“No, you do not,” Vincent adds, stifling a laugh.
Theo freezes for a millisecond, then says, “Agreed. We are in a precarious position at the moment, and although our company has survived many a crisis—the biggest being the Cuban revolution that had my grandparents packing everything up and escaping at night to The Bahamas—the current situation must be managed delicately to ensure our survival. It’s safe to say that Harrison and Libby will also want to avoid having Paradise Bay caught up in some sort of mess.”
“Definitely,” Harrison says.
“Absolutely,” Libby adds. “So, what can we do to help?”
Yes, please. Get to the bloody point.
“We’d like to institute a female-only floor and ask male guests to refrain from visiting.”
Carolina sits forward and pipes in, “We believe this will help to reduce off-hour interactions. As I’m on the fourth floor already, I suggest we put all of the women up there with me, and since Theo and Markos are on the third floor, let’s put the men there.”
“Uh-huh, uh-huh, brilliant!” Vincent says, adding literally nothing to the conversation, other than smooching his boss’s behind.
“That shouldn’t be a problem.” Harrison turns to look at me. “Nora, can you take care of that?”
Dammit. That means I need to rework the room assignments for the entire building. “Absolutely,” I say, jotting downroom assignment: women on top, men underneath.
“Would you like me to assign someone from the front desk to handle that for you?” Libby asks.
“No, I’ve got it. I already have the lists of various special requests, so it’s best if I stay as the point person.”
“Excellent, thank you,” Carolina says to me with a wide smile that’s about as sincere as cheap pleather.
“Now for the tricky request,” Theo says. “I don’t want to tell you how to run your business, Harrison, Libby. You two are professionals, and you run a tight ship, but we are hoping you’ll be willing to implement some sort of ‘no fraternizing with the contestants and crew’ policy.”
“The thing is,” Carolina adds, “These bartenders are, well, pretty much professional flirts, if I’m going to be honest. They know how to talk up a customer to get those big tips. It can be quite flattering, even when you know what they’re doing.” Her cheeks turn pink, and I’m suddenly curious to know who she’s thinking of.
Harrison nods, looking serious. “We already have a ‘no fraternizing with the guests’ policy, but I don’t think it could hurt for us to put out some sort of reminder.”
“I’ll draft something,” Libby says, “and I’ll make sure to point out that the people in Building C are off-limits.”
“Can you include some sort of consequences?” Carolina asks her.
Libby freezes for a moment. “Like what?”
“I don’t know... tell them they’ll be fired on the spot?” She says this as if she’s winging it when I’m sure she and awful Theo have been twirling their skinny mustaches and evil-laughing about this for days.
“That seems a bit heavy-handed,” Libby says.
“Do you think so?” Carolina asks her. “I’d say it provides the clarity that would be most useful for your staff.”
“Is that what you’ve told your staff at X-Stream TV?” I ask, even though it’s definitely not my place.
“Yes, of course,” she answers in a tone that suggests I’m an idiot.
“While I appreciate the way you run your business, Carolina, we’re more of a family,” Harrison says. “Most of our staff spend their entire careers at the resort. We find that setting expectations and trusting them to do the right thing works wonders.”
“Sure, but maybe a little extra nudge this time,” she says. “Theo can’t afford any type of scandal.”
“AndIneed to make sure my staff will want to continue on after you pack up and go home,” Harrison tells her.
“Okay,” Vincent mutters sarcastically. “We get it, you’re a good guy boss.”
“Yes, he really is,” Libby says firmly.
Vincent covers his mouth with one hand, looking mock-worried about causing offense, which he clearly is not.
