Chapter 22
CHAPTER 22
L ucas somehow managed to get through the rest of the team-building exercises with his optimism intact, despite the fact that most of the staff grumbled about having to finish the exercises while Riley got to go AWOL.
The housekeeping team didn’t join in those complaints. Wendy and Mariah had decided that team building was more fun than cleaning toilets and made a point of letting people know that housekeeping clearly had the most miserable jobs since everybody else would rather do their tasks than play what were essentially party games.
The housekeeping team hinted this meant that they deserved a raise, which led the other teams to complain about the rigors of their particular jobs.
Lucas got to hear it all.
This was the opposite of what he had hoped would happen when he hired a team-building expert, and at times even Mrs. Cisneros’s smile became decidedly weary. She knew she’d lost the group when they went back to discussing ways to get rid of a body and wanted to add that exercise as an impromptu team-building game.
Mrs. Cisneros declined the suggestion of a who-hid-the-body-best game, but long after she left—probably questioning her career choice—the inn’s employees were still deliberating the subject.
Riley didn’t come out of Lucas’s office for some time, and Lucas resisted the urge to stroll up to her and ask how the comedy routine about her love life was going. He could give her some more material.
But pushing her right now wouldn’t do any good.
Because of Riley’s past, she couldn’t trust a man who she thought would cheat on her. She would always fear that she’d taken the first step on her mother’s path.
It was frustrating, really, how easily parents could break their children’s lives without even meaning to.
He couldn’t change Riley. He’d have to let go of that hope.
After stewing about the situation, he sent her a text. After you’re done with your shift, I need to speak with you. Wait for me by the front desk.