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“Whatever you say. I’ve got your back if you need me,” Elissa jokes, holding up her fists.
I try not to laugh and give away that we’ve been standing here listening. It’s hard to imagine Elissa fighting anyone. She’s so lowkey and sweet, and she has the most perfect nose that I would hate to see broken during a girl fight.
I step out from the hallway, leaving Elissa there, trying to make it look like we weren’t sort of eavesdropping. “I thought we had a conversation about professionalism,” I say, my voice low, scanning the lobby to make sure it’s not packed with guests. I stop at the desk, looking right at Casey.
The look on Casey’s face is priceless, her mouth hanging open, her eyes wide as she takes me in. I approach the check-in desk and everyone around Casey suddenly gets back to work.
I’ve never run the lodge with the intent for my employees to fear me. My door is always open for questions, and I’ve tried my best to treat everyone equally. I’m also not stupid enough to think they all love and adore me, but this feels like it’s been taken a little too far. There will be complaining about a boss, sure, but Casey believes I singled her out, and she’s trying to make it look like I’m to blame.
“Can I see you in my office?” I ask, but it’s not really a question. She can either answer yes or she can see herself out the door.
“I guess,” she replies, and I really thought she’d be less abrasive after I confronted her. This isn’t going to go well, and I must admit, this is the first time I’ve had to have a conversation like this with an employee.
Generally, Badger Creek is an easy place to work. This isn’t a difficult job, and usually the worst we deal with is an angry guest who has no hot water or a broken heater or even a messy room. Those are simple fixes and end up with us comping a night or giving them a bottle of wine or a lift ticket or something to appease their disappointment.
I’ve had to fire people too. A few housekeepers here and there who can’t keep up with the rigor of getting rooms cleaned quickly, desk attendants who just chose not to show up for work, but I’ve never dealt with a disgruntled employee.
We make our way back to my office. I allow Casey to enter first and she remains standing despite me asking her to sit down. If she wants to have this conversation standing up, then I’ll stand too. I feel like she’s really going for an intimidation factor here and I can’t let that play into how I handle this.
I really want to tell her she’s fired, but there’s protocol, and I plan to follow it to the letter. I don’t want any of this to come back on me. I have enough to deal with already.
“I’m going to start by saying you were not the only name I gave to the detective because that seems to be your impression.”
“Whatever,” Casey quips, rolling her eyes. She’s about my age so there isn’t a discrepancy there, but right now, she’s acting like a spoiled teenager.
“I had been abducted and held against my will. The last thing I was thinking about when I sat down with the detective was anyone else’s feelings. Elissa’s name was given first because she was the last person I saw when I left work,” I tell Casey, not that she cares. “She isn’t holding a grudge. She wants this person caught and spent hours with the detective going over what happened that day.”
“They didn’t ask me anything like that,” Casey mutters, her eyes never meeting mine.
“That’s because I gave your name as someone who would have thought negatively about me. You were talking about me with other employees, and don’t get me wrong, I know that my employees get annoyed with me from time to time. But Casey, none of this was work-related. You were angry at me for supposedly dating Ethan, plain and simple.”
She doesn’t reply, just shrugs one shoulder in response. Her aloofness and condescending behavior is beginning to wear thin, but I need to keep it together.
“I was angry because you wouldn’t give me a recommendation for the jobs Elissa will have open during ski season,” Casey suddenly chimes in.
“I can’t recommend you for a job you aren’t qualified for,” I hit back, wondering if this girl has any idea what it’s like to work your way up at a company.
“And so you told the police it was me!” she shouts, and I step back, pushing my door open, needing this to be heard by anyone within a short distance of my office.
“I never told the police it was you,” I defend, needing to steer the conversation back to work and not my abduction.
I swallow hard, glancing over my shoulder in the hopes that Elissa and her fighting words are standing behind me, but no such luck.
“Casey, going forward, if you are caught talking to other employees about me in a negative way during your working hours, I will have to write you up. You will be placed on a performance plan and if things do not improve, you will be let go.”
“I’m going to talk to Mr. Morrison about this,” she barks, shoving past me, stomping away down the hallway.
Good luck with that.
I think the worst part of this conversation and what I overheard, is that she never denied having anything to do with what happened to me. Despite knowing the person who stole the car was a man, it feels like Casey might have something to do with this.
CHAPTER15
ETHAN
Ileave Zoey and Elissa to it, walking back to my office, even though every single fiber of my being is screaming at me to stay, to keep her in my sights so I don’t ever have to know what it feels like to lose her again.
But I know I can’t do that, and I especially can’t do it here at work, where no one knows we are even together. Well, no one but Alex and Delaney, and now Elissa.
