Page 41 of The Wedding Twist

She entered the boardroom to find two people already sitting at the conference table—a man with white hair and a mustache who introduced himself as Stephan Jolliet and a younger woman with a black bob and thick blue-rimmed glasses.

“I’m Corrine Petersen,” she said, “head of HR for The Kantor Group. Water?”

Bless you, thought Celeste. Her throat was dry, and she needed something to do with her hands.

She settled in, and Stephan provided an overview of the role. Then it was her turn.

The first questions were a piece of cake:

Tell us about yourself.

What’s the number one most important component of hospitality?

Tell us about a difficult situation you encountered with a guest and how you resolved it.

How do you solicit feedback from your guests to assure continual improvement?

Ten minutes in, she started to relax. Annie had been quiet up until this point, but she noticed the woman began fidgeting in her seat the more Celeste aced the questions.

At a certain point, after Celeste had regaled the panel with a story about the time their towel provider had been late with the delivery and her car had been in the shop, her parents out of town, and she’d taken one of the inn’s bicycles forty minutes to the Nordic spa near Canmore and begged to borrow forty towels, balancing them in two large Ikea bags over the handlebars, she had Stephan and Corrine in stitches. But Annie Flint only sat up in her seat and put her elbows on the table, crossing her arms and looking out the window, appearing as disinterested as a house cat.

When she finally piped in, Celeste knew she was going for blood. “Tell us about your experience with PelSIS,” Annie said, tapping her pen on the table, then holding it in a poised position, as though she was about to take down a criminal testimony.

Celeste paused. “Well, I noticed on the posting that there was a preference to be well versed in the system. I actually don’t—”

“The most well-used hotel management software in the world, and you don’t have any experience?” Annie said, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m a fast learner,” she said, almost choking.

Annie noted something on the paper in front of her. “Tell us your thoughts about how digitization might impact frontline staff as well as customer experience and what you might do to mitigate any negative effects while also keeping in mind profit maximization.”

Celeste paused. Her eyes darted to Corrine and Stephan, neither of whom were making eye contact with her. She felt sick. “I, uh,” she said and took a shallow breath in. “I suppose I always think that the human touch far surpasses anything digital. But, um, I’d have to give that some more consideration.”

Finally an expression of satisfaction crept over Annie’s face, but Celeste suspected it had nothing to do with the quality of her response. “I see on your resume you have an undergraduate degree in…what is it? English literature?” Annie gave her a tight, condescending grin.

“Yes,” she squeaked out.

“Have you ever thought of doing your master’s? EHL in Switzerland really is the best in the world. I mean, I was there twenty years ago, but it’s a fabulous school. You might look into it.”

“I’ll look it up,” Celeste said. Was the interview over? It had all been going so well. Was Annie trying to sabotage her? To expose her as a fraud?

“Uh, I have a couple of more questions,” Stephan finally piped up.

“Sure,” Celeste said weakly. He asked her to detail how she kept her team motivated, and Corrine informed her of the next stages in the interview process, all while Annie sat back in her seat, her arms crossed, a look of smug satisfaction on her pinched face.

Annie stayed behind in the boardroom while Corrine and Stephan walked her to the front reception, shook her hand, and promised to be in touch.

Celeste waited until she was in the car before cursing out loud.

She hadn’t expected it to be a home run, but she also hadn’t anticipated being on the hot seat like that.

But most of all, she hadn’t expected to be so interested in the job. Initially it had felt like a life raft being thrown her way that she needed to grasp on to. But after touring the beautiful space and considering the new challenges and growth opportunities, she was interested in the role for far more than the mere prospect of continued employment.

Her mind was a mix of tangled wires, and she fought to keep her focus on the road.

Without thinking, instead of taking the exit toward the lodge, Celeste sped past, then took the next off ramp which led down the winding country road toward where Jack told her he lived, in the stretch of homes along the river’s bend. The one with the yellow mailbox at the road, he’d said. She didn’t allow herself to think too critically about her decision to go there; all she wanted was to see him.

His truck was parked out front when she pulled in, and for a moment she second-guessed her decision. How would he take her coming over unannounced?

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