Page 6 of Billionaire's Accidental Marriage
Her lower lip started quivering. “Okay.” She held back her tears. “What about my job at the spa, though? I just got promoted to front desk operations manager.”
I smiled as I lifted my head. “Congratulations. Did you get an office with the promotion?”
She leaned back as her hands fell away from mine. “I mean, a small one, but yeah.”
“Then, for now? You can run your father’s stuff out of that office at the spa during your free time. Which shouldn’t be an issue if your father set things up right with these boutiques.”
And for the first time since I had laid eyes on her at the funeral, despondent and distraught with grief, relief washed over her face.
Relief at the fact that we had a plan she could work with.
1
Maggie
Present Day
Igroaned. “Why couldn’t he have just set this up right the first time?”
Jerry, the assistant manager of my father’s first-ever boutique, simply chuckled. “Well, that was your father for you.”
I shook my head as I flipped through the documentation. “Half of these issues don’t even make sense. The AC unit is supposed to be serviced—”
“Oh, that old thing? Yeah, I don’t think it’s seen a servicing in almost five years.”
I balked. “Five years?”
He nodded as if that were commonplace. “At one point in time, your father talked about replacing it, which is really what needs to happen. The damn thing crashes every other day on us. My employees are dropping left and right because of it. No one wants to get paid minimum wage and—”
I scoffed. “He’s still paying you guys minimum wage? Since when?”
He cocked his head. “You honestly have no idea what your father did, do you?”
Every day since my father had died, it felt like the rug had been ripped from beneath me. Every time my feet hit the floor, something else went wrong. Across town at the newest boutique, there was a cockroach infestation. And according to my father’s records, he knew about it six months ago!
What did he do about it? He took some time out of his lunch and “threw down some traps.”
“Jesus,” I whispered.
“Look,” Jerry said, “I don’t wanna get you all distraught or whatnot, but your father never kept up with these stores like everyone thought he did. It became our job to make sure shit didn’t break down so he’d have to replace it. And if things did break down, someone always got fired.”
I swallowed hard. “It’s like you’re talking about a completely different person.”
He placed his hand on my shoulder. “Because I am, Maggie. You’re talking about your father, but I’m talking about the owner of my shop. Those will always be two different people.”
I made it my life’s mission to go around to each of the eleven stores my father owned so I could clock everything wrong. I kept a running list and even brought in some people to give me quotes on what it would take to fix versus replace a lot of things in the stores. For instance, one of the bathrooms in our—well, “my”—jewelry boutique needed a complete overhaul. And no, I was not talking about the customer bathroom—theemployeebathroom.
“You mean all of you guys are coming to work and have no place to use the restroom?” I asked.
The manager of that store, Darla, simply put her hands on my shoulders. “We’ve gotten friendly with the coffeeshop beside us. Thankfully, they let us use their facilities.”
I shook my head. “I’m so sorry. I had absolutely no idea.”
She quirked an eyebrow. “So, are you going to fix it? Or, is this going to be another one of those situations where I tell you what’s up, and you act like I didn’t?”
I thought my father was beloved. I thought he was an incredible businessman. I thought he would have had everything wrapped up and tied off in a nice bow, ready to pass on the baton. But, it seemed he had saddled me with all of his issues. With all of his errors. With all of his mistakes.
And the reputation that came along with it.
