Slater: Forget I said anything. Maybe I’ll start that book you convinced me to buy today.
Evie: Ooh! Good idea! I totally forgot about my book. Reading always helps me sleep. Thanks!
Slater: Then I’ll leave you to it.
Slater: See you after lunch. Have a good night.
Evie: Sounds good. And I hope you get some sleep. Nighty-night!
He stared at that damn screen like he was seeing her face and not just her words, and it just confirmed everything he had thought earlier.
He was definitely in trouble.
When she walked down the hall toward Slater’s office, Evie felt mildly recovered from last night’s embarrassment. She’d read for an hour and then had a good night’s sleep so she felt ready to tackle whatever he had planned for them today.
She found him sitting behind one of the desks with his feet up, talking on the phone to someone about one of the hiking trails.
“Did we catch who did it on one of the security cameras?” he asked and then paused. “And they were identified?” Another pause. “I don’t have any hikes planned up that way until Tuesday, but I’ll head up there today with supplies and make sure everything’s cleaned up and restocked.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I had no idea guests could be this disrespectful.” One last pause. “Don’t worry about it. You handle things when the cops get here. Thanks.”
Tossing the phone down, he let out a frustrated breath.
“I take it something happened?”
Slater jumped slightly, like he hadn’t noticed she was even there. “Yeah. A couple of guests went up on one of the trails and ransacked the lean-to, had themselves a picnic, graffitied the structure and some of the rocks, and then left their crap everywhere. We have a strict policy about going up on the trails after hours, and security cameras show they were up there sometime after midnight.” He shook his head. “Now I need to go and clean it all up.”
“Why you?”
“Because I’m no better than anyone else who works here. It’s not beneath me to take the shitty job sometimes.”
“I get that, but…you and Nora are the heads of this part of the resort. It just makes sense for you to send maintenance out so you could be the guy here to talk to the cops and confront the guests. It would hold more weight when it’s one of the owners pressing charges.” She shrugged. “But that’s just the way I think about things.”
He muttered a curse before raking his hands through his hair again. “Yeah. That makes a lot more sense. This is why I shouldn’t be the only adult in charge around here. If Lexi were here, she would have pointed that out. Or Nora. Or Axel. Or…pretty much anyone. I’m not cut out for management.”
“Don’t beat yourself up. You haven’t needed to be. I get the feeling everyone’s not usually away like this.”
“Exactly.” Another long sigh. “So…am I gonna look like a total jerk if I send a crew up to handle it?”
“Not at all. If you’d like, I can act as your assistant, and this way it will seem more official.”
“Evie…”
“What? It’s what I do for a living. Ask Milo. I get him out of all sorts of things.”
“I don’t know. I’m not even sure who you would call to take care of it. I can just do it. It’s not a big deal.”
And she knew he meant that, but it bothered her that he felt incompetent. Without a word, she walked over to Lexi’s desk and got comfortable. There was a list of numbers up on the wall next to her desk with all the department extensions and she knew that was her first stop.
Picking up the phone, she turned to Slater. “Who called you?”
“The manager of the lodge, who heard about the issue from security.”
“Got it.” She looked up the number for maintenance and dialed it.
“Maintenance. This is Will.”
“Hi, Will. This is Evie. I’m here with Mr. Slater, and there was an issue with a couple of guests up on trail…” She glanced at Slater, prompting him.
“East trail, beginner.”
