Goodmans Hotel

***

Lizetta rang me the day after the meal to say she had spoken to one of the lecturers at West London Tertiary College and had arranged an interview for him. 'He's lovely, isn't he?' she said. 'You're so lucky. The gorgeous Tom and him, it isn't fair.'

'My relationship with Tom and my relationship with Darren are completely different.'

'I know that, silly. He adores you though, doesn't he?'

'Does he?'

'Of course he does. He was glancing across at you hoping for signs of approval all the time. He worships you.'

'It's cupboard love. How's Vincent?'

'He's fine. We manage to see each other almost every week. Only for lunch sometimes, but we see each other.'

'He doesn't deserve you.'

'I wish you'd tell him that.'

When Vincent and I last spoke he mentioned the possibility of me advising him about upgrading his company's computer system. That had been weeks ago, but what with the hotel being busy and sorting out Darren's future I had not been in touch with him since. With Darren helping at the hotel fitting in a few days at his offices might be practicable, and I suggested she bring Vincent to the hotel for a meal one day.

'Thanks, that would be nice, but you know how difficult things are, when we have an opportunity to be together we need to take full advantage of it.'

'You've never actually seen the hotel, have you? You could retire to one of the hotel rooms after we've eaten.' The thought of making love to Vincent in one of Goodmans Hotel's rooms appealed to her, and she agreed to speak to him.

They came a couple of weeks later, and as I was hoping he asked again about upgrading his office systems, and rang a few days later to fix a date for me to come to assess what would be entailed. Indirectly their visit to the hotel led to something else that was less welcome. Not only did Vincent book me to look at his company's systems, but he also asked Tom if he would do some work on his family home in Amersham. He had a builder putting up an extension, and wanted Tom to keep an eye on the work at the same time as boarding the floor of the loft and repairing some dilapidated fences.

At first Tom balked at the long journey, but Vincent talked him round. 'Come up and have a look. It's all a question of money, isn't it? All we need to do is agree a price that makes it worth your while to put up with the travelling.'