“How dare she!” I shouted, rolling up my sleeves. “She’s treating me like anemployee.”
Martina froze. Her sandy-coloured hair was already pulled back too tightly, but now it looked completely frazzled. Her blue eyes widened as she stood there, not blinking.
“What do you want?” I snapped, making her flinch. “Why are you still standing there?”
She swallowed hard. “Would you like anything to eat or drink, Mister Evans?”
I shut my eyes and counted to ten. Slowly. None of this was her fault, and I knew it. I exhaled and forced my voice to calm. “Just leave me alone for now. Thank you, Martina.”
I walked up the stairs with Cooper at my heels and, sitting down in the leather office chair, scratched my beloved chocolate retriever’s stomach. How hard could it possibly be to run a hotel? All I had to dowas make decisions. Everyone should already know what they were doing and work around me. Like Gary—how hard would it have been to change up a few decorations? It was his job, for pity’s sake, but somehow I had become the bad guy when Gary couldn’t handle it.
I reclined in the chair and dialled my father, already rehearsing the explanation in my head. “Hi, Dad.”
“I’ve already heard,” he said. I could practically hear the controlled fury in his pause—the signature seething inhalation through gritted teeth. “How could you do something like that without consulting Nyah?”
“Consult her?” I clenched my jaw. “You appointed me as VP, not as her assistant. A guest needed a decision. I gave one. End of story.”
“But you made a commitment that impacted other people?—”
“I’m confused. Aren’t we supposed to keep VIP guests happy?” I pressed my lips together and tightened my grip on the phone. “I did the right thing. Just because Nyah thinks she knows better?—”
“Caleb,” he sighed. “She does know better. This hotel exists because of her. Her ideas made it a success.”
I loosened my collar and resigned myself to enduring the lecture, hearing how much money Nyah had saved them and how she’d gotten the hotel listed at number two inHospitalitymagazine’s Top-10 Hotels in the city. It wasn’t the first time I’d heard it.
“You need to follow through on your commitment,” he said. “Mend fences. Listen to her. And figure this out without running to your mother or me.”
“Fine,” I said. “I’ll try to make it work.”
“Don’t try, Caleb. Do it.”
The line went dead.
I walked down to the living room and poured myself a stiff drink. Raising the glass to the empty room, I toasted, “Here’s to you, Nyah. So beautiful, yet so…”
What was it about that woman that made me so…frustrated?
The next morning,Nyah looked up from her laptop when I entered her office.
“Well, good morning,” she said, smiling. “You?—”
“I still have no access,” I said dryly. “You do want me to learn how this place works, don’t you?”
She inhaled slowly. “I thought it would be better if you spent a few weeks shadowing department heads. You know, to understand their roles and responsibilities.”
I stared at her.
She stood. “A couple of days in each section will give you a much better idea of how things work than reading a bunch of emails.”
“You want the VP of Operations shadowing middle management?” I asked. “Don’t they already know their jobs?”
In a low-pitched voice, she said, “You can’t manage these people effectively until you understand what they do. Work in their space. See them in their element. You’ll be surprised how much you learn.”
Was she trying to tell me I didn’t know what I was doing?
“Will you be able to find your way, or do you want me to book appointments?”
My ears burned. I wanted to say something, but instead, I turned and walked to the elevators.
