27. Mia
Chapter twenty-seven
Mia
“So you haven’t told Bryce yet?” Damien asks. We’re waiting for Ingrid and Abigail to arrive from the airport to interview potential new managers.
“Not yet, I’m hoping to sort out the new person’s start date first, and go from there.” I straighten the pile of documents in front of me. “It’s not reasonable to expect him to continue once I tell him I don’t want him there anymore.”
Damien nods. “Probably right. Here’s hoping one of our candidates will work out?” We are only interviewing two people, though we had an impressive number of people apply to the ad Abigail had put online. It turns out this role is quite specific, and it’s difficult to find someone with the kind of experience we hope to get. We are interviewing in London—one of the perks of me being the owner is getting to decide where the interviews are held.
Gerrard had gracefully agreed that I was free to ask Abigail whether she would be interested in supporting me in finding a new manager for the resorts. I offered her a nice bonus to tempt her. I’m still not sure what her role with Gerrard is, but as far as I can tell, she seems to do a little bit of everything, which is perfect experience for the kinds of things I want her for. Thankfully, she jumped at the chance to work together, especially since she had Gerrard’s blessing.
Abigail and Ingrid’s plane leaving Switzerland was delayed because of ice on the runway, so Damien and I have been sitting in the bland hotel conference room near the airport, catching up on how things have been at the resort.
In some ways, arranging these interviews and getting my plan together to ask Bryce to step back from the resorts is a perfect distraction from my broken heart. Since Will admitted he slept with me to take my mind off my woes with the resorts, I have been jumping at the chance to do anything to distract me from thinking about him. My flat is cleaner than it’s ever been. Unfortunately, it has not been as easy as a good vacuum to get him out of my head.
The room is about as exciting as a generic hotel conference room gets—boring prints of acrylic paintings of landscapes, framed with nondescript gold frames, boring carpet, functional but uninspired chairs and tables, and that little refreshment table that every hotel conference center seems to have, with the giant pot of coffee, hot water for tea and four different types of tea bags. Hopefully, Abigail and Ingrid will arrive with enough time to relax before our first candidate arrives.
“How are things going at the resorts? Any worse recently?”
Damien pushes his chair back so he’s balancing on two legs and I have to fight down my urge to reprimand him. He and I speak at least a couple of times a week now, and it’s the same with Ingrid. It’s reassuring to have some people on the ground who are prepared to be honest with me about how the resorts are going. “It’s just as bad. I’ve been trying to encourage the staff who are talking about leaving to stick it out until after the Christmas rush, but I suppose we’ll see how it goes.”
“I’m hoping I can chat with him later this week and let him know I won’t be needing him,” I say, pulling out my planner. We probably need a couple of days to check references and get someone to accept the role, so hopefully I can arrange a time to talk with Bryce before the weekend.
“I can send you through all the notes we’ve been taking when I get back home.” I’ve asked Damien and Ingrid to provide twice-weekly reports on what’s happening with the resorts—specifically, what Bryce is doing—so I can use them when I speak to him. Preparing for our conversation is crucial. I want to be ready for whatever he throws at me, even though I don’t feel very prepared for anything.
Many times over the last couple of weeks, I have wondered how Craig had ever done it. There are still five resorts I haven’t been to, and that means five more resort managers I have only met in passing at Craig’s living memorial. I’m not even sure I could name them. I’ve been struggling to balance my usual social engagements, my normal job and the worry about the resorts. I’m exhausted. I can’t wait to find a new manager who will take over so I don’t need to worry about it.
Abigail and Ingrid arrive only fifteen minutes before Peter, our first interviewee.
Peter is confident, walking into the room with a real presence. Unfortunately, that presence is borderline arrogant and only gets worse as we progress through the interview. Damien gets increasingly pissed off as Peter continually dismisses my experience and role in the resorts, which admittedly, is minimal. But him choosing to address the man in the room when that man tells him more than once that it’s me who’s in charge—well, that becomes a very real concern about whether he can actually do the job. But, as Damien says after Peter leaves the interview, suggesting the person who literally owns the resorts you want to work at is ‘unqualified’ to their face is a misjudgment at best, and intentionally hurtful at worst. He won’t be a good fit at the resorts if he can’t play nicely with others. Fortunately—or maybe unfortunately—I’ve had plenty of experience working with sexist men in my line of work, so Peter doesn’t faze me, but Damien has a good point. I wouldn’t want the managers to have to work with a guy like that.
The second, and last person we are interviewing, is a woman in her early forties. She’s the regional manager for a chain of restaurants in Canada, so her job involves some travel; albeit local travel, which is a promising start. Her current job doesn’t seem entirely dissimilar to this role, so we have high hopes for her interview.
The interview was much better than the first. She’s not actively rude to any of us, so she climbs the rankings right away. She strikes the right balance between confidence and acknowledging areas where she still has to develop and build her skills, and she seems excited about the idea of taking on the challenge to get to know new teams. She’s perfect.
“And you’re okay with travel? Obviously, with a role like this, you’d be traveling quite a lot. Probably half the month, most months?” Ingrid asks.
We decided to base the amount of travel on what Craig had done as a starting point; almost half the person’s time. Most people are okay with traveling for work, but as the recruiter had pointed out, ‘work travel’ in most people’s minds is a couple of days a month.
Clearly, our candidate hasn’t realized what that would involve for her, because her face falls. “I’m definitely open to travel, but half of my time could be a bit much. I’d like the opportunity to talk more about it with you if I’m the preferred candidate.”
It’s a great answer, but once she leaves, she takes all the hope I have with her. Her lack of experience in other key areas is the final nail in her coffin. Finding a replacement is not going to be as easy as I hoped.
“And you guys are sure you don’t want to try out that second woman you interviewed?” Will asks, dipped chip in hand. I follow the journey of the chip to his mouth, lingering on his mouth. What would his lips taste like? Salt? Beer? It’s a stupid thought. He doesn’t want to pursue anything with me. He’s a good friend, and his distraction during the Christmas party is yet another example of him doing his best to be a good friend.
I shake my head, banishing the thought. “Maybe I would if it was just my decision, but listening to Damien and Ingrid, it’s so important the resort managers have consistency at the moment.” I take a swig of my beer, licking the foam that settles on my top lip. I’m thankful the music is quieter than the place we went to last night. We had joked it would be the perfect place to go if you didn’t like the person you were chatting with. And after Will’s awkward rejection a few days ago, it had suited me just fine, but it’s time to move on. I know I’ll get over it, but right now. I’m still raw and vulnerable.
“Bryce has been so destructive; I’m worried about the staff. It would be a nightmare if we needed to replace her quickly if she didn’t work out.”
Even though things are still awkward between us, Will has continued to be my usual excellent confidant over the last few weeks. He’s always there to offer a listening ear or provide an opinion when I need one. Unfortunately, while he seems to be doing just fine separating his feelings from his support for me, I’m struggling a lot more.
“I hate to point out the obvious, Mia, but, uh, what is your plan, then?” I let out a big sigh. I’ve gone back and forth on this myself.
“Yeah. I don’t really have one, if I’m honest.” After the interviews, Abigail had quite seriously suggested I take a leave of absence from work and try it out myself. I can’t stop thinking about it. Most of the time, I think it’s a stupid idea. I’m even less qualified than Peter, for christ’s sake. And I love my job. Why would I give it up when I haven’t asked for this? But the siren call of a solid plan, even if it’s a bad plan is so tempting.
“You can’t leave Bryce in charge,” Will says, his tone exasperated. He sips his beer.
“Of course I can't," I snap. We fall into a silence that a few weeks ago would have been nice, but today, I’m just irritated. Obviously, I can’t leave Bryce in charge, but I'm hardly spoiled for choice right now.
“Maybe you have to recruit again?” He offers after a few moments of uncomfortable silence.
“Right, because that was so successful last time.”
Will raises his hands, palms facing forward. “Jeeze, sorry for giving you a suggestion.”
I tug my fingers through my hair. I hate that I’m snapping at him. “No, I’m sorry. I’m just over it right now.” I’m frustrated; heartbroken, but is that really Will’s fault? Well, maybe it is his fault that I’m heartbroken, but can I blame him for correctly reading my signs that I’m into him? “Abigail suggested I run the resorts myself for a bit, but I don’t want to do that. I love my job, and I want to keep doing what I do, and helping people, not catering to rich people on holiday.”
He shrugs. “Maybe you should change your attitude.” I arch my eyebrows. What the hell, Will? Not interested in trying to take things between us further, and also happy to kick a girl while she’s down. Way to go, friend.
“There are lots of different ways you can think about this, right? But you’ve told me before, the reason you’re a lawyer is to help people, and you like helping new people get a better experience at work than they’d get in a crap firm somewhere. So why not the same attitude here?” He takes a big swig, then wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, not looking at me. Why not the same attitude here? Everything is weird between us right now, but his advice, as usual, is spot on.
“I’m following.” It's basically the same thing Mum said weeks ago.
“Okay, so these rich people, they’re the customer, and it’s great if they have a good time because they’ll come back. But the staff at the resort—they could either work at the resort with a shit manager, or they could work at a resort with someone who cares about them, right?” I tentatively nod. “What if you change your attitude and focus on the staff? It’s not that different to what you do now. It’s not law, obviously, but it’s still helping people grow and giving them a good working environment. And Mia, let’s face it—” he lowers his voice “—you’re loaded. You can afford to take some time off, see how you like it, and go back to work if it doesn’t play out.”
Dammit, he’s right. And worse, with no options for who I can put in that role instead, seeing as both Damien and Ingrid have turned it down—I’m quickly running out of other choices.