CHAPTER 10 – WHINE, WINE AND PARENTAL FAIL
DAY 13 – LATE AFTERNOON
BUSINESS CENTRE – ROOM 1
BRIAN
I may have to fire him. Not only does he get what I want without me having to draw it roughly but what he produces is perfect. Also, it doesn’t help that he smells the way he does. He smells so good!
“What the hell are you wearing?” I whisper as I look at the boards with him. He looks down at himself and I want to pin him to the desk. “No, fudgwit. What is the scent you are wearing?”
“Fudgwit? Thank you fudgtard.” He grins shyly. “Just some chocolate and almond body oil.”
“Stop wearing it.” I inhale. “I need to concentrate on your talent and the scent is... distracting.”
“Yes boss. Oh by the way, step out of the office to apply lip balm please.”
Immediately my eyes drop to his mouth, his perfect made just for me mouth.
“Go and sit down.” I groan.
“Yes sir.” He whispers.
“8 days, only 8 days.” I mutter and count to ten and then turn to face my team.
“I think the boards are good; the video cut is great. The next stage is to do the photos but I think we need a couple more videos. Nightclub, dining, staff working and…”
“What about the wine tasting?” Bella interrupts.
“Wine tasting? What wine tasting?” I ask, looking confused.
“You didn’t know about this?” She smiles. “There is a massive wine gallery, some of the wines are biodynamic, organic and vegan.”
“Show me!” I order.
WINE GALLERY
EMMY
I can’t believe this place! The space is great! We definitely need to use this.
“Have you guys ever had a party in here?” I ask. “Who sources the wines?”
“Between them, the Captain and Veronique.” Bella replies and runs her finger over one bottle and makes a note. “Dusty. Unacceptable.” She mutters. “Failing in his duty once again.”
“So beautiful wines chosen by beautiful people…” Justin begins. “Could be one of the straplines, say with the dining pictures?”
Brian nods and smiles. “We’d need to ask Veronique if she’d be in the photos.”
Justin just stares at him. “Like that’s going to be a hardship since she came to you. I’ll get Franc to ask her.” He rubs his nose vigorously and sniffs hard.
“You okay?” Brian asks.
“Dust.” He mutters before sneezing.
TCHOO, TCHOO, TCHOO!
“Oh for crying out loud.” Brian whispers.
“I’ll be fine if I move away from here.” Justin makes his way around to the other, not so dusty, side. “See.”
“Right, let’s just get out of here. I shall get this place cleaned from top to bottom, even if I have to stand over him to make sure he does it properly.” Bella states emphatically.
“Who?” I ask.
“Ethan Gold. One of the tasks as wine purser is that this place has to be kept spotless.”
“Shit!” Brian growls. “Does that mean he’d have to be in the pictures?”
“Not necessarily. All the stewards are trained on the wines. In fact, the only things every steward isn’t trained on are the engine and steering the ship. May I ask what the problem is?”
“He didn’t band Gus when he got on the boat and…” Brian begins.
“What?” Bella looks horrified. “I wonder if Veri knows about that. Leave this with me.”
Brian nods and there’s a smirk on Justin’s face. As we head back to the business suite, I tug on Justin’s sleeve to bring him in pace with me.
“What’s going on?” I ask and he frowns. “The mention of Veri and you smirking…what’s going on?”
“Who do you think came up with think kids, not cock as the first rule?” He replies. “She has the ear of Veri…and she absolutely cannot stand Ethan. Actually nobody does.”
“So why is he still on the ship, especially after that potential clusterfuck?” I ask, shuddering in remembrance.
“Why do you think? You promise enough but don’t deliver yet then you can string it out for as long as the person is smitten with you.” He rolls his eyes in disgust.
“You two stop lollygagging and let’s get back to work!” Brian calls back.
“Yes sir!” We reply and catch up with the rest of the team.
MICHAEL’S SUITE
MICHAEL
I tried to get into the business centre earlier but that bitchy receptionist was there. So I went to the Tiger Bar instead. I am still too angry to go Lilah’s as no doubt Franc will still be laughing at me. But of course, the other Brian was in at the bar so I came back to my suite. I decided to order some food from Tyler.
“Tyler, its Michael Novotny. I would like to order some room service. No, to be delivered to my suite not Brian’s, as he’s working. Brian is my best friend and won’t have a problem with me ordering some fucking food!” I yell at him. “If you don’t believe me, why don’t you go check with him? Isn’t it part of your job to do as the customer, who I am, tells you?! I expect an answer in 10 minutes!”
As I slam the phone down, a thought goes through my head. Some people just need to know their fucking place!
STEWARD’S OFFICE
TYLER
I take in a breath and head to the business centre. This is best said face to face.
BUSINESS ROOM 1
When I get there, the place is buzzing with activity and I have to admit to a bit of jealousy when it went around the ship that this was occurring. Whenever VanGuard were onboard, we’d avoid helping them at all costs.
I tap on the door and Bella sticks her head out. “Hey Ty baby! What’s up?”
“I need to speak to Mr Kinney. It’s not about Gus but another child in the family.” I sigh.
“What’s Michael done this time?” Ted asks. Although his tone is annoyed, he’s smiling at me.
“He wants to order room service but as you know…”
He rolls his eyes. “Brian has to be with him. Why can’t he go to one of our designated tables?”
“I don’t know Ted. But as the customer he wants an answer in 10 minutes.”
Ted just shakes his head and calls Brian over. When I explain the situation, he just sighs and nods.
“One more question. I don’t quite know how to ask this. But is there…”
“$150. Surely that’s more than enough?” Brian looks at Ted and he nods.
“Thank you. I’ll let him know.”
OUTSIDE MEL’S SUITE
MICHAEL
I knew he was just in a snit last night. When I finished ordering, I was very happy. I’m waiting for Mel to open the door as I think it’s time that Gus and I had some 1:1 time together.
“Michael? Come in, come in.” She looks somewhat surprised.
“Is Gus here?” I ask, stepping into what should be my suite!
“Yes. Gus! Unca, I mean Uncle Michael is here!” She turns back to me. “What do you want with Gus?”
“We haven’t spent too much time together and I thought you could do with a break.”
“Hi Unca Mikey!” Gus comes to the door clutching his bear. “Am I going to spend some time with you today?”
“Yes would you like that?” I smile at him.
“Yes please! We can go soft play and then…”
Soft play?! Oh well whatever it takes.
“Have you eaten Gus? I’ve just ordered some food so I need to eat that first and then we do soft play.”
“Okay, so you’ll come and get me then? How soon?” He smiles at me again.
“About 40 minutes.” I grin back at him. “See you then.”
THREE HOURS LATER
MEL’S SUITE
BRIAN
We’re fucking furious! Mel and I can’t believe what happened with Michael and Gus.
The rest of the family are at dinner in Lilah’s. I still can’t believe what Michael did. Gus has finally gone to sleep but it took a Franca special hot cocoa, a bath and Rhubarb and Custard to get him to sleep.
Start of flashback
MEL’S SUITE – TWO HOURS EARLIER
“Hey Sonny Boy! Momma told me that you were with Unca Mikey today?”
“Yes daddy.” Gus replies quietly, plucking at Leather Bear. Mel and I exchange looks.
“Did you have a nice time?” I ask.
“Some of it. Soft play was really good! Though Unca Mikey didn’t play with me like you and Miss Leda do, momma. So I was on my own a bit.”
“It’s the first time he’d been there so maybe if you’d showed him what we do, he’d have joined in more.”
He nods but is still plucking at Leather Bear.
“You want something to eat? Or did you eat with Uncle Michael?” I ask.
“Can I have something to eat please? I’m a bit hungry and then can I have a bath?”
“Sure you want to eat in here or go downstairs?”
“Up here please, daddy?”
I head to jump in the shower and try to figure out what’s got my little man so quiet.
Once the food is delivered, we sit on the balcony and Gus hardly says a word.
“Gus? Is there something wrong?” Mel asks gently. “Did something happen when you were out with Uncle Michael?”
“No.” He whispers and then there’s the first tear that plops onto his plate. I pull him onto my lap and Mel rubs his back.
“Sonny Boy. Can you please, please tell us what happened?” I kiss the top of his head.
“I don’t want you to be mad at him. Please don’t be mad at him!” He sobs. “It was the only thing he had!”
“What was the only thing he had?” Mel is trying to remain calm.
“We went back to his room because he was too hot and tired. I said I would go back to you, I did!” He starts to cry harder and it takes a good ten minutes to calm him down. “But he said it was fine and asked me what I wanted to do. I asked if I could read so he gave me some of his cartoon books. He was reading too but then he went to sleep…”
“Oh Christ, Michael of all the…!” Mel growls.
“I didn’t like them so stopped reading. But every time I closed my eyes I could see the pictures. A-and I don-don’t want to go to sleep because I k-know I’ll see the pic-pic-pictures! I-I’m too scar-scared to sleep daddy, I’m too scared!”
I hold my shaking and sobbing little boy and mouth get Justin at her. Within 15 minutes, Justin is up. He takes one look at Gus and leaves, shouting he’ll be back. And true to his word, he was back but with Rhubarb and Custard.
It took another 15 minutes for Gus to stop crying. Between the three of us we gave him a soothing bath and promised, a Leather-Bear-promise, not to let Michael know that he didn’t like his day today. Justin had Franca make him a hot chocolate that was so rich and creamy that I was almost tempted to ask for one myself!
After a story from each of us and once Rhubarb, Custard and Leather Bear were settled around him, he has gone to sleep. We head to the lounge leaving his door open just in case.
“What on earth was Michael thinking? Why didn’t he just come up and get Gus’s book or just leave Gus with me?!” Mel rages.
“Mel, calm down.” I tell her, rubbing the back of her neck. We’re startled when the door knocks and knocks hard and there is Debs looking worried.
“What happened to Gus? I heard Franca sending up some chocolate for him but it took a while to get to speak to her. She just said she heard he had an upsetting day.”
We exchange looks as we know she’s not going to be happy. And by the time we’ve finished telling her, she’s unhappy and speechless!
“But he’s four!” She gasps. “What the…what’s the word?”
“Fudgsicle.” Justin supplies, looking to see if Gus is stirring.
“Fudgsicle was he thinking giving that to a four year old boy?!” She stands up. “That’s it I’m going to…”
“We can’t!” Mel puts a restraining hand on her arm. “We Leather-Bear-promised Gus we wouldn’t.”
“But I didn’t!” She growls and stomps out of the door. Justin ran after her and brought her back.
“Debs, please don’t. You know Michael.” Mel pleads.
“But Gus said that I should tell him off when he does something silly.” She retorts and for once we can’t refute that. We were all there. “Well this was not just silly; it’s so fudgnucking stupid!”
“I know, I know and you’re right.” I concede, putting off the laughter bubbling up at the new invented word. “But can you wait until the morning when you’re calmer and after we’ve spoken to Gus again?” She nods. “You Leather-Bear-promise?”
“Okay honey. Can I go kiss him goodnight?” She asks and I nod. Once she’s done, she kisses all three of us on the cheek and departs, muttering to herself.
End of flashback
“Well I’m beat and going to have a shower the go to bed.” Mel yawns and stretches.
“I’ll wait until you’re out then I’ll go.” I tell her.
“Thanks Brian. And thank you Justin. Goodnight.” She pads to the bathroom and shuts the door.
“Thanks for Rhubarb and Custard.” I smile at him and he yawns. “You best be going to bed yourself.”
“He’s going to be fine. Kids are resilient. I just don’t understand the logic of some people.”
“I’ve been having a harder and harder time understanding Michael’s thought process over the years. It’s like he playing at being a grown up.” I sigh and pull him onto his feet. “Thank you, again, kid charmer who sneezes like a kitten.”
He goes pink and shoves me in the shoulder. “A kitten? Seriously?” I nod and he shoves me again before looking one more time at Gus’s room. “About Gus, call me anytime. I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon. I will understand if Gus isn’t there.”
“He will be, he loves his Mr Justin.” I open the door and he steps out.
“And his Mr Justin loves him.”
He waves goodbye one more time at the lift and is gone.
And I like you Mr Justin, I like you a lot.