Margie cut in. “But Claire is agreatnew Steve, isn’t she?”
He nodded, and before he could form a response, Margie spoke again. “I’m sure she makes the loveliest boss, but she’s so much more than that. She’s kind and beautiful, too.”
Chip looked at Claire, who was staring down at the ground, and he couldn’t help himself. “Yes, she most certainly is.”
“Okay Margie,” Claire said loudly. “Is there anything else you wanted to see today?”
“If any of the rooms are open, I’d love to take a peek.”
From the narrowing of Claire’s eyes, it didn’t seem like this was the response she was looking for.
Chip, however, was having a grand time and was happy to extend the tour. He cleared his throat. “No problem. Let me check our system and grab some room keys.”
He popped over to the front desk, momentarily excusing Gigi from her post. As he clicked around the computer, Chip was disappointed to see that there were more than a few rooms open. He did a quick count. The hotel had twenty-one unoccupied rooms.
While it was nice to have something to show Margie, it was another sad reminder of how empty they were running. He hoped that there were better days ahead of them.
There was hope, of course. Claire had shocked him the previous night with the story of that inheritance. True, she didn’t have experience in hotels, but that didn’t matter. She was willing to learn.
What was more important was that she wasn’t counting on the hotel to make her a fortune. She already had a fortune, and she wanted the hotel for the right reasons.
Or so it seemed.
Chip returned with the keys to find that Claire had another visitor – a young woman with striking red hair.
He said hello and Claire introduced them. “I’d like you to meet my eldest daughter, Lucy.”
Chip shook her hand. “I’ve heard so much about you. It’s nice to meet you.”
“All good things, I hope?” Lucy asked.
“Of course,” Chip said.
Lucy let out a breath, puffing out her cheeks. “Then Claire has been lying.”
He and Margie laughed while Claire maintained a tight smile.
“Is everything okay, sweetie?” asked Claire.
Lucy shrugged. “Yeah. I just wanted to stop by and check this place out.”
“We were just about to go and see some rooms,” Margie said. “Maybe Claire can tell us about some of the improvements she has in mind.”
Lucy’s eyes brightened. “I had some ideas for improvements, too.”
Margie clapped her hands together excitedly. “Do tell!”
“Well, first of all,” Lucy said, “the website looks like it fell out of the nineties.”
Claire stepped forward. “I thought it looked nice.”
“I’m no computer wizard,” Lucy continued, “but I think even I could make something better.”
Chip crossed his arms. “Go on.”
“It’s not just the website, it’s the pictures, too.” Lucy took a breath. “I used to work at this design studio. I’m not a designer, but I was an administrative assistant to the director – and I’d always hear him say that we needed to make things beautiful so people could envision themselves there.”
“Oh. I like that,” said Margie.
