Page 16 of The Last Saturday In July
‘Sorry, go ahead.’ He rolled up his shirtsleeves, revealingsurprisingly tanned, muscled arms.
She hadn’t really noticed that when they ...
He lifted an eyebrow, and she felt her face warm.
‘Now?’ she asked.
Adam folded his arms. ‘Now would be good.’
‘Um,well, I have it on file.’ Jess fumbled at her keyboard, wondering why her brain had suddenly stopped communicating with her fingers. ‘Just give me a minute.’
‘Why don’t you give me the elevator pitch?’
Jess grabbed a pencil and started to doodle a miniature castle in her notebook. ‘Right, so, obviously, I thought I’d play on its history, and the fact that it’s a luxury destination hotel on the Wild Atlantic Way.’
She looked up at him when he didn’t respond.
‘I think your elevator pitch might need some work,’ he said then.
She tried not to glare at him. ‘The key is its history, and its immersive Victorian experience.’
Adam waved his hand dismissively. ‘Forget the history – it’s enough to confine that to our website. The only bit anyone is interested in is Helen Linford running off with her maid. Which brings us right back to the Linford Curse. That’s why this wedding is so important. Celebrities. Bobbie Grayson’s behind-the-scenes documentary movie. And no chance of anything going wrong. This is the real money.’
‘Maybe.’ Jess drew a flag in one of her castle turrets. ‘But that won’t solidify our image. Long-term, Frank agrees that we want guests who know the difference between a watch tower and a water tank.’
Adam shrugged. ‘So?’
She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of getting annoyed. Instead, she smiled sweetly. ‘Maybe you haven’t had a chance to look at the marketing I’ve done for Linford since we reopened? The media coverage, the new website, our strong social-media presence. I haven’t been sitting around hoping for a celebrity wedding. Yes, this will raise our profile quickly, but we can’t just depend on celebrities.’
‘No, but we need to ensure a steady stream of income.’ Adam spoke patiently. ‘So, you need an angle.’
‘Right, and a five-star hotel that looks like a fairy-tale castle is a good place to start.’ Jess started to draw a tiny horse, but her pencil-tip snapped on the page. ‘I won’t have any problems selling that.’
Adam sat forward. ‘You know, I hate to burst your bubble, Jess, but people can stay in five-star hotels anywhere in the world. They don’t have to come to the rain-soaked shores of the west of Ireland. And most people don’t actually care that much about history, either.’ He glanced down at her drawing. ‘You draw pretty well.’
Before Jess could respond, Adam took out his phone.
‘Have you seen what’s trending on Twitter? The celebrity wedding and the Linford curse. Do you know that twenty years ago Linford’s owners allowed a wedding between two big crime families to go ahead? They weren’t even halfway through the reception before a huge fight broke out: twelve ambulances called, and thirty-five arrests made. There were no weddings for three years after that, because nobody wanted to go near the bloody place.’
Jess managed not to roll her eyes.
Adam sighed. ‘The last wedding we had at Linford, the groom died from –’
‘Anaphylactic shock, I know.’ Jess looked grim. ‘And the wedding before that was annulled, because the bride kissed the best man on the altar straight after the ceremony. What’s your point, Adam?’
He put away his phone. ‘My point is that people think the castle is jinxed. We’ve been open six months and advertising wedding deals even before we opened. This is our first booking, and Linford should be packing them in. The great hall and the orangery are at opposite ends of the castle, so we could even have two weddings at a time.’
‘Well, Frank seems to think that Chelsea and Leo’s wedding will be the magic wand that’ll wave away the curse,’ Jess said.
Adam nodded. ‘I think he’s right, and it’d be a relief. But it may not be enough. So, we need to work on that high-concept idea.’ He stretched and pushed both hands back through his hair. ‘You’ve a great view from this office.’
Jess latched on gratefully to the change of subject. ‘Where are you working?’
‘I found a small office beside the boardroom. No view, though.’
She felt a stab of guilt. ‘Still, better you have your own space – we’d have been on top of each other here.’ Heat flashed to her cheeks as soon as the words were out. What was wrong with her?
Adam smirked, but mercifully he got up to leave.
