“You know what? Evan’s right,” she says eventually, breaking the impasse. “You’ll be in the water most of the time, taking guests for dives and doing your thing. I’ll be running everything else. So, if you’re open to it, Tristan, let’s submit our résumés.” She stands and this time takes the longer way around the coffee table to escape, giving me a wide berth. “The only thing that could top the past few weeks’ mindfuck is us actually getting an interview and having to fake being engaged.”
Chapter Seven
LEXI
“Iblame Evan for this,” I groan into the phone. My streak of melodrama seems to be skiing down a very steep hill, on the verge of losing all control. We all know how that ends: a wreck.
“Evan’s just looking out for you, Lex,” Tessa says. “And it isn’t a done deal by far.”
“Evan ran with it because he had my résumé on his laptop, and now I’ve got an interview!” I close my eyes, frustrated because I technically gave him the green light in a moment of snark.
“But that’s awesome!” Tessa sounds delighted. “Isn’t this what you wanted?”
“Yes, but?—”
“How is it that only you have an interview?” Tessa asks. “Isn’t the job for a managerial couple? What about the dude?Tristan?”
The dude. Ha! She wouldn’t call him that if she saw him in person. “I don’t know. He’s hardly been around, and I haven’t checked with him.” It’s not as if I have his number. The last time I saw Tristan, he was passed out on the sofa looking almostangelic in sleep. I could’ve stared at him the whole day, but I had errands to run. After that morning, I lost track of his whereabouts. He hasn’t been at home by the time I go to bed for several nights in a row now, and he’s gone early in the mornings. Part of me whispers that I could probably fake being his fiancée quite easily if he was never around like this.
“You should check with him, but for all you know, they want to interview you for a different position—one where he doesn’t need to be your plus one.”
This has crossed my mind a thousand times since I got the interview invitation. One half of me wants to strangle Evan, the other half admires his go-getter attitude, because it’s gotten me this far. I worked hard to get my promotions at St Chalamet, and I can’t let this opportunity slip through my fingers. My experience and dedication have to count for something. Beaumont could have other suitable positions to fill, and I can’t blow all my chances because of Ne’emba Island’s small stipulation.
“I’m doing it, if only for the experience.” I’ve never been interviewed for a job outside of St Chalamet, and I’m nervous. It’s a hurdle I need to leap over.
“You’re going to be fantastic. It’s over Zoom?”
“Yes, first thing tomorrow morning, with someone from the headquarters in Paris.”
“La-dee-da. Wanna do a test run? I’ll put on an accent and all.”
Thank God for BFFs. By dinnertime Tessa has asked every hard question ten times over. I’m brain-drained but floating on a cloud of optimism as I walk out to the veranda.
Evan sits on a deck chair, a beer dangling from his hand, deep in conversation on his phone. He glances up at me, and the corner of his mouth forms a half-smile. “Yes, I understand. I’ll get her to sign the paperwork, and we’ll take it from there.”
My heart drops. What a mood-killer. I sit down and wait for him to finish. “Who was that?” I ask when he hangs up.
“Tristan. He’s got a lawyer from his dad’s firm to help out.”
“Oh. He didn’t run it past me.”
“He didn’t have your number.”
For fuck’s sake.That’s how in tune we are, and Evan wants us to fake an engagement?
“Okay. What’s the verdict?” There’s been no more word from St Chalamet, and not a peep from the hackers. Not that I’ve checked. For all intents and purposes, I’ve been wiped off the internet. A few horror shots from my teens still float around on other people’s accounts, but ever since I started working for St Chalamet, I’ve kept my accounts private and gossip fodder to a minimum. Company policy. Makes sense now and thank God for that.
“It’s a waiting game. And it could drag on forever.” Evan drinks deeply. “Bottom line, the hotel must pay to protect your identity since you were working for them at the time of the security footage. They, in turn, can demand that you not expose them. So basically, both of you are between a rock and a hard place. It all depends on Mia Reed and what she’s going to do next. We don’t have any of that information, and no right to it either.”
I’ve never felt this helpless in my life. “What do you need me to sign?”
“He’ll email us the retainer.”
Hot panic flushes over my body. “I’m not sure how I’m going to pay him.”
“It’s standard practice, so don’t freak out. So far there’s nothing to pay, and it might never come to that,” Evan says with a squeeze of my hand. “We’re just lining everything up in case. It’s highly probable that the hotel group will have to pay your legal fees too. It’s not your fault they got hacked, and your groupcover included personal liability insurance. So, technically, the money is there.”
“Okay.” I’m not getting out of it, and I don’t have the know-how to deal with this situation on my own. “WhereisTristan?”
