hundred per cent on board with this yet, but I think I can bring you around,’ Chase said, swigging back his beer. ‘And, like I said, I want you for this. You know all the people around here, they like you.’ He smiled. ‘Liking someone goes a long way, even in the hard, crazy world of the construction business.’
She suddenly stood up straight, body reacting to a niggling feeling in response to his words. ‘They like me because I’m good at my job and because I tell them the truth. Not because I wear a dress and heels and can throw a party.’
‘I thought nothing else,’ he responded.
She needed to calm down a little. Think logically. Perhaps she could give something to this venture. Maybe, if she did work alongside him in this, she could even get him to scale it down. Perhaps she could make him see that Breekers’ first foray into the hotel business might be best done with baby steps not footprints the size of a triceratops.
‘So, what do you say?’ Chase asked. ‘Before we end work talk.’ His eyes met hers. ‘Are we gonna work together?’
She swallowed. Did she really have a choice? She suspected not if she wanted to keep her job. But at least she had voiced her concerns and he seemed to realise she was a little more than a secretary-cum-childminder.
‘Okay,’ Isla replied, moving towards the hallway.
‘Okay?’ Chase asked. ‘We’re good?’ He stepped in behind her.
‘I’ll speak to Aaron about taking on a little of the hospital project tomorrow.’
‘Atta girl,’ Chase said, patting her shoulder. ‘If I’m honest, I find it hard to delegate too. It’s a pretty much constant learning curve.’
His thumb and forefinger grazed her collarbone and she realised then it was the first time a man had touched skin since the impasse with Ptolemy. Perhaps she did need a horse … or maybe the couple at number eleven’s neglected cat.
Twenty-Five
Maddie put a playing card down. ‘Lightning bolt!’
‘Carrot!’ Hannah called.
‘Ice cube!’ Another card went down.
‘Question mark!’
‘Spider!’ Chase leapt in. He pressed his card to the pack on the cleared coffee table, back to its original position, and revealed it was his last.
‘Oh, Daddy!’ Maddie squealed. ‘How can you win on your first try?’
‘I can’t believe you’ve never played Dobble before,’ Hannah remarked, picking up the cards.
‘It’s a bit lame,’ Brooke announced.
Isla smiled. Brooke had joined in as soon as she had seen how much fun the card game was and had even won a couple of rounds.
It had been a light-hearted ev
ening. Here they were, an eclectic mix, being brought together by lasagne, red wine – of which Isla had had four glasses now – an addictive children’s card game and a super-hotel. But it had been relaxing. Chase had been true to his word and not spoken any more about work and Hannah and Maddie had chatted at breakneck pace, with Brooke chipping in with the occasional retort or eye-roll, but in an almost non-combative way.
Isla watched Chase look at his mobile phone and then he got to his feet. ‘We should go.’
‘Aww!’ wailed Maddie. ‘One more game!’
‘It’s late,’ Chase said. ‘And your mom’s called a few times. We ought to FaceTime before you go to bed.’
‘Ugh!’ Brooke groaned, standing up and flicking her hair back. ‘She’s gonna moan about something I posted on Twitter. I swear she’s cloned my phone.’
‘What did you post on Twitter?’ Chase queried, his tone a little concerned. He patted his trouser pocket. ‘Did you take your phone back?’ He looked at his daughter. ‘Brooke.’
‘It had nothing to do with salt,’ Brooke retorted.
‘You could always delete the tweet,’ Hannah suggested. ‘Even if she’s seen it, it might help if it’s not there any more.’
‘Believe me,’ Brooke said, facing Hannah. ‘My mom will have screenshotted it.’
Isla got up and passed Maddie her coat, gloves and scarf. ‘Here we are. I think they’re just about dry before you go out into the snow again.’
‘Thank you,’ Maddie said, taking the items. ‘And thank you for dinner. It was awesome.’
‘Wow,’ Isla said. ‘Awesome. That’s quite a compliment.’
‘What I think Maddie meant to say was “frightfully nice”,’ Chase said with a grin.
‘You are way too good at the British accent,’ Hannah commented, wheeling herself into Chase’s space. ‘You should really do something with that.’
‘Pur-lease don’t encourage him,’ Brooke begged.
‘I will see you tomorrow, Miss Winters,’ Chase said. ‘Thank you for dinner. It was awesome.’