Page 10 of He's the One

“And a winter ball,” his mother said. “Is there time?”

“I’ll look into it,” Dastardly said.

Fucking treacherous bastards.

“We’ve been invited to dinner at the Westons’, Ludo,” his mother said. “I said yes.”

“Without asking me?”

There was a snap in his father’s voice and Theo moved quickly away from the door, anticipating Dastardly’s exit. He headed for the kitchen. It was hard accepting how much of a disappointment his parents found him. He sometimes felt like telling them how much of a disappointment they were to him. Maybe one day he would.

His mother was always on his back and he didn’t see enough of his father, who was always busy. On top of the House of Lords stuff, he was chairman of a tech company and director of several others. Sometimes it felt as if he was hardly ever there. Maybe if his father was around more, his mother wouldn’t be so bitter and twisted about everything.

He shouldn’t blame himself for his parents’ unhappy relationship. There were lots of things in play, but Theo was always made to feel guilty by his mother and grandmother.Not bright enough. Not hardworking enough. Not focussed enough.

At least Sarah, the cook, was happy to see him.

“Master Theo! Hungry?”

“I could force down two slices of toast covered in your lovely marmalade.” Theo fluttered his eyelashes.

She laughed. “And a coffee?”

“Please.”

It was much warmer and cosier in the kitchen than it was in his rooms, and now the summer was over, his place was going to get colder. He cleared a small space on the table and began to sort out the notes. It was impossible to hide his disappointment. He’d worked hard on this for months. He’d costed out as much as he could think of, right down to the quantity of fairy lights they’d need to encircle the courtyard, the insurance required for an ice rink, whether it was better to buy or rent snow machines, and if it was ethically acceptable to have reindeer there at Christmas… All of it a waste.

Asquith Hall didn’t do enough to attract visitors. It needed new things to persuade people to return. They made reasonable profits running weddings, but they didn’t even do one a week, mostly because they could only happen once the general public had left, and most couples didn’t want to start their wedding late in the afternoon. Plus, they contracted out much of the work and so didn’t make as much money as Theo thought they should. Then what did he know?

He could smell the bread browning on the AGA and his stomach rumbled.

“Oh, that looks fun.” Sarah glanced over at him. “Fairies?”

He’d drawn sketches of costumes the staff would wear. “I was thinking of a themed winter ball. I’d even made up a menu.” He showed her.

“What great ideas. Sandwiches in the shape of butterflies, cake pop toadstools… Oh…the hedgehog shaped dip is gorgeous.”

She carried on talking as she prepared his toast.

“It’s too childish, isn’t it?” Theo said.

“Your sister would have loved it.”

They both went quiet for a moment. Sarah was right. Felicity would have adored it. And itwastoo childish. Sarah put Theo’s toast and coffee on the table as he pressed out the creases in some of the sheets.

“Well, my parents don’t want it fairy-themed so… It won’t be.”

“We could offer fairy tea parties in the café in the school holidays. Maybe do a pirate-themed one as well? I’d be happy to do the food for birthday parties. All you’d need was an entertainer.”

Theo smiled. Sarah had done little parties for him when he was a boy. “Thanks, Sarah. I’ll draw up that as idea to show my parents.”And watch it get shot down like all the others.

Theo returned to his desperately-in-need-of-renovating accommodation and changed into his Asquith Hall uniform of grey chinos and dark green monogrammed shirt. No need for a jumper or zipped sweatshirt today because it was unseasonably warm. His mother liked him to wear his suit unless he was working in the garden. She wanted people to know who he was, and call himlord, but Theo didn’t. He liked to be treated normally, though that rarely happened no matter what he was wearing.

He didn’t fit in anywhere. He was disapproved of by his mother and grandmother, despaired of by his father and disliked by Dastardly. Nor was he was trusted by some of the staff who seemed to think he’d report them if they said anything negative. He had to be particularly careful in the shop because Dastardly’s wife, Edwina, otherwise known to Theo as Muttley, worked there part-time when she wasn’t doing secretarial work for her husband. She even had Muttley’s wheezy laugh. Edwina disliked Theo as much as her husband did. The only place where he felt comfortable, apart from the kitchen, was the garden. At least the gardeners and James liked him.

Theo took his time re-sorting the paperwork, even though he didn’t need to do it again. There was little incentive to hurry. Taking money on the gate was boring. Having to go through the same patter time after time, asking if visitors would be willing to sign up for gift aid, and if they complained about the price of entry, pointing out how much it cost to run a place like this. But they didn’t really need him down there. There weren’t that many visitors on a weekday.

He set aside the information his father didn’t want and put the relevant pages into the folder. Although Theo had done his best to come up with ideas to increase visitor numbers, he’d never really thought his parents would go for any of them, except maybe the weekend retreats, and Dastardly had picked that idea up and run with it, no doubt waiting to see the reaction before he’d spoken out.

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