Page 19 of Homecoming Heartbreaker

Mack pulled his brain back to business, to the reason he was on the property where he grew up.

“In between looking after my dad, I spent time going through paperwork in his home office. He keeps a lot of the accounting records there,” Mack told her, still trying to pinpoint the source of his unease. Something was off with what he’d seen and he couldn’t put his finger on why he felt uncomfortable.

Molly reached for the phone and paused, her hand on the receiver. “I need coffee. Do you want some?”

Mack nodded. “Sure. Thanks.”

Molly placed the order with the kitchen and sat back in her chair, looking professional and polite. He doubted either would last; there was too much passion between them.

But they could try because finding themselves tangled up in each other again would be a complication neither of them needed. He certainly didn’t. When he left again, he wanted no regrets.

“I have a few questions for you...”

“Okay, I’ll answer what I can.”

Mack thought about the disorganized and inefficient mound of papers he’d recently plowed through. “Why the hell aren’t the books on a computer-based system?”

Molly threw up her hands, obviously frustrated. “Because they aren’t.”

That wasn’t any type of answer. “Molly...” he warned and noticed her squirming in her seat. Ah, he thought he knew what this was about.

“M, I know how much you love my dad, how much you love Moonlight Ridge. You always have. But youcancriticize my dad and the business decisions he’s made. In fact, I’m asking you to because if you’re not totally truthful with me, I won’t get an accurate picture of what’s happening.”

Her shoulders slumped and relief flashed in her eyes. “I’ve been trying to get Jameson to switch over to a computer-based accounting system for years but he insists on doing things old school. I did manage to persuade him to allow us to create a web-based booking system but that’s as far as he would go. We’ve had quite a few arguments on this subject.”

He could imagine: Jameson hated change.

“Even with the department reports and your proposal, I still don’t have a clear idea what’s happening, financially, with the resort, but something’s not right.”

Molly stiffened and looked away and Mack’s senses immediately went on red alert. “What aren’t you telling me, Molly?”

Molly rested her forearms on the desk and picked up a pen and tapped it against the surface of a blank notepad, leaving tiny black dots over the white paper. Her eyes, when they met his, reflected her anxiety. “As I told you earlier, in my opinion, the resort is on the edge of a tipping point, Mack. My gut instinct tells me we have six months, maybe a year, before the company runs into trouble, serious trouble.”

Mack’s eyes widened. Damn. He’d hoped it hadn’t been that bad.

“Twenty, thirty years ago, this was the ultimate hideaway for the very rich, looking for a home away from home, a place that guaranteed privacy. The guests would bring their children for six weeks, two months at a time, and this place pumped. In fact, the way Jameson tells it, it was a little like the resort in the movieDirty Dancing.”

Mack grimaced. “The one you made me watch a hundred times when we were kids?”

Molly wrinkled her nose. “Twice, maybe three times. Anyway, back then the resort was crazy busy. But these days there’s so much competition and we’re just another luxurious resort in a market with lots of options. Costs are up, sales are down and staff is expensive.”

Employing thousands himself, he knew exactly how costly staff could be. And, like Jameson, he’d believed in paying his staff well, provided they performed. But to Mack, it looked like there were too many staff members at Moonlight Ridge; the staff-to-guest ratio was insane.

“Who does the hiring and firing?”

Molly considered his question. “The individual managers put in a requisition for a staff member and once it’s approved, they hire whoever they want to. Jameson believes in allowing his staff to run their department their way. Jameson handles all firing, but it’s rare.”

Mack gripped the bridge of his nose. He loved his dad, he did, but Jameson’s strengths were in guest relations—he was a bon vivant and a genial host, a magnetic personality—but the nitty-gritty of business bored him.

A ruthless businessman he was not. In today’s cutthroat business environment, you had to keep an eye on every aspect of your company and make crucial decisions—staff hires, expense approvals and asset purchases yourself—or the business could run away with you.

Molly, he believed, was the glue holding this place together.

“Tell me what you think of the senior staff,” Mack commanded.

Molly grimaced, obviously not wanting to dish dirt. When he didn’t back down, she sighed her displeasure.

“Well, you met them all last week. Beth runs the accounts department—”

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