“No.” She swallowed and headed to the door. “That was it, sir.”
I ran the numbers through my head and tapped my fingers against the desk.
Fifty-five hundred a month at one property times twelve months of the year is a little over sixty thousand. If they manage to repeat this at four other properties, they’ll walk away with over a quarter million. Who the hell would even attempt to do this shit without thinking they’ll get caught?
“I have an idea, Preston.” George interrupted my thoughts. “Well, outside of the fact that you just threatened to fire her, why haven’t you ever asked Linda to be your executive assistant?”
“I have, and she turned it down. She said I already drive her to drink, and her husband doesn’t want her working too closely with me.”
“Well, what about Cynthia?”
“Cynthia is only twenty years old.” She also wants to fuck me.
“Well, maybe she could grow into the position. You were only twenty years old when you bought your first hotel, and look at how you turned that dump of a property around. Look at how much you’ve accomplished in the nineteen years since. Maybe Cynthia is the next Preston Parker in the making.”
“I can guarantee that she’s not.”
“You’re not willing to give her a chance?”
“I don’t even want to think about giving her a chance.”
“Well, I think it’s a pretty good idea.”
“Let me show you why it’s not.” I dialed her extension. “Cynthia, can you come into my office for a minute, please?”
“Gladly, Mr. Parker.”
Within seconds, she stepped into my office. Her cheeks were flushed pink, and her skirt was definitely inches higher than it was earlier.
“Oh.” She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw George. “I thought you were calling me in here, so we could be alone.” She cleared her throat. “How may I help you this afternoon, Mr. Parker?”
“As you know, I’m currently searching for a new executive assistant. I was wondering if you’d be interested in being my interim EA, if the next interviews don’t work out.”
“Oh, of course.” She bit her bottom lip, blushing even more. “If I became your EA, does that mean I’ll be your go-to person for like everything? Like, we’ll probably spend a lot more time together?”
“Yes.”
“Like private meetings and overnight business trips? Alone?”
“Yes.”
“Will we share a hotel room whenever we’re away?”
“Not at all. Typically, my executive assistant gets a separate room for travel.”
“Well, I wouldn’t dare trouble you with a separate room. I would love to save you the money, and nothing about our relationship would have to be typical.” She moved closer, her eyes widening with each step. “At least, not at first. I would ease you into things, let you take things slow, but I have to be honest and admit that I like everything the rough and hard way. If we really got along well, after a few months of being your EA, we should discuss—”
“Okay, enough.” George didn’t let her finish. “Thank you for your time, Cynthia. We’ll let you know if the last interviews don’t pan out.”
“I really hope they don’t.” She licked her lips like a starving animal, then she smiled at me before leaving the room.
When she shut the door, George looked at me. “She’s making direct sexual advances, and you haven’t fired her yet? Why?”
“Because she does excellent work. She’s also one of the few people on my team who doesn’t break into tears whenever I ask for multiple things at once.”
“Noted.” He opened his laptop and set it on the edge of my desk. “Before we get down to today’s business, I’ve been meaning to ask you something. Are you going home to see your family this holiday season? I know you usually don’t, but I’m working on the executive calendar and would like to know.”
“I don’t have a family,” I said in a terse manner. “We’ve discussed this before.”
No matter how close I was with George, discussions about my family (or lack thereof) were off-limits. I never talked about them with anyone and I didn’t see that changing anytime soon.
“I know how you feel about this topic, I just—” He dropped the subject when he noticed the look on my face. “Okay then, on to my latest research.” He showed me his latest findings and stuck to the things I preferred to discuss, and after four hours of walking through the legal ramifications of my latest deal, he left my office.
Still restless and needing to fill my time with work, I asked Linda to email me the final Grand Rose numbers, so I could see them for myself. The moment I finished recalculating the deficit, I knew something wasn’t adding up.
The losses all took place on the same three days of the week, and for whatever reason, they all took place in the morning. I picked up the schedule for the cash pick-ups and saw that they all corresponded to those dates.
Seething, I asked Human Resources to prepare pink slips for the eight managers and told George to have the legal team prepare for a lawsuit.
I picked up my phone and called the hotel directly. “This is Preston Parker, your owner. I’ll be there tomorrow to fire whoever’s been stealing from me.”
Three
Tara
I was officially convinced that there was nothing worse than being young, broke, and jobless in New York City.
Nothing.
With exactly fifteen dollars and forty-eight cents in my bank account, every day was a struggle to make it to the next, and I knew that if I didn’t get a job soon, I would be homeless.
My business degrees might as well have been printed on toilet paper for the shit they’d brought me thus far. I was just like every other girl who moved here after law school, with high hopes and dreams, realizing that my dream apartment in Manhattan was going to have to be a shared studio in Brooklyn, and that my dream job of working at a Fortune 500 Company was going to have to be freelancing ghostwritten stories like Knocked Up by My Baby Father’s Cousin—The Dom for a couple of hundred bucks.
Even though I managed to snag four to five interviews a week, I hardly ever received callbacks. Only cold, emailed rejections.
Over the past six months, I’d applied for over three hundred jobs, and every night, between tears and a half-eaten bowl of Ramen noodles, I googled, “Is it possible to sue your university if you don’t land a job after graduation?”
I was almost tempted to go back home to Pittsburgh, but my heart wouldn’t let me. I’d worked too hard to give up now, and I knew someone would hire me eventually.
“Quitters never win, and winners never quit, Tara. You’re definitely going to get this job today.” I muttered to myself as I pulled my hair into a side ponytail. I looked myself over in the mirror one last time, making sure the navy-blue dress was wrinkle-free, and then I grabbed my bag and opened the window to the fire escape.
When I was outside, I pulled a handful of condom packages from my bag and lined them on the bottom of the sill, gently wedging them between the glass so I could re-open the window later. My roommate and I were seven days late with our rent, and we needed access to our things, just in case our landlord decided to kick us out.