“Uh . . . um, yes. Yes, sir. I’m sorry, you caught me off guard. Yes, I can start tomorrow.”
“Good. Report here first thing in the morning at eight o’clock sharp, and we’ll go over what I expect from you as my personal assistant. I purposely have a light schedule this week, but, come Monday, be ready to hit the ground running. Are you old school and use a day planner or will a tablet work?”
Another question that had him shifting gears and making a sharp turn in another direction. This time he recovered faster from the verbal whiplash. “A tablet is preferable.”
“I’ll have one waiting for you in the morning. Delilah will give you directions to personnel on your way out.”
Assuming he’d been dismissed, Alex turned to go but stopped when he remembered his manners. He was still reeling from the abrupt job offer. When Turner raised an eyebrow at him, he said, “Thank you for hiring me, sir. I’m looking forward to working for you, and I’ll do my best to get up to speed as soon as possible.”
“Good to hear. Oh, by the way, did you bring the dog’s vet bill?”
“Um, no, sir, it wasn’t ready yet.”
Turner nodded as he took his seat again. “That’s fine. When you get it, give it to Delilah, and she’ll make sure it gets paid.”
“I will, Mr. Turner.”
“It’s Scout, Alex. Mr. Turner or sir are only suited for formal settings.”
“Okay, Scout it is. Thanks again.”
Alex left the office, controlling the urge to throw a few fist pumps into the air. There would be plenty of time to celebrate later.
A little over an hour later, after he’d finished with personnel and security, it was dinnertime. The hotel’s classy restaurant wasn’t something he was into while dining alone, so he exited the building and glanced around. Across the street was a pub that looked pretty good, and Alex chuckled at its name—the Cock & Bull. Since San Francisco had a large LBGTQ population, the name was undoubtedly a play on words. He wouldn’t be surprised to find it catered to the gay community. When the traffic in front of him came to a stop, he waited for the crossing signal to turn green and joined a small crowd of people making their way to the other side of the street.
Three men entered the pub ahead of him, and the last one held the door open for him, giving him a flirtatious smile as he did so. He was cute but at least ten years Alex’s junior. At thirty-four, Alex was no longer looking to date guys who wanted to spend most of their time at clubs and parties.
When the threesome stopped at the hostess stand, Alex stepped around them and found a seat at the bar. He didn’t mind eating alone, he just hated sitting at a table by himself. At the bar, he could probably find some casual conversation or watch some sports or news on one of the large TVs that hung on the wall.
After ordering a beer and asking for a menu, he took a moment to hang his suit jacket on the back of the stool, loosen his tie, and undo the top button of his shirt, before sitting down. A quick glance around the place told him it was a lot bigger than it’d appeared from the outside. The bar itself took up one whole wall, from front to back, while counter-height tables and chairs were evenly spaced along a half wall behind Alex. On the other side of that, there were tables and booths, surrounding a dance floor, and a small stage, which he assumed was for musical entertainment. At the back of the bar was the entrance to the kitchen and a hallway where the restrooms were located. Over by the hostess stand was a set of stairs leading to a second level. A wide balcony along the entire perimeter held more dining tables and allowed the patrons to observe what was going on below.
The bar and tables were half-filled, but it was still early, and every few minutes more people flowed in through the front door. It looked like the place did a decent business. If the food was good, Alex might be visiting often after getting off work.
Before his mind could fully shift back to his new boss, his hot new boss, the bartender placed a pint of Guinness and a menu in front of him and asked, “Do I know you? You look really familiar.”
Alex eyed the man for a moment—dark hair, brown eyes, broad shoulders, about six three, and around Alex’s age. He also got the impression the other guy was familiar too. Suddenly, a name popped into his head. “Gino Demara?”
A smile spread across the bartender’s face, and recognition flashed in his eyes. He reached across the bar for a handshake. “Yeah! Holy crap! Alex Shepherd—that is you. I think the last time I saw you was our five-year reunion. How’ve ya been? Where’ve ya been?”
Gino and Alex had gone to high school together and had been in several classes with each other. While they hadn’t been close—their graduating class had over 500 students—they’d still been friends and had hung out with a lot of the same people. “I’m doing great, and I actually just moved back here from New York. My mom had a stroke, so I came back to help out.”
“Aw, that sucks, man. She doing okay, though?”
“Yeah, she is. Just made me realize how much distance there was between New York and here. What are you up to these days?”
Gino shrugged. “Little of this, little of that. For now, I’m working for my cousin, Rico, who owns the place. He’s a couple years older than us, so not sure if you remember him.”
He shook his head. The name sounded familiar, but he couldn’t conjure up an image of the man. “Not really, no.”
“He’ll be in later. So, where are you working now?”
“Actually, I just got hired to work for Scout Turner across the street. Just came from the interview.”
Gino’s eyes widened. “Seriously? That’s awesome. Scout’s a great guy and really takes care of his employees. He’s good friends with Rico. In fact, he’s a silent partner in this place.”
Alex filed that surprising tidbit of information away in his mind. It looked like Turner had more business ventures than Alex had been able to uncover, although with his new position, he’d be learning a lot more about the man.
“Hey, Gino, I need two Heinekens, a chardonnay, and a dirty martini, up,” a waitress at the end of the bar called out to him.
He waved his acknowledgment but turned back to Alex. “Stick around after you eat. I get off in about an hour. We’ll have a few beers and catch up.”
“Sounds good.”
As Gino strode toward the end of the bar, Alex picked up the menu. It was amazing how much had changed since yesterday afternoon. A second chance at the interview. A new job. Reconnecting with old friends. San Francisco was finally starting to feel like home again. Now, if he could just find someone to adopt that damn dog.
Thankfully, as promised, Thursday and Friday had been relatively slow in the Paradox’s main office, so Alex had been able to ease into the new position while taking lots of notes. He’d followed Scout around the hotel as his boss introduced him to the various department heads who ran the place as smoothly as possible. Knowing he wouldn’t remember everyone’s names right off the bat, Alex had entered them into an open document on the tablet he’d been given, along with their title and a brief description of their physical appearance to help him recall who they were later on.
Once the weekend had rolled around, Scout had given Alex both days off. He’d mentioned he had family visiting and would only be taking emergency calls, which were being filtered through Delilah until Alex was better acclimated.