“Great!” She chirped s the doors closed. “I was worried I was the only one coming in halfway through.”
“Nope. I had to change rooms and Mick wasn't answering the door to let me in to get my stuff. I guess he left early for breakfast.”
“Mick? Oh, he’s always one of the first in line at these things.” She sidled closer to him “We can maybe share a table, hmm, since everyone else will be finishing up.”
Please let there not be an empty table.
Breakfast was a buffet and as luck would have it, several people were helping themselves to seconds. Kris helped himself to fresh cantaloupe and a yogurt parfait before following behind a man who making his way to the occupied tables. Catching sight of him, the man smiled. “I saw you just come in. There’s an empty seat at my table,” the man said, indicating a table that held two empty seats.
“Thanks,” Kris said gratefully, sliding into one of the empty seats. Lorraine walked past, a pout on her face as she saw there was no place for her to join them. She headed to a table in the far corner.
“I’m Jonas,” the man said. “And you are?”
“Kris. I actually just started here. Lorraine over there is my supervisor.”
“Ah, yes, Lorraine. She works in the Destin branch, I believe.”
“Jonas here is the regional manager for the tri-state area,” a middle aged brunette sitting on the other side of Kris informed him. “Georgia, Florida, and Alabama are all his.”
“Oh, wow! So you’re like my boss’ boss!”
“That’s right,” Jonas chuckled.
“That’s amazing. I‘ve seen so many people here, I can’t believe it. I even saw Mr Lux himself when he came in last night. Boy, I never expected to run into him at one o’clock int eh morning, but I guess guys who run a hotel and night-club works long hours .”
The brunette exchanged a glance with Jonas and their male companion who was sipping his coffee. The man sat his coffee down and stood up. “I need to be going,” he said. “It was nice to meet you, Kris. I’m sure we’ll run into each other again.”
“Yes,” the brunette said. “I need to head back to my room before heading to the conference rooms.
“Oh. Okay. See you later,” Kris said, puzzled at their sudden abrupt manners. Still, it was getting late. He picked up his spoon and began eating his cantaloupe.
“One this morning, you say?”
“Yeah,” Kris said between bites. “I was changing rooms because my roomie snored so loud and he walked right past me and went through this door. He turned and looked right at me, even, as he closed the door.”
“And you’re sure it was Mr Lux?”
“Oh, yeah. I asked the people at the desk and they said it was.”
“Huh. He must have been working late, indeed.”
Kris nodded, taking a final bite of his cantaloupe. Jonas looked at his watch.
“Oops, I won’t have time to finish this either. I’m sorry. Maybe we’ll run into each other at lunch or something,” Jonas said with a regretful smile.
Kris looked at his Fitbit. “I better hurry, too,” he replied. “I’d like to brush my teeth at least before having to find where I’m supposed to be going.”
Jonas laughed and clapped him on the shoulder as he took his leave.
Kris groaned as a familiar perfume assailed his nose. He looked up. “Hi, Lorraine,” he said.
“Hi. I saw you got ditched and figured you could use the company,” she said, sitting down with a cup of coffee in her hands.
He faked a smile. “So, where do we go after this?” he asked her.
