Page 105 of Family Bonds- Kelsey & Van

“It’s not bad. It’s just not great. There is no flavor other than salt and pepper on the chicken and bacon.” She took another bite. “I got some sauce this time and it’s a little better, but not wonderful. Here, taste it.”

She handed it over and he took a bite. Before he could say anything she grabbed his burger to try that.

“It’s on the bland side,” he said. “I’d expect more for a restaurant. I could do this at home. The same with the burger.”

“Phew,” she said. “I’m glad you said that. I didn’t want you to think I judged everything on Duke’s cooking.”

“No,” he said. “As I said, not horrible, but just basic. I would expect better. Guess I need to at least address this with your father and then Christian.”

“Why not just go to Christian since you wanted my father out of it anyway?”

“I didn’t want him out of it,” he said. “I just didn’t want him to know we were doing this.”

“Why?” she asked. She picked up a fry and bit in. Just frozen ones stuck in a fryer. Passable but nothing much more than that.

“I didn’t want him to give me a warning or heads up with what to look for. I’m not sure if he would. It’s better to come in cold like this.”

“Oh,” she said. “I didn’t think that.”

“What did you think?” he asked. He had some fries he was munching on too. He didn’t seem as fazed as her that they were frozen and not fresh.

“I’m not sure, to be honest, but it wasn’t that.”

They finished their dinner and listened to the group getting louder a little away from them. Frankie was pacing and wanting to check it all out, but she kept him calm.

Though they had the beach and water view in the distance, the noise took away from this being relaxing and they returned to their room.

“I saw a warning on the post that noise had to be lower past ten,” he said. He looked at his watch. “It’s eleven and they are still out there laughing, yelling and howling at each other.”

They’d been back in their room with the TV on for a few hours. As much as she wanted to sleep, she agreed with Van that it might not happen. She had a crude vocabulary, but someone was putting her to shame outside.

Their windows were shut and the curtains drawn. Even the heat had turned on and that background noise combined with the TV didn’t stop the activity outside of their room a few stories down.

“Maybe call and report it,” she said. “See how long it takes.”

He let out a sigh. “I don’t want to do that, but I think I will. I’m trying to look at this as an owner right now and not a guest. There are rules that aren’t being followed and staff aren’t enforcing them even if someone isn’t reporting it.”

“I guess you’re finding out more than you bargained for,” she said.

He picked the phone up, nicely asked if there was a way that the party outside could tone it down.

“She said I was the fifth call and that they’ve been out a few times to talk to the party and were trying to track down security.”

“They don’t know where security is?” she asked.

“It didn’t seem that way,” he said.

“That is one of your issues, right?” she asked.

“Yep,” he said.

He pushed the curtain back and watched one of his employees go down to the group which was getting rowdy. They were now giving the staff a hard time and saying they’d paid for the room and were just having fun.

She saw Van grind his teeth when some swear words were tossed around.

“What are you going to do?”

He let out a sigh. “I didn’t want to do anything, but I’m starting to think I’m going to have to. I don’t want my employees treated like that.”

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