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“So let me deal with the people who do.”
Holly pursed her lips. Behind her, she could hear the grumbling and the whining and tears of tired and tetchy children, but damn it, she’d spent a lot of money on this hotel, and she wanted answers. “With all due respect, miss. You appear to have misappropriated five thousand dollars of my money. I think I’m owed an explanation.”
Crystal appeared to grit her teeth. “Perhaps if madam would like to stand aside while I deal with the backlog, I’ll have time to deal with your request afterward,” she spat. “Unless you’d like to do it yourself.” She muttered that last part under her breath, and it was like something flicked a switch in Holly’s brain.
“Thank you. I will.” She called the girl’s bluff while smiling sweetly and rounding the reception desk to the spare terminal.
“Hey, what are you doing?” Crystal objected as the next customer stood forward and started drumming his fingers on the countertop.
“I’m taking you up on your suggestion,” Holly replied, bringing the monitor to life.
“You can’t do that, and besides, none of it will make any sense to you. It’s a specialist system.”
“Don’t let me stop you,” Holly gestured to the impatient man who was now tapping his fingers on the countertop even harder. Soon, he’d be pounding on it.
“Just wait,” Crystal snapped at him, earning herself a glare.
On the other side of the room, the Christmas tree wobbled dangerously as two young boys pulled at the baubles. “Can you keep your kids under control back there,” Crystal screeched.
“You know, you catch more bees with honey than vinegar,” Holly told the girl as she removed her coat and hung it on a peg in a hidden alcove.
“What?”
“It’s something my mother used to say. It means it’s easier to get what you want by being polite and kind.”
Crystal just rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“Excuse me, ma’am,” a frazzled-looking young mother with a screaming infant rushed forward and addressed Holly. “Can you please just check us in? The baby is overdue a feed, and we’ve been traveling for hours."
The woman looked close to tears herself, and Holly bit her lip, about to correct her, when the baby turned red in the face and seemed to stop breathing, his angry little face scrunched up and the sudden silence a little scary. “Oh no, oh no…” his mother jiggled him up and down and put the tip of her finger in his mouth. “He does this sometimes if things get out of hand. The doctor says we should avoid it as much as possible.”
The child gave an erratic judder and started sucking manically on his mother’s finger, but Holly knew that wouldn’t keep him satisfied for long.
She sighed. “Let me see what I can do.”
Browsing the system, Holly checked the reference the woman gave her and found the booking. Locating the container of key cards, she charged one and handed it to the man who had stepped up beside her with a toddler in tow. “Thank you so much,” he said as he juggled the child and the luggage before hurrying away.
Before Holly could blink, a harried-looking, elderly couple had taken their place. Holly stared for a moment, nonplussed. Then, aware of Crystal scrutinizing her out of the corner of her eye, Holly did what she did best and pasted on a smile. “How can I help you?”
It took a long time to work their way through everyone who was waiting, but gradually, the queue and the tempers abated, and Holly, with her ready smile and her calm demeanor, soothed those who were still agitated with the offer of a complimentary drink at the bar by way of vouchers that she’d found stacked under the desk.
“Why did you do that?” Crystal asked quietly, when the last of the check-ins was completed, her tone devoid of her earlier antagonism.
Holly shrugged. “Someone helped me earlier today when I needed it. Just paying it forward.”
“I’m sorry I was so rude,” the young receptionist continued apologetically. “I only do seasonal work, and I don’t usually man the desk alone, but we have a lot of staff off sick. I kind of lost it.”
Holly nodded her acceptance and let it go. There was nothing to gain from belaboring the point. “Now, to see what happened to my reservation,” she said instead.
“I looked it up earlier,” Crystal interrupted. “It was canceled by a Mr. Kyle Smith at the beginning of September. It’s highly irregular, I know, but apparently, he persuaded one of the other receptionists to refund the payment to a different account. I’m sorry. I can get it looked into for you because it shouldn’t have happened, and it should never have been authorized.”
Kyle and his smooth-talking charm. With his hotel experience, he’d know all the loopholes for achieving such a thing.
Holly felt herself deflate all over again. September. That was a whole six weeks or more before they’d broken up.
Fucking rat bastard.
Yeah, that voice in her head was damn well spot on. She really should listen to it more often.
