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It was Monday morning. Kelli stood at the hotel's front desk with her head bowed as she skimmed through the photographs Charlotte had posted on social media from the bachelorette party over the weekend. In them, her beautiful family members ate, drank, and laughed in front of the water, occasionally in swimsuits, their eyes getting increasingly glossy as the day wore on. In one that seemed to have been taken much later in the day, Amanda wore a floral headband and held a bottle of champagne, one arm slung around Audrey. They laughed as though it was the only thing they knew how to do.
Kelli’s stomach felt very cold. She’d missed a genuinely beautiful weekend with family because she’d been needed here.
Since Saturday’s opening, Kelli had spent little more than a few hours at a time away from the hotel. Last night, she’d managed to leave around one in the morning, but had awoken three hours later, slick with sweat, worrying about an order that was supposed to arrive that morning. Had she remembered to tell Piper to be there early to receive it? She couldn’t remember. So, she’d jumped in the shower, done her makeup, and returned to find Piper there, bright and early, saying, “I thought you told me to be here for the package!”
But Kelli had been up and ready, so she’d thrown herself into the numerous other tasks that seemed never-ending. She’d begun to wonder if she would ever have a normal, non-panicked thought again.
One thing she hadn’t fully anticipated was how little guests seemed to respect the staff. More than once, she witnessed guests berating staff members for “not carrying their suitcases correctly” or “not being prompt with the valet of their vehicles.” This bothered Kelli a great deal. Yes, the guests were of the richer variety of Martha’s Vineyard vacationers, but where was their empathy?
“How are you doing?” Susan asked Piper privately after lunch, right after a woman had come down from room seventy-seven to complain about the draft in the hallway.
“I’m fine,” Piper said, her eyes a little too large.
“That woman wasn’t very nice,” Kelli pointed out.
“That’s just hospitality,” Piper said. “I’ve worked at hotels for years, as you know. I’ve found ways to let those complaints roll off of me.”
“Do you have any tips?” Kelli asked.
Piper laughed. “Just give yourself some time. You’ll find your own way through this.”
Kelli wasn’t so sure.
Around three, Xander arrived at the hotel to help Kelli with some important paperwork. Together, they sat in the safety of her office and held each other as Kelli mumbled all her worries. Xander said all the right things, then hurried downstairs to ask the chef to make Kelli a sandwich and a salad.
“You need to take care of yourself,” he told her as he placed the food on her desk. “I’m going to sit right here until you finish all of it.”
Kelli rolled her eyes. “Are you my mother?”
“I’m not. But if you want me to call Kerry Montgomery right now and ask her what she thinks about you eating that sandwich, I will.”
“You’d really use Kerry Montgomery against me?” Kelli asked with a laugh.
“Don’t try me.”
Unfortunately for Kelli’s sanity, Xander had to head out around seven to meet a business associate who was on the Vineyard for just that night. Kelli again found herself in the madness of an evening at a brand-new luxury hotel, her feet aching and the inside of her mind a scream.
This all came to a head around nine-thirty when a man appeared at the front desk. He wore a name-brand suit jacket and Italian leather shoes, and he stared at his fingernails as he spoke to Piper.
“My mother is really quite upset with her room,” he said in an English accent.
Kelli, who stood behind Piper, perked up her ears, sensing that there was something really off about this guy.
“I’m sorry to hear that. Can you be more specific?” Piper said.
The man sounded bored. “Something or other with her room, or her bathroom, or a window. I’m not quite sure. Could you send someone up to check?”
“Certainly, sir. And is there anything we can do for you this evening?” Piper asked.
“I’ll be at the bar,” the man said. “My mother is in room 401.”
Piper, ever professional, sent two employees up to the man’s mother’s suite, where they found nothing really wrong. But within the hour, the man returned to the desk again to say that his mother continued to complain of something in her room.
“She’s threatening to check out of it isn’t worked out,” the man said, sounding bored.
Kelli was flabbergasted. She stepped beside Piper and said, “We sent our employees up to your mother’s room to check on your mother, but she seemed fine. Is she telling you something that she isn’t telling us?”
The man shrugged simply and said, “I’m sure you wouldn’t want my mother to tell her very affluent friends how flippant this hotel has been with her needs.” He then returned to the bar, where he ordered a double scotch and gave his full attention to his phone.
