Should’ve Known It’s You (Not You Again #7)

Chapter 71

CHAPTER 71

AUSTIN

T he grand opening of the hotel couldn’t have gone any better. We’d been busy for weeks, and while I was thrilled about it, I was having a hard time juggling helping Kennedy at the hotel and keeping my day job at the firm.

On Monday morning, I arrived at the office feeling particularly worn down. All weekend, we’d had special functions at the restaurant in addition to every room in the hotel being fully booked. I had thought it would be easy to manage my role there on top of my job here without even breaking a sweat, but it turned out that the hospitality industry kept the people involved in it pretty busy.

Saturday morning had arrived with a bridal shower booked in the garden and an engagement breakfast in one of the staterooms, but we had run out of juice and flour. I’d been the lucky winner of shooting out to pick that up, and while I’d been at the store, Kenny had called, in a tizzy about some new arrivals.

It had been a family who had just moved here with their two young girls, and the accommodations they had booked had turned out to be a dump. She hadn’t wanted to turn them away, and she’d begged me to help her think of a plan to help them.

Eventually, I’d accommodated them—free of charge, obviously—at my place until a suitable room had become available at the hotel this morning. Overall, things were always borderline chaotic, and while it was exhausting, I loved every last second of it.

Not so much right then, though, when I found Mindy waiting for me in my office, her gaze darting constantly between me and the door. As soon as I closed it behind me, she rushed closer, keeping her voice low as if she was afraid the walls had ears.

“The boss is out for blood,” she murmured urgently.

“What is it about this time?” I grumbled, way too tired for this shit. “Did someone forget to refill the printer tray again?”

She shook her head. “He found out about the hotel, Austin.”

“Oh.” I sighed and raked a hand through my hair as I walked around her. “So what?”

“So Tim doesn’t think you should be so heavily involved with one of your investments.” She followed me across the office to my desk, panic shimmering in her eyes as she went to stand on the other side. “When I said he was out for blood, I meant that he’s out for your blood. In a big way. This has nothing to do with the printer and everything to do with your investment.”

“That’s absurd.” I rolled my eyes and sat down. “How am I not supposed to be involved? I’m marrying the investment . We have become the investment. The boss should just mind his own business.”

Just then, said boss came walking in.

Mindy winced. “Good morning, Mr. South.”

“Tim,” I said, really not in the mood for the lecture the man was about to bring down on me. “How’re you doing?”

“Better than you,” he said, making no secret of it as he looked me up and down, obviously taking note of the exhaustion in my eyes and the tired slump of my shoulders. “You’ve been reckless, Merrick. Putting all your eggs in one basket? It’s clearly going to be the death of you.”

“I’m alright.” I waved toward one of the vacant visitors’ seats at my desk. “Do you want to sit down for the lambasting, or would you prefer to keep standing?”

He didn’t seem surprised by my attitude at all, simply sighing as he folded his arms. “I’m serious, Merrick. The hotel business might be booming now, but the profits aren’t guaranteed, and when the buzz dies down, you’re going to be left with a big bill to pay and no customers to bring in the money. It’s a story we’ve all seen time and again.”

“With respect, I disagree,” I said. “This hotel is different. It’s something special, and anyone with eyes and a heart can see that.”

“Perhaps.” He shrugged. “Everyone thinks that about the service they’re rendering when they first start out, though. It’s always something special, isn’t it? The truth is that truly special businesses are few and far between. The rest of them…” He waved a hand around absently as he trailed off. “They just disappear, don’t they?”

“This one won’t,” I insisted. “Thanks for your concern, but I remain confident in what’s happening over at the Dahlia.”

“Be that as it may,” he said crisply. “You’ve been burning the candle at both ends and it’s showing. You’ve been showing up here late and canceling client meetings left, right, and center. You’ve been inconsistent. Forgetful. We’re waiting on several reports from you that are overdue and calls go unreturned for days at a time.”

I couldn’t argue with any of that. As regrettable as it was, it was also true, so I kept my mouth shut, waiting for him to finish his tirade.

“I’m afraid we can’t allow it to continue, Austin. While we have been patient and tolerant, those behaviors of yours don’t show any signs of stopping. In fact, they only seem to be increasing in frequency.”

“What are you saying?” I asked bluntly.

“It’s time for you to choose,” he said. “It’s either us or the little hotel. I wish I could give you more time, but I’ll need your decision by the end of business today.”

Mindy looked back and forth between us with wide eyes, her cheeks devoid of color. Her brow furrowed and her shoulders collapsed. I met her gaze, hoping that she could see that this would all be okay.

“Thank you, but you can have my decision now.” I stood up and grabbed my phone that I’d only just put down on the desk, grateful that I hadn’t unpacked anything else yet. “I choose the hotel.”

“Are you sure?” he asked evenly. “I would urge you to reconsider, Merrick. My hands are tied if you persist with this.”

“There is no choice to be made here, Tim. This is a really easy one for me. It’s the hotel. It’s always going to be the hotel.”

“In that case, you’re fired,” he said.

Mindy gasped. “On the spot?”

He glanced at her like he’d forgotten she was even there, but before he could say anything, I nodded. “That’s weird. I thought making the decision I made was tantamount to a resignation, but have it your way. I’m fired.”

“No, sir,” Mindy said as Tim spun to leave. “Please, Mr. South. I’m sure we can fix this. I’ll help Austin to reschedule all his client meetings and?—”

“It’s done, Mindy,” Tim ground out, shooting one last look at me. “Out of the building before five, Merrick.”

“I’ll be out before twelve,” I promised, waiting until he was gone before I smiled at Mindy. “Do you want to help me pack my stuff before you get reassigned? You’ll be done early enough today if you stay with me that you’d even be able to pick your kids up from school.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Of course, I’ll help you pack up, but not because I want to be done early. How are you so calm about all of this?”

“To be honest, I saw it coming,” I admitted, sliding open the top drawer of my desk and surveying the contents inside. “I’m completely at peace with this, Mindy. I’ve been thinking about quitting since before the opening, but I didn’t want to jump the gun. I figured I’d see how it went before I did anything drastic. All Tim has done is make it easy for me.”

She sighed and shook her head. Then she darted out and came back a few moments later with an empty box. “Alright, let’s get this done, then. Are you sure you’re okay with it?”

“A hundred percent,” I promised her without even having to think about it. “All that stuff he said about my work performance lately was true and you know it. I do, too. It’s just that right now, the Dahlia is more important to me than the firm. I’m not sorry for all the time I’ve been putting into it.”

Moisture glistened in her eyes as she picked up a little potted plant that belonged to me and a framed picture of Kennedy and me in the Maldives. “God, I don’t know how I’m going to stomach being here without you. This place is going to eat me alive.”

A lightbulb went off in my head when she said it. Ideally, I would have liked to run it by Kenny before I made the offer, but my fiancée loved Mindy. I knew she would be over the moon if my assistant took me up on it.

“Come work the front desk of the hotel and be our manager,” I said as I packed the things she handed me into the box. “We need someone to keep the books and stay on top of what needs to be done. I don’t know anyone as organized as you.”

Her jaw dropped. “Do you mean it?”

I nodded, a surge of excitement shooting through me. “Absolutely. We’ll match your salary and your benefits here. We’ll have to finalize hours with Kenny, but I’m sure they’ll be more flexible at the hotel than they are at the firm. Plus, I’m pretty sure you’ll find our company culture a lot more balanced.”

Mindy grinned. “When do I start?”

I looked into her eyes, a grin of my own curving on my lips. “Are you sure?”

“So sure.”

“Then you start as soon as you’ve tendered your resignation here,” I said. “We’ll be ready for you whenever you’re ready.”

“I’m ready now,” she said. “Do you mind if I go grab my stuff from my own desk? You didn’t have so many personal effects to begin with, so you’re pretty much done already.”

As I looked around, I realized she was right. I still had my jacket on the coat stand and a couple of spare shirts in the cabinet, but outside of that, I was just about packed. “Do it. We’ll leave together. You can let them know on our way out.”

Mindy was all smiles as she spun and rushed to her desk, quickly packing her things. I finished gathering mine. Most of the stationery in my drawers had been issued by the firm and I didn’t even have a stapler anymore since we were mostly paperless now.

It took us no time at all before we were both ready to go, and Mindy fell into step beside me, carrying her own half-full box in her arms as we strode through the bullpen. Tim was in an open-door meeting with some of the junior staff in a conference room, and he frowned when he saw her walking with me.

“I quit too,” she called to him on our way to the elevator. “It’s been a pleasure, Tim.”

As he opened his mouth to respond, she threw her hand up in a wave and increased her pace. I sped up to match her, noticing that she was vibrating with nerves on the elevator ride down.

I laughed as I glanced at her. “Stop stressing. You had every right to call him by his first name after all these years, and if it’s not that, then stop stressing anyway because you’re going to love it at the Dahlia.”

“I sure hope so,” she said thoughtfully, chewing on the inside of her cheek before she spoke again. “I imagine it must be a great place if you’re willing to walk away from the kind of money you were making here for it.”

“It is a great place, but it’s the people that make it that way. You’ll see. You’re going to be much happier there than you ever were here. I guarantee it.”

Mindy had been through the wars at the firm. Between the often blatant disrespect for her as a member of the administrative staff, the harassment, and the shit she’d had to put up with from kids half her age, the Dahlia was going to be a picnic for her.

A picnic that was pretty darn blessed to have her joining the team. Now all I had to do was get her settled before I told Kennedy my big news.