Free Maybe Never (Maybe #2) by Ella Miles Page B

take a deep breath, trying to channel every part of my father’s strength inside me. “Yes.”  
    Tony opens the door for me, and I confidently walk inside because I know I’m capable. I’m my father’s daughter. I can do this.  
    Then, I glance around the room at the ten executives seated at the table and I feel my anxiety creeping back in.   I take a seat at the end of the long table.  
    But then Tony walks in with the same smile on his face, and I relax.  
    I can do this , I repeat over and over in my head.  
    “I called this meeting to…” I lose my train of thought as I feel everyone staring at me.  
    “You can do this,” I feel my father telling me.  
    I take a deep breath and start again. This time, I look up at the men and women gathered around the table, and I feel calmer than I ever have.  
    “I called this meeting to discuss how things have been going since my grandfather had a heart attack and the sudden news that followed. I would like to hear from all of you about how things have been going and what ideas you have to keep the company moving forward during this difficult time for my family and the company.”  
    I glance around the table, but nobody speaks. I don’t back down until I have met everyone’s eyes.  
    Finally, one gentleman sitting to my right speaks up, “As you can see from when you entered the casino, the number of customers has increased almost threefold, which sounds great. However, we were not prepared for such an increase in customers. We don’t have the staff to handle such a large number of people, and we have had several employees simply not show up to work. As a result, we have had to turn customers away.”  
    I nod. “Has this been the same experience across all of our hotels and casinos nationwide?”  
    “Yes,” a woman to my left says.  
    “Any ideas on how to solve this problem?” I ask the group.  
    “We have been asking our employees to do overtime to make up for those who haven’t been showing up. It’s the same strategy we have used in the past when employees haven’t shown up, but we can’t ask them to do that forever.”
    I nod although I didn’t realize we had a problem with employees not showing up to work. “What about hiring new employees so that we can fill our hotels and casinos to capacity?”  
    “That would work in the short-term, but when the decrease in customers returns to our old rate, we would have to lay off lots of employees.”  
    I shake my head. “No, we won’t. We can hire the same amount of employees that we will need for the expansion of the hotel, so they can stay on. Test raising our rates during this period and see if demand decreases or stays steady to help pay for the increase in employees. Let’s get a marketing and PR team together to capitalize on the current situation and spin it to our favor so that the world is behind us.” I can’t believe the words that are coming out of my mouth, but there they are. Each word that falls from my lips makes me feel more and more confident.  
    “Are you sure the numbers will work? Will we make enough profit? We can’t afford to be in the negative at a time like this,” the woman next to me says.  
    I think back to the numbers that were lying on my father’s desk. I quickly calculate the risk and reward associated with the plan.  
    I smile. “It will work.”  
    “What makes you so sure?”  
    “I just ran the numbers in my head. Even if the numbers fell off, going back to our normal rate—which wouldn’t happen because we are going to increase our marketing to capitalize on the situation—we would still be in the positive. So, make it happen.”  
    Those around the table stare back at me with obvious confusion on their faces.
    “What?” I ask, looking around the table. I touch my face, afraid I have something on it since everyone is looking at me so weirdly.  
    “Who is in charge now that Mr. Felton is incapacitated? Or will he be working from