AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“The budget is over on food and linen. Oh, and the new wine delivery has been delayed by two days.”
On and on it went. A never ending list of things that needed his attention. Jordan dragged his fingers through his unkempt hair and sighed. “Do you have any good news for me?”
Rehab had helped sort him out, but he was having to use every trick at his disposal to keep his mind focused on the job at hand.
The eager Austin brightened up. “I do actually. I’m thinking we could make some savings on the linen order. We won’t be full when we open, and if we can get through the first couple of months without all those sheets and towels, we can use the money from guest receipts to fund the final part of the order.”
Once they were open and the resort was running properly the respective team managers would shoulder the bulk of the workload. His job would shift to more of a hands-off management role. At the first chance he got he would be asking the board to find a replacement for him.
I don’t want to manage a resort ever again. Not after this.
And while his assistant manager was full of good ideas, Jordan was quickly learning that when it came to resort launches, Austin was as green as him. They’d both read the books. Attended the lectures. Even watched while others did it. But it was a bit like having sex for the first time, until your dick was in the heat of a woman’s body, and you had to move, you weren’t quite sure if you had the hang of it.
This was not how he’d envisaged popping his resort cherry. There was no pleasure to be found.
“Ok, let’s halve the linen order and see how we go. If guests start complaining, we might have to order the rest. What’s next?”
Austin tapped away on his iPad. “Opening week. The Head of Special Events wants to meet up with you and discuss a few ideas he has for our first couple of weeks.”
Jordan’s interest picked up. Bryce had always said that he made it his job to dazzle the first guests whenever he opened a new hotel. If those guests went home happy, they would tell their friends. Word of mouth was a powerful tool in the hotel industry.
“I’ll go and see him now. If he has some really great ideas, you might need to find some more dollars somewhere else in the budget, so keep looking. Thanks, Austin.”
The Royal Resorts board had already approved two increases to the operational budget, Jordan didn’t want to have to go cap-in-hand to his father and ask for more. He’d managed to keep his stay at the clinic quiet, working from his room between therapy sessions, but he still wanted to avoid talking face to face with Edward until after the resort was open.
Jordan left his office and went in search of the Head of Special Events, eventually locating Claude in the resort’s main ballroom. No sooner had he and Claude locked eyes on one another, than a song suddenly blasted out of the music system.
Jordan watched with dismay as the man launched into a full dance number. His moves perfectly in time with Chloe’s revenge song, “Bitter Babe”.
For fuck’s sake.
He couldn’t stand it. Jordan waved his arms about. “Stop! For the love of god, stop!”
Claude stopped dancing and the music mercifully cut out. The brief silence was heavenly. Jordan braced himself as the man made his way over. “Sorry, I always get a bit carried away. You can take the boy out of the dance troop, but you can never take the dance from him.”
“You’re quite the light foot,” replied Jordan. “Austin tells me you have some ideas for opening week.”
Claude clapped his hands together. “I do. That song. The one by Chloe, got me thinking. She lives in LA, and I happen to know her manager, Foster.”
Oh, no. Please no.“Do you?”
“Yes, and I was thinking we could approach him to organize for her to do a mini concert here during the week we open. She could perform ‘Bitter Babe’. Imagine the crowds.”
“I don’t think we have that sort of budget available.”
Claude waved Jordan’s concerns away. “I know this is your first resort, but I would expect with your background you’d understand that hotel launches are all about creating buzz. I know Chloe would cost a penny or three but think of the publicity. We could sell tickets and have her perform on a special stage on the golf green. Imagine a gorgeous sunset in the background. People would love it. And that song is amazing.”
“Yeah, well I hate it. It’s a spiteful slap down of some poor schmuck who got on the wrong side of a famous woman. And the idea of having a pop star open a high-end resort is ridiculous. No. Think of something else.”
He turned and stormed out of the ballroom.
* * *
With opening day for the resort looming, Jordan was now living on site. He’d moved into one of the guest suites. His days started early, and his nights went late. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get his brain to focus on the simplest of tasks. His therapist had suggested he was overstressed and the excess of cortisol pumping through his body was doing him real harm.
But he was committed to the launch date. No matter what transpired, they had to open on time. If they didn’t Edward and the board would be asking some serious questions. Jordan had resorted to avoiding his father’s calls as much as possible, only replying via email.
His nerves and sanity were hanging by a thread.
