Lost and Found on Foxglove Street (The Foxglove Street #9)

Chapter 14

14

Grace slept fitfully and was wide awake at five-thirty in the morning, her mind racing with thoughts about the conversation she would soon have with Clive Peters. With news about her promotion prospects imminent, she was surprised she got any sleep at all.

Stanley had crept into bed beside her again at some point during the night, and made himself comfortable with his head on the pillow, from where he now looked at her while she got up and pulled on her dressing gown. Stanley’s tail thumped on the duvet cover as he watched her moving around.

“You were supposed to sleep in your own bed last night, Stanley,” Grace told the dog. “Ryan bought that cosy bed especially for you, and he carried it all the way round here last night so you’d have a comfortable place to sleep, and yet there you are on my bed. What’s that all about?”

Stanley only stretched and yawned before hopping off the bed with a grunt and scurrying downstairs. While the dog roamed in the back garden, Grace drank a cup of coffee at the door, keeping an eye on Stanley and enjoying the midsummer light that was seeping into the sky as dawn broke.

It was a beautiful morning, the air fresh and sweet after yesterday’s rain. The birds were singing their morning chorus in the back gardens that ran the length of the street, and Grace enjoyed the moment as she sipped her coffee, grateful for the peace and calm of the morning after the restless night she’d spent.

Once she was showered and dressed and ready to leave for work, she gathered her things and clipped Stanley’s lead to his collar and set off for Ryan’s house. She’d stuffed the dog’s new bed inside a black bin bag to make it easier to carry, but between the dog lead in her hand, the bed in the bin bag bouncing against her legs, and her own work bag slung over her shoulder, she felt like a packhorse. It was a relief to reach Ryan’s house before she started sweating in the warming air of the summer morning.

As she handed Stanley over, Ryan invited her in for coffee before she set off for work, but she declined, citing the multiple cups of coffee she’d already drunk on account of waking so early.

After waving goodbye to Ryan and Stanley, she walked to her car parked further along Riverside Road and set off for the short drive to work. The closer she got, the more her heart hammered inside her chest as she thought about the conversation she was about to have with Clive.

When the Hamblehurst Manor Hotel swung into view as she steered along the elegant driveway, its glorious features in full relief against the deep blue early morning sky, Grace’s stomach started performing somersaults of pure excitement at the prospect of one day—hopefully very soon—becoming a full manager at a place such as this.

She parked the car and grabbed her bag, and by the time she was turning into the staff office suite, she was almost sprinting in anticipation. The conversation she was about to have with Clive might only involve sharing guidance and advice about the next steps in the promotion process, but Grace was still excited and eager to absorb every morsel of information available.

Grace was storing her belongings in her locker when Clive walked through the door to the staff office suite.

“Ah, good, you’re here, Grace,” Clive said, and then checked his watch. “But it’s only eight-thirty. You’re very early.”

“I didn’t want to keep you waiting,” she replied. “And I wanted to make sure we both had time to chat.”

Clive nodded, and Grace noticed for the first time his subdued expression.

“Come through to my office,” he told her.

His tone was flat, a far cry from his usual ebullience, and Grace felt a tendril of unease ripple inside her.

She followed Clive to the offices at the back, which were reserved for the senior managers. He closed the door behind them before sinking into his chair on the other side of the desk.

“Oh, before we discuss promotion matters, there’s something I need to tell you,” Clive said, moving the computer mouse on the desk and clicking on something on the screen. His expression, Grace saw, remained subdued. “It’s about your annual leave.”

Grace blinked at the segue. Her mind was so focused on the question of her promotion that she hadn’t anticipated any other topic of conversation with Clive this morning.

“Is there a problem?” she asked.

“Actually, there is,” Clive replied. “When I was working on the quarterly reports yesterday, the annual leave audit identified you as a red flag.”

Grace gasped. “A red flag? There must be some mistake! I’m sure I haven’t taken too much holiday time.”

“No, you haven’t. That’s the problem, and that’s why the audit red-flagged you. You haven’t taken nearly enough annual leave, Grace.”

She processed this, trying to get her head around what Clive was saying. Being told there was a ‘red flag’ against her name had caused panic to set in, fearing that something was wrong and which might interfere with her promotion prospects. But that didn’t seem to be what Clive was saying.

“I don’t understand,” Grace said. “Why is it an issue if I haven’t taken enough holiday time? I love my work and don’t need time off.”

Clive waved a hand at this. “I know you love your work, but you must take your allocated annual leave, and you can’t let it pile up. The business has strict rules about managing holiday entitlements and HR will come after me if I don’t make sure that staff take off the time they are due. There are employment law compliance issues for one thing, and for another, the business doesn’t want staff allowing their annual leave to accumulate and then expecting to take weeks and weeks off all at once.”

“I’m not expecting that! I don’t mind not taking my holidays at all, Clive!”

“Well, I’m sorry, but that isn’t acceptable. You must take holiday time, end of story. When the audit identified the issue with your annual leave record for the past year, I had no choice but to take action. In order to manage the outstanding days off that you have available, I’ve booked you in for five days of holiday to start the day after your next regular two days off. In other words, you are off as part of your usual rota tomorrow and the day after, and then you are taking an additional five days of annual leave. That will begin to make a dent in your leave entitlement.”

“Oh, okay,” Grace said, absorbing this information. Alarm at what it might mean to be ‘red flagged’ in Clive’s audit reports swiftly changed to an odd sense of relief. If Clive was forcing her to use up some holiday time, that might solve the problem of looking after Stanley, should he still be in her care in a few days’ time.

It had never occurred to her to take annual leave in order to look after the dog. With her promotion process ongoing, the last thing she wanted to do was have a holiday from work, for any reason.

Now, though, it appeared that Clive had forced her hand. She wasn’t thrilled about it, but it would help as she juggled the short-term responsibility of caring for Stanley, and, judging by the unhappy look on Clive’s face, she didn’t have any choice over the matter, anyway.

She was relieved that Clive’s strained expression was caused by her failure to take annual leave, and not by anything connected with her promotion process.

“I’m sorry I caused a problem in your audit reports,” Grace said. “I had no idea that I’d accidentally stored up too many days and had no idea that not taking my annual leave was an issue.”

“There will still be more outstanding holiday time that you need to book over the coming two months to make sure this is all in order,” Clive told her. “I’m sorry I’m forcing you to take time right now when it might not suit your personal plans, but it is what it is.”

“It’s fine, and it’s my own fault for not paying attention. I won’t let it happen again.”

“Good,” Clive said, and clicked his mouse again and tapped at the keyboard on the desk. “I’m adding a note to your annual leave records to prompt you to get the rest of your time off booked as soon as possible, so this doesn’t end up being a problem again.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

Clive nodded and then turned away from the computer monitor. With the unexpected annual leave debacle now settled, Grace felt excitement return at the prospect of finally dealing with the promotion process issues she’d come here to talk about in the first place.

But when Clive looked up at her and she saw that strained look was still on his face, Grace’s excitement was once more replaced with creeping unease.

“I know you almost certainly didn’t want to take a few days of annual leave right now,” Clive said. “However, I believe that you might be grateful for some time off once you’ve heard what I have to say next.”

Unease morphed into outright alarm at Clive’s words. The gloomy look on his face was growing darker by the minute.

“What’s going on? Is there a problem with my promotion application?”

Clive let out a sigh and looked her straight in the eye. “The business has taken the decision to suspend all promotion applications.”

“ What? ” Grace was stunned. “Why are they doing that?”

“Listen, you’re the first member of staff at this hotel outside the higher management to know about this. I know how hard you work and I know how much this promotion means to you, which is why I wanted to tell you about this before it becomes common knowledge. Official notification will go out to everyone by email later today and we’ll be scheduling staff meetings to explain what we know in more detail and to answer questions.”

“But why are they suspending the promotion process, Clive? I don’t understand.”

Grace appreciated that Clive was giving her a heads-up on this completely unexpected development, but she didn’t feel like being grateful for that right now. She just wanted answers.

“It’s not just the promotion process that is being paused, Grace,” Clive said. “The business is suspending annual pay increases and imposing stricter protocols on the appointment of staff at management level. It’s also pausing all hotel infrastructure projects that haven’t yet begun. The business is experiencing financial difficulties, I’m sorry to tell you, and the senior leadership are trying to save money wherever and however they can.”

Grace heard Clive’s words, but she didn’t understand them. None of this made any sense.

“But this hotel is almost fully booked night after night!” she said. “Look at all the functions we hold and how busy our restaurant is! How can we be in trouble?”

“ This hotel might be doing okay, Grace, and it is doing okay. Better than okay, actually. But we’re part of a large hospitality group with a large portfolio of hotels and leisure establishments, and not every part of the business is thriving. From what I understand, the business took on several risky sites over the last few years and those risks haven’t quite paid off, and as a result, serious action is now required to correct a deteriorating balance sheet.”

“So we have to pay the price for someone else’s mistakes?” Grace said, not intending her voice to sound so shrill but helpless to prevent it.

“Come on, Grace, don’t be na?ve,” Clive said gently. “You’ve studied the hospitality business long enough to know how things work. And the news I’m telling you right now could’ve been a lot worse. From what I understand, there are at least three underperforming hotels that are going to be closed down and the buildings and land sold off to developers. All three of those hotels had been underperforming because they were outdated and were about to undergo significant refurbishments to bring them up to scratch and hopefully attract customers again. But, having looked at the figures, the bosses have decided it’s better to sell those hotels off rather than invest in them. Everyone who works at those hotels will find out later today that they are about to lose their jobs. At least that isn’t happening here.”

“I feel terrible for anyone who’s about to lose their jobs, Clive. I really do,” Grace said honestly. “And I understand we’re just part of a huge corporate structure and that things happen that are completely beyond our control. But I’ve been working so hard towards this promotion. To find out that it was all for nothing…”

“It wasn’t for nothing, Grace,” Clive interrupted. “This is just a pause in the process for a year?—”

“A year ?” Grace spluttered.

Clive held up his hands in a placating gesture. “Once the business has corrected its financial troubles and removed underperforming hotels from the balance sheet and got expenditure under better control, things will start to look much rosier for the money men at the top and they’ll release the breaks on promotions and pay increases and hiring and so on. They’ll have to, or else they’ll risk the business further because they’ll start to lose good staff to other employers, and that will cause its own headaches.”

“So you’re saying, just sit tight and wait it out?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. I know how much work you’ve put into your career, Grace, and how much effort you’ve expended preparing for the opportunity to get promoted. It will all be rewarded, I promise you that. It just won’t happen as soon as we both hoped.”

“What if things don’t turn around the way they think it will?” Grace asked. “If the financial position doesn’t improve as quickly as they hope, could they decide to keep the promotion freeze in place for longer? And the pay increase freeze, too, and so on?”

Clive opened his hands and shrugged. “It’s a possibility. But I can only assume that the programme of action that’s about to be announced is designed to turn things around as quickly as possible. There’s no point worrying about what might or might not happen a year from now.”

Grace disagreed with this comment, although she didn’t say so. Why wouldn’t she worry about what the situation could be in a year?

“Look, we’re all keeping our jobs here at the Hamblehurst Manor and we’re in a strong position because of the success of this hotel,” Clive said, trying to reassure her. “We’re not about to lose our jobs, unlike some other unlucky people elsewhere in the business. And while none of us will like the idea of pay freezes or promotion prospects being postponed, at least they are only being postponed and will be reinstated in due course.”

“I understand. It’s just… this is a shock.”

“Of course it is. But look, there’s always a silver lining. I know how much you love your job, Grace, and I know you always want to go the extra mile here. While a formal promotion to a full manager position won’t now happen for a while, that doesn’t mean we can’t involve you more in some of the tasks and duties you would have been undertaking had you gone through the rest of the promotion process and secured the job formally.”

“Oh?” Grace said.

“Sure,” Clive said, his tone enthusiastic. “And with the hiring freeze imposed at senior level, my guess is there will be plenty of things that need to get done around here. You might not have the job title yet, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do the actual job.”

Clive seemed pleased with this overview, but Grace was less convinced. Much as she loved working at the hotel and taking on extra duties to prove her worth, she wasn’t sure how she felt about doing a full manager’s job without either the title or the pay that came with it.

What if all that extra work never led to the promotion she so desperately wanted?

“Sorry, Grace, I need to rush off to a meeting that’s about to start,” Clive said, rising from his chair.

Grace got up too, feeling dazed as her mind swirled.

“Look, I know this has been a lot to take in, and I know how much you wanted this promotion,” Clive said. “But you are a bright and hard-working young person, Grace, and I’m sure we can still get you working on at least some of the key tasks you’d hoped to take on once you had the promotion in the bag. All will be well, Grace.”

“I hope so.”

“And in the meantime, you now have several days off to adjust to this news, and once you’re back next week, we’ll sit down together and discuss the work you might want to take on while you wait for the promotion process to open up again.”

Clive was steering her towards the door, his smile reassuring, but Grace didn’t feel a great deal of comfort from his words. Too many thoughts were whipping around inside her head to be sure exactly how she felt about any of this.

“Drop me a message or an email if you need to ask any more questions about this,” Clive said, locking the office door behind them. “I’m jammed all day today, but I promise I’ll get back in touch as soon as I can. Okay?”

Grace nodded. “Thanks.”

“Chin up, Grace,” Clive said kindly. “Everything will be fine. This is just an unexpected bump in the road.”

She smiled, or at least she tried to. It wasn’t easy trying to look grateful for his rallying words. Clive dashed off quickly, and Grace was relieved she didn’t have to maintain the pretence of being okay with all this.

She wasn’t okay—not by a long shot.

When Clive had asked to meet with her today, she thought he was about to share valuable information for her promotion application. She thought he was about to tell her the application had progressed to the next stage in the process and that she was one step closer to becoming a full manager, in charge of her own dedicated portfolio of work.

Instead, he’d told her the entire promotion process had been shelved.

For so long, she’d imagined herself winning that promotion and becoming a proper manager. Now, it was suddenly all gone, and Clive’s reassurances that things would return to normal in a year or so didn’t make her feel any better.

“Oh, Grace, there you are!”

Grace looked up and saw one of her colleagues walking towards her across the staff office suite.

“Can you come and help with a billing issue at the reception desk?” her colleague asked. “A guest is querying his invoice and we need a supervisor to sort it out.”

“I’ll be right there,” Grace replied.

Her colleague dashed off to return to the reception desk. Grace lingered for a second, taking some deep breaths to settle her mind. The news Clive had just delivered might have left her stunned and horribly disappointed, but she still had an eight-hour shift ahead of her, which meant she needed a clear head.

What mattered right now was looking after the hotel guests and doing her job.

Once her shift was over, she could think about what had just happened and how it had left her so thoroughly shocked.

Until then, there was no time to be shocked, because looking after the hotel’s guests came first—always.