Looking back, which he had done all too often in the ten years they’d been together, it had been a predictable car crash of wrong place, wrong time. The minute he’d rescued her from the Bentley she’d wrapped around a lamp post on the side of the Sydney highway, they’d been inseparable—he was tennis coach, swimming coach, personal trainer, anything she could do to keep him in her life, and, after where he’d been, it had felt like arriving at the Promised Land.
Unfortunately some promises were very hard for Maria to keep.
‘Martin. Good to see you.’
He walked towards him, stretching out a hand, reading in the light press of Martin’s palm an
d the shifting of his gaze that he was on edge.
‘Nikos. I’m glad you came. It’s been a long time.’
‘Too long,’ said Nikos, holding the handshake a second longer, reassuring him that they were friends, no matter what had gone before.
‘Yes, and I wanted to get in touch, but it’s not been easy since Maria died.’
‘I guess not. Our lives have taken different directions.’
‘But we’ll always have her in common.’
‘I can’t deny that,’ said Nikos, staring hard at Martin, wondering what was really going on in his mind. He had done everything for the Lopez family; they were all set up for life. He had nothing left to give.
But something was eating the other man up. Martin dropped his gaze and turned back to the door.
‘Shall I show you around, before the guests start to arrive?’ he said, over his shoulder.
‘Absolutely,’ Nikos said, strolling out to the grand hallway, where the faces of various English rose aristocrats in grand gilt frames hung around the walls, no doubt wondering what the hell had happened to the old house now that the Lopez Hotel Group had transformed it.
‘Yes, it’s great to see you,’ Martin said, stepping alongside him now like a best buddy. ‘And I’m really grateful that you’ve agreed to present an award. We sold an extra fifty seats when it was announced yesterday.’
Nikos shrugged. ‘It’s no problem. I was on the way back from Sydney when I got the call.’
‘Visiting your mother? How is she?’
They were at the top of a wide sweep of carpeted stairs, no doubt a prime photo opportunity for the hundreds of brides who used Maybury Hall.
‘Ah, she’s OK. Thanks for asking. She doesn’t know me any more but she seems quite happy, and they look after her well.’
His monthly visits to Sydney were the one fixed item in his calendar. He knew they wouldn’t last for ever...
‘So how’s business?’ he asked, keen to change the subject.
They walked down the stairs, as staff carrying huge displays of flowers and cakes criss-crossed over the black-and-white floor beneath them.
‘I’m getting out soon,’ said Martin, with a mirthless laugh. ‘This is the last sponsorship I’m doing. I want to end on a high. The hotels are doing well, but the wedding industry’s being choked to death by overseas competition.’
‘China?’
Martin nodded. ‘It’s hitting the dress side worst of all. With the volume they can produce overseas, there’s just no profit margin for the little guy. Unless it’s high-end, bespoke, but even then it’s tough.’
‘People will always want to get married,’ said Nikos. People other than himself.
‘Yes, but it’s not what it was. Even the ones that have been on the go for years are feeling it. Another one of them is just about to hit the buffers, and it’s one of my old pals who once owned it. It’s his daughter’s now.’
They rounded the corner of the staircase and fell into step walking on through the lobby. All around, the paraphernalia of an industry built on hormones and fiction—love and marriage. A sham that left Nikos stone cold.
‘It’s a pity, because she is a lovely girl—at least she was last time I saw her. But she’s out of her depth.’
‘As in overinvested, or out of her depth because she doesn’t have the skill?’