"The guests in Room 202 want you to see the hair left in the bathtub."
Hope Gibbons nodded.
"Room 215 says their trash hasn’t been emptied for two days and—"
"Want me to take a look." She glanced through her scheduling charts. Lani was the housekeeper assigned to both those rooms. Damn. Hope wished it had been anyone but her. "I'll check it out."
"There's more." Nina, Hope's best housekeeper and frequent message-taker, pushed away from the desk. "The school called."
That had Hope's full attention. She had to remind herself it couldn't be serious or Nina would have tracked her down. That was a priority rule never to be broken. Nothing was more important than Jason.
"They want you to schedule your parent-teacher meeting."
Nervous anticipation whooshed out in a single breath. Short-staffed, she and just about every housekeeper at the hotel were working their asses off trying to keep up. "Thanks. I'll get back to them."
"I can cover for you."
"I don't dare. Not now." For the few months, everyone on staff had been on pins and needles since the announcement that the hotel was being sold. A few had already accepted new jobs, anticipating a heavy ax falling on the current employees. Rumor had it that, whenever EastCo Enterprises took over, out-with-the-old-and-in-with-the-new was the rule of thumb. But Hope was counting on her good record to keep this job.
"Any new word?"
Hope shook her head. According to the grapevine the official change of hands had gone down a few days ago. Now they were all just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"Knock, knock." Keith Collier, manager of the Paradise Shores Hotel, stood in the doorway of the matchbox-size office. "Got a minute?"
"Sure."
Nina pushed to her feet. "I'd better see if anyone needs help."
Keith waited for Nina to leave as Hope held her breath. "A call came in early this morning from the new corporate office."
Hope nodded.
"Things are to continue as usual until further notice."
"Thank God." For the first time since hearing about the impending sale of the hotel, Hope breathed easy. "No more hiring freeze?"
Keith shook his head. "Not exactly."
"What do you mean?"
"Seems EastCo just did a round of hiring. We can have as many new employees as we want as soon as they're done with initial training. In the meantime, I'm getting an assistant right away."
"Oh."
"Yeah." Keith nodded.
Hope knew he'd put in a good word for Sandy and had hoped, once the transition of ownership was complete, the new owner would let Sandy step into the position of assistant manager officially. Everyone knew she'd pretty much been doing the job since the previous one had hightailed it immediately after the sale announcement.
"Does she know yet?"
Keith nodded.
A long silence hung in the air, and Hope braced herself, knowing what was coming next.
"Listen, I know you're working really hard, and Jason keeps you pretty busy, but the invitation to grab a bite one night still holds and—"
"Thanks, Keith. I appreciate it." She didn't know what else to say. Keith was a nice guy, but she just wasn't interested. Every time he asked her out, she had the same answer. He deserved a nice girl who liked him as much as he liked her, and she wasn't it.
It took him a few seconds of nodding to straighten to his full height and turn away.
Some days she wondered if she shouldn't just say yes and see what happened. There were worse things in life than dating and marrying a nice guy. Plus she did worry about Jason growing older without a strong male influence. But her son was only eight. She didn't have to have all the answers today. For now, even one new housekeeper and a supply attendant would make her day.
***
Not for the first time since picking up the cheap rental car had Brad thought this might very well be the worst idea he—or John—had ever had. After only a few minutes in morning traffic, he already desperately missed the sleek convertible he’d had shipped to the islands after his last business trip. Blast John Maplewood. A single challenge and, the next thing Brad knew, he'd instructed his staff to arrange for him to work at the Paradise Shores Resort as a new management trainee. He wouldn't be getting his hands dirty the way Ava wanted, but at least none of the hotel employees would be aware to suck up to the CEO of EastCo.
Nestled in a surprisingly long strip of beachfront real estate and well hidden behind a dense wall of palm trees and flora, his latest acquisition was in the perfect spot to install a luxury resort. Searching for an available employee parking space, Brad headed to the rear of the lot and parked against the wall. As CEO, he'd have an assigned space in front. As management trainee, he was going to get some exercise. Walking, he surveyed the property. The place was in better shape than he would have expected from the initial acquisition reports he'd received. Yeah, a few spots needed some attention—some cracks in the drive, some fresh paint here or there, but, overall, the grounds were well-maintained and the stuccoed Spanish architecture fit in surprisingly well with the Big Island beach scene.
Inside the lobby was spacious, bright, and even the outdated palm-tree-upholstered furnishings somehow seemed to suit the idea of a beach retreat. He was impressed. The same furnishings in a much different surrounding could have been a total turnoff. The moment the woman at the front desk met his gaze, she smiled and held his attention. Good. Whoever she was, he'd make sure she was staying.
"May I help you?" asked the blonde with the name tag that read Sandy.
"I'm here to see Keith Collier. I'm the new trainee."
For a brief flash her smile faltered before she regained her perfect posture. "Of course. One moment and I'll get him."
The bustle of early morning checkout had begun. Luggage accumulated at the front door. Outside, in the circle drive, taxis and shuttles collected their cargo. Business was doing well. Better than what he'd expected.
"Bradford Kane?" The hotel manager extended his hand.
It was too risky to use his last name, but keeping his first name and using his mother’s maiden name would make completing this farce somewhat easier. "Yes. Please call me Brad." A firm but brief shake. He was beginning to like what he saw.
"Keith Collier. Today's going to be a bit of a training challenge. We are sold out for the night. My regularly scheduled registration clerk called in sick, and we're short-staffed in housekeeping as well. I'm afraid this is one of those days when everyone chips in. I'll try not to throw you to the wolves, but we don't have a lot of time for showing you the ropes." Before Brad could respond, his new supervisor took off at a brisk pace. "We'll do a quick walking tour. I'll introduce you to everyone."
"Sounds like a plan." From the lobby Brad followed the younger-than-expected manager around like a heeler hound, taking in every word. Keith seemed to know his staff by name and appeared to be well-respected—or at least liked. But then again, Brad knew from experience, appearances could be deceiving. So far he'd met the head of security and had a quick glance at the surveillance systems. The head of maintenance spoke in broken English, and Brad was surprised when Keith replied in passable Spanish. The groundskeepers took a second to nod and mumble "Okay" to Keith's instructions and quickly returned to work.
"We have a good crew here. Most people have been with us for years. It was a bit of a shock to learn the hotel was being sold."
Judging by the tic in Keith's jaw, a shock may have been putting it mildly. Back inside the labyrinth of oceanside rooms, they wound their way into a rear closet that turned out to be housekeeping's main office.
"This is Hope Gibbons, our head housekeeper."
From the doorway he could see a mop of dirty-blonde hair piled atop a head bowed over a desk covered in paperwork and cradling a telephone between her shoulder and one ear.
"I see. Yes. Okay." The phone landed in the cradle, and the blonde mop lifted to expose a porcelain-like face with two bright-green button eyes peering up at him with exhaustion. Those striking eyes homed in on her boss. "That was Sandy. The Red Hat group called to say their flight plans changed. They’ll be arriving before check-in time and asked if we can possibly have their rooms ready by one."
"How many rooms?" Keith asked.
"Thirty."
“The airlines accommodated that many people early?”
“Charter flight.” Pinching the bridge of her nose for one second, Green Eyes blinked, then focused once again on her boss. "They requested to be in a single building on the same floor. I've got an update on the few rooms vacated and waiting to be cleaned. Two of the rooms on that floor are frequent-vacationer members and have extended their check-out time. Lani called in sick. Again. I'll do my best."
Keith nodded. "Thanks. This is Brad Kane, the new management trainee."
"Nice to meet you." Hope nodded but turned to grab a clipboard.
An unexpected pang of regret over missing a chance to shake her hand caught him off guard. Nice, and pretty enough, Hope was not his usual fare. He leaned more toward long legs in high heels than the girl next door in flats. If anyone had wholesome written all over her, it was this lady. And those eyes… "Anything I can do to help?" he asked, forgetting it wasn't within his immediate power to do much.
"Any good at making beds?" She chuckled, gripping the paperwork and pen close to her chest.
"As a matter of fact—no." Even in college both his and his room mates’ parents had paid for weekly maid service. The rest of the time no one bothered to make beds. "But I'm a fast learner."
Hope raised a brow at Keith, and Brad glanced over his shoulder in time to see the manager shrug in response. Hope smiled, pushed to her feet, and, turning to face him, stuck her arm straight out to shake. "Bedmaking 101 coming right up."