“We will, Matty, we will,” his mother says, fanning her face with her passport. “Just a few more minutes and Daddy will take you to the pool.”
Daddy is busy tapping away on his mobile phone, totally unaware of what’s going on around him.
Markos sighs heavily, then rolls his head in my direction. “Tell me again why we couldn’t stay on the yacht?”
I purse my lips. “Okay, last time. I’m here to oversee the competition, which means I need to stay in the same building as the contestants and staff. If I’m out on a yacht, I won’t know what’s going on here at the resort, remember?”
“It’s not realistic for you to babysit all those people 24/7,” he says, shaking his head. “Not that they’ll need a nanny anyway.”
“Theo doesn’t want to leave anything to chance,” Carolina tells him.
“I know, but doesn’t the fact that we’re standing in a line with all these tourists strongly suggest we’re not exactly going to enjoy our stay? I mean, seriously. They don’t even have a VIP counter.”
“Which is fine, because the last thing we want to do is appear to be living large while the company is struggling,” I mutter to him, hoping no one can hear me. “How would that look to our employees or the board members, for that matter?”
His shoulders drop. “I guess. I’m just so bored.”
In front of us, the little boy has now moved from jumping up and down to lying on the terracotta tile floor, with his arms and legs splayed to the sides. “Mommy, I’m so bored, I think I might die!” he shouts in his ear-piercing little kid voice. “I need to go swimming! Now!”
Instead of being embarrassed (as he should), Markos points to the kid. “See? He gets it.”
“Jesus,” I whisper before checking my watch. Thirty-eight minutes until the big meeting.
“Why don’t I take Markos for a little walk, maybe find him a drink or something?” Carolina asks, clearly noticing how close I am to snapping.
“Perfect,” I tell her with a nod. Thank you.”
He scowls at her. “I don’t need you to mother me.” Then he glances at the ceiling. “Although a drink would be nice.”
You know who else could use a drink? Me. But I’m not going to have one, because I’ve got a mountain of work to do as soon as I get to my room.
Come on, IT guy. Let’s clear the damn lobby already so little Matty can go swimming, and I can get into my air-conditioned suite and work.
I spend the next twelve minutes trying not to watch the meltdown happening in front of me, but it’s hard to ignore. Matty has gone from lying on the floor to tugging on his poor mother’s arm and shouting, “I want to swim! I want to swim!” to making a break for it, and, in his haste to escape, not noticing the pillar in front of him, which he slammed into face-first. This led to a screaming fit of epic proportions.
Note to self: Find out what building they’re in and make sure my room is on the opposite end of the property.
The entire lobby breathes a sigh of relief the moment Matty and his parents exit, presumably to find the nearest pool. I step up to the front desk at the same time Markos and Carolina return. Smiling at the young woman across the counter, I say, “Quite the morning you’re having.”
She nods. “Things were running smoothly until the computers went down.”
The IT guy, who is now working away on his laptop at the other end of the reception desk, says, “Hey, I’m only one man, and I’m working miracles over here.”
She and I exchange a “whoops” look. “I should have a reservation under the name Theo Rojas. I have a meeting in a few minutes, so I’m in a hurry.”
A look of understanding crosses her face. “Right. You’re with the bartending competition. That’s going to be so much fun.”
“It sure will be,” I say, even though for me it’ll be a total nightmare.
She turns her gaze to her screen and taps on the keyboard. “Building C has been blocked off for your group. You requested an adjoining room for you and a Markos Rojas?”
“Yes, he’s my brother.”
“Present and accounted for,” Markos says to her with a boozy smile. “But I don’t want an adjoining room with him.” He points his index finger about an inch from my cheek. “He’s a total bore.”
She giggles and turns back to her computer. “Okaayyy… it also says you wanted a suite so you can set up an office in your room?”
“That’s correct. I require a desk and chair, hopefully a meeting space of some sort, and wedoneed adjoining rooms. We’re here for work.”
