“Do you want the bad news or the worse news?” Hallie asked, trying to keep her voice light.
“I assume your ‘worse news’ is that the candidate pool is lacking, which is what I gleaned from reviewing the résumés last night.”
Hallie appreciated that Reese automatically assumed she’d held up her promise to review her half. Instead of a tried and true Disney movie, she’d had a season ofGlass Houses–one of her favorite reality TV shows–on in the background. And she was proud to say that she’d only spilled a few drops of ramen broth on one of the résumés.
“Bingo,” Hallie said, nodding. “I emailed four people to schedule calls. No one’s gotten back to me yet.”
“I emailed three. One got back to me but said they wouldn’t be open to working until the new year.”
“If they’re a good candidate, we should consider them, no? I was serious. I don’t need to go to Colorado,” Hallie said quickly, the knot in her chest loosening at the prospect of solving this problem and buying herself some breathing room.
“Hallie,” Reese said, softness seeping into her tone, “I told you I’m not considering that option. You deserve to spend the holidays with your family. To take a vacation, for god’s sake. When was the last time you took one?”
“I don’t know that I’d qualify it as a vacation,” Hallie lamented before quickly changing her tone. She didn’t want to get into her feelings about her upcoming trip right now. “But I really do appreciate how kind you’re being about all of this. I know I’ve really put The Stone’s Throw in a pickle.”
“You’re the heart of this place, Hallie. Seriously, we’re going to figure out a solution, okay? Let’s just wait and see what comes of the emails we sent, and I’ll put my feelers out.”
Reese had this misguided idea that she wasn’t good with people, but from Hallie’s perspective, she was one of the most understatedly soft people that Hallie had ever met. She had a focus that made Hallie tired just thinking about, but she was also relentless in coming up with solutions when a problem arose, especially if it involved operating a business effectively.
“I appreciate all your help,” Hallie said, her voice catching as she grew strangely emotional.
Her stomach clenched uncomfortably again, this time at the ongoing possibility of disappointing Reese. She’d fucked up, even though her decision-making had felt sound at the time.
Because really… it wasn’t a big deal if she didn’t go to Colorado. That’s the thought that had circled as she’d been relentlessly trying to keep up with the influx of visitors during the fall.
She hadn’t wanted to considerwhyshe didn’t want to see her family, which meant that every time she thought about hiring someone, she’d pushed it away in favor of the dozens of other tasks that were achievable and didn’t cause warring emotions to crop up.
There was a moment of quiet when it sounded like Reese was going to say something else, but instead, Hallie was met with, “I’m meeting with Stan tomorrow. I’ll see if I can tap into his network to rustle someone up.”
“That sounds good. I mean, I think that’s a good idea,” Hallie corrected herself.
Another pause on Reese’s end. “We’re going to figure this out. I’ll make sure you’re in the wintry wilds of Colorado to spend Christmas with your family. I promise.”
Hallie could feel a tension headache building. She looked down at her phone and began to forcefully rub at her temples, like she would will away all the strangeness that had been percolating in her brain for the last few weeks.
“Sounds good,” she managed as she scooted back to open the center desk drawer. She rifled around to find a bottle of ibuprofen, then quickly shook out a few pills. “I’ll keep you posted if anyone schedules interviews with me.”
“Thanks, I’ll talk to you later,” Reese said, almost immediately disconnecting the call.
Within seconds, Hallie had swallowed the pills and slouched into her chair, feeling like she’d just run a marathon. Usually, she loved working with employees, withpeoplein general.
Everything was changing, and none of it left Hallie feeling like her life was heading in the right direction. Her job, the thing she’d prided herself on for the last decade, was now her biggest source of stress. Besides Sydney, who was inconveniently the girlfriend of her boss, she didn’t have anyone to talk to about it.
She thought about slinking off to her room to try and grab a quick nap and outsleep her headache, but that brief glimpse of light was snuffed out when she heard the front desk bell ring.
Hallie stood up, straightening her shoulders at the same time she used sheer force of will to push everything else circling her brain away.
She walked toward the door and opened it, looking across the check-in desk as she pasted on a smile that she knew didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Hi, what can I help you with today?”
CHAPTER TWO
Brynn Fitzpatrick put her finger over her lips as she stepped into Fitz Capital Group in South Boston, signaling to Janice, her dad’s receptionist for over thirty years, not to give away her arrival.
Janice, positively bursting with energy even in her seventies, clenched her ring-clad fingers into a tight fist and stood up, her full frame bouncing back and forth in an attempt to keep the secret. She only released her hands to give Brynn a hug that luckily didn’t crack a rib, though not for lack of effort.
“He’s in with Reese. Go on ahead,” Janice whispered, the strength of her hold not wavering.
Brynn had missed Janice over the last three months. She tried to take a breath to whisper back as much, but she was still held tight. When Janice finally released her, all her lungs could manage was a gulp of air, then another, until, after long seconds, her breathing returned to normal. Love in her family, which she absolutely considered Janice a member of, could be stifling, but it was always so well intentioned that Brynn couldn’t be frustrated. Even if she still felt a slight hint of pain in her chest.
