Something's Coming Up

Work proved to be the perfect cure against anxiety about the future and the pain of separation, so work was what Charlotte plunged herself into over the next few days. There was enough to do. Everyone at the hotel knew about Lady Denham's ultimatum, and apart from calming the Parker family's nerves, Charlotte spent hours convincing her colleagues that all was not lost, not yet. Even Doktor Fuchs told her that he was "ein kleines bisschen worried" and believed his groups were cursed – first the flooding at his previous hotel in Brighton, now the fire at the Sanditon Grand.

The only person that was not worried, but angry as usual was Gigi. She was still employed in breakfast service and informed Charlotte every day that she was a fool to have trust in anything, be it the future of the hotel or the judgement of her own stupid heart. "Are you so brainwashed that you have forgotten what I have told you about Mr Silly Car and Number Two?" she asked on Tuesday morning.

"No, I'm not," Charlotte said. "We have talked about it, and we're done with it." Gigi rolled her eyes.

"He's filled your head with candyfloss, that's what he's done."

Charlotte did not bother with another reply. They had talked about Number Two during their Skype call on Monday night, after Sidney's first round of appointments with potential investors. It had been a frustrating day for him, and she was endlessly sorry to see him so depleted. So she had asked him whether the solution was not staring them in the face, whether it was not Gigi's father who could save them. Sidney had sighed deeply.

"Well, first of all, he is still somewhere out on the Pacific Ocean, and I have no idea how to reach him. And even if I did reach him, you don't discuss a spontaneous investment of several million pounds on ship's radio. – Then there is also the undeniable fact that I've messed up terribly with Gigi."

"That wasn't your fault," Charlotte said. "Otis is the criminal, not you."

"And yet I cannot go to her father and say I'm sorry, I let your only daughter run away with a dangerous criminal, but can you please lend me seven million pounds to help me save my family's hotel?"

Seven million pounds! Charlotte gasped. That was much more than could be funded by selling his beloved car or the London flat.

On-screen, Sidney looked down at his invisible feet. "And finally, there's the matter of Marissa," he said.

"Is she…"

"Yes. My indelicate affair. Gigi's stepmother."

"She calls them by numbers."

"I know. Number Two. - Such a cliché, Charlotte." He looked down again, evading her gaze on the monitor.

"You or her?" Charlotte said.

"Both of us. The bored, young, unhappy wife and her elder husband's protégé."

"Then why did it happen?"

"I think she was mad about me the moment I came on board."

"Yes," Charlotte said. "Gigi mentioned something like that."

Sidney ran his hands through his hair and kept his palms pressed to his forehead for a moment, evidently finding it difficult to meet her gaze. "Look, Charlotte… I don't know what Gigi has told you, and I don't want to put myself in a better light, but… she might have exaggerated some details. We tried to be discreet."

"And yet, Gigi found out." There was no reproach in her voice. She was very calm, and he finally managed to look at her.

"Yes. I was such a bored idiot, flying high on the money I made. I had bought the Aston Martin just a few weeks before. I believed my professional success was making me the best version of myself, but I was so wrong." He shook his head, staring to the side as if watching a version of that past self in the distance. Then he returned to Charlotte. "There was something about Marissa that reminded me of Eliza. Same type. Blond, petite. Elegant. But in contrast to Eliza, she did not run away from me. All I had to do was to pick up her signals and return them. It was a game, a pastime, a diversion. Something to satisfy my lust but not my mind. – I'm sorry I'm such a shallow disappointment, Charlotte. I gather this is quite the kind of relationship you would recoil from."

It was indeed, yet Charlotte had something different in mind. "Stop justifying yourself to me, Sidney Parker," she said. "I'm not the party that was hurt. - Do you want to know what I am thinking?"

"I've always been ready to give a penny for your thoughts, Miss Heywood." He gave her a rueful smile. "Even if I did not always appreciate them in the way they deserve."

"You said yourself that she reminded you of Eliza. And I think there is something about Eliza that drips into you like a poison. And that poison stops you from being your own true self and makes you ugly and bad. You turned wild when she left you, and you cheated on your paternal friend because his wife reminded you of her. When you saw Eliza again, you left me standing on that dance floor in London as if I was a misplaced parcel, and when you brought her to Sanditon …"

On-screen, Sidney was shaking his head at the painful memory of that evening. "I know. My behaviour towards you was despicable."

"Then keep away from her," Charlotte said. "For I believe her poison is deadly."

On Tuesday night, he was even more depleted during their Skype call, but this time, his topic was not Eliza but his brother. "I had no idea Tom's reputation was so tarnished in Sanditon and beyond," he told her. "The fire has extinguished whatever was left of it. He seems to be blacklisted witch all craftsmen in Sussex. And his deal with Hillier… that's nothing but criminal."

"How exactly?"

"I recalled overhearing you on the phone with Lydia, discussing a social media concept, and that it struck me as somehow odd back then." Charlotte nodded. She remembered the occasion very well. After all, that was when their relationship had started to improve, at least temporarily: Sidney had come to the office to pick her up for the big welcome of Doktor Fuchs, and they had shortly spoken about the hotel's social media channels. "So I looked a little further into the matter," he continued now, "and it turns out the gardener never charges my brother for his services, but his daughter does for her non-services. In short, he does the gardening for free, plus some odd jobs, and in return, my brother funds his daughter's studies, and all three of them have a little dance around the tax office. – Which is probably also the reason why Hillier offered to stand in as electrician."

Charlotte did not know what to say. The real-life Tom Parker was recovering from the shock and Lady Denham's blows and was walking about his hotel as if the fire had merely created a momentary inconvenience that his brother would safely fix. However, outside in the real world, his employees quietly started looking for new jobs, and his wife considered walking out on him. Charlotte had overheard her talking to Diana in the gym that morning: "I'm only staying because I know it would break him if I left, and I don't want to do that to him or the children."

"And there goes my brother's happy marriage," Sidney said when Charlotte told him. She nearly caressed the screen when she saw his saddened face, and more than ever she wanted to be with him, share a bit of her strength and optimism with him, support him in his efforts to save the hotel.

On Wednesday afternoon, Charlotte took the children to the Sanditon museum and a treat at the Study Café. Initially, she had hoped for another afternoon on the beach, but since the weather did not comply, they switched plans. Mary suggested a DVD afternoon watching Finding Nemo (the only film Jenny, Alicia and Henry would agree on, squawking happily like seagulls). Charlotte, however, wanted to leave the glum atmosphere of the hotel behind for a few hours, so she opted for the museum.

The Sanditon museum made a great point of being child-friendly and had only recently reopened the modernised section for the giant sea serpent's tale. Jenny, who had dealt with the story in school, gave her siblings a gruesome account of the serpent's rage that could only be pacified with the sacrifice of an innocent.

"But as in any good tale, there is an uplifting part as well," Charlotte said when she saw Henry and Alicia close to tears.

"Is there?" Jenny asked.

"Of course there is." Charlotte showed them the final panel that depicted a slain sea serpent. "One year, when the sea serpent demanded the sacrifice of a particularly lovely girl, a valiant boy from the village confronted the monster and in an epic battle, fought it down. He married the lovely girl, and they became the ancestors of the Denham family."

"Is that why Lady Denham looks like a dragon?" Alicia asked.

"I don't think so." Charlotte laughed.

The afternoon with the children was another welcome distraction in a week full of sorrows. During their Skype call that evening, Sidney was very quiet. He did not say it, but Charlotte sensed that he was losing hope. He had knocked on so many doors, and one after another, they had been closed into his face when his potential partners heard about the fire. "The only parties interested are investors from Russia or China," Sidney told Charlotte. "But that would be the end of the Parker family at the Sanditon Grand Hotel."

"And you never want to be the generation that crashes two-hundred years of family tradition," Charlotte repeated the omnipresent Parker mantra. Sidney nodded.

"It's not only that. I know I'm the one who consciously ran away from the family business, but that doesn't mean that I don't understand what the hotel means to my siblings. It's their home, it's the place where they feel safe and happy… and it's the place connected to our parents." He looked down, and more than ever before Charlotte wished she could just reach through the screen and touch him, take him in her arms and tell him how much he was loved. For if there was one topic that truly pained the Parker siblings even though they never discussed it, it was the fact that they had lost their parents at such a young age, their mother dying of cancer when Arthur was only six, their father dropping dead in the lobby from a heart attack ten years ago. When Sidney looked up again, his eyes were shimmering.

"Sidney…" Charlotte started saying, wondering how to tell him that his parents certainly would not have expected him to take the whole world onto his shoulders. "Tom, Diana and Arthur are your siblings, not your children. And even if they were your children, you could not protect them forever." His mouth twitched.

"I know. I keep telling that myself. Diana might pull through, somehow, but Arthur… always missing his tests for diabetes, loving his pastry so much... I can't imagine how he would fare in a less protected environment. And Tom… Tom saved me when Eliza went on her ego trip." Charlotte nearly rolled her eyes. Not that woman again. "I may not be here without Tom," Sidney went on. "And now his life will be effectively over if he loses the hotel. He will not be able to bear the shame and leave Sanditon. But can you think of any other place that would recruit him as a hotel manager? He'll be losing his job, his income and his reputation, not to mention his wife and children; he will have to live with the fact that he was the one who crashed the family business, and his professional future will be restricted to some low-paid service jobs. Whether she stays with him or not, Mary will have to work full-time, and Jenny, Alicia, Henry and Jamie will have anything but the happy childhood we had."

"You're the best brother Tom could wish for, Sidney," Charlotte said. "But he's old enough to face the consequences of his actions. – And I should know something about brothers. I have four myself." He gave her a tender little smile.

"And I'm dreading the day I have to meet them. And your father."

"Oh, don't worry about that. Just bring your beautiful car and don't listen when Joe and Dan start discussing which bull to castrate next." For a short and precious moment, Sidney stopped looking sad and worried but laughed. Then he returned to the bleak reality.

"There is someone else who I hoped might be able to help us," he said. "Have you ever spoken to Lady Worcester since the open-day?"

"No," Charlotte admitted. "In fact, she never gave me her phone number or a card. She just appeared like the fairy godmother and was a friend to me when I was in desperate need for one – and then she was gone again." Which was a pity, since now that everything was turning out so well with Mr Sidney Parker, she would have loved to let Susan know. "But even if I knew how to reach her… how could I repay her kindness by asking her whether she has some million pounds floating around ready to be put into your brother's hotel business?"

"You're right. It's the same situation as with George Lambe and me." He sighed deeply but suddenly broke into a rather mischievous smirk. "Charlotte… I've wanted to ask you for weeks… what was it you were discussing about me when I found you in Lady Worcester's company at the premiere party?"

"Oh." Charlotte felt her ears go pink. "That was… well, she said that I seemed somewhat befuddled, and I… she was a complete stranger after all, and I thought that she might be a better judge on my state of mind than I was, so I told her… I told her that there was this man who inspired an anger in me I did not know I possessed, yet that his good opinion mattered more to me than anybody else's."

"That's what you told her?" It was good to see him grin so happily at the end of such a difficult day.

"Yes."

"And what did she say?"

"She gave me a very benevolent smile and said she believed I was in love with… that man. And when I replied that that was out of the question, she smiled even more and told me that love was an affliction."

"An affliction," Sidney repeated, his smile growing even wider. "When do you expect to recover?"

"I think it's becoming a chronic disease," Charlotte admitted, and then for quite a while, they both did not say anything but just kept looking at each other, overcome with their feelings and their longing for each other.

"Thank you, Charlotte," Sidney finally said with a very hoarse voice.

And then, on Thursday afternoon, the search for an investor took a positive turn. Instead of a video call, Charlotte received a voice message from Sidney, telling her that something had come up. He would be in a meeting until late at night, and he missed her and thought of her. Promising as it was that "something had come up", it left Charlotte alone with her thoughts, a cheesy poem and an old herring gull that was peeping through her window.

Her phone pinged, but it was still no message from Sidney, but her sister Alison's new trademark question of "Who is that arm?", referring to the picture from the London premiere party showing her in the dazzling gold dress plus Sidney Parker's arm. Usually, Charlotte ignored this question, but this time and with a tiny smile, she typed: It's a handsome arm on a handsome shoulder. Ten seconds later, her phone buzzed again.

Alison: Charlotte!1!

Charlotte: And a very handsome head on a handsome neck attached to handsome shoulders.

Alison: Charlottee! Whatsis NAME?

Charlotte: What happened to your spelling?

Alison: I'm excited! My bigsister is inn love! WHO IS HE? Picture, plesae!

Charlotte: He's not here at the moment, but I'll send you a picture when we're together again.

Alison: CHARLTOTE!

Charlotte smiled and switched first her phone off and then the light. Friday was going to be another long day, and the coming night, just as the previous nights, would be filled with memories and restless dreams of distant countries.

Friday started with Charlotte first staring out of the window into a sky that had gone cloudy, then staring at her phone. She had hoped for some overnight success news from Sidney, but the only text she had was from James, and it was a sad one: his father had lost the fight against his illness and passed away the previous afternoon.

As it was too early for a call, she composed a short condolence message and asked James to contact her whenever he felt like it. Then she went down to work. It was the last day of the month, so there was plenty to do and to prepare. Sidney had asked her to ensure every department took a full and correct inventory – a task that had been interpreted very creatively over the last few months but was all the more crucial now that the hotel's financial future was on the line.

Mr Parker was not much of a help, shaking his head as he was leafing through the lists the printer kept spitting out. "All this paperwork… do you think this is really necessary, Charlotte?"

"I think it's best to do exactly as your brother says," she replied. Since learning about his role in the fire, she found it difficult to treat him with the respect he deserved as her boss.

"Yes, of course. He's the expert. – But he is not an expert for the hotel industry, is he?"

Thankfully, her phone started buzzing. Still no message from Sidney, but James again, asking whether he could meet her for a walk later in the afternoon. Of course, she typed back. Anytime you like, James.

And since she was at it, she quickly told Sidney that she was thinking of him and wished him the best of luck and every success for his subsequent meetings over the day. For a second, before hitting the "send" button, she considered adding "I love you" to the text but then decided against it. That was something one better said face to face to each other. It was Friday already, so she only had to wait two more days at maximum until she could hold him again and tell him that and how much she loved him. The sheer thought of it made her smile.

"Charlotte?" Somehow, the office had filled with Parker siblings while her mind had been travelling to a distant country. "Is everything alright?" Mary asked her.

"Yes. You were saying?" It was actually the day of Arthur's latest appointment with his doctor for having his blood sample taken, and this time, the Parker ladies were determined to make sure he did not miss it. They were enrolling Tom Parker to drive them into town, calling it a family excursion, and despite Mr Parker's protests that he could not be spared from the end of months' proceedings, he relented after a bit of fuss and left with them.

Charlotte was grateful, for now, the office was quiet and peaceful, and she could work with only the usual interruptions of the landline ringing or someone from the staff asking for advice or a piece of information. Occasionally, she checked her phone, quietly apologising to Julia and Phillida for having criticised them so often for precisely the same behaviour. Yet, whenever she looked, there was no reply from Sidney.

When she was ready to call it a day in the late afternoon, there was a soft knock on the door, and James walked in, looking saddened and downcast. "Oh, James!" She was with him in a moment and gave him a long and tight hug. "I'm so sorry for you."

"Thank you, Charlotte. I suppose for my father it is what they call a relief, but yet… yet…" Charlotte saw tears rising to his eyes and took his hands.

"He was your father, James. One of the two first people in your life to know and love you. Cry as much as you need." Which he did, holding on to her hands and shaking like a little boy. Finally, he blew his nose.

"Still care for a walk, Charlotte?"

"Very much. If you like to. – I'll just have to change into something more comfortable."

"I'll wait for you outside."

The tide was out, and the wind had strengthened. "There's a storm coming," James said, leaning against the gusts. It was cold out on the mudflats, and the wind kept tearing at their jackets, but it was also good to be blown through like that, to have all emotions and memories whirled away. They didn't say much, and there was no need to say much, anyway. Charlotte felt that all James wanted was her company, and she was happy to provide him with that.

Every now and then, she glanced at the phone in her pocket, but there were no messages, apart from Alison asking "His NAME?" again. She took that as a positive sign. It meant that whatever had come up on Thursday was promising enough to keep Sidney busy all Friday.

"You know what's eating me?" James asked when they returned to the beach. Charlotte shook her head. "That offer from the architect in Vancouver. I couldn't have accepted it as long as my father was alive, but now that he's gone, I believe l I cannot accept it either. It feels as if I have only been waiting for him to be gone."

"But James… you must accept it. Maybe not right now, but in a few weeks… it's such an opportunity for you."

He gave her a wry smile. "Do you want me to be gone?"

"Of course not! I'll be missing you. And our lunches. But I want you to succeed, and to make the best of your talent. Vancouver! Just think of it!"

"And what about you, Charlotte? Your talents? Are you going to keep wasting them on Tom Parker's crumbling hotel business?"

"It's not a crumbling business. Sidney will find a way to save it."

"Sidney, eh?" Charlotte felt her ears go red. James sighed. "You two are not on fighting terms any longer, are you?"

"Not… exactly," she conceded.

"He's a lucky man. I've been sure of that since the open-day. – So you'll be staying in Sanditon? Or join him in London?"

"I don't know yet. We haven't really talked about it. It's all… very fresh. We haven't even told his family." In fact, Charlotte noticed, the only person who knew anything was Gigi – but even Gigi was more guessing than knowing.

James did not say anything until they had left the beach and climbed the steep trail back to the cliff. Up there, he hugged her once more before turning to the public footpath leading towards the town. As Charlotte watched his broad-shouldered figure disappear down the slope of the hill, she slowly came to understand that he was not only mourning the loss of his father.

He was so nice, and she really liked him, but he would never be… Sidney Parker! She nearly stumbled over her own feet when she saw the Aston Martin parked on its customary space next to the entrance.

He was back! She quickly checked her phones for any messages, but there were none. A surprise visit then. And what a wonderful surprise!