Page 126 of Brighter Together

She hands them over.

We are still using printed rotas, although hopefully not for much longer. Sheila showed me a staffing app last week and I signed off the purchase yesterday.

I glance up.

“Everything all right?” I ask when she doesn’t leave my office.

“Yeah. Yes.”

That is rarely how somebody answers when everything is all right.

She closes the door.

My stomach drops.

She has worked here for three years and is one of the best operations managers I have ever had. Reliable, experienced, respected by everyone and completely capable of telling me when I’m being an idiot.

If she is about to resign, I may actually cry.

“Tommy, can I be honest with you?”

“Always.”

She sits.

“You can tell me it’s none of my business, but are you and Ella seeing each other?”

For a second, I just stare at her.

“What makes you ask?”

“You’re different since Manchester.”

“Different how?”

“Back to normal.”

I frown.

Sheila shifts in the chair.

“Before you went away, you were so moody that some of the staff started wondering whether the hotel was in financial trouble.”

I sit up. “What?”

“A few people were worried about redundancies.”

“Fuck.”

I knew I had been keeping my distance from Ella, but I hadn’t considered what everyone else might make of months of me walking around permanently tense.

Greenview Manor is their livelihood.

Of course they would worry.

“I need to speak to everyone,” I say.

“You probably should.”