“You’ll be fine, and I’m here. If you get really stuck just say you’re handing over to a colleague and I’ll take over.” She squeezed his arm and when the phone started ringing his heart sped up. Taking another deep, calming breath, he answered it.
Ruby put the phone down then glanced at her watch; quarter past ten. Steve had done a long enough stint on reception for one day. He could do some more tomorrow. She’d take him to the bar where she wanted him to work most of the time. She felt guilty really, making him work, but there was no way she could have him here doing nothing. She’d have all of her employees complaining, or worse, walking out.
“How was your morning?” Ruby said, leaning against the reception desk, watching Steve fill the printer with paper.
Steve nodded confidently. “Good. Didn’t make too many mistakes did I?” He nudged Lydia.
“Oh, no, you were fine,” Lydia said. Then her smile dropped. “There was just that one time…Sorry, Ruby, we might have a complaint coming in—”
“Shhhh…” Steve’s expression was mischievous, revealing the dimples in his cheeks, “I told you not to tell Ruby about it.”
“About what?” She frowned quizzically.
“Nothing…” Lydia giggled. “Don’t panic, he’s pulling your leg. He told me to say it. I’m a terrible liar.”
“I never!”
Ruby narrowed her eyes at her brother. He’d always teased her as a kid, and here he was winding her up again, getting Lydia to do it, too. Swine.
His flipping smile and sparkly eyes. Whether he was famous or not, they’d get people to do his bidding. I give him a job and this is how he repays me.
“Oh, Ruby,” Lydia reached under the desk and pulled a book out from under it, “here’s that book I said I’d lend you.”
Ruby took the hardback, admired the cover then tucked it under her arm. It was sweet of Lydia to remember the book. She’d only mentioned it in passing a couple of weeks ago. “Thanks. You’ll have to pop over sometime and take a book off my shelf.”
“There’s no need.”
“No I insist.” Ruby turned her attention to Steve, whose expression sobered. “There’s some time before lunch, let’s show you this bar. By the end of the day, I want you producing the best cappuccinos this side of Bristol.”
“See you later, Lydia,” Steve said, and joined Ruby in step as they headed towards the bar.
“How was it really?” Ruby asked, once out of the earshot of Lydia.
“Not bad. I was nervous the first time I picked up the phone.”
“Hopefully you won’t have to man reception too much, only quiet periods when the girls need to take their breaks etc.”
“It was fine, honestly. I’m clocking it up as research.” He chuckled. “And Lydia’s really nice.”
They walked into a room just behind reception. This was Ruby’s favourite area of the hotel, where they usually held their functions. Because the hotel originally was an old Georgian house, this room had a large fireplace. In the winter she always ensured the fire was lit day and night, providing a cosy refuge from the cold for her guests. Two large leather sofas, the colour of caramel, sat in front of the fire, with a low coffee table made of solid oak between them. These were the most popular seats in the room. Scattered around the bar were other comfortable sofas and armchairs, tucked around small tables. Soft music played in the background. It all came together to provide a relaxing atmosphere. At the back of the room was the bar area, where Callum stood wiping glasses and placing them on the back shelf. Ruby was relieved to see he was actually working.
“Callum, would you mind showing Stuart how to work the coffee machine, and where everything is in the bar. Show him how room service works and the general routines.” See, there, didn’t stumble over his name.
“Yes, boss.” Callum saluted and Ruby scowled.
“Callum, less of the cheek, please. You’ll be working with my brother a lot, so I need you to go through your job and what you do – sensibly.” She kept her expression stern, then she turned to Steve. “I’ll leave you here with Callum. I’ll come find you and we could have lunch together?”
“Yeah, Roo, that’ll be great.”
***
“Roo?”
“She’s my sister. You call her that and she’ll probably fry your balls,” Steve said firmly to Callum.
Callum held his hands up defensively. “But I’m okay to call you Stu, right?”
“If you must.” Steve wasn’t enthralled about the name Stu, but as it wasn’t actually his name, he’d let Callum off. Plus, he needed to make friends not enemies, and Callum was young and impressionable. Callum was trying to be ‘cool’, or so he thought.
In the time leading up to lunch, Callum had shown Steve the bar, what drinks they sold, how to work the till, where the cellar was for changing the barrels – they had a couple of beers available on tap. It was all stuff Steve knew through working in bars at Callum’s age. The guy had to be in his early twenties. His attitude sometimes was immature, but generally Callum was a good guy. Steve had probably been the same, though he’d had more confidence with his looks. He’d never been struck with acne like Callum, and being sporty meant he had filled out early on.
“All right, Stu, let me show you how this big boy works.” Callum patted the coffee machine and grinned.
Callum was scrawny, talked a lot about games on his PlayStation, and whenever a pretty girl entered the bar, whether hotel staff or a guest, he’d give Steve a nudge and wink. Again, Steve let Callum talk while he worked. The less Steve spoke the better, he thought, while he was getting used to his new role. This way he reduced the chance of giving something away.
“We get more room service orders in the evening, but sometimes during the day, guests want a posh coffee sent up.” Callum had to raise his voice over the noise as he frothed milk in a stainless steel jug. He wiped the nozzle, then gently tapped the jug on the counter to send the froth to the top. He poured the foamy thick milk into a cup of espresso, sprinkled it with chocolate and grinned. “A perfect cappuccino is one third coffee, one third milk and one third froth.”
“I know.” Steve drank enough coffee to know how he liked it.
“You do?”
“Yeah, I can’t live without coffee.”
“Oh, I can’t stand the stuff. Don’t like tea either.”
“So who’s this for?” Steve pointed the coffee. Callum found a tray under the counter and placed the cup on it.
“Room 106. Come on, I’ll show you.”
When they returned from delivering the coffee, Ruby was standing at the bar waiting.
“Hey,” she said, smiling at Steve. “Did you want to get lunch together?”
Steve’s stomach rumbled as if on cue. “Yeah, that would be good.”
“I’ll bring him back to you after lunch, Callum.”
Callum nodded as he went back behind the bar to serve an approaching customer.
Steve held the door open for Ruby to enter the small staff room. Unwrapping two food parcels, Ruby placed one in front of Steve. They had a mouth-watering club sandwich each, doorstop sizes with lashings of mayonnaise. Steve’s stomach gurgled with