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“Okay.” Paula suddenly felt a bit nervous and on the defensive.

  “Overall, considering you haven’t been in this role before, I think you’re doing a decent job. People like you and that’s the piece that was missing with Andrea. But I’ve noticed that some of them seem to be taking advantage a little. They’ve sensed that you’re nicer than Andrea and they can get away with more. That Michelle is a perfect example.”

  Paula felt like she’d just failed a test. And she never failed tests. It wasn’t a good feeling. She also knew he was right. “So, how do I fix that?”

  “You just need to take a firmer hand. Let them know what you expect and that you won’t put up with anything less.”

  Paula felt sick to her stomach. She hated conflict. Maybe taking this job was a bad idea. Maybe it wasn’t too late to go back to hiding in her office and just focusing on the numbers. Grandfather could call the headhunter and get someone in that had experience and wasn’t a pushover, like her.

  “Are you okay? You look miles away.” David looked at her with concern.

  “I’m fine. Was there anything else?”

  “I think that’s it for now. Just think about what I said.”

  “I will.”

  Paula went into her office and closed the door. She felt her eyes well up with tears which she immediately wiped away. She was not going to cry over this. She’d actually thought she was doing a pretty good job. So, to have David say she wasn’t was disheartening. Especially when she saw the truth in what he said.

  Andrea never had that problem, but she also had employees intimidated by her and turnover was high. People didn’t like working for her cousin. There had to be a middle ground. But it would mean Paula had to step out of her comfort level. Could she do that? She sniffled and grabbed another tissue.

  And then she called housekeeping and Maria answered.

  “Can you please ask Michelle to come to my office for a moment?”

  “Of course.”

  Five minutes later, Michelle knocked on her door, her expression a mix of surliness and guilt.

  “You wanted to see me?”

  “Yes, please come in and shut the door. Have a seat.” Michelle sat in the chair across from her desk.

  “Michelle, how long have you worked here?”

  “About three months.”

  “Do you like it here?”

  “It’s okay.”

  Paula looked closely at her. Michelle was in her mid-twenties and Paula doubted that she was excited about a career as a housecleaner. It was just a job.

  “Listen, I know that housecleaning isn’t the most glamorous work. But it’s a good job. And this is a good place to work. There will be other growth opportunities here, depending on what you want to do. People have moved into all different areas—the ones that do a great job and are hard workers.” She was quiet for a moment and Michelle was, too.

  “What happened this morning can never happen again. I’m not sure if I was clear about that earlier. Our guests expect a level of service here that wasn’t met. Can you assure me that won’t happen again? If it does, we won’t have any choice but to terminate you. We can’t take the risk of potentially losing clients because of poor service. I won’t put up with it. Do you understand?” Paula spoke quietly but firmly.

  Michelle nodded. “I’m sorry. I do understand. It won’t happen again.”

  “Thank you, Michelle. I appreciate that. You can go now.”

  Michelle left and when Paula stood to close the door, David was just stepping out of his office. He saw Michelle walk by and then caught Paula’s eye and smiled. She ignored him, shut her door and sat back down at her desk. She was shaking. It hadn’t been easy for her to talk to Michelle like that. She hoped that her words had sunk in. She really didn’t want to have to fire anyone, but she meant what she said.

  Because her grandfather had a morning meeting downtown, they held the Monday update meeting in the afternoon. A little after one, they all gathered in the conference room—Nick, Hallie, David, Paula, and her grandfather. Paula was about to start the meeting when the door flew open and her Aunt Vivian rushed in.

  “I’m so sorry I’m late. Don’t mind me.” She settled into an empty seat and looked around the room until her eyes landed on David. She held out her hand and introduced herself. “I’m Vivian. I help out here when I’m in town.”

  David looked a bit confused as he shook her hand. Clearly, her grandfather forgot to mention that Aunt Vivian was back. “Nice to meet you,” he said.

  Paula started the meeting and handed out her usual spreadsheets with the weekly numbers.

  “Hallie closed a new conference this week, which bumped our numbers quite a bit. Hallie, do you want to tell us about it?”

  Hallie leaned forward in her chair. “Sure. It was actually thanks to a lead from David. A Manhattan hedge fund called to see if we could accommodate them for a company weekend conference in late September. They booked all of our suites, including the four presidential ones.” The presidential suites were their nicest, biggest rooms at almost two thousand square feet. They had three bedrooms, a huge deck, full kitchen, dining area and a conference room.

  Grandfather looked pleased. “That’s fantastic. Nice work, Hallie. And thank you for the referral, David.”

  David smiled. “I’m glad it worked out.”

  Paula went through the rest of the agenda, finishing with an update on the Taste of the Town event.

  “David and I had lunch at Mimi’s Place and they were the first to agree. So, we were able to use that with the other restaurants we spoke to. So, far, twenty have agreed to come on board and we’re still waiting to hear from a few and have a few more to talk to. I think we’ll end up with between twenty-five and thirty total.”

  “Good job, Paula and David,” her grandfather said.

  “We’re doing a Taste of the Town event? Will The Whitley’s own restaurant be participating?” Aunt Vivian asked.

  “I’m planning on it,” Nick said.

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Aunt Vivian clearly didn’t think it was.

  “Well, yes. We are hosting the event, after all,” Paula said.

  “Exactly. So, maybe we shouldn’t be participating as well?” Aunt Vivian argued.

  “I think it’s an excellent idea for us to participate. I’m excited to do it,” Nick said. “It will be great advertising for us—to get people to sample our food and want to come eat here.”

  “Hm. Well, people already know about us. I think there’s a conflict of interest,” Aunt Vivian insisted.

  “Vivian, it was my idea to have this Taste of the Town event, and a main reason was to showcase the property—all of it, including our restaurant,” Grandfather said.

  “There shouldn’t be any conflict,” Paula explained. “Everyone that comes will get to vote on all of the restaurants. So, the winners will be their choice, and everyone has an equal chance.”

  “All right, then. I see I’m outvoted,” Aunt Vivian said.

  “There was no vote. We’re all on the same page with this event,” David said.

  “That settles that. What’s next on the agenda?” Grandfather asked.

  Paula smiled. “That’s it. We’re done here.”

  “I take it your aunt is a Whitley?” David asked as he and Paula walked back to their offices. Her grandfather and Aunt Vivian had gone in the opposite direction.

  Paula nodded. “Yes, that’s my Aunt Vivian. She is a character. She just returned from spending six months touring Europe with my uncle. He’s still there. He needed a break from her.”

  David chuckled. “So, is she working here full-time now? And in what capacity?”

  “No one knows exactly what she does, other than drive us all crazy. She has an office and when she feels like it, she comes around. Usually, she gets bored after a few weeks and then we don’t see her again for months.”

  “Okay. So, she has no formal role, then?”

  “No. She likes to ‘help o
ut’ in all areas as her mood suits her. So, we never quite know what to expect. I just hope she doesn’t meddle too much with the Taste of the Town event. She didn’t seem all that enthused about it.”

  “There’s not much she can do about it. It’s happening,” David said.

  “Yes, I suppose that’s true.” But David didn’t know her Aunt Vivian.

  Chapter 17

  They were halfway through Davina’s tasting on Thursday night, before Paula finally relaxed a little. Davina had brought her mother, her best friend, who was also her maid of honor, and the groom. Hallie and Paula were seated at a separate table and were having a smaller tasting of the same items. They didn’t normally do that at a tasting. It was actually Nick’s idea, and given how difficult Davina had been so far, Paula thought it was a good one.

  The first course was appetizers and Paula couldn’t imagine they’d find any fault there. Nick personally made all of the appetizers and Paula loved all of them. There were tiny tuna tacos—buttery sushi grade tuna in a mango vinaigrette with an avocado cream sauce and fresh cilantro, scallop cakes, Lobster Newberg in phyllo cups, Oysters Rockefeller, short rib ravioli, dates stuffed with gorgonzola and wrapped in crispy bacon, and The Whitley’s famous colossal shrimp cocktail.

  Paula and Hallie went to Davina’s table for feedback and they were all smiles after the appetizers. Davina especially.

  “I want to have all of them at my wedding. Can I do that? Those Lobster Newberg cups were amazing,” she gushed. Paula had never seen her so happy.

  “Of course, you can,” Paula assured her. She didn’t add that it would likely double the cost for appetizers, but if that’s what she wanted to do, it was all good.

  For the main course, they were trying four items—marinated and grilled swordfish, poached lobster, filet mignon with a red wine reduction sauce, and a roasted chicken with wild mushroom risotto.

  When they went to check with Davina after the entree course, she was less enthused.

  “The lobster, filet and chicken were excellent. But I can’t bring myself to try the swordfish. I’ve never had it before, and I can’t imagine my guests will like it.”

  “It’s one of our most popular menu items,” Paula said.

  “I told her she should have a fish option. Lots of people like fish,” Davina’s mother said.

  “Do you like fish at all?” Hallie asked her.

  “Sure. I like the white flaky fish, cod or haddock, even halibut.”

  “If you like all those, you might be surprised to find you like swordfish, too. It actually reminds me a little of chicken,” Hallie said. “Nick was experimenting the other day and fried up some swordfish chunks in seasoned batter, and it was very chicken like, and delicious. I’d encourage you to at least try a bite, before deciding.”

  Davina looked dubious. “Tastes like chicken?”

  Hallie laughed. “Well, not exactly. But it’s not fishy, if that’s what you are worried about.”

  “Just try a bite,” her mother encouraged her.

  “Fine.” Davina cut a sliver of swordfish and popped it in her mouth. She looked like she wanted to hold her nose as she did it. But after a moment, her expression changed, and she took a bigger bite. And smiled.

  “Okay, you’re all right. It’s nothing like I imagined. Why don’t we offer the swordfish, the chicken—because there’s always someone that wants chicken, and the lobster and filet together as a surf and turf?”

  “That’s perfect. We can do that,” Hallie said.

  Nick and Roland came out to meet Davina’s party when the tasting was finished, and Paula had never seen Davina so gracious. There were no crazy demands, and no complaints.

  After Davina and her party left, Hallie and Paula decided to have a glass of wine at the outside bar. It was a gorgeous night and they both wanted to relax and celebrate getting through Davina’s tasting unscathed. Nick had come in just to help with the tasting, so he said he’d come and join them shortly as well.

  The bar was busy, but there were several empty seats and Paula and Hallie slid into them. Frank, the bartender, didn’t even ask them what they wanted. He just said hello and set two glasses of J. Lohr chardonnay in front of them, their usual order.

  There was a woman sitting next to Paula who looked vaguely familiar. Paula didn’t think she’d ever seen her before, though. She was very pretty, with fair skin and dark, almost black hair that was cut in a chin-length bob. She had an intriguing looking drink in front of her. It was creamy and blue.

  “What is that?” Paula asked.

  “It’s a Blue Hawaiian. I haven’t tried it yet. Frank said it’s like a Pina Colada. I told him I wanted a vacation drink.” She took a sip. “Oh, it’s really good!” She smiled and Paula had that same feeling again that she knew her, somehow.

  “Are you on vacation?” Paula asked.

  “Yes, a nice long one. I’m actually here for two months. It’s going by too fast. Are you on vacation, too?”

  Paula smiled. “No, I work here, actually. I’m Paula Whitley, the general manager.”

  “You’re Paula! I’m Bella and this is my sister, Julia. I went fishing with your brother on Sunday. We had so much fun.”

  So, that was why she looked so familiar. Paula glanced at Hallie and saw she was chatting with Frank, the bartender. But still she lowered her voice a little. “Has anyone recognized you? I wouldn’t have known if you hadn’t told me your name. No one else on staff knows, by the way, just me and my sister Lucy that checked you in.”

  “I wondered about that. You haven’t told Nick?” Bella asked.

  “No. You should be the one to tell him, if you wish.”

  “Thank you. It’s kind of nice that he doesn’t know, to be honest. Everything changes once people know.” A hint of sadness filled her eyes for a moment.

  “Nick should be along any minute, actually.” Paula didn’t think Nick would change how he acted if he knew Bella’s true identity. But he might be disappointed that because of who she was, having a normal life and settling down somewhere outside of L.A. probably wasn’t going to happen.

  “Oh, good. I want my sister to meet him.”

  “Who do you want your sister to meet?” Nick said with a teasing tone. He’d walked up to the bar and neither of them had seen him coming.

  “Nick, you’re here! I wanted to introduce you to my sister, Julia. She’s here for the week.”

  Julia smiled. “It’s nice to meet you. Bella said you had fun fishing.”

  “We did. We had a good day and caught some stripers.”

  “Nick cooked it up for our dinner and it was so good,” Bella added.

  Paula got Frank’s attention and Nick ordered a beer. When it came, he held it up and toasted Hallie and Paula. “To surviving Davina’s tasting.” They all clinked glasses.

  “Who’s Davina?” Bella asked.

  “A bride that had her tasting tonight. She’s been a little…challenging with her demands. So, we didn’t know what to expect, but fortunately she liked everything,” Nick said.

  “I’ve actually never seen Davina in such a good mood. Turns out she’s a foodie and she loved everything,” Paula added.

  Bella laughed. “How could she not? Nick’s food is amazing.”

  “Thank you.” Nick looked at both Bella and Julia. “You two should be sure and come in one night while your sister is here. I told Bella I’ll do a special tasting menu for you. It will be fun.”

  Julia smiled. “Bella mentioned that, and I am really looking forward to it. I leave on Sunday, so we are thinking to do it on Saturday night.”

  The chair next to Hallie opened up, so she and Paula both moved over to let Nick sit next to Bella as he was deep in conversation with her and Julia. Paula could tell her brother was interested in Bella as more than a friend. She hoped he wasn’t going to fall too fast and end up heartbroken when Bella’s two months were up.

  “They look cute together,” Hallie said. “Where is she from? Any chance there c
ould be a romance there?”

  Paula shook her head. “Not anything long-term. She lives in California.”

  “Oh, that’s too bad.” Hallie took a sip of her wine. “How’s it going with David? He seems nice.”

  “It’s going okay. I thought it was going better than it was. David had a meeting with me earlier today and told me I’m too nice. That I need to be firmer, so people don’t walk all over me.”

  Hallie was quiet for a moment. “And what did you think about that feedback?”

  Paula sighed. “That he was probably right. I just didn’t like to hear it.”

  “Well, there could be some truth to that. You’re the total opposite of Andrea and the way she approached people. She was a little too blunt and direct.”

  “I don’t like conflict,” Paula admitted. “But I’m going to work on that and do better.”

  “You’ll do great. People like you. So, what’s David’s deal? Is he single?”

  “Why, are you interested?” Hallie dated but wasn’t seeing anyone regularly and hadn’t been serious with anyone in a long time.

  “No, I don’t think so. He’s a little too corporate for me. He seems nice, though, and he’s certainly good-looking.”

  “He is. I don’t really know his status. It’s never come up in conversation. He hasn’t mentioned a girlfriend.”

  “I was just curious. So, when’s your date with Jason? Are you excited?”

  “We’re going to dinner Saturday night. He mentioned The Gaslight. Said there’s a good blues band there that night.”

  “That sounds fun. I love that place—good food and they always have interesting live music.”

  “I’m a little nervous, to be honest,” Paula admitted. “It’s been too long since I’ve dated anyone. I’m feeling a little rusty.”

  “I’m glad you’re getting back out there. You’ll be fine. Just think of it as dinner with a new friend. See where it goes. Don’t put too many expectations on it.”

  “Thanks. That’s really good advice.”

  Hallie grinned. “Just go and have fun. And enjoy a delicious dinner.”