Scarred Beginnings by Jackie Williams Page B

week David had wolfed down his breakfast, barely letting his bacon and eggs touch his plate before he’d dashed out into the grounds and disappeared for the day. A lot of the time he was up at the zip wire or canoeing down the river. He never bothered with lunch and every night he came home exhausted, ate a huge dinner and then went straight to bed.
    Now, a week into his residency he was about to leave the ch âteau on some wild goose chase yet again. Ellen had had enough. There were still a million things to do before their opening on New Year’s Eve. The latest problem had arisen when she was about to make up all the beds in the rooms. They had forgotten that the specialist sensor mattresses were a lot thicker than normal ones and most of their fitted sheets didn’t reach far enough down the sides to tuck under the bed. The facilities were another thing to recheck and the stress was getting to her.
    “I need you to start checking out the gym David. There’s a lot of new equipment in there. Our personal trainer is coming next week to take a look over everything but I want you to check it first and then the pool guy is coming later today to take a look at the water and make sure that’s perfect too. We both need to know what we’re doing. We can’t open with a green pool so he’s going to show me how to regulate the water. You don’t have time to go messing about on that blasted zip wire. I’m almost sorry I installed it now.” She bustled about picking things up and putting them down distractedly. “Delphine and Nicole are coming to give me a run through on some of the treatments and I need you to be there with Geraldine so that you two can offer advice on our therapies. You are going to have a facial and a massage so I know what to suggest to guests. I don’t want any guest to feel left out or embarrassed because I go and suggest or say the wrong thing.”
    David looked up from where he had been trying to escape through the kitchen doorway.
    “Can’t you and Geraldine do that? I’m sure that you would prefer a facial to me.” There was no way he could be in the same room as Geraldine yet. He still hadn’t yet come to terms with her having a boyfriend. He couldn’t bear the thought of anyone else putting their hands on her and if he saw her with bed hair or kiss swollen lips he knew that he’d go completely mad.
    Ellen frowned at him darkly, her lips set in a determined line and he realized that he wasn’t getting out of this one.
    “Okay, okay, I’ll be there. What time do you want me?” He asked resignedly.
    “Three, but before that I want you to go to the stable block and check on Jean-Paul. He’s meant to have finished by now but there looked to be a lot to do at the end of last week. Just check on his finishing schedule as I have the place booked out for the ball.” She turned on her heel and left him standing in the doorway.
    He plodded along the wooded path towards the stables. It wasn’t far and he could hear the men working well before he arrived. They greeted him cordially and Jean-Paul gave him a tour, pointing out where they needed to finish light fittings and plug sockets. It was almost all done but they didn’t want to finish the electrics before the decorating had been done. He reassured David that two weeks was plenty of time so long as Theo and his team had the painting completed by the end of the week.
    David thanked the man , rang Theo to confirm that he was arriving the next day and then trudged back up the path to the ravine. He had spent hours up there since his first day. Ellen thought he spent the time whizzing down the zip wire but he didn’t. He sat down on the edge of the cliff and dangled his legs over the precipice as he rummaged through the dangerous thoughts that crowded his mind.
    He sighed deeply. There was only one thought really.
    ‘How the hell was he going to go on living here under the same roof as Geraldine when she’d clearly been stringing him along all