I shrugged. “What am I supposed to do? If I just lie around and cry about it, then they’ve won.”
“This is hardly about winning and losing. You’ve just had your heart broken, and your life upended. It’s okay not to be okay right now.”
“Obviously, I’ve been better, but I promise you I’m fine.” I faked a smile for good measure. “Besides, I’ll probably be able to meet someone online, date them for a while, and still get proposed to faster than if I had stayed with Garrett. Let Nadine deal with that commitment-phobic man-child now. He is so not my problem anymore.”
Sharon still looked unconvinced. “Well, can we at least get wine drunk one day this week? That’s a non-negotiable after a breakup.”
“Obviously.”
* * *
“I seeon your resume that you worked at the Daily Inn. Can you describe your experience there?” Mike asked.
We were in a conference room interviewing the tenth candidate for the position at The Key Ridge Ski Lodge.
“Totally.” The candidate had long unkempt hair. I could only see the top half of his body over video chat, but I was willing to bet he was wearing a pair of ratty flannel pajama bottoms. Honestly, his top half wasn’t much better. “I worked in their kitchen for a couple of months. Didn’t work out, though. The hours were kind of long.”
I snuck a glance at Mike.
“Well, these hours would probably be long too. You’d also have to live on-site,” I replied, trying my best to keep the perkiness in my voice.
“Oh, I don’t want to move.”
“Then why did you apply? It was clearly noted in the job description.”
“It was? Huh. I must have missed it.”
After a few more grueling minutes, we ended the call.
“Christ, how bad can these candidates get? That was the least professional one yet.” Mike took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“He wasn’t so bad.”
“What are you talking about? He was abysmal.”
“At least he showed up for the interview.” Aside from the ten people we had interviewed, an additional five hadn’t even shown up for the call.
“That’s where the bar is set? We’re screwed.”
I wanted to chime in with words of encouragement, but I was concerned he was right. It had been two weeks of searching nonstop for candidates, and we weren’t any closer to finding someone than when we started. And we werenotbeing picky.
“It’s a tough job market right now.” I gave him what I hoped was an uplifting smile. “We’ll find the right person.”
“We’re running out of time.”
“We’ve still got a week. I’ll figure something out,” I insisted. “You know me, and you know that I refuse to lose this property.”
“You’re the best we’ve got, but I’m not sure that even you can pull this off.”
“Just trust me.”
We left the room and parted ways. As soon as I was on my own, I felt the panic settle in. I had my game face on when Mike was present, but I wasn’t sure how I would find someone to start in a week.
* * *
“Getoff your phone and watch this movie with us, Mattie.” My mom and dad were cuddled up on the couch, and I was sitting in the chair, scrolling through pictures on social media.
I had been living with them for a couple of weeks now, and while it wasn’t terrible, it was a tad suffocating.
