After All - Part Twenty Two

Chapter Twenty Two

Less than an hour later, her brain still aching from the anger of the moment, the confrontation, Mattie was groaning as she dropped her head into her spare hand, the phone glued to her ear, “are you sure?”

Mark, the receptionist who was on the other end of the call gave a “yup. She has a note from Paul promising her a meeting room and a buffet for forty five for half twelve. The kitchen has no record either. They can try their best, but it might eat into their prep for lunch...then there’s the lack of venue. The bars all have bookings.”

Mattie sighed, when would the legacy of Paul Simmonds end? She had to try her best to honour the booking, so hanging up she called the kitchen. There was protest and anger, but finally one of the chefs promised to supervise having the buffet made up. Mattie hung up then grabbed her phone and made for the reception. She’s literally made three paces from her office when she literally bumped into Dylan and his new left hand Louise.

                “We’ve got a list of things that apparently only you know about.” Dylan offered stiffly. He was obviously still smarting from their argument. But she didn’t have the time to help them, not at that moment.

                “Sorry, got a minor emergency...can I come back to you? Or better yet email me and I’ll get on it as SOON as I get back to my desk.” That was a compromise, wasn’t it? Put it top of her list of priorities once she’d dealt with an emergency because the hotel’s reputation was important, very important.

As Dylan nodded a little bewildered, she noted the scowl from Louise, she obviously didn’t appreciate that Mattie had a job to do, one that made demands of her. She responded to the look with the cheesiest grin she had. She didn’t care what this woman thought, she had a job to do, and as she’d told Dylan THAT was her priority.

Mrs Payne was the secretary for the chairman of the biggest import company based in the area, Simon Gore ran a million pound business out of Gatwick airport, and the fact that they’d chosen their hotel for a meeting was to Mattie a huge scoop. As she smiled at the PA she glanced over at Mark the receptionist, “can we show Mrs Payne here to the board room?”

Mark’s eyes widened, the boardroom was the room adjacent to Mattie’s office in the management suite, an area that they kept away from the public. Mattie gave a confident nod, “I’ll just check that the coffee is on its way up there. I do apologise again for the mix up Mrs Payne.”

The older women smiled, “on the contrary, you’ve been more than accommodating Miss Davies.”

Mattie smiled, “call me Mattie please. Now Mark here will show you to the boardroom, I need you to ensure that it’s suitable for your meeting. If it is, I’ll get it set up as soon as possible.”

She didn’t offer a plan B as there wasn’t one, not really, she had to pray that the boardroom sufficed for their needs, and as the receptionist took the woman off in the direction of her office, she crossed her finger behind her back, this had to work.

Once they were out of sight, she ran towards the kitchen. Leon the chef on duty was known for being temperamental, so she walked up to him, “thank you so much for being SO cooperative over this, I can’t thank you enough.”

Leon might have a short fuse, but he also responded well to flattery, “well it’s my job...I can hardly complain.”

Mattie pulled one of her dazzling smiles out of the bag and said, “I will remember this Leon, thank you. If you need anything I’ll be in my office.”

He nodded, and she knew his male bravado would win out.

Cutting back through reception she saw Mark approaching, “she loves it. She’s up there now on the phone.”

Mattie nodded, “ok, they’ll need the meeting packs up there, you know the books, the pens, all that stuff, it's all in the store room. Can you get them? I’ll find out if she needs hardware. Thanks Mark.”

He smiled, “no problem.”

After providing a projector and a couple of flip charts, Mrs Payne was happy, and Mattie breathed a sigh of relief. Once she got back to her office she slumped in the chair with relief, her emails were flashing desperately, and she had a lot to do. But first she needed a moment to herself and a coffee.  As she reached for the jug her office phone started to ring, at the same time her mobile did too.  When she glanced up from her desk, Louise was stood there.

                “Can I have a moment?”

Mattie didn’t want to seem disruptive, but she was up to her eyes, “in the middle of another crisis. Can I come to you in a minute?”

The other woman backed out but didn’t look happy.

By mid afternoon she had dealt with the most pressing issues, the meeting in the boardroom was going well, from what she could work out. She’d had a couple of promising responses from the sports and media ages that she had managed to get details for, and the plumber who was in charge of the new bathrooms in the bedrooms that were being updated called her. There was an issue with the hot water entry and the shower units they’d chosen.

Sighing she picked up her phone and left her office, and hurtled straight into Dylan.

                “Louise has been trying to speak to you all day...” the frostiness was still there, but this time she could hear anger too.

She lifted a hand in protest, “Dylan, I’m trying to run a hotel here, she has access to everything she needs...I have to go...”

As she walked away with an apologetic smile, he called after her, “Matilda, I know you’re upset I didn’t warn you, but this really is all a bit childish.”

She turned back to him, shaking her head, “I am smoothing things over, keeping this place running. Do you have a problem with that?”

He laughed, “making yourself indispensible...is that your agenda?”

She could feel her jaw open in shock, “Dylan. I will pretend you haven’t said that.”

But as she headed to the lifts and the next disaster on her list, she couldn’t get the unsaid implications that the comment was loaded with out of her head.

It was almost seven when she got changed and left the hotel, she was determined not to speak to Dylan, his accusation of her being childish and manipulative earlier had really riled her, and it was taking her a long time to calm down.

As she sat on the tube, heading back to London, her phone pinged with an email; opening it she recognised Dylan’s email address. Taking a deep breathed she clicked on the item.

                “I was out of order earlier, you naturally problem solve and that’s what you’re good at I’m sorry that I hinted at something else. I’m just getting some grief from interested parties back in the States about why I bought the hotel, I’m accountable to investors. Anyway, the sooner this is done, the sooner I can get on with things. Please don’t be too mad with me, but PLEASE cooperate with Louise tomorrow. I’ve got to head back to New York late afternoon; I’m hoping all this will be done first. Ok? Have a good night; see you in the morning, Dylan.”

She sighed, if only life was as simple as it seemed to be for Dylan.

When Mattie walked into her office the following morning she almost jumped a mile to find Louise sat at the meeting table waiting for her.

                “What are you doing in here?” She asked. It was her own personal space, she felt a little invaded, and as she watched the other woman smile, she knew that was an intentional move.

                “I’ve been trying to get a list of documents out of you for three days...I thought as you were always so busy, I’d get in before you were dragged off to some desperate emergency, I mean who’d have thought that a pokey little hotel like this would be fraught with full on emergencies?”

Mattie was suddenly very wary of the venom in the other woman’s voice, she wasn’t dressed for work, her clothes were in her adjacent shower room, but she didn’t want to leave this woman there, in her office without her.

                “It’s not a pokey little hotel.” When the other woman shrugged she thought of Dylan and his plea, “Ok. I’ll help you before I get changed. What do you need?”

She fired up her computer and started to search, print and email various files to Louise, who remained sat in her place at the table, demanding. She was sending, formatting and creating dozens of files, and she almost laughed at the fact that she was doing the work for Louise. Now really wasn’t the time to hint at that.

Dylan had escaped to London the previous night; he was already fed up with things. Louise was like a dog with a bone, insistent, persistent, and unremitting about the failures of Matilda, and he only became more defensive about that. Until Louise had arrived they’d got on well, at work anyway, he trusted Matilda, him handing carte blanche over the refurb plans only went to prove that.

So what had changed?

The previous evening Louise had told him that she thought Matilda was taking advantage of him, playing him. That had stunned him, it had no foundation, he was sure of that. Even if it was true, it wasn’t anything to do with Louise, not really, but then she had hinted that he was letting standards slip, that he was making excuses for her, and he started to feel angry. At what he wasn’t sure. Nevertheless, he hated that he was starting to believe her, to doubt Matilda, but it was better than doubting himself. Louise had a point, he knew he’d not let anyone else deal with him the way Matilda did, but that didn’t mean she was taking advantage of that. Things were different, that was all, they had history. Whilst he didn’t truly believe that, he was starting to fall out of control, a place he hadn’t been in years.

Taking a deep breath, he took his brief case out of the back seat of his car and marched into the reception of the hotel, this was going to be a better day; he had a lot to do before he flew back to New York.

Hermione was on reception and gifted him with one of his dazzling smiles.

                “Hi Hermione, can you make sure I have a taxi booked for two pm, I have a flight to New York at five.”

She nodded, “what airport?”

                “Heathrow, Terminal Five.”

As she smiled to inform him that she would, he heard a shout coming from the suite of management offices. His heart sank, “thanks, I’d better...um...” He nodded in the direction of the offices with a grimace.

He moved around the corner at a fast walk...not quite a run, but he could hear the shouts becoming clearer as he got closer.

                “How DARE you accuse me of loading my work on to you? Since I walked into this building you have not stopped making things difficult! You have blocked everything I do, everything I’ve asked you. My only question is why?”

He’d never heard Louise so angry, so animated, but he reply was as cool as he’d ever seen Matilda.

                “I am not your servant, I work for this hotel and Dylan, I don’t have to answer to you, and I won’t.”

Dylan had heard enough, this was exactly what Louise had predicted, Matilda was using her relationship with him to influence things. He swayed a little, just for a second, as that realisation cut him like a knife; he’d given her so much, so many opportunities.

Throwing open the door he had a split second to take in the scene, Louise stood almost in tears, Matilda sat behind her desk dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, the only emotion he could sense in her was smugness - if that was even an emotion.

                “What the hell is going on?”

Both sets of eyes flew to him as he spoke.

                “It’s not...” Louise gushed as she rushed towards him, but his eyes remained on Matilda who was lounging back in her chair watching the events.

                “Louise, go to my office, I’ll speak to you there.” As she scurried away, he kept his eyes trained on Matilda, “what was that all about?”

She shrugged, “she broke into my office then asked me to do all the work for her, NOT help. I did as you asked, I tried, but SHE is taking the piss out of me Dylan. I have my own work to do, I can’t do hers too. Now can I get changed?”

Dylan was about to speak, when she got up and marched off to her shower room, leaving him flummoxed and silenced.

Stomping back to his office he found Louise sat at the desk still looking devastated.

                “Well?” He stood in the centre of the room, his arms folded and stared at her, he wasn’t about to back down.

Louise looked close to tears, “I’ve told you that she was trying things on, that she was being obstructive.”

                “She said you asked her to do your work.”

Louise’s eyes snapped up to his eyes, “she knew where everything was, all I asked was her to find things for me.”

Dylan stared at her unsure of how to play this out, “she’s a good worker Louise, I told you that.”

Louise shook her head, “you’ve known me for five years Dylan, when have I ever let you down, when have you ever doubted me?”

He paced across the office, not knowing what to believe, “never, yet.”

                “You’ve only been here for a couple of months, why would you believe her over me?”

He laughed, “well there lies the tale, I’ve known Matilda Davies for twelve years Louise, I know her better than anyone else because until five years ago we were married.”

Mattie wasn’t worried about Dylan, not really. She’d done nothing wrong, all it had taken was her to ask Louise what part of the project she intended to actually do herself and the other woman had blown up like a balloon. Dylan walking in only helped her cause, him seeing that the woman was impeding on her actual job. She’d seen the way the blonde eyed Dylan and knew that it was all a question of jealousy. She didn’t know whether the woman knew their history, or whether it was just that the hotel was taking her away

As she logged onto her emails, her phone rang. More problems, a couple had turned up at the reception desk requesting a room at a ridiculous rate, apparently ‘Mr Simmonds’ had promised them. Hermione smiled at her as she glided up to the older couple and immediately realised that these two were going to fight for the room and the rate they wanted, and Mr and Mrs Johnson were not about to back down.

                “Without any confirmation we can’t honour you a room at the price you’ve mentioned.” She was repeating herself for the third time, “but we can give you a special discount of twenty percent as we realised that you have travelled all the way here.”

                “That’s NOT good enough! We planned our whole trip around this, and we were promised a room for half the price you’re offering. It’s not good enough. You’re the manager,” when she nodded, Mr Johnson added, “where’s YOUR boss? I’ll take this all the way to the top.”

                “That’s me. Mr...?” Dylan appeared from around a corner and immediately schmoozed up to the couple.

                “Johnson.”

Dylan dipped his head graciously, “Mr Johnson, what can I do to help?”

Mr Johnson summarised his idea of hell in about twenty words, and Dylan immediately responded.

                “Of course we can honour that price,” he glanced at Hermione. “We have a free room?” She gave a nod, then he turned back to the couple. “Ok, Mark here will take your bags; follow him up to your room, ok?”

When they nodded and thanked him, Dylan returned to his full height, the Johnson’s were both less than five foot three at her estimations. Then he came face to face with Martha’s glare.

                “Can I talk to you...in private?” She barely managed to contain her anger as she spoke.

He shrugged, looking around the foyer, there were about six members of staff present and no guests.  “Here will do.” Psychologically he didn’t want to move, didn’t want to back down, somehow his world had blown up in to a crazy mess the last two days and he had no idea what the hell was going on anymore.

                “Can you at least step over here?”

Mattie moved away from the reception and the staff who were in the vicinity and was only too glad that he followed.

                “What the HELL was that?” She asked when he finally moved to stand in front of her, “we have a strict policy on how to deal with that situation, with Paul...” She was about to comment that Paul had caused SO much chaos that they had to have a written plan of how to deal with his fuck ups. But Dylan took immediate offence.

                “Paul? Paul?” He laughed, “that is ALL I ever hear from you is how bloody wonderful it was working for Paul. Is that why you’re being so ridiculous to Louise? Not helping her, blocking things?”

It was her turn to laugh and she was aware that her voice was rising in volume, “Louise? Don’t make me laugh! She comes in here on some little jolly all doe-eyed and in love with you, and YOU can’t see it! This is ridiculous. You undermined me then, in front of guests, and that is a line you promised you’d never cross. But once again Dylan Wallace makes up a whole set of rules and then storms through them uncaring.”

He shook his head, “they told me it couldn’t work, me managing you, but I told everyone and myself that you were different. What the hell do I know?”

Mattie lifted a hand to her hip, “won’t work? It was working perfectly fine until SHE stepped in. What is this all about? It seems there’s more going on than the way you just humiliated me in front of some guests.”

He shook his head, “ this is ridiculous. You are speaking to me as though I’m dirt on your shoe.” He offered the words through gritted teeth, “but I am your boss.”

                “As if I could forget!” She didn’t want to shout but her emotions were about to over flow and it was shout or cry, and the latter wasn’t an option here, now. “You undermined me on a policy. We created a policy to manage situations exactly like this. WHY did you have to embarrass me?”

                “I am in charge here.” His teeth were still gritted, his voice a hiss.

Mattie sighed, “aren’t you always? God man, all I want is to get on with things on my own.”

He shook his head, “all you want to do is use our past over me, punish me, makes things difficult for me...I was crazy to think that this would EVER work!” The last words came out as a snap. I trusted you, gave you this hotel, this chance...but as usual it’s never enough for the perfect Matilda Davies.”

Those words were more hurtful than any others. Mattie took a deep breath not wanting to break down in front of him, “THAT’S how you think of me? That’s what this hotel is about?” He was non committal and she knew that was a sign of acquiescence, “you bastard. I didn’t want you to get involved in my life, I didn’t want any of this, I never wanted to see you ever again!”

                “Until I saved you, now you’re stuck with me, and even THAT’S not good enough.”

She shook her head, years of pain and hurt flashing past her eyes, he’d tortured her for years, first in person, then through his legacy, the void he’d left in her heart. No more, that stopped today. “You SAVED me? I wouldn’t need saving if you hadn’t left me in such a mess! I have spent YEARS trying to recover from the hole you dug for me, so don’t stand there and accuse ME of taking advantage of our ‘relationship’. I had a promising career; I was making a name for myself in the banking world, if I’d never met you I’d be in a FAR better place. How dare you...”

He laughed a harsh sound, then started to shout back as loud as her, “how dare I what? Move on? Have a life? Have a business? I can’t be the EVIL ex husband for the rest of my days. You weren’t perfect in all this.”

As she shouted back, he met her shouts with his own, and for a moment they created a din, then she took a step back, ashamed that she’d let things get so out of hand, in front of so many people. The previously quiet reception was now filled with various members of staff who’d followed the din like rats after the Pied Piper.

She took a deep breath, her mortification complete, “I never wanted anyone to know about us.” She knew that tears were welling in her eyes, but she had to end this here, now. It could never work.

                “It seems your friends were right, for as long as you’re going to blame me, throw accusations at me, misjudge my intentions, I can’t do a good job, and so I can’t work for you. This is my resignation...” his eyes widened at her words, but other than that there was no other reaction on Dylan’s face, so she added, “effective immediately.”

Then with a decisive nod, she turned and walked away.