Reese nodded in agreement. There were hundreds of moving parts on mergers and acquisitions that could cause something to not work out.
“Anyway,” Hallie continued, “my brother and his wife had just had twins, but they live in Colorado. Once my parents got the idea in their head that they could spend more time out there, they started to seriously consider selling, even after that original deal fell through.”
So maybe, in some small way, Reese had her family to thank for The Stone’s Throw becoming available after decades of ownership by the Thatcher family.
She scoffed.
Hallie looked at her strangely.
Reese’s hand flew up to her mouth, heat rising on her cheeks. “Sorry. That had nothing to do with your story. I was just thinking about how The Devereux Group is the reason this whole thing kicked off. And look at us now.”
The large clock in the entry hall chimed, and Hallie looked at the computer screen, panicked.
“Only about half of the guests checking out today have already done so. It’s going to be nonstop for the next thirtyminutes, and I need to find a replacement for Candace. She’s on the cleaning rotation today.”
Ah, yes. Candace, and her Shakespearean-level lovers’ quarrel with her paramour, Greg.
“What can I do to help?” Reese asked, just as the first set of guests came into view on the steps with their suitcases. She tightened her dark ponytail and smoothed her button-down shirt to gather herself.
“I’ll send a text out to the other staff to see who can cover her shift.”
“Are you going to fire Candace?” Reese asked seriously.
Hallie shook her head. “She’s nineteen and in the throes of young love. They’ll work it out, like they always do, and then beg to be on the schedule together. Plus, when she’s here, she’s the best we’ve got.”
Reese scrunched up her forehead. “Okay.”
“If you want to overrule that, it’s your prerogative,” Hallie added, though both of them knew it wasn’t likely. Reese was a newborn baby right now in terms of hotel management experience, and they both knew it.
“We’ll have to get a late start on cleaning the rooms for the guests checking out, but use that tablet.” Hallie pointed at a shelf only visible if you were standing at the back of the desk.
“Okay,” Reese said, grabbing the iPad and hitting the home button. The screen for her software popped up, and she immediately felt the twinge of sadness that happened whenever she saw it.
“Look at all the occupied rooms that don’t have checkouts today. We can worry about cleaning them later, but please stop by and restock the toiletries.”
“Which toiletries?”
Hallie nodded, like she wasn’t at all annoyed with the idiocy of Reese’s question. “New towels, two per person. New bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and bodywash. A new bar of soap. There’sa cart in the cleaning closet on each floor. It should be well stocked, and there’s a list of what each room gets.”
Reese scanned the app and looked at the list of rooms that had guests staying through at least the weekend. Of the twenty rooms, eight had checkouts today.
Which meant… “Okay. I’ll stop by these twelve rooms and make sure they have the daily amenities, using the list on the cleaning cart.”
“Perfect,” Hallie said, like a parent using positive reinforcement for even the smallest of wins. “Skip the ones that have a ‘Do Not Disturb’ tag on the door, but mark it on the app.”
Reese nodded again.
The two guests who had been coming down the stairs at the far end of the hall finally made their way over, coffees from the drink station in hand. Reese could see two more couples meandering in their direction, one from the dining area, where breakfast was available until ten a.m. but where stragglers loved to sit afterward, and another from the staircase.
“And so it begins,” Hallie said with a wide smile. “You good?”
Was she? “Sure. I’ll get started now.”
Reese disappeared just as she heard Hallie’s chipper voice asking the first guests if they’d had a good stay.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she quickly checked to make sure it wasn’t Hallie with a last-minute instruction. It was her mom—for the second time this morning—who’d somehow found out she was back in town. That was the only possibility as far as Reese was concerned, since the Devereuxs weren’t known for idle chitchat.
Eventually, her parents would find out that she’d purchased the inn, but she was trying to avoid that for as long as possible.
