Page 99 of Crazy for this Girl

“And where are we with ideas?” The bustling of papers is my answer as all five of my alleged higher-up marketing and sales team go through manila folders and binders.

It’s comforting, really.

It’s become more than apparent that this team has been here for too long, got used to us being one of the top-rated hotels in the country, and gave up on having any good feedback.

“The silence is literally taking years off my life by the second,” I profess, boring daggers into my overly paid employees.

Maybe firing one of them will get the rest of their brains to start back up again.

“Maybe a kids’ night,” Zoe chimes in, twirling her blonde hair around her index finger.

“We’re not iHop,” I ground out. “Anything else?”

“Isn’t the assistant supposed to be here?” Amanda proclaims, ignoring the problem at hand, hence the damn meeting, and worrying about someone else’s attendance.

“Oh, I think Lacey isn’t going to be here for the rest of the afternoon,” Melody vouches. “She had a date with her boyfriend or something.”

My hands clasp tightly together over the long wooden table because my COO has apparently lost his damn mind and obviously his zero skill for running this location.

“Let’s focus on the subject at hand, ladies,” Victoria proclaims calmly, and surprisingly, professionally? “Mr. Harper, we’ve been getting bad reviews on the food. We need a new chef for the location here in town.”

“Isn’t he the most highly-sought after chief in all of New York?“

“He was… at one time.”

“How long ago did we hire him?”

Victoria begins writing on her iPad. “I’ll get back to you on that from HR.”

“Fantastic, anything else, ladies and gentlemen? I gave a week’s notice that I was going to be in town for you to come up with material for today’s meeting, and I’m left with kids’ night as my only response.”

Silence.

“You’re all dismissed.” Everyone gets up to leave, but I lay a palm on the table beside Victoria for her to remain in the room with me.

When everyone exits, I find her staring at me with dread-filled hazel eyes.

“Who was the last one to come up with a solid idea out of that group?” I ask, yanking my cell from my pocket.

“Zoe, sir.”

“Fire the other two. I want new marketing managers put in their places by tomorrow morning.” I rise from my chair and button up my jacket. “I also want the reviews on that chef emailed to me ASAP. I need black coffee, no sugar or cream, black as my suit. I also need a list of the vendors you use and—”

“Excuse me, sir, not to be rude, but Mr. Ander’s assistant knows how to pull all that stuff up, and she also handles any HR issues. I can get you the coffee, though.”

“And where is she?” Victoria swallows. “Ah, right, out with her boyfriend or something.”

“I’m not sure, sir.”

“Do you happen to know where Mr. Abners is?”

She shakes her head, eyeing me like I’m about to rip her head off. “No, but the receptionist, Marie, would know, sir.”

“Have a good rest of your day, Miss Victoria.” Leaving the room, I pull up my emails, and shoot a message to my assistant in California, Brooklyn, and tell her to get me a list of top chefs in the country for me to look at. If the reviews on this current chef are abominable, it could be the cause of some of my sales problems.

I get to the receptionist’s desk and find a smiling brunette with beautiful light brown eyes already staring at me. There’s a glass mug of a unicorn filled with Dum Dum suckers, along with a box of tissues nestled up next to it, and a bell.

“Hello, Mr. Harper, I’m Marie.”

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