Page 449 of Seasons of Love
18
MAL
I admired Griff’s perky ass for a second before turning back to an overworked and overexcited Hailey.
“How are you feeling? Do you need to take the afternoon off?” I asked.
She rolled her eyes at me and looked around to make sure we weren’t overheard.
“You know this child has another six months inside me before they come out. Stop acting like if I sneeze, you’ll end up with a litter of babies in your lobby.”
Jake snorted.
We’d only found out this morning that Hailey was pregnant, and it seemed I’d turned out to be a papa bear when it came to her.
I put one arm around her. “I’m so happy for you, Hailey. You’re gonna be a great mom. Anything you need, just let me know, okay?”
She pulled away and made a face. “You might want to change your cologne.” And then she made a run toward the restroom.
“What’s wrong with my cologne?”
Jake came a little closer and sniffed the air around us. His eyes darkened. “I have absolutely no issues with how you smell. Maybe you should stick to me and leave Hailey alone.”
“I can be on board with that idea. Come on, let’s see if we can fix this contractor mess.”
The resort was so much calmer than usual. Most of our customers were happy to move their booking to another date, or another resort. As a whole, the business hadn’t lost out, but I was worried that if we didn’t find a contractor that was ready to move in, we could be in trouble.
Both Alana and Pete were huddling over a computer in the office, and Brian was at his desk.
“Hey, the storage containers have arrived. I’m assembling a team to start stripping the rooms,” he said as we walked past.
“That’s great, thanks. At least some things are moving on schedule,” I said.
Jake turned to Brian. “Have you filled in your matrix yet?”
“I thought the matrix was complete,” I said.
Brian turned on his chair and crossed one leg over the other. “I’ve been thinking about it, and I changed my mind, so I cleared my information from the matrix.”
“Okay,” I said. “So long as your final option is there before the deadline, that’s not a problem. We want everyone to have the chance to reflect and make the best decision for themselves, considering the unexpected and unprecedented situation we’re finding ourselves in.”
He nodded and turned back to his work. Jake followed me to the conference room in silence. He didn’t need to talk for me to know deep down he was seething, and he had all reason to be.
Like the professional he was, Jake waited until I’d closed the door before letting out a groan.
“I’m sorry…sorry, I don’t…he just frustrates me.”
“Hey, that’s okay. You don’t need to put on a front with me. I know how it feels. I’ve dealt with many Brians before.”
“If I knew what his problem was, I could talk to him, but other than him being a regular jackass, I’m drawing a blank.”
I chuckled. “Come on, forget about him. Tell me about your lunch date.”
Jake smiled, and a little bit of color appeared on his cheeks.
“That good, huh?”
“Yeah, it was nice. Griff is…fun.”
