Page 36 of A Taste of Paradise

‘Oh no, well, I’m actually not staying here …’ the girl admitted, coquettishly batting her eyelashes.

Seriously? Erin thought, aghast. ‘Well, I’m so sorry, but I’m afraid our facilities are for guest usage only,’ she informed her, carefully choosing her words and tone in case she was being filmed. But she made a mental note to have a word with security to ensure that randomers weren’t allowed to wander in willy-nilly. Especially when it seemed increasingly likely that there was a saboteur in the mix. Miss Pink Paradise seemed an unlikely possibility, but you never knew …

Having seen the ‘influencer’ and her cameraman off the property, all the while trying not to let her annoyance show, Erin eventually made her way back to the safety of her office, whereupon she forwarded the images from Shay Brady’s room to Molly in the hope that something might ring a bell.

While awaiting a response, and with the water leak debacle still fresh in her mind, she quickly checked the guest register, making a note of which rooms had necessitated evacuating and more to the point, now needed making up for the inconvenience.

Having done that, she noticed a string of messages on her desk, one in particular related to the upcoming sunset party bash. At this rate, it would be time for next year’s event before she got to grips with the outstanding prep Lily had outlined, never mind the day-to-day demands of her job. Assuming the job, or indeed the hotel, existed by then. Still, Erin wasted no time attending to the list.

‘Hello, Hula Entertainment? Erin Howard from The Palms returning your call.’ She sank wearily into her chair as she waited for the person on the other end of the line to speak. In the background, it sounded like several hushed voices were arguing back and forth.

‘Yes, I was looking for Lily but I’m unable to reach her. It seems there’s been a misunderstanding and I’m afraid we won’t have our dancers available for your event after all; I’m sorry. Could you pass on the message?’

For the big sunset party night? Seriously?

‘That’s a shame. Do you happen to know of another company that might …’

The line promptly went dead before Erin even had a chance to finish her sentence. She blinked and checked the phone to determine if there could have been some sort of technical issue on the line though it didn’t seem likely.

Well … despite Lily’s assurances that all was in hand, it now seemed The Palms’ famed summer celebration had suffered an unexpected blow in losing their planned entertainment. Coincidence? Hopefully not.

But with the way things were going lately, Erin truly hoped this wasn’t a sign of even bigger problems to come.

Chapter 26

The ride to the art gallery was a quiet one. Naomi’s sisters were once again on bad terms and barely shared a word with anyone else during the minibus journey.

While Naomi was determined to keep her game face on, Sam seemed distracted, and she deduced her friend was missing her son. At least her parents seemed excited by the prospect of today’s jaunt. They had been collecting art for some time and it was something they thoroughly enjoyed, so this outing was mostly for them.

Now, seated alongside her, Sam turned to Naomi. ‘Tell me something, honestly. Do you want to marry Greg?’

She baulked a little at her friend’s directness. ‘What sort of question is that? You know I do.’

‘But what gives you the idea that he wants to marry you too?’

‘What are you saying, Sam?’ Naomi retorted, stung. ‘Of course he does.’

‘I know you’re expecting some outlandish proposal on this holiday, but how do you know it’s not just you reading into things?’

Naomi felt defensive. ‘Look, I know that Greg can be … a bit … uptight sometimes,’ she said, guessing that Sam was referring to his outright spitting feathers about having to evacuate the room right before they were leaving, despite arranging to let him use hers instead.

‘I’ll say …’ Sam raised an eyebrow.

‘And I suppose he isn’t easy to understand with his strict adherence to his ten-year plan and all that, but I do know that getting married is on that plan, so why wouldn’t he want to marry me?’

‘Fine. I’m sorry I brought it up. I told myself I wouldn’t, it’s just …’ Sam exhaled deeply.

Naomi looked at her, worried now. ‘Just what?’

She looked out the window. ‘I didn’t want to put a dampener on things, so I didn’t tell you before we left, but … Harry and I have split up.’

She turned to look at her friend, shocked. ‘What? When did this happen?’

Sam shrugged. ‘I ended it the week before we travelled. He’s still taking care of Nate while I’m away obviously, and will always be his dad of course, but …’

‘But what?’

‘I suppose … I’ve felt for a while that he didn’t have my best interests at heart. Like when I told him about this trip and that it would be hard being away from Nate, I was still excited about coming along to celebrate my best friend’s big birthday and spending some long overdue time together, especially after the last couple of years – not to mention an amazing opportunity to visit such an incredible place … All Harry could focus on was how my leaving Nate would inconvenience him, rather than be happy for me to take some time out. Don’t get me wrong, you know how much I love my baby, but, cripes, motherhood is so intense sometimes.’