CHAPTER 32: LOUIS CARRINGTON

"Better hope I don’t catch you!" I said as I ran after him.

****

"Do you think I’ll get better at riding in the ?" I asked him as we began to make our way home when evening came.

"I don’t know maybe if dad teaches you," he said. "I mean Dad taught me how to ride a bike

I looked at Tony who had a temporarily solemn face and I realised I’d reminded him of Keith. Shit. I hadn’t meant to upset him. Back when it used to be me, him and Keith, we used to hangout as a family and do an activity once in a while.

I knew that Tony had enjoyed those times with Keith because he was always busy with work so it was rare when he could make time to spend with him.

I remembered when he’d taught Tony how to ride a bike and I was just sitting back watching them. Back when we used to be a family...

There was no going back to that now.

"Then I’ll just have to become a better teacher," he then said to me pulling me out of my thoughts. He’d with such an energy I looked at him and saw a hopeful smile on his face. It seemed he’d come out of his sad state.

"I look forward to it then," I said to him with a smile. He was doing his best to be strong and not think about him but I knew he missed him.

**********

FUN FACT: in case of confusion about subsidiaries and parent companies an example is alphabet inc one of the largest tech companies in the world has subsidiary companies such as google, Waymo, etc and each of these subsidiaries has its own ceo that reports to the main board of directors of parent company Alphabet inc.

On the Monday of the following week the higher up was confirmed to be coming on Wednesday afternoon. Apparently it was the CEO of the Garden House who was coming. I heard from my co-workers that he was a recently appointed CEO and had come to the 2 or three times to the restaurant for meal/meetings in the past year.

This was music to my ears as I realised that I now had nothing to worry about. Robert Carrington snr. and Robert Carrington jnr. were the owners of the whole cooperation. Robert snr was the chairman of the board of directors of the Carrington group and Robert jnr was the CEO of the parent restaurant chain they owned

However, the garden house was a smaller subsection, a subsidiary of the larger Carrington company so it would have its own separate CEO that would report back to the Carringtons parent company.

It was like Keith’s Acland group aside from the main hotel business he owned he had purchased other business which had their own CEOs and they would report back to him. That meant I didn’t have to worry about either of the Robert’s coming. I had been so stressed before.

He would be having lunch in one of the reserved dining rooms of the restaurant.

The restaurant had the open dining area but there were also reserved dining rooms for those who wanted to eat undisturbed by other diners.

********

"Alright everyone the men of the hour are here," the manager said to Josh and I. We were in the middle of lunch service and he had called us to him.

I was feeling calm and relaxed for the day the anxiety I had felt before was completely gone now.

"There’s three of them make sure you’re polite and professional as you attend to them," he instructed us. "Imagine them except this time you could actually get fired."

"Is that supposed to encourage us and make us feel better?

"Why are you choosing us to do it?" Josh asked.

"Because you two are the maturest and least likely to fuck up unlike those two," he said as he looked in the direction of Megan and Mike who were bickering about something near the table of ready dishes.

"You two, tables need to be served!" He yelled at them.

"Yes, manager!" They said in unison and stopped whatever argument they were having.

Once he was done briefing us the manager sent us to the private room where they were, to get their orders.

I let Josh go ahead and get their orders first as I finished delivering some orders to some tables in the main dining area. These were for orders I had taken before the manager called us.

When it came time to take the orders to the CEO Josh and I helped each other carry the plates. They had ordered a buffet style meal with multiple dishes. We carried them in large trays rather than using our arms.

Upon entering the private dining room we found three men seated at a large rectangular table. Two were on one side and the other seated opposite them. I didn’t know the man seated alone. However, of the two seated on one side I instantly recognised one of them to be the CEO’s whom I had seen speaking with the manager the other day.

My gaze then shifted to the man seated beside him. I looked at him taking in his features. My then eyes widened in surprise as I realised I recognised the man. My heart began to pound in my chest as panic set in. He wasn’t either of the Robert’s’....but he was undoubtedly a Carrington. He had the unmistakable tan skin and golden eyes the Carrington family had. Robert junior had two younger siblings; a sister called Elizabeth, and a brother called Louis. Seated beside the CEO’s assistant whom I’m assuming is the CEO. That was Louis Carrington.

It had been years since I’d seen Louis. In my past life I saw the Carringtons at socialite events but I didn’t recall ever seeing Louis. I would see his father, his older brother and sister. His elder brother took over the company in future.