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I wasn’t drinking, not always, but I was starting to feel like the bartenders were thinking I had a problem with the way they would eye me coming in to sit down around ten in the morning. Sure, I could have them serve me and I didn’t, but I still didn’t like the feeling of them judging me like that.
Which meant I was going to find something else to do with my time today.
I headed down to the lobby to get a cup of coffee when I suddenly stopped short.
Laurel was standing in the lobby with her bags already packed, and she smiled at me when I came into view.
“I wasn’t sure how long you were going to be today. I was starting to think it would be the first day ever when you weren’t going to come down this morning, and I would wind up having to wait until later on to tell you the news.”
“What news?” I asked, intrigued.
The sight of the luggage made me feel like something good was about to happen, and I was getting excited. I had to admit, I was also rather relieved that she hadn’t seemed to be any different from the last time we had seen each other, just hours before.
When she told me she didn’t want the sex we had to change the way we worked together, I assured her it wouldn’t. But, that didn’t mean I didn’t have the worry deep down inside that it would change the way she was acting toward me. I liked the way things were going, and even if we were both able to pass it off as just being friendly coworkers, I didn’t want that to change, either.
I liked the time we spent together, and I wanted to keep that going. We still had a few months left of our time together, and I didn’t want it to be spent with a different kind of tension between us. The sexual tension we’d had was something I found intoxicating. But the kind of tension that came with two people who didn’t get along, or who were embarrassed to be around each other, that was a whole different game.
“We’re done here,” she said. “I think I’ve done all I can with the hotel, and after making sure things were ordered and ready to be delivered later this week, I’m certain that we can leave.”
“You don’t need to stick around and make sure the things come in or set up like you wanted them?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I’ve got the internet and Zoom calls to thank for that. Once they come in, Jason himself is going to come through the hotel and make sure they were put in place where I wanted them to be. If there’s something that’s not supposed to be somewhere, I can just tell them over the chat. I don’t have to be there personally.”
“And do you think you accomplished what he was asking? You were able to bring together different kinds of lobbies for the different levels of the hotel?” I asked. I had only seen the beginning of what she had done, but she’d told me that once she had gotten that down, she was able to move ahead with the others fairly quickly.
“I believe so,” she said. “At least, as far as is humanly possible for me to do with the things I had to work with. Like I said. I’m not the kind of designer who’s going to be making the items that they imagine. Unless I can find it in store, it’s not going to be more than their imagination.”
I laughed. I had enjoyed the time we had together when we were out looking at the different furniture to put into the hotel, but there were times when I saw what she meant. Some of the things clients asked for just weren’t available in store. They might be a good idea, or they might be something that would really make the room come to life, but that didn’t mean that they were anything that could be found just anywhere.
And because of that, I was able to get a new understanding of what she did for a living, and I developed a new appreciation for her and her capabilities. While I hadn’t known for sure what I would do with myself during the time I was in Florida with Laurel, I had to admit, I was glad things had taken a turn in the direction they had.
“Well, if I were you, I’d call this a job well done then,” I told her. “So now what? I thought this was going to take a few months for you to develop.”
“It’s going to take a few months for me to develop the look of the entire chain. Like I said, these are going to be hotels that are known for being different, not just from the norm that you see in a hotel on any given day, but different from each other as well,” she said. “I hope you didn’t think you were going to be trapped down here in Florida for the next few months!”
“That’s sort of what I was thinking,” I admitted. “And I was doing my best to get through it without going crazy. I was starting to wonder if there would be a way for me to sneak back home and just take a breather before I came back down here and got back into my working vacation mode all over again.”
She laughed, so I continued. “Don’t get me wrong. It’s not like I don’t enjoy being here in this nice hotel and doing what I want all day long, but I meant it the other day when I said I was going up into the air to get out of my own head. This is a great lifestyle for a lot of people, but when it comes down to it, I would rather be up in the north where it’s a lot colder.”
“You’re probably one of the only people on the planet who feels that way,” she told me. “And before you get all set on being up where it’s cold, you better know that we’re on our way to California next.”
“Cali?” I asked in surprise. “You mean you’re going from one side of the country to the next? What about the other hotels that are in between? Or is this the kind of guy who has his chains running up and down the coastlines?”
“I’m sure he’s going to have some in the middle of the country. Or thereabouts. But when I’m designing a hotel that has to be different yet tie together, I have to have both the front and the back done. Then I can go back and figure out how I want to do the middle so it all flows evenly, but we still have the differences that we want in each individual location,” she explained.
I scratched the back of my head. “I guess I don’t follow. I mean, I can see how you’re going to do it on the coastlines, but when you’re down here in Florida, you’re not going to see much of a difference in the climate from here to when we get to California. And we have theme parks there, too.”
“I know, but different theme parks,” she told me. “And like I said, they’re going to be different from each other. It’s just a matter of figuring out how I want to do it. I want to have guests know they are in the same chain when they walk into the hotel, but there has to be the catch, you know? Like when a hotel is known for being a little different from the others, there’s going to be the expectations that they are, in fact, different, while at the same time you’re going to have the same elements that tell you you’re with the same chain.”
“Sounds confusing,” I said.
“Not as confusing as flying a plane,” she replied with a laugh. “And if you don’t hurry up, I’m going to head out there and figure out how to get that thing up and off the ground myself. I don’t want to be late for the next appointment, so we have to get going.”
“You know we’re going to have to stop to get more fuel along the way, right?” I asked. “Like when people want to take that little plane and fly all the way to London, you’re not going to make it with the fuel tanks. We’re going to have to put down somewhere to get more.”
“That’s fine with me, as long as we make it today,” she replied as she grabbed her bags. “You better hurry up, I’m going to order an Uber, and I don’t want to leave them waiting for us to get into the car. I already handled checking us both out, so you really just have to grab your things and go.”
“Great,” I said. “I like it when I have the hard part done for me. Good thing for you I pack light, or you’d just have to suck it up.”
