Hostess With the Mostess

Today was the first day of Ladonna and of course she is driving us all crazy as she started calling the minute I got to work and I wondered if she has little gnomes in the garden waiting to tell her I had shown up. Caspar of course was nowhere to be seen, she probably got him out of bed and he absconded so he did not have to speak to her anymore. After the fourth call everyone started handing the phone to me as Ladonna had taken to asking for me personally and she had a different idea every hour and every hour I had to write all her details down. By the seventh idea I was totally confused and had written something like she wanted a Japanese, Arab tent like modern jazz party with classical music, giving up I forwarded the jumble of ideas to Caspar's computer and left him to sort out the nonsense.

At lunch I took off to Djini’s for some peace and quiet but instead met Coco and Tiah in a tizzy. It seems that Taryn has given an invitation only dinner party which signals two things to her children, first be there and second do not bring anyone she has not invited. The minute she mentioned dinner Braith got stuck in and told her flat out that Jazz was coming or else he would not and before she could reply Jago lowered his paper and agreed. Jago doesn’t interfere much since the Astrid fiasco and revealing Zizi as his daughter has now given Taryn all the power in their relationship so when he does butt in Taryn has the good sense to let it go.

Now that Braith has his way Royce knew there was no way in hell he could get Coco invited and if she was not coming we all knew who Taryn would be inviting, Elyce Dubois! We all said it at once in a breath of horror. Coco is fretting that Taryn and Elyce would outsmart Royce and God knows it wouldn’t be hard to outsmart Royce so they were trying to work out ways for Royce to avoid going from faking sickness to running off on a circuit. I told Coco that I had already told Royce to disappear for a few weeks so why was he still in town which made Coco blush and say she kept him there because she couldn’t bear to be parted from him. I told her then she should go with him but Coco looked shocked and said mummy would never allow her to wander off with Royce even if he was a Vanderhaven.

Honestly I give up on my friends sometimes, instead of being anything near useful Tiah was obsessed with plotting ways to wreck revenge on Elyce. Most of her plans wind up with Elyce being bald or send off to Europe again as Tiah really hates being outdone by another girl and if anyone can hold her own against the Vanderhaven wealth it will be the Dubois which is wealth plus creepiness. So we spent my lunch hour trying to work out ways for Royce to escape the impending doom of Elyce without a) getting a proper job that allows him to live away from home, b) running off to the extreme sports circuit and abandoning Coco c) getting Coco to actually make a proper decision about anything. Tiah was not really much help, Royce was off surfing and Coco was sobbing.

At this moment who decides to ooze over the floor but Gervais himself, the man who personifies a shudder. He comes over all friendly and surprised to see me but I suspect that Gervais knows where everyone in this town is at any given minute as it would explain his ability to turn up unexpectedly at any time. He sat down and explained how happy he was that I was assisting Caspar in Ladonna’s little Soiree, little Soiree my backside she was inviting everyone in town! I wondered for a second if we could work out a way to use Gervais to get Elyce off Royce’s back but there were two problems with this idea, first no matter how clever we are Gervais will outwit us and secondly whatever price Gervais puts on his cooperation it will be too much to pay.

He sat too close as usual as if we had no past at all and kept on asking me about work until I was tempted to stab him with a fork. He stared at me with those awful ice green eyes so I decided to go for it, why not see what Gervais wanted and I asked him how Elyce was. The question itself drained the colour from Coco’s face and Tiah's mouth dropped open but Gervais registered almost no reaction, he opened his eyes a little wider and maintained his oily smile--how I wanted to put a scorpion down his trousers. He said Elyce was going well and I knew that he knew the game was on and his smile got oilier as he waited for my next question. I asked if she had plans to perhaps leave town suddenly and he replied no so I asked if maybe she was thinking of attending university outside of Bishop Vale and this time Gervais grinned broadly as he knew we wanted her gone. So then I said shame as there was an entire world out there for her to discover and here she was wasting her talents in Bishop Vale. Gervais replied that perhaps there was something that she wanted in Bishop Vale I counted that perhaps there was something she couldn’t have in Bishop Vale to which Gervais shook his head his eyes lighting up with evil. He replied that I didn’t know Elyce and how she usually got what she wanted. Tiring of this doublespeak I went for it and I asked what it would cost for Elyce not to get what she wanted. Gervais leaned very close to me and whispered in my ear “ Everything you’ve got”, and with that he left while chuckling to himself.

Coco asked what he had said and I told her that unless she ran off with Royce we were sunk because Gervais was behind Elyce trying to marry Royce and I had no idea how any of us could outsmart Gervais.

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