Chapter Two
“ W here the hell are the balloons?”
Sienna Daly looked over at where the exclamation had come from, sighing with fond exasperation at her boss.
“They’re in the back office; I’ll go find them,” she called back, standing from where she was unpacking leaflets from one of the boxes on the floor.
She understood why Liz was so stressed. The Lighthouse Community Hub had been literally in the making for the past eighteen months, longer in planning and preparation, and tomorrow was its grand opening. Sienna had been excited when she had managed to land herself a job there, the mission statement literally calling to her and her every dream since realising what she wanted to do with her life six years ago. She’d bounced from job to job, finding enough money to make ends meet, study part-time for her diploma, and she guessed to live comfortably for a young person in the city, but most of her time had been taken up with volunteer work at various projects, the experience worth far more on her resume than any paid job could provide.
When she saw the advertisement for the job at a new community centre, she had applied without hesitation, hoping that those years of voluntary work would be enough to make up for her lack of professional experience. She had tried not to get her hopes up too high—years of disappointment had long since conditioned her to believe that she would never achieve what she dreamed of—and so when she had got the call to interview, she told herself to manage her expectations. She thought it had gone well, but she was still surprised when Liz had called her to tell her she was successful.
Sienna’s dream was finally coming true.
Trudging through to Liz’s office, she easily found the bag of balloons, which her boss had been panicking about, grabbing them and making her way back out front. The small team of paid employees and volunteers had worked hard over the past six weeks to ensure everything was ready for the opening tomorrow. Local council representatives were attending, the local press was coming—as well as some influential business owners—all of whom were vital in the continued running of the centre. Sienna knew it took a lot of hands to steer a ship of this size, but she hadn’t really comprehended the size of the task until she started working with Liz. Sienna’s new job spanned both the pastoral and administrative side of the role; she would act as a mentor and support system for those who sought to use the centre’s services but was also basically Liz’s assistant. Her dream was to still get her degree, and she’d told Liz that in her interview, but for now, the job at The Lighthouse was enough.
She was determined to get this right.
Walking back into the main hall, she took a moment to take it all in. Today was the final push, ready for the doors opening tomorrow. Each of the individual rooms had been set up and kitted out as they were to be used; upstairs, there were a couple of rooms for visiting businesses to use, some smaller, cosy private rooms for talking sessions to take place in, and a classroom for when they had teaching sessions. Across the other side of the main hall where she stood, there was a larger communal room for older teens and young adults to use, with a television and game console, as well as a pool table and a separate creche for children’s daycare and holiday clubs. The Atrium, where Sienna stood now, was a large, open plan space free to be used for anything they needed it for; tomorrow was going to be a fair to show the services The Lighthouse offered, and next week, it was already booked for a dinner and chat evening for the elderly of the community. It was overwhelming and humbling all at once to see what had been created, and Sienna was already proud to be a small cog in the beginning of what she hoped would be its long journey.
“Perfect!” Liz cried when she saw Sienna. “Can you finish off that balloon arch? I need to make sure everything’s sorted with the caterers.”
“Yeah, of course.” Sienna smiled. “But Liz?”
“Yes?” Liz spun on her heel, and Sienna couldn’t help but chuckle at the way her hair stuck up from being underneath the balloons for the past few minutes, static causing it to go wild. “Maybe take five minutes and get a brew. You’ve not sat down all day.”
Liz let out a long breath, dropping her shoulders slightly. “You’re right. Thank you.” She tipped her head in a sign of gratitude. “Honestly, I don’t know what I’d have done without you these past few weeks.”
“You’d have coped. Maybe been a little more frazzled, but you’d have coped. I’m just happy that I could help at all.”
“You’ve helped more than you know, Sienna. Once this place gets settled and we are running smoothly, we’re going to sit down and talk about what you want from this. I know we had a chat in your interview, but you’ve shown some real promise in the past couple of weeks. If anyone can get me to stop and take a moment, it means they must have some real skills. And I don’t want to lose you—I know that already.” Liz stepped forward, squeezing Sienna’s forearm. “I feel you’re going to be a big part of The Lighthouse.”
Sienna choked back the emotion that rose in her at Liz’s words, determined not to cry in front of her boss. Praise and gratitude were things Sienna was wholly unaccustomed to receiving, and to feel valued, while not entirely new, was something she struggled to accept. Adamant that she wasn’t about to let her uncertainties ruin what she had started to build for herself here, she pushed back the thoughts, locking them away in that tiny box to dissect at a later time.
“Go on. I’ll finish up out here,” she said, nodding back to the office and already desperate to get herself lost in a task. “I’ll come find you when I’m done.”