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

Chapter 16

16

For the second day in a row, Grace spent her shift clock-watching, albeit it for different reasons. Yesterday, she couldn’t wait to finish work in order to check that all was well with Stanley, having left the stray dog in the care of a neighbour she’d only just met.

Today, she couldn’t wait to finish work because she simply wanted to get away from the hotel. That was a new experience for her. The unexpected outcome of her promotion process had not only left her disappointed; it had left her needing to escape from the hotel and from the place she’d always thought of as a second home.

Perhaps Clive was right when he’d said she would appreciate the extra time off he was forcing her to take in order to use up her annual leave entitlement. The idea of an entire week away from the hotel had grown on her as the day went on. She needed time to absorb the news about her failed promotion and wondered if that might best be done away from the hotel into which she’d invested so much energy and love.

When her shift finished at five o’clock, Grace was already removing her belongings from her locker. Many of her colleagues were huddled in the staff area, discussing the shocking news they’d all received that afternoon about the pay freeze and promotion suspension and the big changes afoot in the business, but Grace sidestepped their questions and gossip with a little white lie about having an after-work doctor’s appointment she had to get to and hurried to her car.

She didn’t want to talk to anyone about any of it. She just wanted to go home.

It was only as she reached the outskirts of Hamblehurst that she realised that going straight home wasn’t an option, at least not yet. First, she had to pick up Stanley from Ryan’s house.

Thoughts of the little dog instantly cheered her. Stopping herself from dwelling on her stalled promotion hadn’t been easy during the day, and her mind was tired from the effort it had required to appear pleasant and happy while interacting with the hotel guests. Now that she was done for the day, it was nice to think of Stanley waiting for her with his cute face and wagging tail and sweet canine character.

And it was nice to think she would have company at home tonight, even if that company was just a stray dog. The idea of curling up on the sofa with Stanley and forgetting about the horrible news she’d heard today was incredibly appealing.

Grace drove to Riverside Road and found a parking space near Ryan’s house. She’d neglected to check her phone before leaving work, and did so now, wondering if the dog warden had got back in touch yet, either about her continuing to keep Stanley in her care or about the photographs she’d sent that morning of Stanley to help the warden locate any owners who might be searching for him.

There was a voice mail on her phone, and when Grace listened to it, she discovered it was from the dog warden.

“It’s against procedure to keep a stray dog,” the warden admonished her on the message he’d left. “We’ll have to get back to you and sort out this situation, because this won’t do. In the meantime, I appreciate you sending photos of the dog for us to use. We’ll try to match them to our reports of missing dogs. I’ll be in touch.”

That was it as far as the message was concerned. The warden sounded as harassed as he had done when they’d first spoken. She briefly wondered what the warden meant when he said he’d get back to her to ‘sort out this situation’ and whether she was in any trouble over all of this.

Slipping her phone into her bag, she dismissed the thought. She had enough on her mind already as it was.

When she rang the doorbell at Ryan’s house a few moments later, she grinned at the sound of Stanley barking as he raced towards the door along the hallway. When the door opened this time, she was ready for the little creature and happily welcomed him as he launched his sturdy little body towards her.

“Hello, Stanley!” Grace said, rubbing the dog’s ears as he wriggled around her feet and clambered up her legs. “How was your day?”

“Yap! Yap!”

“Good. At least one of us had fun.”

She intended this last comment to be no more than a silly whisper in the ears of the cute dog as it raced around her feet, but when she glanced up and saw Ryan at the door, the look on his face told her he’d heard what she said.

“Is everything okay?” he asked, his smile dimming.

“Everything’s fine,” she said with an easy wave of her hand. “It was just busy today, that’s all. I’ll grab Stanley’s things and get out of your way.”

“Sorry, but Grandma won’t allow that,” Ryan said, his smile returning. “She insisted on making dinner again and has also insisted that you join us.”

“Oh, no, I can’t impose two nights in a row.”

“Nonsense,” came Miriam’s voice from the back of the hallway.

Grace peered around Ryan and saw Miriam poking her head out of the kitchen at the far end. “It’s nothing fancy tonight, just a cold pasta salad, and some ripe tomatoes and basil, and a beautiful crusty loaf we bought at the baker’s while we were walking Stanley this morning. You must join us. I’m not taking no for an answer.”

“But—”

“We’ll eat at six,” Miriam interrupted. “In the meantime, why don’t you two take Stanley for another walk to make sure he’s comfortable before we all sit down later.”

Miriam disappeared from view, and when Grace looked back at Ryan, she saw the amused expression of resignation on his face.

“When it comes to my grandmother, I find it’s easier just to do what she says,” Ryan laughed.

“I feel bad turning up to be fed two nights in a row.”

“Do you have other plans tonight?”

“No, but…”

“Then just stay and eat with us. It’ll save you cooking for yourself, and it will make my grandma happy to see someone other than me eating the food she’s prepared. She enjoyed your company last night. It will mean a lot to her if you say yes.”

Once more, Grace found herself accepting the impromptu dinner invitation. “All right then, thank you. But if I’m being fed here again, the least I can do is contribute something. If we’re being sent out to walk Stanley, then I’ll stop off at the shops on the high street to buy wine or dessert.”

“I already bought wine, but we don’t have dessert.”

“Then that’s what I’ll buy. There’s a nice ice cream shop at the bottom of the high street, and they sell cheesecakes and all that sort of stuff.”

“Sounds great.”

Ryan clipped the lead onto Stanley’s collar and they set off for their walk, heading east along Riverside Road before cutting along a residential street that offered the most direct route towards where the ice cream shop was located on the high street. While the dog sniffed and scampered, excited at the prospect of yet another new walking route, Grace listened while Ryan filled her in on Stanley’s day, which had mostly consisted of the dog eating his food, playing with his new toys, going for a walk, and then taking a very lengthy nap.

“It really is a dog’s life,” Grace laughed. “I’m almost jealous. I just hope that looking after for him for another day didn’t torpedo any plans with your grandmother.”

“She enjoyed hanging around at the house,” Ryan reassured her. “She told me so herself. And because we were just taking it easy at home, Grandma was able to tell me all about what’s she got up to when she visited my sister and her family a few weeks ago, and then during the time she spent with some old friends recently, too. We’ve got plenty of time to do all the out-and-about stuff we planned.”

Ryan fell silent and his expression shifted, as if he’d just remembered something.

“Grace, how did it go with the conversation this morning with your supervisor about your big promotion?” he asked. “I’m sorry, I should’ve asked already.”

Grace waved a hand and offered what she hoped was a smile. “It went fine, thanks.”

He studied her face for a long beat, clearly unconvinced. “Are you sure?”

After the shock of the morning’s news, Grace had spent the day trying not to think about the sudden stalling of her promotion plans. She wasn’t sure she wanted to think about it now, either.

But when she turned to Ryan in an attempt to offer yet another smooth smile to cover her true feelings, the open expression on his face and the concerned look in his eyes had the effect of opening the floodgates.

She wanted to talk to him and share her feelings, even if the impulse took her by surprise.

“Actually, things didn’t go fine at all,” Grace said on a release of breath. “The business has decided to pause all promotion processes for at least a year, including those, like mine, that were already well underway.”

Ryan’s eyes widened. “I’m so sorry, Grace. That’s terrible news. Why are they doing that?”

“It turns out the business is looking to recoup losses and is tightening its belt. They made a public announcement this afternoon and put out a press release about plans to sell off some of the underperforming hotels in the corporate portfolio and pause refurbishment works that were in the pipeline. There’s also a pay freeze and a hiring freeze at some managerial levels, with any new appointments having to be approved further up the chain.” Grace shrugged. “All businesses go through tough times, of course they do. But all this came as a complete shock.”

“I bet it did. I could see this morning how excited you were about the promotion meeting you were about to have once you got to work. It obviously meant an awful lot to you. I’m really sorry.”

“My manager, Clive, reminded me that it could’ve been worse. There are people in the business who are now being made redundant, and that’s terrible. There are no risks to jobs at the Hamblehurst Manor Hotel, at least none we’re aware of right now. But I’ve been working hard for many months towards this promotion, putting in the hours, going the extra mile, taking on more responsibilities in order to prove I’m ready. I’m sure I exceeded all the promotion criteria and I’m sure that promotion would’ve been mine had these big decisions not been taken at the top of the business.”

Grace sighed again, her thoughts churning. “I still have my job and I still work in a great place. That counts for a lot. But I’ve been so focused on this promotion. It was the only thing I could think about, the only thing that mattered, and now that it’s been ripped away like this…” She let another sigh and shook her head. “It’s just left me feeling winded and I need a couple of days to let it all sink in.”

“That makes perfect sense. It doesn’t mean you won’t ever be promoted. It just isn’t happening right now. That’s hard to take in, I get that. But it’ll happen, eventually. I’m sure of it.”

Grace appreciated his words, which could’ve sounded trite or flippant, but didn’t. There was emotion in his voice as he spoke, and certainty, too, which made Grace feel a tiny bit better, something she hadn’t imagined was possible.

“Thanks, Ryan.”

Stanley scampered towards her just then, having been busy for the last few moments sniffing his way along a line of hedges between the front gardens that lined the street and the pavement. The dog yapped and wagged his tail before dashing off again ahead of them.

“Stanley says it’s all going to work out fine, too,” Ryan laughed.

“Well, if that’s what Stanley says, it must be true,” Grace grinned, and gave Ryan a thoughtful look. “I’m glad you and your grandmother invited me to dinner again tonight. I would’ve just gone home with Stanley and felt sorry for myself for the rest of the evening otherwise.”

“It’s okay to feel sorry for yourself. It’s hard when things don’t work out the way we hope they will.”

Grace thought he’d been about to say something more, but when she turned to face him, he was looking ahead, his expression a blank mask. He gestured to the road junction further along, where the residential street they’d just walked along met the high street at its eastern edge.

“We’re almost at the ice cream shop,” Ryan said, pointing to where the pink canopy and signage above the door were just coming into view. “Considering the rotten news you got today, I think some sort of triple chocolate cake ice cream monstrosity is probably in order.”

“Sounds good to me,” Grace laughed, not realising until just that moment that chocolate, and lots of it, was exactly what she needed.

Ryan, she also realised, had somehow managed to read her mind.