“It is,” I said. “But as I was saying, I don’t remember much of anything, just that conversation, and then your light show. So, if I wasthatdiscombobulated, I won’t cast blame on you for being confused and forgetting I was there. It was just the timing that I had gotten up, so you couldn’t feel me in bed. And no, I’m not going to make you apologize for that, especially because you were doing something that’s as common as breathing…while you believed you were alone.”
“Was it really necessary to repeat yourself during that little speech?”
“I saw the look on your face and figured you were getting ready to protest that you were masturbating in your room.”
“I can see you’re attempting to make me feel better, but I have chosen the unhealthy route of blaming myself for an understandable, very human mistake, and will instead wallow in guilt and shame for an untold amount of time,” he told me with a couple of stiff nods. “Any attempts to alleviate those feelings will result in me pushing back and spiraling even further into my negative view of self.”
“Hmm, for the record, I will continue to maintain that there was nothing wrong with this morning…almost afternoon,” I said, chuckling when his wide eyes flew to the clock and realized I wasn’t lying. As he hissed in a breath, I continued. “And that there is no reason for you to feel that way. I also reserve the right, at my discretion, to interfere in your spiral if I feel it is going too deep or on for too long, and you are not permitted to hold that against me.”
“I will do my best to keep that agreement, but…agreed,” he said, his shoulders sagging slightly. “But seriously, since we’ve got a moment that is going to live rent-free in my head for weeks, can we maybe talk about anything else?”
“Of course,” I assured him, thinking he wasn’t the only one who was going to be remembering that for weeks to come.
REGGIE
“Alright,everyone who bothered to show up,” I called to the handful of guests who’d shown up for the start of the season address I always gave. “Thank you for giving me the attention my parents never did.”
“Really?” one of our regulars, Clay, piped up. “That’s the joke you’re going with?”
“Yeah, it wasn’t very good, or all that honest. I probably would have been better off if my dad had noticed me less. But he’d appreciate you pointing out that I suck at something,” I said, the group laughing when Clay let out a spluttering noise. “Save it, Clay. You came to a battle of wits unarmed, and I can’t give myself a big enough handicap to help you without risking permanent brain damage.”
Beside him, Clay’s best friend, Cade, laughed and clapped Clay on the back as he leaned back with his massive frame and took a deep drink of his coffee. I wasn’t known for firing off at guests, but if there was one I was sure could take the heat, it was Clay. To his credit, he took the jab with a good-natured laugh and a flash of his middle finger before he made a hurry-up motion. Not surprisingly, at least half the guys had joined me in the cafeteria, less for the arrival meeting, which was optionalexcept for first-timers, purely because once I was done talking, the food would be served.
“Alright, thank you for showing up. Like I said before, I’ll try to keep this brief, which will be handy because we don’t have anyone new to introduce,” I said as everyone looked around. “We’ll have a few more next season, but it seems summer is going to be a repeat of spring.”
“You mean, a Guide is going to get fired at the end?” a voice called from the back, and I sighed.
“I would love to know who is giving you guys information…not because they’re in trouble, but because they’re apparentlythatgood at it. I could use that,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “Anyway! Hopefully, it’s going to bealmostlike last season, barring any drama, so let’s try to keep that in mind while we go through the next few months, eh? Or at least, make sure it’s productive drama that doesn’t involve being fired or the police, good? Good. Are there any…no, wait, I’m not doing that to myself. Put your hand down, Logan. I’m not answering questions about the minor hiccup we had at the end of last season.”
Logan dropped his hand with a scowl and a huff.
“Excellent,” I said, clapping my hands. “Now, there are a few who haven’t been around during a summer season, so some things are a little different. Namely, we have more outdoor activities to take part in if you’re so inclined. I won’t claim there’s an extensive list, but there are some. We offer lunch outside at least once, if not twice, a week, but not just that, we have a courtyard to enjoy the nice weather that isn’t going to freeze you…yes?”
The hand went down. “Why is that only open during the summer?”
“It’s a comfort and safety matter,” I said with a shrug. “Sometimes we open it up in the spring season and keep it openinto the fall, but it depends on different factors that I’ll spare you, as we all know I can talk given the chance. No comments.”
I didn’t want to mention that we were careful about keeping it open for only one season most of the time because having them outside could be a risk depending on who we had as guests. The outside courtyard was built with safety in mind, where there weren’t any cliffs but still allowed a good view, but there was still a higher risk. If we felt we had too many guests who could be a danger to themselves, we just didn’t have the courtyard available. And if that was the case during the summer season? Well, we had to devote extra attention and resources to monitoring those we deemed in danger.
“We’ll also try to bring in at least once or twice a month someone who is much better equipped to lead a hiking excursion. And there may be a camp. If there is, you’ll know in advance.”
“When’s the beach trip?” Clay called out with a grin, and I sighed. I couldn’t tell if that was him attempting to be a smartass or if he was just being horny…again.
“Considering there are no beaches nearby and our liability clauses don’t cover long distance trips, I don’t think we’ll be making any trips to a beach,” I said because it was a good idea to cover that base before someone got it in their heads and pushed the idea. “So that is completely out of the question.”
The summer season was my favorite and required the most work from the staff. With people being out of the resort, the chances of something going wrong went up. Of course, that was a calculated risk, but still a risk. I hadn’t been thrilled at the idea of trips outside the resort, but Marc had insisted it would be good for the men to get fresh air beyond just seeing it from the other side of thick glass.
“I think that more or less covers everything that’s new to the season for anyone who hasn’t gone through a summer,” Isaid brightly. “Otherwise, you know the drill. The schedules for events and excursions will be posted for you to view from the pads in your room, or by logging into any of the tablets here. Don’t forget, you can also sign up for these things so we are aware of the head count…though most of you will not, and I’ve made peace with that.”
There was some good-natured chuckling, because we all knew most of them would not use the system I and my team had been carefully crafting and honing for a few years to make everyone’s life easier. I could always enforce the use of the system, but that ran counter to the ideology of freedom we encouraged and lived by.
The moment at least half of them had been waiting for had finally come, and I gave a little bow and stepped away. That was the cue for the dining staff to bring out the trays of food for everyone to help themselves. That was one thing off my list for the day and I drew out my phone to open the administrative access to the computer systems, or the AI as I liked to call it even though it was just extensive coding that followed a complex layer of carefully maintained instructions.
It was funny, or Marc thought it was, that I didn’t use the same systems I had helped design for my personal schedule. It had been hard to explain that yes; the system was there to make everyone’s life easier, including mine; there were just some things that were hard to let go of. Using my phone’s apps to take notes and keep track of my schedule had been something I’d pushed myself into maintaining years ago, and it was hard to stop. Marc had pointed out that we might need records of what I was doing every day in case something legal ever popped up.
That was all it had taken, because if there was one thing I’d learned growing up, it was that you covered your ass. The last thing I needed was gaps in a potential paper trail, which could come back and bite us in the ass. So, I had taken to using thecomputer systems I’d designed for everyone at Arete, and while it had been awkward at first, there had been ways to make it easier on me.
Such as having my own private apps within the computer system that mimicked the ones I’d been using for years. It was like using my phone, except now there was a paper trail and, in the last couple of years, when my team had fiddled with predictive models, it had been helpful in reminding me of things I had forgotten to put down.
