Page 41 of Center Ice

14

Dani

Jake held my hand as we searched for his friends. I hated involving him in this mess, but he was the one that appeared at my door and offered. I didn’t want to mention anything about Wyatt and Kendall’s wedding. There was no reason for Mr. Hernandez to be mad about it, but it felt like he was reaching for anything to complain about.

Something else was definitely going on. My gut was screaming at me to dig and figure it out, but my pride was so wounded. I just wanted to huddle up in my room and cry until the last moment I could.

I really had no idea what I was going to do. Where would I go? I’d been wanting to leave, but not until I had a plan. I needed to pick a city and then network and visit, and now I was out of time. I might as well throw a dart at a map and hope for the best.

“There they are.” Jake walked with determination to the group of beach chairs, but I pulled him to a stop.

“Please don’t bring up Wyatt and Kendall's wedding. I don’t want them to feel bad.”

His eyes narrowed. “But Wyatt will just pay for whatever your boss thinks he owes. It’s not a big deal.”

“It is to me. He paid for the arbor and for the officiant’s service. Nothing else is needed. I really don’t know why Mr. Hernandez even brought it up.”

He held my eyes. “You’re sure?”

I nodded. “I’m mostly worried about Colby and Noah. I don't want anything messed up for them.”

He leaned forward and pressed his lips to my forehead. “You’re too good.”

We approached the group, and Chloe and Sydney were the first to notice us.

“Hey.” Chloe smiled but it fell away when she saw my face. “What happened?”

Sydney jumped up from her chair and they both met us a few yards away from the rest of the women. “What’s going on?”

I tightened my grip on Jake’s hand. “My boss fired me this morning.”

Sydney gasped but Chloe remained calm. “Did he have a valid reason?”

“Chloe,” Jake barked out, but I tugged on him.

“It’s a fair question, Jake.” I faced Chloe. “No, not that he told me.”

Sydney shared a look with Chloe. “What do we do?”

“We can’t tell Colby. She handed this over to us. I’m not going to stress her out on her wedding day,” Chloe said while looking around. “You said everything was ready, right? It’s just a matter of things coming together?”

I nodded. “Yeah, everything’s been confirmed and guests will start arriving around three.”

At least I was up to date with the status of this wedding. I couldn’t think beyond today. To the brides and families that would have to be notified of the personnel change.

Who would take over? Maggie? She was only here for three more weeks, then she was back at college. Did Mr. Hernandez have a backup? Wouldn’t he want me to pass things off to the new person? If he thought he could bring in someone else and throw them in without things going wrong, he was in for a rude awakening. Sure, Maggie and I were organized, but it was based on our system. My system. The next person would need to be trained. Each event and wedding would need to be explained.

Wait. What did I care? I was fired. The resort was on its own. The best I could do was wish them luck.

“So it’s just a matter of coordinating and making sure everything is in the right place at the right time?” Chloe asked.

“Yeah, and making sure the staff is clear on what they need to do,” I said.

“Ugh. No. This can’t happen. I’m not risking Colby’s day falling apart because some man has a stick up his––”

Sydney cut off Chloe. “Can you take us to speak to your boss?”

I hesitated, unsure what they thought they could do to change his mind, but I had nothing left to lose. “Yeah, this way.”