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‘Turnover? Money?’
She shrugged, bored with this conversation. ‘Maybe. I said you were doin’ all right, although you could pay me a little more.’ She said this so matter-of-factly I wanted to laugh.
‘If I could, you know I would.’ I smiled at her as she rolled her eyes. ‘Did he look like he was going to book a tour?’
‘Er, he was asking about that India one, you know the one that’s going tits up.’ She yawned.
‘It’s not going tits up.’ I pursed my lips at her. ‘It’s just had a few not so great reviews, that’s all.’ Getting to the bottom of why was high on my to-do list. We had been lucky to receive almost five stars for every other trip we offered, and the India trip had initially received similar reviews, but now it just felt like the black sheep of the family.
She nodded slowly. ‘Well anyway, I gave him the brochure.’
‘OK, good,’ I mumbled distractedly. There was another Indian tour leaving in a few weeks and I was determined to make sure this one was the best ever.
‘Hey, what’s with that face?’ Ben asked as he put his phone down and got up to flick on the kettle.
‘Nothing. Just thinking about those Indian reviews again.’ I sighed. ‘Kelli was just with a customer asking about going to India with us. I can’t face another set of one stars.’
Ben got the milk out of the fridge. ‘Don’t worry, Georgia. Our winning streak was bound to come to an end one day. I’m amazed we’ve managed to notch up so many five stars already. It’s only normal that we’re not going to please everyone.’
‘But we should! We work hard in picking the best tour guides, the nicest hotels, the funnest activities,’ I half cried. ‘Every tour should go without a hitch.’
‘Yeah and My Chemical Romance should get back together and tour again, but not everything we want works out,’ Kelli piped up.
‘Thanks for that, Kel, really helpful,’ I said sarcastically.
‘She’s right, you know,’ Ben said, passing me a full-to-the-brim cup of tea. I took the mug and smiled gratefully. On the front was a photo of us from the local paper when we opened our business just last year. We looked so happy, unaware of what we were getting ourselves into and the adventures that lay ahead. I still cherished this mug even if the dishwasher had smeared off most of the colour and my smile had faded half away.
‘Cheers,’ I said and he winked back. ‘What do you mean she’s right?’
‘Well, I know we want to offer the best tours to our customers and make everyone who comes in this shop or travels with us happier than they were before they met us, but it doesn’t always work like that, Georgia. We can’t fix everyone’s problems. Getting some duff reviews is just part and parcel of this business, especially when we’re working with some very heartbroken people. It’s just the way it is.’ He shrugged and sat back at his desk.
I sighed. Maybe he was right. Maybe the perfectionist in me needed to just chill out. ‘But don’t you think it’s weird that a lot of these reviews are coming from the Indian tour?’
‘I’ve been to India a few times. That is one crazy place.’ Ben shook his head, lost in some memory. ‘I bet those people struggled with the country rather than our tour. It’s a whole other world over there, far removed from the life we live here and for some that culture shock is too much to take. Come on, please don’t get stressed about it. Like you say, we have the best guides, the best trips planned and we give it one hundred per cent, but we can’t control everything.’
I nodded slowly. ‘I guess.’
‘So, how was your dad’s birthday meal? Did they like the restaurant?’ Ben asked, changing the subject.
I tapped my forehead. ‘Oh my God, I completely forgot to tell you.’
‘Tell me what?’
‘OK, well you know that sales guy Dan at Itchy Feet?’ Ben nodded slowly. ‘Well, I managed to negotiate a very good rate on us getting some advertising space with them. Forty per cent off!’
He raised his eyebrows. ‘Wow, how did you manage that?’
‘My womanly charms.’ I grinned. ‘I sent the copy over last night and we should be in the next issue coming out in a few weeks.’
Ben’s smile faded in a second. ‘What?’
‘I needed to act quickly on this offer as Dan had others waiting and there was no way I was going to let Totally Awesome Adventours take it.’
‘Wait – so you signed off on this and sent over copy without speaking to me first?’
I nodded, my bubble of excitement popping. ‘Yeah, ‘cause if I didn’t we would have lost it,’ I said quietly, feeling the atmosphere close in around me. Kelli sensed the mood and nipped to the loo, mumbling something on her way past.
‘Georgia,’ Ben snapped. ‘You promised me that big decisions like this, decisions that cost money, would always be made together. Even with the discount this has probably wiped out our advertising budget.’
‘I’m sorry; I just didn’t want us to lose out.’
‘That’s the oldest trick in the book: say you’ve got others interested to make the first shmuck agree to the sale before thinking it over.’
‘Oh.’
‘Yep, oh.’ He rubbed his face. He seemed a lot more tired these days. ‘I thought we had an agreement that we didn’t make any big decisions without checking with each other first.’
My cheeks felt flushed. ‘I’m sorry. I thought I was doing the right thing; you’ll see, this will bring in loads of business.’ I laughed weakly, hoping that I would be proved right.
The afternoon flew by and before I knew it Kelli had clocked off in a whirlwind of nerves for her gig tonight, leaving just Ben and me finally alone.
‘I am sorry about the advert thing,’ I said as I emptied my waste-paper bin.
‘It’s fine. I’m sorry for flying off the handle.’ Ben flashed a genuine smile. ‘I just want you to know that I’m here to help. I want this business to work just as much as you do.’ He placed a warm hand on my shoulder that gave me a tingle of excitement. My body just seemed to melt at his touch, no matter how small or infrequently it happened.
‘I know.’ I smiled at him, hoping I didn’t have any poppy seeds stuck in my teeth after inhaling a bagel at my desk earlier.
‘Right, well I’d better be making a move; I said I’d go and get changed and then help Kel set up,’ he said, taking his hand away and breaking the moment. ‘Did you know Jimmy and Shelley are coming too?’
‘Yeah, she sent me an email about it earlier. Something about how there was no way she would refuse the offer of curry no matter how bad Kelli’s band might be.’ I hadn’t seen Ben’s best mate Jimmy and his girlfriend, my backpacker friend Shelley, for ages, even though we lived in the same city now. As much as the sound of Kel’s emo band wasn’t getting me excited I did have to admit it would be nice to actually be out in the real world with real friends and to be hanging out with Ben away from work. This had been the first ‘date’ that Ben had asked me on. OK, so officially it wasn’t a date when I’d be stood in a sea of faces in close proximity to Ben, cringing as Jimmy did his best Bez impression but still it was a chance to socialise outside of this place.
‘Cool, well. I’ll see you later then, Georgia. You sure you’re OK to lock up by yourself?’
I shooed him away. ‘Tsk. Course I am. I’ll see you all soon; save me a spot in the crowd.’
Ben looked as if he was going to say something else but stopped himself and gave me a quick wave as he left the shop. I was going to tie up some loose ends and be on my way. I was definitely going to be out of here at a reasonable hour, proving to my parents that I had more going on in my life than just work.
Only sending one email became ten and now I was late. Very late. I’d planned to go home, take a soak in the bath, maybe even paint my nails and leisurely get ready. I used to love the whole prep part of a night out. Me and Marie would crank up the stereo, pour huge glugs of cold white wine and dance around as we preened ourselves before falling into a taxi in a fit of giggles and excitement at what the night could hold. Most of the time getting ready was the best part. I’d never really got into the whole clubbing scene and hated feeling like I was on show as nameless strangers wandered past unsteadily holding a pint of lager and looking us up and down. We’d eventually return home with our purses lighter and feet heavy, telling ourselves we were too old for this until the next time when the ritual would start all over again. I really did need to get in touch with Marie; how long had it been since I’d seen her? My mobile phone buzzed on my messy desk, breaking my thoughts.
‘Hey, I’m on my way!’ I said quickly to Ben.
‘Georgia. Are you still in the office?’ he asked. I could sense a sharpness in his tone.
‘Yep but I swear I was just heading out the door then I realised that we hadn’t sent out the itineraries for the Iceland trip, which I know was my job to do but it completely slipped my mind. Anyway I’m leaving right now …’ I babbled.
Ben cut me off; I could hear the disappointment in his voice. ‘Georgia, you promised Kel that you wouldn’t be late.’ His voice grew quieter, smaller against the thrum from the room he was in. ‘She’s counting on us to be there to support her; you know, put this teamwork theory into practice. Also, Jimmy and Shell have been asking where you are.’
‘I know. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to get caught up in work. I’ll be there before you know it –’ My stomach sank. I honestly hadn’t meant to let work get in the way of this evening.
‘Just try your best, please. Listen I need to go. The warm-up act have nearly finished.’ With that he hung up.
Double shit. I kicked the leg of my desk, causing my ticket to the event to flutter gently onto the floor. Picking it up, I glanced at the clock. If I could grab a taxi right now I’d still make it. Yeah, so I’d be the only one dressed for the office but at least I’d be there. I put on my jacket and turned off my laptop, hoping there would be a long queue of black cabs waiting patiently at the side of the main street. I plonked my handbag on my desk to find my keys and accidentally pushed a pile of papers that I hadn’t had time to sort through onto the floor.
‘Bugger.’ I leant down to pick up the loose sheets of paper, scribbled notes and brochures. I scooped them up and dumped them on my desk, trying not to freak out at how disorganised my work space looked when I noticed a pale grey sheet of paper sticking out. This was from Kelli’s pad when she passed us messages.
‘Another one star review. For India tour. Seriously tits up!!’ she’d scrawled.
I hurriedly read the text she’d printed off the internet and felt a little bubble of sick rise up. All the other reviews we had received had been slightly negative but this took it to a whole other level. Personal, vitriolic, scathing and full of detail with not one spelling mistake to be seen. I flicked open my laptop and waited for it to come back to life before quickly typing in the web address where this review was posted; it linked to a travel blog that I’d never read before. This one post had received hundreds of likes and comments and been shared a stupid amount of times. It even came with its own hashtag. This was serious. With our next Indian tour taking place soon and it being one of our biggest earners, I had to do something right now.
I grabbed my phone, jabbing in Kelli’s mobile number to see if she’d seen any more reviews like this without telling us. Her answerphone rang on a few seconds later, reminding me that she would be warming up for her gig. I sighed and went to call Ben when I stopped. If I told him about it now he’d know I was still in the office and would tell me to leave it, that it could wait until tomorrow, but I knew that it couldn’t. I needed to sort this out myself. Right now.
I quickly jabbed a text message to Shelley telling her I was running late but would be with them all soon, shrugged my jacket off and flicked the lights back on. Work had to come first. There would be other gigs; surely Kelli and Ben would understand. Wouldn’t they?
CHAPTER 4 (#ulink_86447aba-4549-5bce-8dfd-80a354bcf47f)
Spontaneous (adj.) Arising from a momentary impulse
I turned my phone off after it started beeping constantly with texts from Shelley asking where I was, telling me how great Kelli’s band actually were, and how there was still enough curry left for me to join them. I needed to concentrate. I couldn’t let my business go the same way that my social life was – down the shitter.
Christmas and new year had been a whirlwind of activity as we wanted to attract the resolution crowds, fired up to make this year the one in which they followed their dreams and travelled. Then Valentine’s Day came and went with a silly amount of bookings for single people determined not to sit at home and sob. It was also the time when I lost the courage I had been building up to ask Ben out for a coffee or maybe even a dinner date as we were both at different networking events. So what if my love life was non-existent? At least our business was going from strength to strength, all because of hard work, determination and sacrifice; tonight was just one of those sacrifices.
The Indian tour guide, Nihal, wasn’t answering any of the numbers we had for him. I let out a deep sigh as I realised that it was silly o’clock in the morning over there so no wonder my emails went unanswered and he wasn’t online on Skype. I was about to draft a firmly worded email to the author of the awful blog post asking them to take it down when the door to the shop was flung open. I must have forgotten to lock it after Ben left.
‘We’re closed,’ I called out, as I tried to work out the best way to start a conversation with an internet troll.
‘Hey! You never close; that’s the problem.’ Shelley beamed at me, holding two bottles of wine in her outstretched arms, her pretty doll-like face looking slightly squiffy.
‘What are you doing here?’ I got up and hugged her; she smelt like a curry house, and my stomach gurgled loudly. ‘Thought you were all at Kelli’s gig?’
‘Well when you said you were running late I figured I’d have to come here and drag you out with the incentive of wine. But the gig finished, the curry ran out and still there was no sign of you. Anyway how are you doing? You look like shit by the way,’ she said in her throaty Australian accent, peering at me through glassy eyes. The gig must have been good.
‘Thanks, Shell, always a pleasure to see you too.’ I half smiled and took the wine from her, locking the shop door behind her. ‘I look like shit because I’ve just found yet another bad review for one of our tours, the nastiest one we’ve ever had. Made worse by the fact it seems to have gone viral and the bloody tour guide has gone AWOL so I can’t get to the bottom of what’s happened.’
‘Ah. Right.’ She nodded along as she rummaged in the kitchen for two clean mugs. ‘What’s that mean?’
I sighed and ran my fingers through my knotted hair. ‘It means that I couldn’t make it to Kelli’s gig, that I couldn’t stomach eating a curry as the only Indian thing my brain is processing is how stressed out I am at trying to track Nihal down. It means we have paying customers planning to head to Delhi in two weeks for a Lonely Hearts Indian Tour with an apparently absent tour guide. And it also means that both Ben and Kel are probably really pissed off with me for not making it tonight, especially as I go on so much about the value of teamwork.’ I sighed and massaged my temples.
‘Ah, yup, that is a kick in the balls,’ Shelley said filling up the mugs with wine and passing me one. I took it gratefully. ‘Well, if we’re not going to be leaving here anytime soon then the least I can do is help you figure this out. Sit down and tell me everything.’
So I did, in between filling up our mugs and cracking open bottle number two I told her how important it was that this tour still took place, how hard we had worked to secure Nihal, who had come highly recommended, as well as the other suppliers that I’d personally hand-picked, spent ages interviewing via Skype and God knows how much cash on promoting this route. ‘Crap!’ I slapped my hand to my head, leaving wine residue on my forehead. ‘I’ve just forked out a shit ton of money to Itchy Feet.’
‘Itchy what?’ Shelley laughed.
‘Itchy Feet – it’s, like, the number one travel magazine, and I paid for us to advertise the sodding Indian tour.’ I pounded my fist on my desk. What an idiot. ‘Ben doesn’t know about this yet. I thought I’d try and fix it without bothering him about it.’
‘Hmm, so about Ben. What’s going on with you two?’ She tucked her legs under herself.
‘Nothing,’ I said forcefully before downing the rest of my drink. ‘Pass that wine, would you?’
‘Here, top me up too.’ She leant over and grabbed the bottle, knocking off a stack of brochures to the floor but I felt too stressed even to flinch at the mess. ‘Well here’s the thing, Georgia, and I’m going to tell it to you straight.’ Her eyes had gone even more squiffy as she tried to focus on me, pointing her finger out. ‘You’re a workaholic.’
‘What? No I’m not.’ I pushed her accusing finger away and filled my mug to the brim, spilling some on my trousers.
‘You are. You’re a workaholic who is SO determined to make this business a success that you’ve forgotten everything else in your life, including finding the courage to actually make a move with Ben.’ She sat back with a smug look on her alcohol-flushed cheeks.
I huffed. ‘Shell, I appreciate your opinion but I’m not a workaholic. I’ve just invested a lot of time and cash into the business and I need for it to go well, that’s all. I’m just like any other business owner.’
She raised an eyebrow. ‘Right. So where’s Ben then? Your business partner? If you were running this together why isn’t he here working all hours?’
I gave her a look. ‘He works hard.’
‘Yes, but he also knows when to take a break and, you know, live a little. He really missed you tonight,’ she said, making my heart flutter.
‘Really? He said that?’
‘Well, not in so many words.’ The butterflies that had been prancing in my empty stomach stopped doing the conga and played dead. ‘But I know he felt it. You two are made for each other. Everyone can see that apart from the bloody pair of you.’
‘You really think that?’ I asked, feeling the warming glow of the cheap wine kicking in.
She nodded her head. ‘Tsk, course, we all do. But you know, Romeo would never have gone all lovey-dovey for Juliet if he thought she wasn’t interested in him. Instead he’d probably have copped off with some distant Capulet cousin or some shit, got married and had loads of Leo lookalike children whilst Juliet just grew old and shrivelled up, kicking herself that she hadn’t been brave enough to tell him how she felt.’
I laughed. ‘I bet old Shakespeare would be turning in his grave hearing your version of the greatest love story of all time.’
‘I’m serious, Georgia. How do you expect Ben to make a move if he doesn’t even know you have the world’s biggest crush on him? Ain’t no way he’d risk asking you out on a date and be knocked back then have to work together, dying of wounded pride as the business collapsed due to the stale atmosphere that would cause.’
I was beginning to feel like this was the Spanish Inquisition with both Shelley and my parents questioning me about my non-existent love life. ‘I think he knows.’
She let out a throaty laugh. ‘He’s a guy, Georgia. They never know, unless you’re stood butt naked waving a condom in the air.’
‘Well, he comments on my appearance, says I look nice.’ I cringed thinking about the unplanned makeover that Kelli had given me the other day. That wasn’t quite the glamorous look I was going for. ‘I always make sure I put the radiator near him up higher than mine so he stays nice and warm and he notices that.’
She scratched her head, humouring me. ‘Oh wow, and what else?’
‘Well he, erm, he always makes me tea in my favourite mug – the one with our picture on. Oh yeah, and we have this little shared joke … well, we did … where each of us would try to drop random words in on phone calls with suppliers; we haven’t done that for a while actually, but it was really funny,’ I said thinking out loud. I was struggling now. Maybe I wasn’t putting out any please-take-me-to-bed subliminal messages, but then again, neither was he. And I needed to act like I didn’t care. I just wished I could stop my heart whispering that I blatantly did. Shut up and just do your job pumping blood, my brain growled back.
‘Hmm.’ She rolled her eyes, looking majorly unimpressed with my seduction skills. ‘Well if you want my opinion …’
‘Do I want your opinion?’
‘Yes. If you want my opinion, the girl he was crazy for back in Thailand seems to have stayed on that beach.’
‘What?’
‘I’m just saying the fun, carefree, live-for-the-moment Georgia that he first met isn’t here any more.’ She gulped her wine, ignoring my look of surprise. ‘When did you last do something just for fun? And I don’t mean playing lame word bingo on the phone, I mean really fun?’
I took a long sip thinking about it. ‘Drinking wine in the office is fun, risqué even.’ I winked as she tutted.
‘I’m serious, Georgia. Where’s the girl I met who would go skinny-dipping in the Thai ocean, who had the balls to travel solo after being left jilted, who would say only yes to new things, not check if she could fit them into her busy schedule first?’
