by Lexy Timms
Mark sighed and set the cloth he'd been cleaning Benton with back in the sink as he got the bottles out. “I mean, can you answer a phone? Use proper phone etiquette, all that?”
“Yes,” Christine said, still looking at him like she had no idea why he was asking her such a stupid question, and he thought he could see a little bit of the woman who had frustrated Jamie so much.
“We're going to need a secretary at the country club, once we get things up and running. Someone who can answer phones and take appointments. That kind of thing. Basically just manning the front desk. If you're interested, I'd be willing to give you a chance at it. Your sister is the hardest worker I've ever met. Well, aside from Alex. I'm sure that, if you go looking for it, you'll find out that you have the same talent for making sure everyone stays in line and all the gears keep working.”
Christine, who had looked at him wide-eyed when he started making the offer, looked away. “I'm not Jamie,” she said, and there was regret in her voice.
Shit. He'd done it again. “You don't have to be,” Mark said. “What I mean is I'm willing to bet that, if you just tried it, you'd find out that you were really good at working. That kind of stuff is hereditary. Probably. I’m not my brother.” He smiled at her. “I think that you'd be a great addition to my team, and it saves me having to look elsewhere. Besides, you're family. That's what family does. We help each other.”
Even if they'd all spent the first couple decades of their lives fighting like cats and dogs. Mark didn't add that. He didn't think Christine needed to hear it any more than Alex would have if it was his brother on the other end of the conversation.
“You really think so?” she asked.
“You've done great with the babies, haven't you? That's hard work. Why don't we just start you out and see what happens from there?” Mark said.
She smiled, and for the first time there was nothing sad in it. “I would really like that, Mark,” she said. “Thank you. So much.”
Mark smiled back at her. “No problem.”
***
Jamie and Alex weren't out as late as Mark had expected them to be, though they were definitely gone longer than it would have taken them just to eat dinner and come home, so they must have stopped somewhere. Mark gave them a cheery wave when they stepped through the door from the kitchen to find him and Christine sitting in the living room and eating ice cream.
“Hey,” he said. “Just went up to check on the kids and they're still sleeping just fine. I think they were tired out from all the games they got to play today.”
Alex nodded, but Jamie was already moving toward the nursery, her attention totally on the kids. He turned and followed her.
“Well, you can see how high we rate on the importance scale,” Mark said, laughing.
Christine gave him one of her uncertain smiles. “The kids are the first priority,” she said.
“Oh, of course they are,” Mark said, taking another bite of ice cream. “And they should be. You'd just think we might get a 'Hello' or something.”
Jamie came back down the hall just then, Alex right behind her. She looked a little more relaxed. “Thank you,” she said. “Both of you. Were they okay all night?”
“Perfect little angels,” Mark said, exchanging a glance with Christine, who looked down to hide her smile. “You know,” he added, looking back at Alex and Jamie, “aside from their deeply held convictions that food is meant to be spread across as many square feet as possible.”
Alex and Jamie both laughed.
“Yeah,” Jamie said. “They're good at that.” She sank down on the couch, tugging Alex down beside her. “I'm glad that you had a good time with them. And we want to thank you again for volunteering to watch them tonight.” She looked from Mark to Christine as she said it, including her sister in the thanks. “We really needed the break, to be honest.”
“I'm sure you did,” Mark said. “We've only been with them for a night and I'm about ready for a break.”
“I enjoyed it,” Christine said. “Thank you for letting me spend time with them, Jamie.”
Jamie looked a little startled. “Of course,” she said. “You're their aunt. We want them to have a good relationship with you.”
“Well,” Christine said, “I know that you were a little worried about it and that's why you didn't have me watch them alone right away. So thank you all the same.”
“We're just glad everyone had a good time,” Jamie said, giving her sister a smile. “And anytime you want to babysit again, just let us know.”
Mark didn't laugh, even though he thought about it. If he were them, he'd want family members to volunteer babysitting every now and then, too. As much as he wanted kids, he wasn't under any illusion that they would be easy to care for.
He finished off the bowl of ice cream he'd been in the middle of and set it aside, standing. “Sorry to rush off, but I've actually got to get going. Stuff to do tomorrow.”
“Oh, of course,” Jamie said. She stood, too, and hugged him tight. “Have a good night, Mark. And drive safe.”
“I always drive safe,” Mark said.
“I should probably be headed home also,” Christine said. “Dad’ll wonder why I'm so late.” She gave Jamie a hug, too, and they headed for the door together.
***
Interviewing to fill positions at a place that wasn't entirely built yet, Mark discovered about a week later, wasn't exactly the easiest thing in the world. He had a general idea of who he wanted and why, and where he would put them to work, but the details were still a little up in the air. Construction had been started on the club house, and it would be done as fast as the contractors could finish it, but it would be a little time before everything was up and running.
He'd interviewed several applicants for landscaping and design positions. If they were going to renovate the golf course, they’d need to get started on it before the club house was finished so that everything would be done together.
The last name on his sheet for the day was one of the applicants for a position that would essentially be golf course tester to start, and maybe continue on into instructor once the business was up and running. Erica Stevenson. He had been a little unsure about hiring a female instructor, considering how some guys could act about being taught anything by a woman, but if they couldn't handle it they could find another club. There were plenty of other people who would be just fine with having a female instructor, and some women who would probably be more comfortable that way. Besides, there was always the chance that he would find other instructors, and have the pros stick to testing the course for him.
There was a knock on the door, and Mark looked up.
“Come in,” he called.
The door swung open to admit a woman that Mark definitely shouldn't be staring at in the way that he was. She was a job applicant. But she was also gorgeous. Her blonde hair was tied back in a high tail, and she was wearing clothes tailored close to her trim frame. It was obvious from her tan that she spent a lot of time outdoors.
Mark coughed, trying to clear the sudden tightness from his throat. “Erica,” he said, rising to offer his hand to her. “How nice to meet you.”
She offered him a wide smile and took the hand he held out, shaking it in a firm grip. “And you, Mr. Reid. Thank you for taking the time to interview me.”
“Oh,” Mark said. “Of course. Your application looks great, so why don't you have a seat and we'll get right down to it?”
She sat, and Mark sat, too, looking across the table at her.
“So,” he said, “tell me a little about why you'd like to work at my country club.”
“I liked the specs you had up for it. I haven't been out there in a while, but I remember the golf course. It's a good one.”
“We're hoping that we can make it even better,” Mark said. “Which is where you would come in. I need someone to play the course. See what needs to be changed about it and how we can make it better. We also need help setting up the dr
iving range. And if you like it with us, we’re looking for instructors as well, once the club house is built and the land is open. Would you have any interest in that position?”
“Absolutely,” she said, smiling at him again. “I love teaching, actually. As you may have seen on my résumé, I've taken on students before and they've all been very satisfied with what I have to offer as a teacher.”
Mark had, in fact, seen those testimonials. It was one of the reasons he had decided to interview Erica in the first place. “I've looked through them. They're all glowing.” He sat back a little in his chair, trying to look more relaxed than he actually felt with a woman who looked like her sitting across from him. “It's why I think you might be such a good fit at the club.” He tapped a finger against the paper that was sitting on the table, thoughtful, and then leaned forward again. “How would you deal with dissatisfied guests?”
“Well,” she said, smiling. “I've never really had many of those, but on the rare occasion that someone does get all up in a huff, I try to diffuse the situation as nicely as possible. People don't usually want to actually fight. They just want someone to give them what they want. I can't always do that, but I can try to talk them around to an option that I can provide.”
That was definitely true. Mark had been through his own share of run-ins with people who were insistent on getting what they wanted, regardless of whether the place they wanted it from actually had the ability to give it to them or not. Of course, once he opened the country club, there’d be no one to defer blame to. If someone insisted on talking to the highest authority, that authority would be him. Which meant he wanted people as capable of dealing with issues like that themselves as possible. He was going to have enough to oversee without upset customers constantly insisting on his time.
With any luck, they’d have fewer of those than other places, but he didn’t pretend that they weren’t going to get any at all. Everyone had to deal with people who were unhappy with service every once and awhile, no matter how good their product was.
“What I’d like to do,” Mark said, making a decision that he hadn’t exactly planned to when he’d started interviewing, “is take you out to the site and let you look around. See what you have to say. And then we can go from there. Does that work for you?”
“That sounds like a great plan,” Erica said. “I’m all for it. Do you want to do it today, or later on?”
“Are you free for any longer this afternoon?” Mark asked.
“I cleared my schedule up until evening to make sure that I’d have enough time for the interview and not have to rush off anywhere. So if you want to go out there this afternoon, I’m fine with that.”
“You’re my last scheduled interview today,” Mark said.
He stood and she stood with him, heading out of the little café and onto the sidewalk together.
“We could carpool,” Mark suggested. “Pick up your car when we get back.”
Erica gave him a look that he wasn’t sure didn’t see right through him, and Mark wondered if she was going to turn him down on the offer after all. She didn’t seem like the kind of woman who would appreciate her future boss hitting on her. But after a moment the look relaxed into a smile.
“Sure. Why not save gas?”
Mark resisted the urge to indulge in a victorious fist pump. “My car’s right here,” he said instead, leading her over to it and opening the door for her. “It’s a bit of a drive, so we can talk on the way.”
He slid in on his own side and started the car, handing her a folder from his briefcase before pulling out into traffic. “Those are the plans for the country club,” he said. “They’ve already started construction on the house, and we’re hoping that it will be done by the middle of the summer. I’d like to be able to open this season.”
“Do you intend to closing during the winter?” Erica asked, flipping through blueprints and course schematics.
“Not at all. The golf course itself won’t really be much use under a foot of snow, but the club house can stay open. That should keep revenue coming in for the parts of the year that the outdoor activities won’t work. I was thinking about maybe offering some cross-country skiing trails, or snow mobiles. There’s some wooded land along the edges of the course that we could run trails through. Keep people coming back for more than golf.”
“It’s always a good idea to have a few backup options in addition to your main source of entertainment. Another idea might be an indoor driving range if there’s room.” Erica said. “These plans for the course look good.”
“My brother helped design them,” Mark said, glancing at her briefly before he turned his attention back to the road. “We’re both pretty avid golfers. But we’re not pros, so we thought it was better to bring in someone who really knew what they were talking about.”
“Your brother is…”
He could feel her turn to look at him, and Mark glanced at her again. “My brother is Alex Reid. Owner of Reid Enterprises. He’s financing the building of the club house.”
“Wow. That’s nice of him.”
“He’s got the capital,” Mark said. “I’ve got the potential source of more revenue. It works out.”
They merged onto the highway, and for a while there was silence in the car except for the sound of the wheels on asphalt, the other cars rushing by or falling behind on either side.
“What is this, right here?” Erica asked, tapping a place on the blueprint.
Mark didn’t take his eyes off the road. There was a car up ahead that had decided speeding through traffic was the best way to go, and he didn’t feel like ending up at the back of a pile-up. “I’m going to have to look at it in a minute. Sorry.”
“Oh. No worries.” She laughed a little. “I didn’t think about the fact that you’re driving. It’s this open spot on the course here.”
“Oh, that.” Mark smiled. “That’s going to be a gazebo; I just didn’t get around to drawing it in. We figured that people might want a shady place to rest, or to get out of the rain.”
“Makes sense,” she said, going back to the plans.
A little while later, Mark pulled into the lot at the course. It already looked different than it had when he came with Alex, he saw as they stepped out of the car. Standing at the top of a rise that looked down on the shallow valley where most of the land lay, they could see the start of construction on the club house.
“That’s going to be big,” Erica said.
“We want it to be able to hold plenty of people,” Mark answered. “What we’re looking for is kind of ostentatious all around, to be honest. We want to get the richy-rich in here playing. Alex’s sort of people.”
She laughed. “A real country club, huh?”
“Real as they get,” Mark said, starting down the little rise and onto the course.
Erica followed.
As they walked, Mark pointed out places where they were going to start improving the course, and Erica occasionally spoke, offering her opinion on the proposed expansions and improvements and suggesting a few of her own. She definitely knew what she was talking about, which was a plus. He kept getting distracted by the curve of her hips, or the way the sunlight fell against her skin, but he managed not to be obvious about it. At least he hoped he wasn’t obvious about it. She hadn’t given any sign that she’d noticed and been offended, so Mark was taking that as a positive.
When they returned to the car, Mark leaned back against the edge of the hood and looked out at the parts of the course they could see from the lot. He really wanted her to like it. “What do you think?”
“I think it looks great,” Erica said, and he turned his gaze to her to find her smiling. “I’d love to work here, honestly.”
“I’d love for you to work here,” Mark said. “Honestly.” He grinned at her. “I think you’ll be a great fit for what we’re trying to do.”
The smile on her face was worth hiring her just by itself.
Chapter 7
&n
bsp; Jamie was sitting in the office, working through a few emails, when her phone rang. She picked it up, glancing down at the screen to check who was calling, and hit the answer button.
“Hey, Dad,” she said, smiling into the phone. “How are you?”
She heard her father sigh on the other end of the line, and her smile drooped. Was it some kind of bad news?
“Everything okay?” she asked.
“Everything is fine,” her father said. “Or as fine as it can be, I suppose.”
He hesitated, like he wasn’t sure how to say the next words, and Jamie’s heart beat a little faster in her chest. Had something happened to Christine? Jamie hadn’t really spoken to her in a few days. Not since she’d last been out to watch the twins. She’d begged off coming out today. “Dad?”
“Your mother is back in town, Jamie.”
Jamie’s hand went slack around the phone, and she realized just in time to catch it before it slipped from her fingers and hit the floor. She fumbled it back into its proper position at her ear. “Mom’s back?” she asked, just to be sure that she’d heard right.
“She got in sometime last week, I guess,” her dad said. “She hasn’t contacted me except to let me know that she’s here, and she’d like to pick up a few of her things that I still have in storage.”
Her mom was back. Jamie had told herself over and over again that she wouldn’t care if her mom did come back to New York. She didn’t care what her mom did. But she did care. Knowing that her mother was back in the city stirred up an uneasy twist in her stomach. What if she tried to come to the house? What if she bothered Christine? She shook herself when she realized she’d been silent for far too long, and spoke into the phone again.
“When is she coming to get them?”
“I’m not sure, honestly,” her father answered. “She didn’t say. I’m assuming that she’ll call me and let me know when she’s decided. But I just wanted to let you know that she’s here. I figured having her show up with no warning would be an unpleasant shock. It certainly shocked me to hear from her.”