After All - Part Twenty

Chapter Twenty

The hotel food was good, and they ate in relative silence sat across the lounge from each other, and Matilda appreciated the beer that accompanied it. Tonight had been awkward. Dylan conjured up so many memories just sitting there opposite, and there were both good and bad times that kept coming back to her. Because they had had good times, lots of them, and whilst she’d loathed him with every bone in her body she’d forgotten that. Now that he was back in her life she felt more rational, writing off almost six years of your life as a disaster wasn’t the most productive way to live. Now she felt better, her life wasn’t a waste. She hadn’t made a bad choice; she’d married a man she’d loved. It hadn’t worked, but the last couple of weeks proved that he wasn’t a bad man, and they did get on. That made her feel more optimistic, but on the other hand she could see the man that she’d fallen in love with still there under the veneer of success, the immaculate hair, clean shaven jaw and perfect clothes, the often goofy, romantic and funny man, the man who made her feel as though she was the only woman in the world.

                “Penny for your thoughts?”

She looked up at the voice and grimaced, “not worth that, I assure you.”

He lifted an eyebrow in question, “really? Cos from where I’m sitting they looked quite interesting.”

She shrugged, “just thinking about the past, which is exactly where we said we wouldn’t be. So tell me about Monday.”

He studied her for a moment, then with a soft sigh, he nodded, “there’s a hotel conference in Earl’s Court. I’ve managed to line up meetings with two of the top consultants on design and interiors. Thought it would be good to get a professional view on such a big move...and to be honest I’m not known for my knowledge of soft furnishings or colour schemes.”

                “I remember.”

After a month of knowing Dylan she’d agreed to a date, it had been a month of persistent and limitless pursuit though and she was exhausted at trying to batter him off. So they went to the concert together. And then he’d kissed her, and she was lost. By the end of the school year, less than three months later they moved into a basement flat in a not too special part of London, but it was their first home and she’d loved it. It was furnished with mismatched items, and the whole place was glum. So they planned to spend the summer decorating it, making it their home. And it was soon obvious that Dylan had absolutely NO idea when it came to aesthetics.

She’d laughed herself to tears in the middle of a DIY shop as he tried to convince her that sage green paint would look good in their bathroom where the suite was pale blue. Then there was the caramel wood gloss that he wanted to cover every piece of door frame and skirting board in. Just a complete no go.

Very soon he’d become her technician, decorating to the colour scheme and style she’d picked personally and very painstakingly.

                “I loved that flat,” he offered with a sigh, obviously remembering the same occasions as her.

She nodded, “things were so much less complicated when we lived there.” She glanced at him as she added, “and the fact that the colour scheme didn’t give you a headache.”

He shook his head vehemently, “there is nothing wrong with sage green paint.”

She giggled, “no, it’s an amazing colour...but NOT with an almost turquoise bathroom suite. Come on Dyl, even you can tell that!”

He chuckled, “it wasn’t my finest moment.”

                “At least you were interested, I can’t complain about that.”

He nodded, “see. I do have some finer points.”

She gave an accepting nod, “I won’t deny that, but I’m not back in your fan club, ok?”

He tilted his head as he grinned, “yet!”

It could have created more awkwardness, but instead, she laughed, “in your dreams Wallace, in your dreams. Now I’m going to turn in for the night, you look bushed, I most definitely am. I’ll see you in the morning for our debate on colour schemes.”

He gave a nod, “you’re right, this has been a very long day.”

The next morning she woke to an amazing smell. Breakfast...and coffee. Smiling she burst into the lounge to find Dylan sat at the small dining table reading the Sunday papers, a tray beside him with two covered plates and a jug of coffee.

                “You do breakfast too! You are a changed man!”

He looked up with a smile, “I told the desk you were joining me for a breakfast meeting, don't worry.”

For a moment she hadn’t thought about the implications and the gossip her being there would cause and she smiled gratefully at him. “Can do without that hassle.”

                “For once I agree with you. So anyway, relax and have some breakfast. We’ve got a busy day ahead.”

Dylan smiled as she complied with his request. Peace was restored, he could write off the previous evening as the craziness of travelling, jetlag, and having not been near a woman for months. He’d not make that mistake again.

                “WOW! This place is amazing!”

Dylan looked at Matilda and sighed, every time he thought he knew her she did or said something to make him change his mind, question himself. She was experienced, worldly, yet the glamour of this exhibition and conference had impressed her, surprised her even. Smiling he nodded towards the corner of the huge room, “you’re right of course. Now come on, we have work to do.”

But by the time they reached their destination, Matilda had accrued a bag full of freebies, from pens and notepads, to calculators and beer mats, each one taken with the same enthusiasm as the first, and it was infectious. He accepted a rather nice pen graciously, but as she stopped at a booth for an air conditioning company, he placed a hand on her elbow.

                “It’ll all still be here when we finish. Now come on.”

Smiling she let him lead her to the meeting room, and straight into a hardcore discussion over the benefits of great interior design. Dylan felt over his head with most things, but instantly Matilda dropped into the conversation with professionalism and knowledge, as he sat back and watched her go, it was hard to imagine that this was the same woman who got excited over a trade fare.

                “So what are your thoughts?” Dylan asked as they settled at a small table in the foyer with a cup of coffee.

She paused for a moment then smiled, “well, firstly I’m starving, and I think I deserve lunch out of this, secondly, the first woman is all talk and no action, I wasn’t impressed by anything she said, and she had nothing to back it up. The second one, I liked their thoughts and philosophies, I want to instantly relax when I walk into a hotel room, but  think that bright colours are more appetising than pastel shades.”

He nodded as he digested her words, “so we take the advice of these?” He dropped the brochure onto the table, then smiled as she nodded.

                “A large part of me says stuff them all, take their ideas and do it ourselves. But it’s a bit daunting, and it’s your whole success, your whole future is linked to this refurbishment, and it’s too important for me to take things on personally.”

                “I trust you.”

She stared at him when he said that, “to potentially ruin the place for you?”

                “I don’t think you would, you’ve analysed this whole thing perfectly.”

She scoffed at that, “it’s a risk, what if it all went wrong?”

He shrugged, “we paint a block coloured feature wall in each room, tie it in to some soft furnishings, it’s hardly budget breaking or in-correctable if it goes wrong. I want you to go with it. Your thoughts, your vision.”

Slumping back in her seat she stared at him, “and if it doesn’t work?”

He laughed, “let’s do the first half a dozen rooms, get in a hotel critic. If they like it, I’ll give you commission for the job, and carte blanche to oversee all the decorating we do.”        

                “Why?”

He sighed, “because your eyes light up when you start talking, you like change, you embrace it. I want to share that with you.”

She studied him for a moment, wondering if this was a Trojan Horse, could she take such an offer, such flattery at face value. When he broke into a smile under her intense scrutiny she could tell this was genuine, he wasn’t hiding things.

                “I didn’t think this could work, us running, the place together.”

He laughed again, “Matilda, we have been a good team for as long as I’ve known you. We can be professional about this, and I can recognise what as asset you are, even if I didn’t have every single member of staff telling me how amazing you are. If only the hotel had such five star reviews.”

That made her smile, “they are a good bunch of staff I can trust them implicitly.”

Nodding he leaned back in his chair, “the exact way I feel about you. So get over it.”

And so Mattie suddenly felt more respected and valued, which was a plus for her. Dylan had a busy schedule that meant he was back and forth across the Atlantic for the next few weeks. He kept in touch via email, regularly, and managed to attend a couple of the weekly staff meetings. Mattie was glad of the distance for two reasons, partly that it gave her time to work hard on her designs for the rooms. Dylan had huge plans for the whole hotel to be rejuvenated, cleaned up and improved, but this was the first stage, and her success meant a lot to her. Then there was the tension that night in his room. She was glad of some space, some distance because she wasn’t exactly happy with her own reaction to him, he was dangerous not in a predatory way, but a threat to her mental health, to her independence and to her well being.

Dylan was always pleasant and enthusiastic in his emails, and he was always glad to hear her news, updates on how her plans were running, and that was rewarding for Mattie, but she knew that the one thing Dylan was, was charming, not maliciously like Adam Costrel who had wined, dined and flattered her for his own means, but because he was naturally like that, friendly, interested and charming.

As usual nothing ever went to plan, and whilst they were busy with the refurbishment of their eight best rooms, the ones with unrivalled views over the golf course, the rest of the hotel needed to function. The whole of their summer was geared towards the big celebrity golf tournament that Paul had organised before leaving the hotel. He was friends with the cousin of Tiger Woods’ agent, and over dinner one night back the previous summer, the two men had made an agreement that the huge celebrity would endorse the tournament, but it had long been obvious that there was very little chance of that happening. Tony, their golf pro was putting out as many feelers as he could, but without a household name to lead the event they were struggling to make it anything resembling a success. And it was important to all of them. So she started to spend longer evenings phoning and searching and putting out even more feelers.

“When they told me you were still here I thought they were lying? You promised me this was a thing of the past.”

Mattie looked up to see Dylan stood at the doorway, he was smiling, as immaculate as ever, but he looked pale, tired.

“I am conscientious, if that’s a sack-able offence then I’ll leave now!” she leaned back in her chair and smiled.

Dylan laughed, “isn’t that the truth. Look I’m starving, it’s way after nine o’clock...will you join me for dinner? Dan said there’s a table free, and it means I can catch up on where things are.”

She nodded, “sounds good, I’m starving.”

Half an hour later after a quick shower for him, they entered the dining room.

                “So what’s keeping you here so late?” he asked after they’d ordered dinner. “I called in on the new rooms and I have to say they look amazing. When they’re complete I just know they’ll be perfect.”

Shrugging, she reached for her wine glass, “I just feel that everything is much more important now that you’ve entrusted me with so much responsibility. You know me; I don’t do things by half.”

He nodded, “you are a perfectionist, I remember that. But I’m here to help, to lighten the load. Ok?”

She shook her head, “is there anything that the new and improved Dylan Wallace can’t or won’t do?”

He laughed, “are you saying I needed improving?” When she grimaced at the awkwardness, he added, “NO, don’t answer that!”

The meal was a pleasurable hour, and as Mattie headed home, she was pleased that they had once again found a happy and amenable business relationship.

She even had a lie in the following morning, not needing to be in work until the managers meeting planned for midday. Mattie entered the complex with a spring in her step, so happy that things were looking good.

Everyone was gathered in the restaurant feeding on the exceptionally good brunch when she walked in, grabbing a coffee she took a seat next to Sarah, then they all looked up as Dylan walked in flanked by a petite blond woman.

He stood in front of them and smiled, “hi guys, I want to introduce Louise, she’s one of my finest managers from the US and she’s here to prepare a report for the Wallace corporation board meeting next month. She’s a specialist in HR and wants to streamline things in line with the other companies in the organisation, he glanced at Tania who was the Personnel and HR manager and gave a smile, “I presume that it’ll just involve changing a few databases and things, but hopefully you two will get chance to chat later?”

Mattie stared at the woman sitting next to him and shook her head in disbelief, this was just what she didn’t need, to be undermined at the first opportunity by him, they’d spent over an hour in deep conversation the previous night and he’d not as much as hinted at this development. Looking up she noted the way that ‘Louise’ was looking at her, theirs wasn’t about to be a friendship made in heaven. JUST when things were starting to go well.

Groaning she reached for the safety of her coffee, it was going to be a long day.