Secrets at Meadowbrook Manor

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‘Not exactly,’ Pippa huffed.

‘Look, Pip, I hope she works out, I really do, and I’m glad you two get on so well, I’m just saying that perhaps if we get her to do a presentation for us, then we’ll have a clearer idea about her proposals for Meadowbrook and if she even has any. I’m not doing this to be horrible, but it is business at the end of the day.’ Harriet sounded kinder.

‘We are paying her a decent salary, after all,’ Gus concurred.

Gemma liked him a little bit less.

‘Yes, and if we’re ever going to open this hotel, we need to get plans underway,’ Freddie stated. ‘Sooner rather than later.’

Gemma balked – it wasn’t as if he seemed to do any work, after all.

‘Well, I suppose asking her to present her ideas isn’t too bad. After all, I am confident she has loads of them,’ Pippa conceded. ‘But let me tell her. You guys – well not you, Gus – but you two will probably scare her off if you do it.’

Gemma scurried away before she got caught.

Her heart pounded as she shut the door. She had known she wouldn’t be able to pull it off. But then she had to – she had no choice. They were going to ask her to present her ideas. She didn’t have any, well she did, but she didn’t have anything like a clear plan yet. She’d have to get one done and quickly.

She propped herself up on the bed, the bed that might not be hers for much longer, and sipped her cold tea. Then she pulled her books out from under the bed and opened one entitled A Practical Guide to Opening a Hotel, and began to read.

Chapter 9 (#ulink_d103decd-55de-5268-ace3-03d6d856c50d)

‘Ow, Fred, you kicked me,’ Pippa shouted.

Freddie glared from across the table. Gemma let herself glance, briefly, at him. She had a good idea of what was coming but, of course, she kept quiet. They were having breakfast, and Gemma couldn’t shake the conversations she’d overheard yesterday. This always happened to her, didn’t it? No one thought she was ever good enough. Gemma tried to breathe – drowning in self-pity doesn’t do anyone any good, she heard her nan’s voice saying.

‘Sorry,’ Freddie mumbled, ‘it was an accident.’

‘Gemma, the thing is that Harry and the others, well me too, of course, but not me as much as the others—’

‘Pip, spit it out,’ Freddie interrupted.

‘Sorry.’ Poor Pippa looked both uncomfortable and distraught. ‘The thing is that well, of course, you have your month’s trial, which I didn’t want, but anyway, we were wondering if you’d be able to give us a presentation at the end of it, so we can all sort of see where we are with the hotel planning so far.’ Pippa looked down, unable to meet Gemma’s gaze.

For selfish reasons, Gemma might not be thrilled about it, but of course they were perfectly within their rights, actually sensible, to do this. She just needed to pull the presentation off in order to keep her job. And at the moment, she was still pretty unsure if she could.

‘Of course, I was going to do that anyway,’ Gemma fibbed. ‘At the moment, I have so many ideas that they all need putting in some kind of order, which was my next step, so no problem.’ She smiled broadly. ‘But also, Pippa, I’ve made a list of five of the nearest small hotels in Somerset, and I thought we could visit them all – research purposes. I want to show you what’s already out there. Mostly so we make sure we do something different, stand out.

‘And, Freddie, we need to have a proper chat about the bar you’re planning. I have already started looking into the licences and legalities, but it would be good if we could start talking through the details.’ She felt her leg shaking under the table, but she hoped she sounded professional.

‘Of course,’ Freddie replied, surprise lacing his voice.

‘Great.’ Gemma smiled. ‘So, Pippa, how about today for the hotel visits? No time like the present.’

‘Oh, I’d love that,’ Pippa squealed in delight. ‘And we get to spend the day together!’ She really needed to take “boss” lessons from Harriet.

‘And I’ll start putting down my bar ideas today as well,’ Freddie said. ‘Then we can have a meeting.’ He seemed to have a found little bit of respect in his voice too, as he gave her one of his gorgeous smiles, which almost made her melt.