Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 126098 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126098 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Abby may not have liked Steve Kessler, but she liked the Custer. Definitely. The ground floor featured a newly renovated fitness room, but still kept the vintage feel with clean white tile floors and botanical green pinstriped white walls. Just off the lounge was a small, but well-stocked bar. Abby appreciated its elegance and though she could get a martini there, drinking in front of guests and her employees was not a good idea, especially since she had just started the job. She smiled a bit at the idea of her guests and her employees.
There was a grand, carpeted staircase that led to a ballroom that hosted weddings on the second floor, as well. Abby climbed the stairs and breezed past the ballroom, entering the long hallway that led to the guest suites on the second floor. She used a keycard on the door and did a spot check of the unoccupied room. The housekeeping staff seemed to be doing a fair job despite what appeared to be lack of any actual management by Steve.
The Custer Hotel had 150 rooms including a Princess, Presidential, and Honeymoon suite on the top two floors. The Princess was occupied, the Presidential was booked for the following weekend, but the Honeymoon suite was not reserved for another six weeks. They really needed to find a way to keep that room booked more consistently. Abby had a few ideas, but it was too early to pitch them.
She spot-checked the other two rooms and questioned the housekeeping staff about whether or not they felt the supplies were adequately stocked in the services storeroom. It was on her list to double check the supplies next week, but it wouldn’t hurt to have some feedback now. She eventually decided that she’d had enough of a break and headed back downstairs to her office. Steve was waiting in her office when she got there. She hid her frown.
“Where were you?” he asked.
Abby smiled. “I was spot-checking some rooms upstairs. Just keeping up with housekeeping.”
The corner of his mouth twitched. “Well, did you finish going over the quarterlies?”
“Nearly.”
“Best get on that then and not running around upstairs,” he said curtly and walked away.
Abby felt her heart sink. So far this was less the dream job than she’d hoped. Oh, she’d understood exactly what she was getting into with office work and daily management tasks. She hadn’t lived in an 800 room hotel in the entertainment capital of the world her entire life and not learned a thing or two (or everything under the sun) about the day-to-day operations of a hotel.
But she didn’t have the decades of comraderie at the Custer that she’d had with the staff at the Coral Canyon in Vegas. And though the Custer was beautiful and definitely a luxury hotel, it lacked a few modern amenities. Most notably, to Abby, it didn’t have a restaurant. Abby had gotten an extra certification in restaurant management and was disappointed not to be able to use it in her first job. Not that she didn’t have more than enough to do, but it was a little disappointing.
She went over the books for nearly two more hours until it was officially quitting time. The hotel seemed to be doing well financially, according to the books, even though in the short time she’d been there it hadn’t been booked anywhere near capacity. Of course it was the last week in March and peak season didn’t start until May.
She marked her place in the binder and decided to call it a day. She’d stayed late every day her first week, but was now putting herself on a strictly normal working schedule. No sense in getting burnt out in the first month. She knew from the experience of working part time and taking one extra class every semester since freshman year in order to graduate a semester early, that she needed to get some air.
She drove home, shed her suit, and pulled on a pair of 501’s, boot cut to accommodate her Icon El Bajo’s. She pulled her hair back, fastening it at the base of her neck, and shrugged on her brown cowhide leather jacket.
The panhead’s engine caught immediately and she tweaked the gas to warm it up. Paying for school out of pocket, she’d been making do with a Toyota for the last five years. It was cheap, required little maintenance, which between work and school she rarely had had time for. But now that she had her first post-grad job plus the money from her father’s life insurance, she’d have to look into a new set of wheels. A nicer car, definitely, and after that, maybe a bike of her own.
It was chilly now, in the evening. The sun was just setting. But Abby, ever a desert dweller, had on a tank top and a long-sleeved henley and a t-shirt under her jacket. Nights in Nevada could get downright cold, as many a Florida snowbird unhappily discovered when they’d checked in to the Coral Canyon with only warm weather clothes. She took the ramp onto the highway and put the panhead through all five gears smoothly as she opened up the engine. She relaxed down into the seat and flexed her fingers through her leather gloves. Despite the chill, it was worth it to go for one final ride on her father’s Harley.