Page 4 of Wild Promise

It wasn’t fine. It was nowhere close to fine, but I gritted my teeth and kept my smile in place anyway. “Thank you for letting me know. Maybe we’ll find the opportunity to work together in the future.”

If I still have a future here.

After saying goodbye, I hung up the phone with a heavy sigh. Two caterers down, and the list of options was getting dangerously short. I scrolled through my contacts, hunting for a miracle I wasn’t sure existed.

“Still no confirmation on the catering staff, huh?” my coworker Becky asked from the doorway.

Her words were kind enough, but something that looked a hell of a lot like a satisfied smirk was pulling at her lips, and that brash tone of hers always put me on edge.

Maybe it was because I didn’t like Becky much. Her underhanded comments, too-tight skirts, and obnoxious perfume weren’t exactly my favorite combination. But it was her work ethic, or lack of one, that really turned me off. The girl barely did her job yet always complained about it.

She also had a not-so-lovely way of pointing out all the faults in how I did mine.

It was like she purposely tried to undermine me every chance she got. Only, I couldn’t figure out why. What the hell had I ever done to her?

I wasn’t delusional enough to believe we’d ever be friends. Honestly, I was fine with that. But was it too much to ask for a little common courtesy?

“Not yet.” My face ached from the phony-ass smile I was still wearing. “But I’m sure I’ll figure it out soon.”

“I’m sure.” She plopped into the chair next to me, invading my limited space while scrolling on her phone.

Ignoring her, I turned my attention back to work and the seemingly impossible task at hand.

Copper Ridge Resort was hosting the annual top performers retreat for Noma Bank, our largest corporate client. They also happened to sponsor the Copper Ridge Winter Festival, a town-wide event that ran at the same time as their retreat each year.

The festival was a weeklong celebration of food, vendors, games, and lights. A good time for everyone, locals and tourists alike. But the real showstopper was the Winter Festival Dance, held right here at the resort.

The dance was the biggest, fanciest event in town and usually kept the gossip mill running for the rest of the year. We put on one hell of a good time—while remaining professional, of course—and this year, my boss had asked me to plan it.

All of it.

The Noma retreat, the dance, and even coordinating with Eric Alexander, our head of marketing, to promote it across the region.

For the first time, I’d been given the lead on a major function and handed a once-in-a-lifetime shot to prove myself. It was a huge undertaking, but I was ready.

Our event coordinator, Lydia, had announced she was retiring after this season. And if I played my cards right, I could be her replacement. It was a dream I’d set my sights on before I’d even been hired to work the front desk.

The opportunity thrilled me.

It also terrified the hell out of me.

Yes, my career was riding on this and that was a scary prospect, but it was my family’s future that was truly at stake. As cliché as it might sound, failure wasn’t an option.

“Do you think they’ll bother replacing Lydia when she leaves?” Becky asked, interrupting my panicked thoughts.

“What do you mean?”

Her shoulders lifted, but her eyes didn’t budge from her social media feed. “You and I do most of her work anyway. It’s not like she’s super important around here.”

Fresh pain shot through my head, sending a ripple of tension down my spine.

What the actual…

A jumble of thoughts swirled through my mind. Hostile, mean, unhelpful things. Things I wanted so badly to let loose.

My mouth dropped open, ready to hurl an insult so tangible, I could already taste my regret. But like a perfectly timed sign from above, my cell rang, cutting off my words and stifling my anger.

Becky’s sharp gaze snapped to my ringing phone.