Page 58 of She Likes It, Hey Micah
Someone clears their throat, and I look over at a woman whose name I forgot. Though everyone in the lobby is pretending not to pay attention, I can tell most of them woke up when Grant and Lila shouted and they’re absolutely listening in on this conversation. The woman holds out a granola bar, which I take with a grateful smile.
“This is all we’ve got,” I tell Lila, holding it out to her.
She stares at it for a second and then turns her glare to me. “Do you know how much sugar is in that garbage? You know I need protein in the mornings.” She groans and rubs her temples. “And now we’ve wasted all this time. I expect you to work this weekend to make up for—”
“The plans are all drawn up,” I say, wishing I hadn’t left my laptop in the kitchen so I could show her. And though I hate letting her take credit for everything when she decided to show up to the lodge completely drunk, I know it’s the only way she’ll let me have a break over the weekend. “You got it all planned out yesterday.”
Lila opens one eye. “I did? I mean, of course I did. But there’s the matter of getting this mess cleaned up.”
“Fischer will call in a cleaning crew.” At least, I hope he will.
Frowning, Lila looks around the room as if searching for another reason to make me work today and tomorrow. “Find me some coffee,” she says eventually. “And get me out of this hellhole.”
The storm may have stopped, but I doubt the roads are any better than they were yesterday. “We’ll need to wait for the roads to clear unless we want to end up stranded in the middle of nowhere,” I say.
Lila groans. “Fine. Then I’m going back to bed. Wake me when I can leave.”
How in the world can she sleep even more than she already has? But I’m not going to question it if she’s willing to let me handle everything without her looming over me like some vulture. As soon as she’s out of sight, I can breathe again, and that doesn’t bode well for a good workday on Monday.
“Thanks,” I tell the woman as I return her granola bar.
“I think you need a new job,” she replies with a wince.
Unfortunately, I’m starting to think she’s right, but that’s more terrifying than anything. Event planning is the one thing I’ve loved more than anything else I’ve tried, and I have put so much time into Ember, hoping to make it onto the planning team. If I leave Lila and start over somewhere new, does that mean I’ll be starting at the bottom again? I can only be so optimistic when my years might be limited, and I can’t bear the thought that the last two years might have been for nothing.
By the time Fischer escapes the kitchen with a fuming Grant, who returns directly to his room, I’ve managed to convince a few people to help me put the couches back where they belong and get all of the bedding to the wash. We’ll probably still need a cleaning crew, but at least the place looks moderately presentable.
“Everything okay?” I ask him.
He grunts and crouches in front of the nearest fireplace to take out the batteries.
“I’m going to take that as a no.”
Rolling the batteries in his palm, Fischer gazes at them for a moment before he gestures for me to follow him to the windows so we can speak privately. “At the moment, he’s trying to come up with ways to sue anyone who doesn’t pay full price for the night.”
I gasp. “Seriously? But we can’t charge anyone! Especially not those who slept on the floor.”
“Trust me, I know. But there’s no reasoning with Grant when he’s hungover. I’m hoping I can convince him to drop it altogether. Or maybe get everyone out of here before he wakes up again.”
“That second option sounds like the better one,” I say with a little grin. “And here I was thinking we could have Grant give them all a discount code so they can come back after the lodge is open.”
Fischer’s eyebrows rise high. “That’s a good idea.”
“I’m full of those, surprisingly.”
He takes my hand, pulling me close enough that he can touch his forehead to mine. That’s a new one, and it steals the breath from my lungs. “There’s no surprise about it,” he says in a low voice.
There’s no way he sees me as just a friend. Right? I mean, this guy spent the first week and a half of knowing me avoiding my touch altogether, so it’s not like he’s just a touchy-feely kind of guy. This has to mean something, and I wish I understood it better so I could know how to respond.
“Do you think your brother made it through the storm okay?” Fischer asks after a long while of standing there. He pulls away, though he keeps a firm hold on my hand.
I swallow, torn between wanting to be close to him again and the sudden desperation to make sure Chad is okay. “I don’t know. My phone died, remember?”
He holds out his own. “There’s still a little battery left.”
I snort. “You think I have any phone numbers memorized? I grew up without a landline, Fischer.”
“Ah, right. I forget you’re a baby.” Though he rolls his eyes, a new expression enters his face, like he really did forget how much younger than him I am. Seven years isn’t anything crazy, but it’s enough that we probably had very different childhoods. “Do you have a charger?”
