Open Skies (7 page)

“OK, good.” Julie looked at her. “What time are the cabins going to be cleaned tomorrow?”

“Around noon, I imagine.”

“Great. I’ll have my meeting with Rob, and then I’ll meet you at cabin one at noon. I’d like to start seeing the others cabins right away.”

“And breakfast?”

Julie looked around at the compact kitchen space. “Surely I can make my own breakfast here? You did tell Joe to bring me some food?”

“Well, sure. But just the basics.”

“What are the basics?”

“Fruit and some vegetables, bread and butter and jam. Some yogurt and chicken and cheese and ham. Eggs. Coffee and tea. Water, some soda.” She grinned. “A bottle of wine.”

“That’s more than enough,” Julie said. “I’ll manage.”

“Are you sure, hon? Manny does a mean breakfast… bacon and eggs and pancakes and French toast. He feeds all the on-site staff every morning, so it’s not like he’d be going out of his way. The buffet’ll be set up for the guests and the live-ins, no matter what.”

“Actually… where do the on-site staff live?”

“We have quarters in the back of the reception building, and there’s also a small stand-alone cabin behind the stables.”

“I see.”

“Most of us commute in, but five of us live here.”

“Do you live here?”

“Oh, yes, hon. I love living here. It’s my home.”

“That’s nice. Oh, and could you please spread the word among the staff that I’d like them all to gather in the restaurant at ten o’clock? I’ll introduce myself properly and meet them all then.”

“Sure. I’ll make sure everyone knows.”

“Thank you. Well, goodnight, Mattie.”

“Goodnight. I’ll see you in the morning.”

After Mattie had gone, Julie sat down in an armchair and looked out the window at the mountains. OK, so that hadn’t gone so badly, she figured. She’d get some important and much-needed information first thing tomorrow, meet the staff and get some sense of who did what, and get the lay of the land after she toured the cabins, the stables, and the grounds. By this time tomorrow, she’d know exactly what she owned, and what she had to sell.

That cabin, though. The Big House, as Mattie called it. That place where her biological father had lived, and maybe died. Now that she thought about it, actually, she hadn’t ever asked Hawkins how the bastard had kicked the bucket. Heart attack? Car crash? Trampled by a rampaging horse? She made a mental note to put in a call to New York one day soon and ask Hawkins for that small detail.

Anyway. She’d have to go and check it out at some point, she knew. It was a major asset in the sale of the property, and it had massive potential as a luxury cabin rental. Maybe for company employees on a retreat, or an integration weekend? She knew companies back in New York that paid big bucks to rent out hotels space for employee training sessions, and team-building seminars. Maybe she could check out if Open Skies offered such a service to companies in Denver and Colorado Springs?

A wave of tiredness crashed over her, so she got to her feet and headed in to the bedroom. She’d unpack a few basics, then jump in to the shower. She couldn’t wait to scrub off the layer of grime that travel always seemed to leave on her skin and in her hair. She’d go to bed early, and set her alarm for six o’clock. She wanted to show up to her first financial meeting looking perfect. Looking like the boss. Looking like the damn person in charge here.

Everything was going to be just fine. It was all under control. There was nothing at Open Skies Ranch that she couldn’t handle.

Chapter Three

Jake Weston’s steel-gray eyes were narrowed in shock and anger. He stared at Rosie, then at Joe, then back again.

“She
what
?” he demanded.

“And after she refused to stay at the Big House and snubbed the chance to see Dave’s office, she told Rob to get a sales presentation done for tomorrow at eight. Maria says he’ll be here all night. She’s gone now to get Gracie’s birthday present, ‘cause Rob can’t go.”

Jake pushed his black hair back from his eyes with both hands, a sure sign of frustration. He just couldn’t believe that this spoiled little bitch had swanned on to the ranch and treated the people he cared about like shit. Just who the hell did she think she was, anyway?

Mattie appeared at the stable door. “Hey, guys. Julie’s asked us all to be in the restaurant tomorrow at ten. She wants a staff meeting. OK?”

“On
Saturday
morning?” Joe asked.

“Yeah. Well, it’s her first day here. She wants to get a jump on stuff, I guess. And most of us are here, anyway.”

They all nodded, but she sensed the tension in the air. “Hey, what’s up?”

Nobody said anything for a minute then Rosie said, “Well, did
you
find her very friendly?”

Mattie leaned against the wall and loosely crossed her arms. “Not so much. But I think the poor little thing was just overwhelmed. I mean, she isn’t in an easy position.”

“Poor little thing?” Jake snapped. “Seriously?”

“
She
isn’t in an easy position?” Joe echoed. “And what about all of us?”

“Well, I know. Change is never easy and not always welcome. But it happens. You all didn’t think that Dave would be around forever, did you? And what did you expect to happen when he left?”

“That’s not the point, Mattie,” Jake said in his deep voice. “The point is how she treats us. Dave was the boss, but didn’t act like some goddamned King of the Castle. I don’t mind a new owner and boss, but I’d like to think that she could treat us all with a bit of respect.”

“Give the girl some time,” Mattie said. “Let her settle in. Not everyone can make a good first impression. And remember – we can’t believe every single thing we’ve heard about her. Consider the source.”

“Fine,” Rosie sighed. “I’ll try.”

“Yeah, OK,” Joe agreed.

They went off to get the horses ready for an evening ride with some of the hotel guests, leaving Jake alone with Mattie.

“Look, Jake. I know you’re the most unhappy about all of this, but it is what it is. Just give her a chance, OK?”

“OK,” he said. “She gets one shot tomorrow at the meeting.” He scowled. “After that, I’ll treat her the same way she treats me. How that’ll be is up to her.”

**
Julie was up long before her alarm the next morning. After a night of fitful sleep punctuated by bad dreams, at about 5:00 a.m., she admitted defeat and gave up trying to rest.

She went in to the kitchen and looked through the cupboards, on the hunt for coffee. Mattie had stocked her with instant (bleuch), and a pretty nice selection of ground coffees. Julie lined them all up on the counter and read through the hand-written labels: French Vanilla, Tiramisu, Ginger & Orange, Cinnamon. Hmmm. Tough call, this one. In the end, she decided to have the ginger first, and then follow it up with a cup of the vanilla.

As she waited for the brand-new espresso maker to boil on the stove, she stared out of the living room window. The mountains were still mostly in darkness, but a few tentative rays of sun were touching the tips. She watched in amazement as the mountains were streaked with purple, then rose, then gold. She got the feeling that they were being gently stroked awake, coaxed to come alive. She’d never seen anything like it in her life.

The espresso maker hissed behind her as the coffee bubbled up and in to the collecting chamber, and she inhaled the aroma gratefully. She poured the coffee in to a cute mug with black and white stripes and wandered back over to the window. She stood sipping her coffee and watching the mountains again and thinking about her day.

The meeting with Rob was sure to be interesting. Julie’s nine months as the Head of the New Business Development Department had taught her a staggering amount about sales and projections and budgets and strategy. She could now read a spreadsheet fluently, and terms which had confounded her at the beginning (such as ‘COGS’ and ‘GM’ and ‘Supplier Rebates’) now just rolled off her tongue. She hoped that Rob was at least semi-competent at his job and would be able to answer her questions.

The staff meeting at ten o’clock, though, that was a whole different story. She knew she’d have to stand up and say something, but public speaking and making
ad
hoc
speeches or presentations had never been easy for her. She was great with negotiations and defending her decisions to a Board, but off-the-cuff casual and social stuff was beyond her. How to handle having two-dozen pairs of eyes all staring at her as she fumbled her way through a meeting? What to do if they asked her about her plans for the ranch? Should she be honest? Or lie? When she lied she flushed bright red, though. Best not to do that.

All things considered, it was probably a good idea to just not say too much. Short and sweet and simple: that was the ticket. She wasn’t here to keep anybody happy, and she didn’t need to get to know anyone. In six months, they’d all be going in their separate directions. So why bother getting to know – and maybe even like – these people?

She sat down at the table nearest the massive window and pulled out a pen and her notebook. She took a sip of her coffee, then opened the book. At the top of a clean page she wrote ‘To Do – Day 1 at Horse Hotel from Hell’. And – like every morning of her life for the past twenty-six years – she wrote her list of things to do that day.
**
Julie sat in the ten o’clock staff meeting feeling very pleased.

Rob Cathay had taken her aback this morning. She’d asked him for the sales figures for the past year, expecting an Excel file presentation of projected figures versus achieved figures broken down by month – the whole ‘budgeted vs actual’ side of business that can so often be either a disappointment or a glorious surprise. She’d imagined a presentation with two columns, one for budgeted and one for achieved, and maybe some percentages to show the discrepancy between target and actual, either positive or negative.

Instead, he’d turned up with a full presentation of set budget, achieved numbers, expenses, and some annual patterns which had been noticed over the decade that the ranch and hotel had been in operation. He’d also shown her room occupancy rate by season, year on year, to show how steadily the business had grown over the past decade. Two guest cabins became three, then four, now five.

Rob also suggested that she consider building another two cabins; he had prepared all expenses she could expect to incur by making such a move, and then projected the return on investment over the next two years. It was completely impressive: it was almost forty pages of tight, careful research, strong analysis and balanced, logical conclusions. She’d also appreciated his creativity in suggesting the two new cabins, the looking-forward and ideas for growth. It must have taken him hours.

What she had learned from Rob was that Open Skies Ranch was an amazingly successful business: expenses were high, to be sure, but with horses and hotels, they had to be. Staff were well-paid, so that had made them loyal and kept them motivated. Rob had also included a few slides about guest loyalty, and he had shown her that more than seventy percent of guests had returned to Open Skies more than four times in the past five years. That was an astounding client base, one which partially explained the business’ success. It was clear to Julie that the group she now sat in the restaurant staring at – all casually sipping coffee and eating croissants - was a group of people who knew what they were doing, and who did their jobs well.

More and more it was looking like selling the entire business as-is was the best option: the thought of ripping everything down to sell the land seemed silly. Also, if the attraction of this place, from the point of view of a buyer, was the customer-base, then removing the services offered and staff made no sense.

She had walked over from the offices to the restaurant alone, after Rob had to make a few phone calls. He said he’d join her at ten o’clock. Nerves got the better of her – the thought of going in to that restaurant and having to make small talk until everyone arrived was terrifying for her. She had ducked in to the bathroom and hidden in a stall until ten minutes past ten, then she’d emerged, hoping that everyone had arrived and she could just go in and sit down right away.

She had looked at herself in the mirror: God, she was pale. Quickly, she added some blush to her cheeks and put some more cover up under her eyes to mask the dark shadows there. She smoothed down the lapels of her lemon-yellow suit jacket and re-tucked her white blouse in to her crisp brown pants. She adjusted her necklace to show the large amber centrepiece to best advantage and fiddled with her amber earrings. She straightened her back and raised her chin. OK. Ready to go.

She had clicked across the wooden floor to the restaurant in her yellow high heels. She paused in the doorway and surveyed the staff all staring at her.

“There you are, hon!” Mattie said. “Come on over here and sit down. Carl will get you a coffee.”

“Thank you.” Her voice had come out flat and calm, thank God. Once she was sitting, she felt better and crossed her legs and coolly sipped her coffee. Her hand didn’t tremble much at all.

They’d all looked at her expectantly. Not quite trusting her voice yet, she had opened her personnel file and slowly looked through the pages again.

OK, stay calm. It’s all fine. Just say hello, introduce yourself. Ask who they are. OK, go on, now. You can do this.

“Good morning. I’m Julie Everett. Maybe you can all introduce yourselves? Tell me a bit about what you do here?”

And she’d thrown it over to them. For the next thirty minutes, she’d been able to sit and drink her coffee and nod, pretending to take notes as her heart rate slowed down, not meeting anyone’s eye, not even really looking at anyone at all. The faces were just a blur.

Mattie, Rob, Joe and Rosie she knew of course. Maria was still at the front desk, but she’d told Rob that there was no need for the receptionist to be there, anyway. What Maria did was clear.

So here she was, feeling very pleased, meeting her staff.

The chef was named Manuel Cruz, and he asked that she call him Manny. He told her that he loved spicy foods (Tammy would be pleased, and Julie made a mental note to tell her all about Manny, the Spicy Chef) and worked best with seasonal produce. He was big on meat and sauces at this time of year, and he wondered if she’d let him play with some new ideas for the autumn and winters menu. She nodded.

Next up was Phillip Dobson, the forty-six-year-old cowboy that she’d told Tammy about. Phil was actually a pretty handsome guy, sitting there in his jeans and t-shirt. He had the body of a much-younger man – strong, toned, sexy – but his face gave away his age. Weather-beaten and craggy, he looked tough, but in an appealing way. His eyes were kind when he looked at her, and she found a quiet steadiness in him when he sat and listened to the others.

There were a gaggle of women who worked at the hotel as cleaners, office people, and extra front desk staff. She didn’t really get any of their names, but a few stuck in her head: Andrea, Laura, Constance. She’d figure out who was who later.

And then there was that man sitting with his arms crossed and glaring at her. He looked to be in his mid- to late-thirties and was wearing jeans and a black t-shirt that pulled tightly against his muscled arms and torso. As she pretended to listen to Constance or Laura or Andrea prattle on about how many years she’d been scrubbing the toilets at Open Skies Ranch, Julie was mentally running through the staff list she’d received from Lyle Hawkins. She was sure that there were only three men around the age of this guy – Manny, Joe, and Rob. So, who was this, then?

Based on his physique and wardrobe, she’d guess that he worked with the horses. He was tall – easily more than six feet, she thought – and had broad shoulders. His body was wide and muscled, with large hands and ropey forearms. He looked relaxed in his body, but still. It was a strong body, a dangerous body. She could feel its strength and power from all the way across the room. She hadn’t heard him introduce himself. He must have been one of the first, and she had missed it as she sat staring at her papers and imagining herself in her blue room, surrounded by calm and safety.

Jake Weston was taking in Julie Everett just as closely as she was observing him. What he saw did not please him at all.

God,
he thought,
just look at this smug little bitch wandering in here ten minutes late when we all have work to do, taking notes on all of us, like some kind of goddamned teacher. And would it kill her to look at us once in a while? Maybe smile?

There was no doubt that Julie was a gorgeous woman. When she’d walked in to the restaurant, everyone had been stunned. She was, Jake decided in less than two seconds, the fucking hottest woman he’d ever seen in the flesh in the whole of his life. She was a bit short – far too short to take advantage of that amazing face and work as a model – and she was curvy – far too curvy to be a model. Some damn agency would probably force her to drop thirty pounds, starve off those breasts and thighs and ass and hips.

Her face was exquisite, though. It was funny: she had all the same things as everyone else in the room – eyes, nose, cheeks, mouth. But on Julie, they all just came together in some way that made it hard to stop looking at her. Jake just stared and stared, like everyone else did, and wondered at the beauty that was Dave’s spoiled, selfish daughter.

But after two minutes, it became easier for Jake to stop drooling over Julie. She was so cold, not even the perpetually-horny university student Mike was salivating over her anymore. Looking at her was like looking at a glorious flower encased in glass. Or ice. She was completely closed off, unapproachable, unfriendly. Jake crossed his arms and glared at her, unable to believe that Dave would have fathered such a grade-A bitch. If it weren’t for those eyes, he’d not believe that she was Dave’s at all.