Chapter 1 #2
Tripp, as Sydney had explained to her, had been using new investor money to pay out older investors, and on and on the scheme continued for the last decade while his properties fell further and further behind.
When his latest possible investor, Stan Fitzpatrick, had pulled out of their negotiations, it had left Tripp with nothing to prop the illusion up.
“I hope your mom’s doing okay through all of it,” Hallie said. It was all that really felt worth commenting on amid the chaos. Hallie had spent time with Sharon Devereux over the last few months, and the woman had positively blossomed outside the confines of her life with Tripp.
Reese smiled broadly. “She is. She and Bryan are officially dating, which still feels so weird to say. But I’m incredibly happy for her.”
“Good. I’m glad she isn’t soured on men forever.
” It would have been a reasonable feeling, having been married to Tripp Devereux for thirty-five years.
There was no love lost between Hallie and the men in the Devereux family, considering that Sydney had dated Reese’s brother, Grant, for six years before Sydney had caught him cheating.
He’d been cheating with Stan Fitzpatrick’s daughter no less, who, in a blaze of glory, had aired all the younger Devereux’s dirty laundry at his wedding rehearsal dinner a few months ago.
No wonder the gossip sites had continued to hound anyone involved in the situation.
And though Hallie wished that Reese would be spared, she was glad that Tripp Devereux had gotten what was coming to him.
She was doubly glad that Grant Devereux had gotten what was coming to him, too.
She couldn’t think of more deserving men to find themselves on the receiving end of a healthy dose of karma.
So, yeah. Hallie could understand that Reese had been distracted the last few months, what with everything going on in her personal life, with her family, and as she was trying to get her professional aspirations off the ground.
It was a little jarring to realize that Hallie was peripherally involved in this melodrama that featured millionaires and shady business deals and a daughter usurping her father’s throne due to his own hubris.
This was the stuff that books were written about, so very different from Hallie’s daily life, which included placating guests and ending her night by watching Disney movies and eating ramen noodles.
“You’re thinking about how messy all of this is, aren’t you?” Reese asked, breaking Hallie out of doing just that.
Hallie pursed her lips, looking for the right thing to say. “Stan Fitzpatrick seems to have found his way to the best Devereux to do business with, so that’s definitely a positive.”
“Along with my dad’s properties going at fire-sale prices,” Reese added with the smallest hint of a smirk.
Honestly, good for her. “That, too.”
“Which has led us to our current predicament,” Reese said, directing them back to the task at hand. “I have some time in the coming weeks, given that the contracts for the two properties I’m looking to acquire are with the lawyers right now.”
Again, Hallie felt the blush of embarrassment that Reese didn’t think she was capable of handling the hiring.
It washed away the last few minutes of thinking about the drama in Reese’s life and brought her squarely back to the present, where even with nothing else pulling at Hallie’s attention, she wasn’t performing at an acceptable level in her new role.
But she was going to review the applicants. This was, truly, the first week that things had slowed down in months. And yes, she’d be cutting it close, but she hadn’t seen any other solution than white-knuckling her way to the holidays.
“I can do it. I promise,” Hallie said, feeling like a little kid asking for a puppy and promising they’d take care of it. She even scuffed her boot against the carpeted floor for good measure, happy that Reese couldn’t see it.
“I think that, given the time constraints, tackling this together makes the most sense. I’ll take half the stack and you can take the other half?” Reese asked, her hand already reaching for the folder that Hallie should have assumed had been spotted the second Reese had walked in the door.
While Hallie was perceptive when it came to people, Reese was a whiz at all things operational, and she was wondering how her boss was even sitting in the office with her right now.
The color-coding file system that Reese had implemented months ago had fallen by the wayside.
Hallie had a stack of Post-it Notes at least six deep with things she’d wanted to remember.
But instead of commenting on it, Reese let the other papers slide gracefully back to the desk as she picked up the folder. She opened it, took half the stack, keeping them in the folder, and handed the other stack back to Hallie.
“I’ll have mine reviewed by tomorrow,” Reese said, standing up from her chair. She flipped her fingers against the corners of the pages like they were a book. “And, Hallie?”
She looked up to meet Reese’s stare, knowing that she could continue her self-flagellation in private. “Yeah?”
“A woman we both love dearly helped me understand that life is a team sport. It’s not a sign of weakness to need help, okay?
” Reese wore the same smile she had whenever she was looking at Sydney or talking about her, and it caused the strangest sense of emptiness to open up inside of Hallie’s chest.
Regardless of how Reese’s words made Hallie feel, she couldn’t argue with her boss’s logic at this moment. She pushed the feeling away and gave Reese a small salute. “Aye, aye, Captain. I’ll have my half done by tomorrow as well.”
Hallie took a deep breath and ran her fingers along the top of her desk, which she’d painstakingly spent last night organizing ahead of the interview scheduled for today.
There was not a cookie or coffee cup in sight–except for the one she’d taken a few lukewarm sips from over the last fifteen minutes.
She wasn’t sure who was making this conversation difficult, but as she eyed Matt Hostas, per a résumé that painted a very different picture than his in-person interviewing skills, it didn’t much matter.
On paper, he’d looked great, but the reality was that Hallie would barely get a question out before he was talking over her. Add in that his responses were all vague yet rambling, a truly special combination that would have left Hallie impressed at its absurdity if she wasn’t so stressed out.
“So, Matt,” she said abruptly, trying to redirect him from the meandering story he’d told about his last inn and how they’d done things, like their policies and procedures manual was a Bible and he, the most devoted follower.
He—blessedly, briefly—quieted, and she watched his Adam's apple bob up and down furiously at the sudden stop. “What’s up?” he asked, cocking his head to the side.
“Can you tell me why you left your last role? And what you’re looking for in this one?” The question was always going to be included, but now, she was genuinely curious to learn what he’d say.
Because Matt, as she’d gleaned from their conversation, wasn’t exactly what she’d call a “people person.”
He tapped his finger against his chin–his soul patch, more accurately–like he was giving the question serious thought. It was the longest he’d been quiet since sitting down across from her. “Not everyone vibes with my style.”
His style!? He was a man in his mid-thirties with a soul patch who’d worn a fedora and a velvet jacket to the interview. And even though it was irrelevant to his ability to do the job, Hallie couldn’t stop looking at the little patch of hair under his thin lower lip.
Hallie cleared her throat. “I assume you mean your management style? Or do you mean with guests?”
“I tell it like I see it,” Matt said, crossing his leg over his knee and leaning back in the chair. “Not everyone likes that. Employees or guests. But rules, on both sides, exist for a reason.”
Okay, so at least they weren’t talking about his fashion sense. Which was disappointing because what he’d just said was so much worse.
Hallie smoothed out the printed copy of his resume and flattened her palms against it.
She took a second to get back into her supportive manager mindset before she tilted her chin up and smiled at him.
Chipperly, she said, “Well, Matt, I really appreciate your time. We’re still interviewing some other candidates, but I’ll follow up with next steps if we decide to move forward. ” She stood up and extended her hand.
“Oh, I thought you needed someone, like… urgently?” he asked as he shook her hand.
“Which means that if you move forward, you’ll be hearing from us soon.” It wasn’t a lie, though she resisted the urge to cross her fingers.
“Got it. Well, thanks…” He moved to the door, his long legs taking agonizingly slow steps, like he was waiting for her to suddenly change her mind and offer him the job on the spot.
There was no way Hallie would ever be desperate enough to hire him, let alone give him control over so much as pillow mint placement at The Stone’s Throw. It may not be hers, but she was still more protective over it than anything else in her life.
Which is why, as he finally closed the door behind him at her request, she sank back in the worn leather chair and let out a deep, exhausted sigh.
True to her word to Reese, Hallie had reviewed her half of the résumés last night, thirty in total, which resulted in only a handful of people she was interested in having a phone call with.
She’d emailed them to set up times, and no one had gotten back to her yet.
This probably had something to do with her reiterating the need to cover Christmas and New Year’s, along with all but two days that Hallie would be in Colorado.
Reese was going to handle those, the two weekend days that fell between the holidays, just so it wasn’t impossible to find someone who could fill the role.