Page 68 of Inarticulate

“Hi, Spencer.” His voice batted away any homesick feelings that had festered. “Is your dad free to conference call?”

There was a pregnant pause, one that spoke heavily of his concern. “Hold on a second. I’ll check.”

The San Francisco radio station kept her company as she waited. A week had passed since she packed her suitcase to return home. Seven long days, with each one marred with a text from Keenan to greet her in the morning.

Every correspondence was a demand, a brief few words that exposed no emotion.

Keenan: Meet me at the Sated Palate, 8pm.

Keenan: Be at the corner of Lincoln and Park at noon.

Keenan: I need to speak to you. I’ll buy you a coffee at Winchesters. 10am.

The list went on, and she’d ignored them all.

She should’ve been happy he’d kept tabs on her, that he’d snooped to determine she stayed in Seattle. Only every time she received a message it became harder to pretend she was unaffected by his attention. She’d learned to combat the spike in her pulse by occupying herself with work. Morale had increased. Pessimism was in freefall. Penny hadn’t been on the scene, not via emails or unannounced visits.

Life had settled back into place… too quickly to be comforting.

The only task she hadn’t been able to kick into submission, now that Grandiosity was in her pocket, was the upcoming wedding. Amanda had shared the long list of intricacies the bride and groom expected for the big day. All Savannah could do was cement a smile on her face to hide her lack of confidence. They didn’t have enough staff to accommodate table service for alcohol, let alone provide one server for each table as requested by the happy couple.

But that was a tidbit they were keeping under their belt. For now.

The radio vanished and Mathew Rydel’s voice drifted over the line, “Savannah?”

“Yes, I’m here.”

“I’m here, too,” Spencer added. “What’s the problem?”

Nausea threatened to take hold. “I need to discuss something with you.”

“You haven’t stormed the Grandiosity head office again, have you?” Mathew asked.

“That was ballsy.” Spencer chuckled. “The pole up Grandiosity’s ass isn’t something to be reckoned with.”

“It was far fromstorming.” She hadn’t planned on telling anyone about her meeting with Patrick Black, not until she realized hiding the situation would leave her open to more scrutiny. She ended up calling Spencer three days ago, smothering him with every morsel of information that didn’t involve Keenan and Penny so he wouldn’t be interested in asking more questions. The strategy had worked. He’d been tired of her chatter before she’d finished speaking. “It was merely a conversation—”

“Where you threatened legal action,” Mathew scoffed.

Oh, yeah. She’d forgotten that part. “It was a bluff. We both knew it.”

“Well, now that they’re playing nice, you need to do the same.” Her boss’s tone turned firm. The candor was over. “I want you to leave a favorable impression at the welcome meeting.”

Welcome meeting?“What welcome meeting?”

A huff of frustration coursed down the line. “I’m starting to question what you’re getting up to over there. When was the last time you checked your emails?”

Her chest thumped a little louder, a little harder, and she gripped the phone tight in her now sweaty palm. “First thing this morning,” she bit back. “I’ve spent every waking minute in this claustrophobic conference room, trying to sort out a problem that could potentially cost us a bucket-load of money. That’s the reason for my call. I need to discuss the wedding we have to cater.”

AKA the task that stole away all unfavorable thoughts of Keenan.

“As is,” she continued, “we don’t have enough staff to cover the function. We’ve had too many resignations—” Kelly had been right about the two waitresses. Tammy and Layla handed in their notice at the start of the week and Savannah had no confidence in them showing up for the time they had left. “—and employees are already covering the workload of other people. I’ve done everything within my power to resolve the issue, but there simply isn’t an easy option. I need your advice.”

“Go on,” Spencer spoke up.

“This morning, I’ve held meetings with the shift manager, as well as the event and restaurant managers, and the head chef. We’ve gone over the staff rosters again and again. The only way I can make this wedding work, is to shut down room service and close the restaurant for lunch and dinner. In return, I thought I could have the chef create a limited list of bar meals that the kitchen should be able to handle during the function.”

She had lists on everything, because lists kept her distracted and distraction was key.

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