Page 73 of Challenged by the Single Dad

Hawke nodded. “Right. Orrin. He still had absolutely no remorse for what he’d done. He argued, and blamed Joey, blamed you. He took zero responsibility. And while, yes, the majority of the blame falls on Joey, Orrin never should have asked. And never should have gone into your room.”

“Was he working on the island or just traveling?” Dom asked. He still didn’t trust his Spidey sense, but something about this Orrin guy and his inability to take accountability said they hadn’t seen the last of him.

“Working,” Hawke replied. “Now that the Reilly boys have gone back to school on the mainland, Willy hired Orrin to help on the crab boat.”

“So, now Willy’s out an employee?” Chloe asked. “How is that going to impact his business?”

“Willy will be fine,” Dom said quickly. As much as he liked Willy Reilly, his main concern was making sure Chloe felt safe and understood.

Dom knew Hawke would do right by Chloe, but he also knew that Chloe needed to come back and get an in-person apology from Hawke. She deserved that.

“I want to refund your stay,” Hawke said to her. “I … I know it won’t make up for what happened, but I honestly just feel terrible.”

Chloe waved her hand in dismissal. “It’s fine. Besides last night, I felt very safe here. Everything was clean and in good condition. I’ve slept in some pretty gnarly hostels and this is by far the nicest. But your offer goes a long way.”

Hawke’s smile was grim. He bore the weight of this chaos, and surely his business was going to suffer because of it. “A lot of people checked out this morning. And the reviews online aren’t great. We’re taking a pretty big hit because of this.” Color infused his cheeks beneath his dark stubble, and he clenched his fists. “I’d love to comp your stay, or invite you back for free though.”

“I’ve got one of the cabins on Dom’s property now,” she said, regret in her tone. “It’s a stone’s throw from work and they’re charging me the same as my monthly rate here. So … I’m sorry.”

Hawke’s big head bobbed. “I get it. It makes sense.”

“What can I do? To help?” Chloe asked. “I’ll go on and leave a good review to hopefully combat the bad ones. I can even say that it was me and how lovely my stay was. That we can’t punish a business for one awful employee.”

Hawke’s bulky shoulders rounded. “I’d appreciate that. Not sure how much weight it will carry, but I appreciate it.”

“The fall and winter are always slower anyway,” Dom said, hoping to lighten the mood. “We’re feeling it at the pub too. I’m sure things will pick up here again in the spring.”

Hawke didn’t seem so convinced. “I dunno. Even during the off-season, the hostel is usually pretty booked. The campsite, not so much, of course. But cyclists, hikers, backpackers, come year-round. Not to mention, young workers like Orrin. I’m worried how this is going to affect business. We were already struggling after what happened to Ginny.”

“I don’t understand how people think its okay to post reviews about something that didn’t even happen to them.” Chloe growled.

“That’s the beauty and curse of free speech,” Hawke said with a sigh. “And in the meantime, I’m stuck with no front desk employee now. So if there’s an emergency call, I won’t be able to go out with the rest of the island volunteer first responders.”

Dom empathized with Hawke. Not only was he now shorthanded, but his ability to trust his intuition about who to hire was probably incinerated. Chances were good that Hawke was possibly rethinking a lot of his past choices regarding employees and the hostel. Dom certainly did so, and continued to, after what happened with Nadine.

He wanted to offer words of encouragement, but everything that came to mind felt hollow and ingenuine.

Chloe stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the big lug. “I’m really sorry, Hawke. All of this just sucks. I have no words of encouragement either. I just … I hope it gets better and you find a trustworthy new front desk person soon.”

Fuck, she was perfect. She knew exactly what to say that sounded heartfelt without being flowery or fake. Dom would be lying if he said a green zap of jealousy didn’t stab him at the base of his spine as he watched Hawke wrap his guns-for-arms around Chloe for a brief moment.

The two of them broke their embrace and Hawke smiled at her. “I definitely don’t need your apology, Chloe. But I appreciate it.”

“Come by the pub tonight and I’ll make you a Caesar,” she said.

His smile was small and stuck to the bottom half of his face. “Wish I could. But I’m the only man for the desk right now.”

Dom should not have been as relieved as he was.

Damn, he had it bad for Chloe.

This was not good.

“Right.” Chloe frowned. “Maybe I could help out on the front desk until you find somebody else?”

Dom’s head nearly flew off his neck he faced her so fast. “But you work at the pub.”

She lifted one slender shoulder that he wanted to bite again. “Yeah. But I’m the night shift so you can be with Silas. My days are pretty free—and boring.” She focused on Hawke. “It wouldn’t be forever. Just so that you’re not stuck here all the time. I don’t want to give up my eight o’clock yoga class. But I could come after that. Like nine thirty, or ten to three? And then I have two days off so I could work longer, or the night shift then if you needed.”

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