The Interview

Chapter Twenty-Six

 Before she knew it, September came creeping up on her, serving as startling testimony of how fast time had flown by. Strangely enough, the air had already grown colder over the second half of August, and the sunny season was now positively on its way out. Not, however, without one final glorious hurrah, which evoked rather conflicting feelings in Glinda. While she, by and large, revelled in the final throes of summer-sweet sunshine, she couldn't help but resent its concurrence with Chuffrey's highly anticipated trip down to Lake Chorge. The picture-perfect weather seemed all too much like an unwelcome blessing from the gods to her, especially after the relentless rain and wind that had dominated the previous days, and Glinda was all the more sullen for it. The last thing she needed was some sort of celestial encouragement for Chuffrey's schemes.

At four in the afternoon, Glinda grudgingly gathered her belongings and cleared her desk for the weekend. Chuffrey had had the brilliant idea to book a consultation with her, effectively allowing her to leave earlier than everyone else. Oz knew what kind of preposterous tale she would later cobble together for her otherwise meticulous records. If Nikidik were to catch on to the fraud... Well, she mostly tried to not even think about it.

She spotted Chuffrey the moment she pushed open the main door, and her heart jolted in horror. There he was, cyber yellow convertible and all, arms crossed proudly and grinning like he owned the world. But what else had she expected? Knowing perfectly well that subtlety was not the man's strong suit, she probably should have insisted on a different meeting point. This mistake undoubtedly was on her.

Her eyes darted towards the windows of the fourth floor, praying not to find Nikidik standing there to peer down on them, already composing her dismissal notice in his head.

By the looks of it, the coast was clear. Eternally grateful, she took a deep breath before continuing down the stairs to greet her troublesome beau.

"I'm glad this worked," he said in greeting and placed a fleeting kiss on her cheek. "How do you like your carriage, my lady? I borrowed it from a friend."

Glinda's lips twitched.

"Not very inconspicuous," she remarked, once more looking up to reassure herself that they weren't being watched.

"What is that old goat going to do about it anyway?" laughed Chuffrey. "Fire you?"

Swallowing the growl that rose in her throat, Glinda busied herself with locating a silken scarf in her luggage to tie her long curls down with. Ideally, she would have brought a sunhat for that purpose.

The more than two-hour-long drive was pleasant enough. The wind in her hair soon blew away most worries about Nikidik, and the refreshing change of scenery easily took care of the rest. Without Chuffrey beside her, this could have been a truly splendid getaway. But of course, there was no point in overthinking the downsides, as long as there were still benefits to be found and enjoyed. At least she'd spent enough time with him by now to be adequately prepared for lengthy periods without any spontaneous diversions. Being almost effortlessly civil with him had become second nature, and so she passed the time entertaining him with topics she knew he appreciated, in turn keeping more uncomfortable lines of enquiry from his side at bay. It was an acceptable compromise.

Pulling up into the hotel's driveway, Glinda gave a small chuckle when she realised that she knew the place, had stayed there before with her parents. But that was a lifetime ago.

"My lady," Chuffrey said, bowing slightly as he opened the passenger door for her. "Welcome to the Caprice-in-the-Pines."

Carefully, she stepped out of the car and untied her scarf. A bellhop came scurrying their way to attend to their luggage, followed by a valet who politely requested the keys.