Free Open Skies by Marysol James Page B

entire business as-is was the best option: the thought of ripping everything down to sell the land seemed silly. Also, if the attraction of this place, from the point of view of a buyer, was the customer-base, then removing the services offered and staff made no sense.
    She had walked over from the offices to the restaurant alone, after Rob had to make a few phone calls. He said he’d join her at ten o’clock. Nerves got the better of her – the thought of going in to that restaurant and having to make small talk until everyone arrived was terrifying for her. She had ducked in to the bathroom and hidden in a stall until ten minutes past ten, then she’d emerged, hoping that everyone had arrived and she could just go in and sit down right away.
    She had looked at herself in the mirror: God, she was pale. Quickly, she added some blush to her cheeks and put some more cover up under her eyes to mask the dark shadows there. She smoothed down the lapels of her lemon-yellow suit jacket and re-tucked her white blouse in to her crisp brown pants. She adjusted her necklace to show the large amber centrepiece to best advantage and fiddled with her amber earrings. She straightened her back and raised her chin. OK. Ready to go.
    She had clicked across the wooden floor to the restaurant in her yellow high heels. She paused in the doorway and surveyed the staff all staring at her.
    “There you are, hon!” Mattie said. “Come on over here and sit down. Carl will get you a coffee.”
    “Thank you.” Her voice had come out flat and calm, thank God. Once she was sitting, she felt better and crossed her legs and coolly sipped her coffee. Her hand didn’t tremble much at all.
    They’d all looked at her expectantly. Not quite trusting her voice yet, she had opened her personnel file and slowly looked through the pages again.
    OK, stay calm. It’s all fine. Just say hello, introduce yourself. Ask who they are. OK, go on, now. You can do this.
    “Good morning. I’m Julie Everett. Maybe you can all introduce yourselves? Tell me a bit about what you do here?”
    And she’d thrown it over to them. For the next thirty minutes, she’d been able to sit and drink her coffee and nod, pretending to take notes as her heart rate slowed down, not meeting anyone’s eye, not even really looking at anyone at all. The faces were just a blur.
    Mattie, Rob, Joe and Rosie she knew of course. Maria was still at the front desk, but she’d told Rob that there was no need for the receptionist to be there, anyway. What Maria did was clear.
    So here she was, feeling very pleased, meeting her staff.
    The chef was named Manuel Cruz, and he asked that she call him Manny. He told her that he loved spicy foods (Tammy would be pleased, and Julie made a mental note to tell her all about Manny, the Spicy Chef) and worked best with seasonal produce. He was big on meat and sauces at this time of year, and he wondered if she’d let him play with some new ideas for the autumn and winters menu. She nodded.
    Next up was Phillip Dobson, the forty-six-year-old cowboy that she’d told Tammy about. Phil was actually a pretty handsome guy, sitting there in his jeans and t-shirt. He had the body of a much-younger man – strong, toned, sexy – but his face gave away his age. Weather-beaten and craggy, he looked tough, but in an appealing way. His eyes were kind when he looked at her, and she found a quiet steadiness in him when he sat and listened to the others.
    There were a gaggle of women who worked at the hotel as cleaners, office people, and extra front desk staff. She didn’t really get any of their names, but a few stuck in her head: Andrea, Laura, Constance. She’d figure out who was who later.
    And then there was that man sitting with his arms crossed and glaring at her. He looked to be in his mid- to late-thirties and was wearing jeans and a black t-shirt that pulled tightly against his muscled arms and torso. As she pretended to listen to Constance or Laura or