42. Sebastian
We all wake up with mild hangovers.
I drive Mila over to the hotel to shower and change for another day at the deli.
After she’s gone, I feel adrift. I circle the exterior of the hotel, knowing I have no access to any of the places I’ve become accustomed to. It’s surreal.
I drive to the outskirts of Boulder and hike a trail I used to love taking with Uncle Roger as a kid. It’s an easy one, not too taxing, and I appreciate the chill, the scattering of leaves, and the clean, crisp air.
When I get back, Arya is painting on the back porch, something abstract in blues.
“Good hike?” she asks.
“It was.”
“I hate exercise.”
I laugh. “I know. What are you painting?”
“My feelings about your predicament.” She dabs another petal-shape onto the canvas.
“All blue?”
“Kind of on the nose, huh?” She brushes a piece of hair back, getting blue on her forehead.
I look it over. “Well, it’s an abstract, so I’m not sure anything else about it could be called on the nose.”
“I’m mad.”
“But blue and not red?”
She sighs. “I don’t do much red.”
That’s true. Even when Arya packed up and spent her nights wherever anyone would have her, she never got angry about the situation. I think she gets her quiet strength from our mother.
Mila texts me around midday. Havannah had a girl. Big party here at her deli.
I wonder if they’re doing anything at the hotel. That’s something I would have organized. Jessie will probably do it.
Mila: You should come here.
I turn to Arya, who has given up on the painting for the day and is reading on the sofa with Alfalfa. “You want to head up to the deli?”
She lowers the book. “To see Mila?”
“Havannah had her baby. They’re celebrating.”
She shakes her head. “Nah. Go kiss your girl.”
I change into jeans and a sweater before driving to the Tasty Mango. If not for Mila, I wouldn’t have even known about the baby. Nobody at the hotel thought to tell me.
It’s strange how quickly you can be forgotten, or maybe they don’t want to associate with me while I’m on the outs.
That familiar feeling of displacement comes over me, one I grappled with in the days after Dad left. Maybe that’s why I felt the urge to do Uncle Roger’s hike. It was one of the things that helped back then.
When I arrive at the deli, there’s clearly a party going on inside. I hear the music the moment I open my door. Inside, the employees are all dancing.
Customers sit at tables, amused by the antics.
I spot Mila, wearing a pink and orange apron, swaying back and forth with her hands in the air. She’s making the most of this strange ostracism.
When I open the door, I’m flooded with noise and food smells and warmth. Mila dances her way to me and draws me in.
There’s no way the hotel is celebrating quite this hard. Probably there were colored decorations and a cake for the employees in the staff room.
But here, one song flows into the next. As customers arrive, they are served, but the party goes on.
A cake shows up and everyone eats, employees and customers. The dancing is still going on as the shift changes between lunch and dinner, and the new employees are eager to take part.
Magnolia and Anthony arrive right as Mila is about to get off work. They have pictures of Havannah and the baby. As their phones get passed around, Magnolia dances over to me.
“Your situation has been noted by my sister,” she says. “Anthony spilled the beans when things settled down. Havannah is really mad. Expect a call as soon as she can manage.”
I nod. Mila and I hug each other. Hopefully, we’ll be back at the hotel soon. Until then, we stay at the deli, where things feel good and right. We dance and eat cake.
The call comes four days later, on a Sunday. Mila and I are sitting on the back deck in the afternoon sun when Havannah’s name pops up on my cell phone.
I put it on speaker. “New mom! How are mother and baby?”
“We’re all right. She’s still in the sleepy stage.”
“I have Mila here with me.”
“Good. That saves me a call. Hello, Mila.”
“What did you name her?” Mila asks.
“Serenity.”
Mila and I glance at each other. Havannah’s child names are always unusual.
“Rebel and Serenity,” I say. “You’re going for yin and yang.”
“I’m hoping for yin and yang,” Havannah says. “Rebel is a tyrant.”
I’m fully aware, having seen the kid race around the hotel all the years I’ve worked there.
“I hear you two have been at my deli.”
“I went for the party,” I say. “But Mila was sent there to work.”
“Well, this conversation is coming after several others,” Havannah says. “I spoke with Jessie and Raya this morning, then just Jessie. I hate to say it, but as of two hours ago, Raya is no longer with the Castle Hotel.”
Mila and I exchange another glance.
“What prompted this decision?” I ask.
“Abuse of authority. Big time. Jessie hasn’t wanted to bother me, and was trying to stem the damage. Raya fired Maverick, Chef Monique, Hank, and a third of laundry. Jessie has been in contact with all of them to let them know Raya’s decision wasn’t final and they would be paid for the days of leave.”
Holy shit.
“What was she trying to do?”
“According to her, we had a cancer in the hotel — her words, not mine. She was going to cut it out and I would return to a healthier, more streamlined business.”
“Why Hank? He didn’t do anything.”
“She was sure he had security footage of everyone’s evil doings and was deleting it.”
I reach for Mila’s hand. “I have zero access to the hotel. And if she cut out Hank, she had all the authorization.”
“Now I have it. I’ll have Hank back tomorrow. And you? I presume? You’re not too angry that this coup was attempted and you were caught up in it?”
“No, of course not.”
“And Mila, I hear you were a delight at my deli, but I assume you want to return to the hotel.”
“It was a fun break,” she says. “But yes, I’d love to go back.”
“I figured.” Havannah sighs. “I’ll do everything I can from here. For the moment, I have given Jessie my authorization power so she can restore you and Hank and whoever else Raya tampered with. I have a tech guy going through the logs.”
“Is Jessie going to start the search for a new assistant manager?”
“Maybe. We might hire from within. I was looking at Sasha. You and I can talk about that in a couple of weeks. She will be acting assistant manager in the interim. Think about who might move into an acting front desk lead position. We have several possibilities, right?”
“We do.”
“Excellent. Get me a list of names in the next couple of days. And forgive me if I email you at two a.m. I won’t be expecting a prompt reply. Sometimes I have to look outside to know if it’s afternoon or the middle of the night.”
“I understand,” I tell her. I hesitate, then say, “Should I file relationship paperwork for me and Mila?”
“Already done,” she says. “Jessie will have your official report of a relationship to sign tomorrow morning when she reinstates your ID. I assumed you wanted that.”
“Yes,” we both say simultaneously.
She laughs. “I figured.”
A small, jagged cry comes through the phone. “That’s my cue,” Havannah says. “I’ll see you all real soon.”
The phone goes dark.
I draw Mila close. “It worked out.”
“Except for Raya. What got into her?”
I shake my head. “I feel like she never got over me being hired over her being promoted. It’s why we should really look at who we have before we replace her. Be sure.”
“She went off the rails.”
“I think she had to work to stay on them in the first place.”
Mila rests her head on my shoulder. “What will happen to her?”
“She’ll go work somewhere else. Terrorize some other staff.”
“But you won’t give her a reference.”
“Hell, no.”
I draw her close against me as the sun peeks through the evergreens, its light breaking apart in a starburst.
I live in the most perfect place, working a job I love.
And with Mila here, this completes the picture I always imagined.