Danielle Steel - Hotel Vendome

“Fine,” Hugues said, sounding irritated, and Jennifer was unimpressed. She and Heloise had agreed to follow it through whether he liked it or not. And for now, it was “not.” The last thing he wanted was a decorator following him around, waving swatches in his face and color charts. The whole project sounded like a nuisance to him, but it needed to be done to keep the hotel elegant and fresh.

Jennifer left the room with the sample photographs, and he went back to the work on his desk and forgot about it. He had a text message from Heloise that afternoon. She said she was running between classes and didn’t have time to talk, but everything was great. The obvious excitement in her text depressed him even more. He knew he was worrying unreasonably too. What if she found a job at another hotel, like the Ritz, and never came back? He was torturing himself with a thousand fears. He missed her terribly.

He was in a dark mood for several days and startled when Jennifer told him a week later that he had appointments with the two decorators back to back that afternoon.

“I don’t have time,” he growled at her, which was unlike him. But he had been short with her and everyone else since his daughter left. He was in pain. Jennifer knew it well and had gone through the same phenomenon when both her children left for college within a year of each other. Her job at the hotel had distracted her and made the process less painful. And she was committed to helping Hugues get through it too. He had been a good employer and a good friend over the years, and if she was able to get him to adjust to Heloise’s leaving for school in Switzerland, she was happy to help out. And the decorating project he had discussed with his daughter seemed like their best shot at it for now.

Despite a considerable amount of grousing and complaining, Hugues showed up in his office, five minutes before the first decorator was due to arrive, and shot his assistant a dark look. She had forced him to take the two meetings.

“Don’t look at me like that,” she smiled at him. “The suites on nine and ten will be even more gorgeous once you do it, and you can charge more for them. And if you don’t hire someone to do it, Heloise will kill us both when she gets back.”

“I know, I know,” he said, looking exhausted, and ten minutes later the first of the two decorators arrived. Her credentials were excellent. She had decorated some of the most important homes in New York, a hotel in San Francisco, two in Chicago, and one in New York, and all were of similar size and feeling as the Vendome. Hugues discussed the project with her for a few minutes and was instantly bored. She talked about fabrics, textures, window treatments, and paint tones in a way that put him to sleep. She was in her mid to late fifties, had a fleet of people working for her, and could easily have done the job, but nothing she said excited him. He had Jennifer take her upstairs to look at the four suites, and when she came back, she said he had to throw everything out. It was all dated and passe and yesterday’s news. She wanted to give the suites a whole new look. What she said sounded too extreme to him, and he suspected that the bill she would present would be too. He asked her to give him an estimate, understanding that the fabrics and furniture he chose would be a variable, but he wanted a range, and told her he’d get back to her after that. But nothing about his meeting with her had inspired him to give her the job. And he looked bored when Jennifer walked back in.

“I have a feeling she could wind up costing you a fortune,” Jennifer commented, and Hugues agreed.

“She wore me out just listening to her. If her decorating is as boring as she is, the suites will look worse than they do now,” and they didn’t look bad. Jennifer agreed with him, and twenty minutes later she escorted the second woman in. She was younger than the first one, looked quiet and conservative, and had a briefcase full of sketches, swatches, and suggestions for him. She had already looked at some of the suites online and had some interesting ideas that, much to his surprise, he actually liked. And she gave the project some energy and life.

Her name was Natalie Peterson, and she was best known for doing important homes in Southampton and Palm Beach, and a few in New York City, and she had done one small, elegant hotel in Washington, D.C. She was thirty-nine years old, so her list of accomplishments wasn’t as long as the previous woman’s, but she had won several awards for her design work. She was impressive in her presentation and delivery, and he liked her enthusiasm. She seemed vital and alive, and she had a twinkle in her eye.

“What made you want to undertake this project?” she asked him, which was an interesting question. “What’s your underlying goal? Keeping the hotel up to date, enhancing its reputation, charging more for the suites than you do now?”

“Keeping my daughter happy because she wants me to do it, and if I don’t start it before she comes home for Christmas, she’ll have my head.” Natalie laughed at the honest answer and smiled at him across the desk.

“She sounds like a young lady with a lot of influence on her father,” she said wisely.

“Absolutely. She’s been the woman in my life since she was four years old.” From what he said, Natalie wondered if he was widowed or divorced.

“She’s away at college?”

He nodded with a proud expression. “She’s at the Ecole Hoteliere, the school for hotelry in Lausanne. She just started a week ago. I was opposed to it, even though I went there myself.”

“You don’t like the school?” Natalie asked with interest. She was curious about him. He looked like a serious, successful man, and he was obviously crazy about his child.

“I don’t like having her so far away. And I didn’t want her in the hotel business, but she’s very determined. It’s going to be a long two years, waiting for her to come home, unless she does her internship in hospitality experience here at home. I can’t wait to have her back,” he said honestly with a wistful expression that touched her heart. He seemed very vulnerable when he said it. She had read his bio, and knew his experience and that he had just turned fifty-two. He looked younger than his years and was in great shape. “Do you have children?” he asked her then, and she smiled.

“No, I don’t. I’ve never been married. I’ve been too busy building my business, and now it feels a little late for that. And I won’t be home with sick kids or dealing with teenage crises instead of doing your job.” He laughed at what she said, and she seemed comfortable with who she was. “Your daughter seems like a good person to keep happy. Why don’t we start work on one of the suites and see how it goes? We might even get it finished before she comes home for Christmas, if we get decent delivery dates on the fabrics. And I like the furniture you have. I’d like to incorporate it in the new designs.”

He liked the sound of that. It was far less expensive than the suggestion of the other decorator, who wanted to throw everything out. And they had beautiful things in the rooms now. They just needed some freshening up and new touches. He liked the way this woman thought. And he also liked the idea of trying her out on one suite instead of plunging ahead with four. And despite her reputation, because she was considerably younger than the first one, she was willing to make adjustments on fees and price, and she had more time, although she had a considerably smaller staff and did most of the work herself. She said she had two assistants and a design assistant, so she kept her overhead low. The other woman had a twelve-man office with three young designers working for her, and a color consultant on staff. When Hugues asked, Natalie said she did all the color work herself, and her clients had been happy with it so far. He had heard good things about the hotel she’d done in Washington, and he asked her to give him an estimate for the first suite if he decided to move ahead. She promised to have it on his desk within a week. She seemed hungry for the job, and he liked that about her too. She was matter of fact and down to earth and didn’t put on airs. She stood up then and thanked him for the meeting, and said she didn’t want to take more of his time. And they had already arranged for Jennifer to show her the suite before she left.