“Agreed is a very strong term for you saying something and me being in the room while you say it.”
I let out a small laugh then, because he might be grumpy and stern, but he’s also funny.
“Po-tay-to, po-tah-to,” I quip. “If I am going to keep my incredibly chipper personality, I need to be in a place that doesn’t look like a padded cell.”
“I don’t pay you to decorate your space, Ms. Taylor. I pay you to get your job done, which you conveniently are not doing.”
Some of that happy glow fades out with his words.
“Youdon’t pay me at all, Mr. Hawthorne,” I say, irritation in my voice. “Daydream Resorts pays me, and if we’re really being nitpicky, no one has paid me yet because I haven’t gotten my first paycheck.” His eyes narrow on me. “Butno oneis paying me to decorate my workspace, because I’m not on the clock. I came in early to decorate. I’m not on until…” I look at my watch and grin at him, forcing it to wash away the irritation I was feeling. “Eight more minutes.”
His look morphs to one of confusion. “You came in early to decorate your workspace?”
I bat my lashes at him, giving him a tight, fake smile.
“I wouldn’t want to make you think I was wasting company time. That might give you the wrong impression of my work ethic.”
He blinks at me a few times before shaking his head, a hand lifting to rub at the back of his neck.
I’ve frazzled him, I realize. The shock looks good on him, and it makes me want to do it more.
“Oh. Well, I suppose that’s fine.”
“So gracious of you.” He watches me with that same, strange confusion as I reach into my box, pulling out a small vase and then placing a few fake flowers inside. Dead flowers aren’t very cheerful, and the chance of my remembering to replace them as they get droopy is slim to none. I fight the urge to look at him again, instead pretending to fluff up the petals. He doesn’t seem to be able to fight rising to my bait, though.
“Are you always this stubborn?” he asks finally.
I turn to him, smiling with a raised eyebrow.
“Are you always this uptight?”
“Excuse me?”
“Oh, sorry, I thought we were asking questions with obvious answers.”
It happens then.
His lips tip a bit more, still not a smile but the closest I’ve come to one yet, a light moving into his eyes as if he’s enjoying this back-and-forth as much as I am.
With the way my heart skips a beat each time it happens, I wonder if my desire to make him smile for real is more dangerous than fun, but I can’t find it in me to care.
“Just…don’t go too crazy with it,” he says reluctantly, and I give him a mock salute.
“Aye aye, captain,” I say, then go back to my decorating. After a moment, he sighs and walks toward the break room. I finish up with the flowers, then sit down and clock in. The whole time, I don’t bother to hide the huge smile on my face.
“Hey, Graham,” I say, dipping my head into Graham’s office at the end of the day.
His door was closed most of the afternoon, his day packed with meetings. If this is what his days normally look like at a new location, I can almost understand why he wouldn’t take advantage of making friends while working. If he’s only in one place long enough to get it set up and running before moving to the next one, there simply can’t be muchtimefor making relationships. Unfortunately for him, my empathy doesn’t make me more accepting of that fact; instead, it makes me want to try harder. By the time he’s done in Seaside Point, I’m determined to make Graham Hawthorne realize having friends can be a good thing.
“I’m heading out,” I say. “I sent over my top three contenders for the GM position from the ones you picked, and once you approve them, I’ll set up interviews. If you’re okay with it, I can handle the waitstaff interviews, but you’ll have to be in on the GM interviews, since you know what’s needed. Let me know how you’d like me to go about fitting those in your schedule, and I can make some calls tomorrow, schedule some interviews for next week.”
He stares at me for long moments, then nods almost begrudgingly.
“Thank you, June. I appreciate it.”
I bite back a smile, but nod before taking a step back.
“It’s my job,” I say, preparing to head out, but his voice stops me.
