Page 33 of Too Busy for Love

‘So, we have local people to cook, clean the house and so on, but your role would be best described as guest liaison cum supervisor. You’d be responsible for making sure dietary and other requirements are fully catered for, dealing with the local contractors and generally ensuring that the house runs smoothly. Sandra tells me your background is hospitality?’

He’s either not read my CV or he has no idea about Hotel Dufour, I realise.

‘That’s right,’ I tell him. ‘My most recent role was managing a hotel in London, so I’m well versed in all the duties you’ve mentioned. Hopefully, Sandra also mentioned that I’m fluent in Spanish?’

‘She did, which was a big plus point. Do you mind me asking why you left your previous position?’

‘I’m looking for a new challenge,’ I say, pleased with my deflection. I haven’t lied, I’ve just not told him everything.

‘And you have a driving licence?’

‘Yes.’ Again, not a lie, even if I haven’t driven in years. I may hardly know Gus, but he seems nice, and I’m actually quite keen to get this job, even though it’s out of my comfort zone.

‘Great. If we offer you the post, you’ll be the first person travelling out, so we’ll arrange for a hire car to be waiting for you at the airport. The crew will follow a couple of days after you, and then the cast at the end. We’ve rented accommodation nearby for the crew, but you’ll need to stay in the main house with the cast in case they need you in the middle of the night. You’ll be on call 24/7.’

‘That’s fine; I’m used to that. Are you able to give me any indication of the start date?’

‘It’s soon. I don’t know if Sandra told you that we had someone lined up for this role, but he dropped us in it at the last minute. Better offer, apparently. We’d need you to fly out on Thursday. Is that a problem?’

‘Not at all.’

The rest of the interview runs pretty smoothly. Gus doesn’t throw me any curve-ball questions, and he seems to be pretty happy with the answers I’m giving him. As well as the duties already described, one of my roles will be to control the housekeeping cost, so we talk about that for a while. Basically, while the budget is fairly generous, the guests won’t be eating caviar and drinking champagne all day every day. The salary is a little less than I was getting at Hotel Dufour, but there are fewer people to look after so I’m not really surprised. It all seems eminently doable and, after an hour or so, Gus starts to wrap up.

‘Look,’ he tells me. ‘I think you’re a good fit and we don’t have any other candidates, so I’m not going to mess you about. The job’s yours if you want it. Do you?’

‘Yes, absolutely.’

‘Great. I’ll get Sandra to organise the paperwork, and we’ll be in touch with all the details later today. I look forward to meeting you in person. Oh, and you’ll also get an email from my colleague Dom, which will give you the list of everything we need you to do before we get there. Have you got any questions before we wrap up?’

‘I don’t think so at the moment, but would it be a good idea if I took your phone number just in case anything unexpected comes up?’

‘Such as?’ He looks suddenly rattled. ‘You’re not going to drop out on us as well, are you?’

‘No!’ I tell him emphatically. ‘But if I get there and there’s a problem with the house or something, I expect you’d want to know, wouldn’t you?’

‘If you get there and there’s a problem with the house, I expect you to fix it,’ he says with a smile. ‘However, I will make sure the email Dom sends has our contact details on it in case of emergencies. Anything else?’

‘No.’

‘Fabulous. See you in Mallorca!’

Mum and Dad are both waiting expectantly in the kitchen.

‘How did you get on?’ Mum asks.

‘Good. I got the job. I fly to Mallorca on Thursday.’

‘So soon?’ Dad is trying to look like he’s upset but doing a spectacularly poor job of it.

‘They had another candidate, but he dropped out, apparently.’

‘You aren’t going to be on camera, are you?’ Mum asks warily.

‘I wouldn’t have thought so. Why?’

‘It’s just… well, you know.’

‘I’m not sure I do.’

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