Personal Account BALANCE: -£1,850.60
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Final studio rent payment: £800.00
Most of France is still asleep as Spencer and I stumble half awake toward the grand hall for breakfast. It’s quiet in the hotel, but as we turn the corner, the chatter of guests ratchets up.
“Do you remember Buffet Battle?” Spencer asks.
“Of course, I’m the reigning champ,” I reply.
Renamed from Who Can Steal the Most Food from the Hotel Breakfast Buffet when we were kids, this competition was the highlight of many Cole family holidays. Sixteenpastéis de natain Portugal was my record, but I’d had the advantage of wearing fuchsia-pink cargo pants and a training bra. It had way more pockets than Spencer’s lime-greenLife’s a Beachholiday T-shirt and Quiksilver surfing shorts.
Spencer arches a brow. “Surely I get special recognition for all those boiled eggs.”
I cross my arms. “You would have, but then you got disqualified because you left them all in the hotel room. It stank for days.”
“Wanna play when we get in there?” he says as we shuffle up the line.
“That isn’t CEO behavior; imagine if you got caught.” I don’t admit that I played each day in Rome, sneaking bread, cheese, and ham to make sandwiches and hiding them in my room’s minibar so I didn’t have to pay for lunch.
I glance through the doorway as we line up for a table. When everyone is together like this, it’s hard to avoid feeling like you’re walking into an athlete’s training ground. Obvious cliques are forming as people are getting to know each other, like a school cafeteria. Everyone feels more at ease despite the stakes being higher. Maybe people are getting cocky and complacent. In schooltime fashion, Spencer has already declared he is going to sit with the other founders and CEOs. They are sitting at a makeshift banquet table, laughing the loudest to make sure everyone in the room knows they are having afantastictime. The next group of people are taken to a table, and we shuffle up the line. A woman in the group in front of us turns around, and I recognize her from Round One. Her cropped blond hair and short frame are my polar opposite.
“Morning!” She is chirpier than I’d expected her to be.
“Morning.” I smile back. “It’s Lana, right? From Norton and Associates?”
“Yes!” She seems shocked I remember. “We met at the party in Rome.”
I nod confirmation as another burst of cackling laughtererupts from the CEO table. Spencer lurches his neck to the side, trying to see what the joke is about.
“Wow, I was so out of it that night,” Lana whispers, trying to make sure Spencer, aka “my boss,” doesn’t hear. He had been out partying instead of being safely locked in the fancy suite he insisted upon me paying for.
“I think we all were,” I say, flicking my eyes back to her. “I’m sorry, I forgot what you do at Norton. Are you an assistant as well?” The lie is getting scarily smoother each time I say it.
“Yeah. But I’m studying for my law exams right now. I’m taking the bar at the end of the year, so I’m hoping a promotion to a more substantial position will happen after that.”
Impressed, I cock my head to the side. “That’s amazing.”
She leans against the wood-paneled wall. “What about you? What do you want to be when you grow up?”
I huff out a laugh. “I’ll get back to you when I figure that out. All I want for now is coffee and as many pastries as I can fit in my pockets.”
The breakfast attendant signals to Lana to come forward, and she pushes off the wall. “Good to see you again.”
“You too.” I smile as her group is taken to their table.
When the attendant comes back, Spencer gives the room number.
The woman runs a finger down the reservation book and frowns. “Je suis désolée, monsieur.I have only one breakfast pass for this room.”
Shit. I’m crashing on the sofa; there’s only meant to be one person staying in the room.
I step forward, interjecting before Spencer can protest. “Oh,I’m sorry for the confusion. I’m not staying for breakfast. I was just checking in with my boss. I’ll be going now.”
“D’accord.”The woman eyes me suspiciously before shrugging and extending her arm out for Spencer to follow.
Spencer shoots me a confused look.
