The Seaside Hotel Read online

  The Seaside Hotel

  Agnès Ruiz

  Translated by Sarah Sharman

  “The Seaside Hotel”

  Written By Agnès Ruiz

  Copyright © 2017 Agnes Ruiz

  All rights reserved

  Distributed by Babelcube, Inc.

  www.babelcube.com

  Translated by Sarah Sharman

  Cover Design © 2017 Agnes Ruiz

  “Babelcube Books” and “Babelcube” are trademarks of Babelcube Inc.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  The Seaside Hotel | Season 1

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  19

  20

  21

  22

  23

  24

  25

  26

  27

  28

  29

  30

  31

  32

  33

  34

  35

  36

  37

  38

  39

  40

  41

  42

  43

  44

  45

  46

  47

  48

  49

  50

  51

  52

  53

  54

  55

  56

  57

  58

  59

  60

  61

  62

  63

  64

  65

  66

  67

  68

  69

  70

  71

  72

  73

  74

  75

  76

  77

  78

  79

  80

  81

  82

  83

  84

  85

  86

  87

  About the author:

  Bibliography

  Your Review and Word-of-Mouth Recommendations Will Make a Difference

  Are You Looking For Other Great Reads?

  The Seaside Hotel

  Season 1

  Agnes Ruiz

  Translated by Sarah Sharman

  1

  Joanna left the reception of the seaside hotel quickly. She felt bad for leaving the intern student alone, but she had to try to track down her brother, Joshua.

  Besides, it was still the low season and it wasn't crowded. Mélanie would at least be able to check in a guest if one arrived at the reception desk. She wasn't as dim as she looked.

  Joanna hadn't liked her much since the beginning. Mélanie laughed at nothing, and only half listened to instructions, unless it was Joanna’s brother, Josh who was speaking to her. What a fool! She annoyed Joanna so much that she seethed inside.

  It was the young girl’s first job. She was eighteen years old and had just dropped out of college during the final year. She mentioned in her interview that it was too much pressure. Joanna told herself that it was a good reason not to give her the hotel reception job. What would she do in the middle of the summer with guests bustling around, sometimes in a bad mood? Would she pretend it was too much pressure then, too, and leave them high and dry at their busiest time?

  However, her brother turned up five minutes before the end of the interview. It was he who had asked this fool, Mélanie, to apply. Of course he had shown goodwill, ensuring she would have enough time to learn the job before the busy season.

  Furious, Joanna could do nothing to dissuade him. Provided that he understood that she would only be an intern for six months; training was paid by the state, so it wouldn’t take anything out of their pockets. Joanna agreed that just this once it wasn’t a bad idea, even if she detested that type of ploy. As seasonal workers, they were used to it. Using a workforce- almost for free- made her feel uncomfortable, but she couldn’t allow herself to be fussy. Last years’ turnover was more disappointing than the other years. The seaside hotel had to recover its health.

  So Joanna had to put up with Mélanie’s giggling, and never-ending good moods. After all, it would be wrong of her not to recognise that it was a positive point having her on reception. She wouldn’t be alone, anyway. Two other receptionists would be there to bear the brunt of the summer. The hotel’s toughest season; not only because of the heat from the sun or because of it being the peak season. Before long, the telephone would not stop ringing, as well as them getting constant e-mails for reservations.

  Joanna ignored the lifts and took the stairs. She had read in a magazine that it worked your buttocks which she thought were getting too soft these days. She may as well enjoy the beautiful stairs to get fit.

  She imagined the hotel teeming with people. Half of the rooms were already booked, some of which by regular guests. She had created some great promotional campaigns. She was the head of communications, after all. Her studies had served her well, and the fact that she spoke English and Spanish fluently, definitely helped her when it came to attracting indecisive guests trying to decide their next holiday destination.

  The Normandy coast always had a certain charm with its many layers of local and international community. As a native of the region, she couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.

  Business was picking up! Joanna was excited and jumped up onto the first floor landing with its vermillion red carpet.

  After dealing with an overwhelming amount of silly questions from Mélanie since the morning, she forgot her bad mood and continued looking for her brother, Joshua.

  He was two years younger than she. Everybody agreed that he was handsome.

  He was tall, 1 metre 80, with dark hair. Joanna thought it was too long and scruffy. On the contrary, he was confident that it made him look like a king’s musketeer that women couldn’t resist. As long as Rodolphe G. Gaspardin had nothing to say, she kept it to herself. The seaside hotel was their fathers’ first and foremost. Joanna and Joshua were only learning the trade... since they were children, she sometimes thought.

  She remembered the numerous games she had invented in the corridors of the establishment. And the lectures! That time she almost knocked over a guest when riding her tricycle too fast, for example. Or after chasing her brother, Joshua, in a crazy game of cowboys and Indians. The hotel was ideal terrain for fun and games. It was a mine of intense, limitless adventures.

  Later, she rejected the place with all her strength. She begrudged it for being static year after year. Its rhythm punctuated by the low and high seasons. She wanted to see other places, to flee and live a more exciting life.

  These days, she wasn’t proud of her choices back then. She had avoided sticking around too long. Her rebellious period had lasted too long, far later than the majority, she thought.

  Now, the seaside hotel was her place of work, where she felt good, fulfilled, and to which she devoted all of her time. She gave it everything she had. A lot more than Joshua! She had a deep-seated awareness of it. She sometimes asked herself if her father agreed, however.

  Her brother could be surprisingly affable, friendly and warm. Indifferent, too. Joanna often wondered if he was at all interested in the family business. She didn’t know what he did in the meantime. Maybe he wanted to go somewhere else, or he’d been offered something, hopefully without too much of a risk of losing
everything. Joshua would not be able to deal with being broke. She knew it. It was undoubtedly the one thing that stopped him from chasing after his numerous schemes, that he would tell her about when they were close... How many times had she told him to really go for it, and to believe in himself? Nevertheless, he recoiled, dithered, and assured her that he still wasn’t ready. Or that he didn’t want to upset their father, Rodolphe, who had put everything into this business as soon as he could.

  2

  To be honest, Joanna hoped that Joshua would let her take care of the family business. She had never told him that. She cautiously figured that she shouldn’t show her cards too soon, and risk disappointment. In the silence of her bedroom, she sometimes wondered if advising her brother to go elsewhere was genuine. Did she just want to push him away and be alone alongside her father with her toy, the seaside hotel?

  She doubled the risks and was convinced that she was the master hand needed to manage the establishment. Her assurance and skills weren’t fake. But also, and above all, she tried to forget her past mistakes; terrible and forever marked in her mind like a hot iron. It was brought up in conversation, too often, and everything went fifteen years back in time.

  Very young, she fell in love. Madly in love. She hadn’t told anybody, not even her mother who worried about not seeing her much. And when it happened, her silence was held against her. They finally both argued about it. Actually, Joanna couldn’t bear her mother interfering in her private life. She believed she had the right to keep her love to herself. And when the time came she would introduce them to the one who made her heart pound. She was only fifteen years old. Today she was twice that age, and had a daughter.

  Zoé would be 14 years old in a month, Joanna mused with some bitterness. She still felt bad about feeling anything but joy at that time. In the beginning, she thought she would get used to it, and overcome it. Except she didn’t. Yet, she loved her daughter with all her heart. It was just that James, her first love and Zoé’s father, left her just one week after the birth. Right at the beginning of May.

  During that troubled time, Joanna had tried to escape the seaside hotel that was stifling her, as she said back then. She had long since turned her back on her mother as well as the rest of the family. Then, she came back. She made herself as small as possible with such an enormous belly! Today she could still remember all the mocking. They all thought there was a whole tribe inside her huge belly. She laughed to hide her embarrassment and distress. Perhaps it was all those words repeated day after day that made James leave?

  No, of course not.

  We were in modern times; Joanna thought, whenever she asked herself the real reason for James’ hasty departure. The ultrasound was right. There was only one baby in that hot-air balloon of a belly. Everything was perfect, except the young couple was already starting to unravel.

  In hindsight, Joanna realised that she’d been too optimistic. Numerous signs had shown James wasn’t the one she needed. And definitely not a good father for her daughter. Besides, he hadn’t simply gone a few kilometres away from her and Zoé. He returned to the United States, his homeland. He had shown no sign of life since then.

  Good for him, Joanna sometimes cursed between gritted teeth in difficult moments. Lately, she would have sent Zoé to him, just to put some sense into her daughter’s head, and to give herself a bit of fresh air, and a break.

  On the other hand, Joanna’s mother, Lorelli, had become incredibly kind at the announcement of her pregnancy. Joanna was plagued with guilt for her behaviour when she thought she’d found the perfect love. Her mother had never made even the slightest reproach. On the contrary, she promised she’d be there to help with the baby, and that she needn’t worry.

  Her father, however, was a different story. Rodolphe G. Gaspardin was wild with rage. He sarcastically claimed he had enough hotel rooms to house children, but that there would no longer be enough room for guests. His ex-wife Lorelli intervened. Joanna welcomed her mother’s presence to announce that her boyfriend had left her. Before that, Joanna had been the favourite. She was Rodolphe’s oldest daughter, who he said made him melt. She was so tiny, he was afraid to break her.

  How quickly times changed. Joshua was born. The boy Rodolphe had always dreamt of. He imagined him leading the seaside hotel. He already overlooked Joanna and took Joshua to work with him in his office, despite his young age. The child, indifferent, played with his cars. But he was in his father’s presence. Joanna’s jealousy bared its teeth. Yet she loved her little brother. She gave him constant attention.

  Growing up, Joshua was fairly interested in the family business, mostly in a polite way, and especially when their father was present. Outside, Joshua dreamt of other things. Joanna wanted the job. She had worked hard, pursued further studies. She had shown great skill for managing such an establishment.

  But what for? She was often left with the impression that all her effort was like a sword cutting through water. Nobody noticed, except for Lorelli, and even then, not always. Her mother was only interested in the hotel administration from a distance. She only paid attention to the profits as she had retained some shares in the company.

  Joanna devoted herself entirely to her job. Too much so, claimed Lorelli, who was worried about seeing her forget about herself.

  “I’m just like dad”, replied Joanna, enthusiastically. He had also given everything to the seaside hotel.

  “His reputation, his growth”, argued her mother, visibly annoyed, rolling her eyes.

  “Yes, you can’t say otherwise!” Joanna lashed out at Lorelli’s heavy innuendos.

  “And look where we are, my darling.”

  Joanna refused to recognise it, or she just didn’t see it. Her parents were separated. Her mother assured her that it was because of the hotel. Rodolphe G. Gaspardin alluded to other reasons.

  How could Joanna dig up the truth? After her misbehaviour and desire to flee, she swore by the job that she loved, and her father to whom she listened as though he held every solution to restore the hotels’ slightly faded reputation. But he no longer looked at her with eyes full of pride. And yet, that was all she was waiting for. Either that or that he commended her frequent, and often fruitful, efforts.

  Was it the arrival of her child, when she was only sixteen years old that forever changed her fathers’ vision of her? She had shown herself as weak, and incapable of making the right choices before a man. Of assuming her responsibilities. Rodolphe G. Gaspardin had already struck her many times since. He could be very cruel. Perhaps he didn’t realise? Joanna hung on to that thought. Her mother said that she swept it under the rug.

  3

  Either way, Rodolphe G. Gaspardin continued teaching Joanna and Joshua the trade. Was he a rival? She had never seen him in that way. He was her little brother, who she still saw as a baby. She used to tell him stories. They were close for a long time. Now they put up with each other for the hotel. Above everything else.

  Maybe he’d leave if he managed to save some money. Joanna would help him no matter what, with all the energy of the business woman she was becoming. Uncompromising, demanding, perceptive: just as her father wanted her to be.

  She did not find her brother in his office. It wasn’t a surprise since she’d sent him a text message and called him. She got his voicemail, without fail. She could hardly believe it when she opened the door to her father’s office and stopped, speechless. Joshua was sat on Rodolphe G. Gaspardin’s leather chair.

  He lifted his head and their eyes locked, painfully. It renewed Joanna’s energy, and fear settled in her stomach.

  “What are you doing there?!”

  “I don’t understand”, replied Joshua.

  “I assume you’re joking. This is dad’s territory.”

  “Oh! That...”

  Joanna noticed that he didn’t get up. On the contrary, he made himself more comfortable in the leather back, as if he were finding a better position. She noticed her brother’s fingers sliding acros
s the immaculate surface of the mahogany desk. Was he trying to leave a permanent mark?!

  “Dad will be furious to see you here, and you know it”, she attacked, trying to be firm, but incapable of hiding her real fury.

  “He’s not here.”

  He was so calm. How could he remain so unconcerned when she wanted to slaughter him? Sure he wasn’t ignoring her. He knew she was bubbling with anger. Or, once again he was being patronising... He was making a mockery of the seaside hotel...

  Joanna took a deep breath. She observed the plant that was withering day by day. In the corner, too close to the window, it was overwatered by Rodolphe G. Gaspardin’s assistant. Marguerite was devoted, and a skilled stenographer. Well, that was how she got her job there. It made Joanna smile when the old woman reaffirmed that she wasn’t a secretary, but a stenographer, a long lost trade.

  Joanna thought that she would never understand Marguerite. What was the point of it anyway? She was in her final year. A well-deserved retirement was on its way to her. She wasn’t there to watch over her employers’ office, either, which she faithfully served without fault. Joanna often wondered how many secrets had she kept, and would probably keep forever. Why had her father given her the week off whilst he was absent?

  She must be behind on tonnes of files! The boss being away was the occasion to put everything in order, especially before leaving for her retirement. Joanna made a mental note: never allow time off so easily. Well, once the hotel was her responsibility, that is.

  Her eyes lit up like a beacon at that thought. Yet, Joshua’s presence in her father’s office, sat in the chair as if he were the master, put a stop to it.

  “Dad will be back tomorrow! Have you forgotten already?”

  “I’m not doing anything wrong”, he replied with an enigmatic smile.

  Joanna observed her brother’s face. Something had changed in him. But what? Suddenly, she saw her father’s face. He didn’t really resemble him, but he had just taken on the same attitude: that of a manager, with an almost glacial eye.

  She lost all control and fear took over her whole being, like an old friend who never left for long.