Page 8 of The Main Event

I had to work overtime not to start grinding my teeth together. “That’s not entirely true.”

“I never see you in here during the week,” Tammy interjected out of nowhere.

“I’m here right now,” I replied pointedly.

“Yes, but the memo I sent out asked everybody to be here today,” Jax noted. “I don’t think that really proves anything, do you?”

I glared at him. “I work about eighteen hours on a party day,” I replied. I wasn’t even trying to be bubbly and nice now. “Before that, I have to spend a lot of time with the parents. That time starts well before party week. We decide on menus, decorations, themes, and guest lists. I do a lot of that work from home.”

“And why is that?” Jax’s focus was still on the folder Tammy had given him, but I could tell he was more interested in the numbers than me at this point.

“Because it’s impossible to have fixed hours when doing this gig and your grandfather allowed me to set my own schedule,” I replied. “That’s how it’s been, almost right from the beginning.”

“And how many little parties do you do a week? Just one, right?”

I had to hold back a snarky retort about what he could do with my “little” parties, but only the training I’d put myself through to deal with unruly parents allowed me to continue without wrapping my hands around his throat and squeezing. “We usually do one big party a week. Although, during busy periods, we do two. I also do smaller teas on Sundays. During the month of October, we do up to three big parties—the turnaround from Friday to Saturday is fierce—and one midlevel party in the middle of the week.”

“Tell me about these midlevel parties,” Jax prodded. “I’m not sure I understand.”

I wasn’t surprised. He seemingly had zero imagination. If he couldn’t read it in a report, he wouldn’t fully grasp it.

“Most of the time they’re birthday parties for locals, or even retirement parties. Sometimes they’re corporate parties. We’re very busy in December with holiday Christmas parties for businesses.”

“Really?” Jax’s eyebrows hopped. “I wouldn’t think Salem would have enough corporate business to sustain multiple parties.”

If his attitude toward me wasn’t bad enough, his attitude toward Salem as a whole was downright annoying. “It’s not just Salem. A lot of the parties are booked by Boston businesses.”

“That seems like a drive.” Jax’s confusion was evident. “Why would they come here for a party when there are plenty of places they could have it in Boston?”

“Right?” Tammy huffed on a hollow laugh.

“It’s probably because Daisy has created a name for herself and throws the best parties,” Levi suggested. He was still trying to play peacekeeper, but it was obvious he’d grown irritated with Jax.

At least I was no longer the only one who refused to let Jax Hunter’s handsome face and ridiculous business suit—was that thing really Hugo Boss, because that’s what it looked like?—whitewash the fact that he was a total tool.

“Because they treat it as an adventure,” I replied. I wasn’t an angry person. In fact, people often complained I was too upbeat. I was over this entire conversation, though. “You do realize that the people who come from Boston for these parties book a huge block of rooms when they do it, right? That’s why we don’t consider December off-season here even though the other businesses do.”

Oh, well, now I had Jax’s full attention. “Tell me more about that,” he prodded. He was all business.

“It depends on the party,” I replied. “The weekend ones turn into all out bashes. We often have to provide a full bartendingstaff, waitstaff, cleaning crew, and even a Santa for those parties. We charge a lot for them. We make at least a fifty percent profit.”

“Daisy has started using red and green luster dust for drinks at those parties too, and the people go wild for them,” Levi supplied.

Jax looked less interested in that, but he nodded all the same.

“As for the rooms, those parties are usually for crowds of between 150 to 300,” I explained. “Now, not all of them get rooms. Some people don’t drink enough to warrant it. Boston isn’t that far away. Some people have kids to get home to, or simply arrange for one half of the couple to be a designated driver.”

“How many rooms?” Jax pressed.

“Usually about a third of the party. So, if it’s a party for 150 people, we usually book fifty rooms.”

“That’s not insignificant in December, though, right?” Jax asked.

“It allows us to keep our full staff on at the hotel throughout the holidays,” I confirmed.

“And we do layoffs in January and February, correct?”

I nodded. “That’s the norm.”

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