The business office was open daily from ten ‘til seven. Clearly, he’d missed the news that his business was closed today.
He sat at his sister’s desk, plugged in the password, and got to work. First, he cleared up the confusion as to which group was cruising when. Then, he called the contacts to clarify.
During his phone call with Evangeline Develin, another line started ringing.
“Sorry again, Evangeline,” Carrera said.
“No problem,” Evangeline said. “Thanks for calling me yourself. Will I see you Saturday at Joaquin and Brit’s dinner party?”
“Wouldn’t miss it.”
A second line started ringing.
“We’ll talk Saturday,” he said. “Enjoy your cruise.” He answered the second call. “Carrera Cruises. Can you hold for me?”
“Sure,” said the caller.
He answered the first call, apologized for the long wait, and helped the customer.
Thirty minutes later, the phones finally stopped ringing. He leaned back in the chair and swiveled to stare out at the Potomac river. A massive headache pounded like a bass drum in his temples.
The front door chimed. Pushing out of the chair, he made his way toward reception.
Jazz was back, as were his employees. All of them—the men and the women—were wearing cheap flip flops, their shoes in hand. From what he could tell, everyone had just gotten a pedicure. They all stood there like bumbling idiots.
Jazz broke into a lopsided grin while she hid her stilettos behind her back. “Heyyyy, brother! Whatcha doin’ heeeere?”
Dammit, she’s been drinking.
“Conference room,” Carrera said. “Now.”
“Oops,” Jazz blurted.
Once there, he stood at the head, placed his palms on the tabletop, and eyed his employees. “What’s going on? It’s four in the afternoon and you’ve been gone for a while.”
Jazz huffed. “I took my employees out for lunch, then we had a mani-pedi day.”
Carrera stared at her. “C’mon, Jazz.”
“We took a few hours off, so what is the big deal?” his sister pushed back.
“If you do that again, you’re terminated,” Carrera said. “All of you.”
“I’m sorry,” said one of his employees.
“Same,” said another.
“You can dock my pay,” said a third.
“If you need time off—” Carrera said.
“It’s not about that,” Jazz interrupted. “We’re here five days a week, week in and week out. I thought it would be nice?—”
“It’s called a job, Jasmine,” Carrera said. “No one here works weekends. I’ve got a different team for that.” He eyed his employees. “If anyone needs time off, do you take personal days or vacation?”
Nods from everyone, but his sister. She sat there giving him a glassy-eyed glare.
“I might not be on site, but I’m available if any of you have an issue or need to talk to me.” Carrera confirmed that everyone had his number before he dismissed them.
