Page 19 of Some Like It Hott

“Wooo—okay, then,” she says and plops down into the chair next to mine. It’s around the corner, but she’s close enough that I pick up her cinnamon-apple scent. I scoot my chair away.

“Wewillneed spreadsheets,” I say. “To keep lists of activities and to make schedules. I took to heart what you said about eighties team-building activities.”

She looks startled.

“I can compromise,” I say grumpily.

“Make sure you do,” says a stern voice behind me, and I turn to see Hanna, head poked into the conference room again. Which, in fairness, I probably deserve after my behavior yesterday. But today I’m turning over a new leaf. It’s thewhatever will make this happen fastestleaf.

“Quit it,” I tell my sister, and her head disappears. I turn back to Natalie. “I brought some new ideas.”

She raises an eyebrow.

“Bingo. And paint with gems.”

She squints at me. “Bingo,” she repeats dubiously.

“Hanna told me where you worked before this. There was an old calendar of events online, so I studied it. I figured those things were already vetted by you, so we should be able to get to consensus quickly.”

Her forehead wrinkles. “But that was a nursing home. This is a high-end dude-ranch-style wedding resort.” She purses her lips. “I have an idea. What if we do what I said yesterday and mostly partner with programs that already exist but then throw in some additional things that are relatively easy to implement. Basically then we’d just have to go vet the ones we wanted to partner with and spend the rest of our time putting together the others.”

“Examples?”

“For partnerships, I’m thinking the horseback riding, plus a few things Wilder Adventures could make happen for us—Hanna can vouch for Wilder, so we’d basically just need to talk to the guys in charge and see what they’re interested in doing.” She looks down at her phone for a moment. “Also, axe throwing?—”

“Nothing with deadly weapons.”

For a second her eyes meet mine, fire in them. I think she’s going to argue, and I discover I’m looking forward to it. But then she drops her gaze. “Okay,” she concedes. “No deadly weapons. What about a pop-up rage room? I think we could arrange with a vendor to bring that here.”

I roll my eyes but don’t protest because Hanna is still making occasional passes through the hall outside our room.

“If we had a splatter room…” she says wistfully. “Maybe we could improvise that? Or set up basically the equivalent of an outdoor one?”

I flinch. “What the hell is a splatter room?”

“It’s a room where all the walls are lined and you can make a complete mess. If we wanted to do body painting, for example?—”

“Body painting?”

“Yeah, like couples could put paint all over each other’s?—”

I wave my hand because I need that image in my head like I need—well. I don’t need it. No one will be painting anyone else’s body.

“Or Jell-O wrestling.”

“Jell-O wrestling?”

“It’sreallyfun.”

“I’m going to take your word for that,” I say, trying extremely hard not to pictureanyonein a tub of Jell-O.

She bites her plump lip; she’s definitely trying not to smile. “Okay, what about…improv workshops, a casino night—we might even be able to get Five Rivers to come in and do it. Rock climbing—I noticed there are some nice faces on the property, and I think the Wilders are certified?—”

“You really do want us to get sued.”

“That’s what the partnerships are for,” she says. “I won’t do anything that could hurt Hott Springs Eternal or your sister. I need this to work. I need this job.”

She says it so earnestly, there must be a story in there. What makes this woman tick? She seems so unflappable, but she apparently wants this job enough to put up with me. Before I can askWhy is it so important to you? she says, “You need a four-point-five, so therefore, you need activities that are actually fun.”

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