Chapitre 9: Chapter 9: Training
Brenna POV
My eyes must be deceiving me, right? I blinked again, thinking the person at the counter would look different, but they remained the same.
“That’s strange,” Molly said just above a whisper.
“What is?”
“Mr. Varick is never down here this early in the evening. Late at night sure, but usually, he’s in his office.”
Why was Kieran here at the lobby counter? Wouldn’t the owner of a hotel have much more important things to do than wait for the trainee to show up on their first day?
I’d be lying if a smile hadn’t crossed my face when I saw him waiting. He still wore the same suit from when I had first met him, but this time his hair had been pulled back into a low ponytail. Some of his shorter bangs were just too short to reach the hair tie though and threatened to fall into his eyes if he were to move around too much.
Maybe he was just very thorough in how he ran the hotel. It’s not as if I hadn’t seen the efforts people like Kat would put in when they cared about their job.
For some individuals, work always came first. Maybe Kieran was just the same way about the hotel? It had belonged to his parents after all, so maybe that’s why he was so protective of the operations and day-to-day tasks.
“I’ll see you later, ok?” Molly said with a quick wave as we got closer to the desk.
“Sounds good. Thanks again for all your help.” I waved back as I made my way behind the desk while finding a place to tuck my snacks.
Before Molly turned to leave, she quickly bowed at Kieran.
“Hello, Alp- I mean. . . Mr. Varick. Have a good evening.” Molly kept her eyes trained on the floor during her bow and scurried off before Kieran had a chance to answer her.
I looked over at him, but his face was the same as ever. I swear, it’s like nothing phases this guy. I bet you could splash a bucket of cold water on him, and he’d just have the same expression.
“Did you have any trouble finding the lobby?” Kieran didn’t turn his face, but I could see him watching me from the corner of his eye.
“Just a little. Molly helped me find my way,” I did my best to say heartily.
I was sure my puffy eyes and tear-streaked face gave it away. I should have tried to wash my face off before coming to the desk, but it was too late now. I’d just have to look like a swollen mess for the rest of my shift.
Kieran didn’t say anything, but he reached for a binder and passed a stack of papers over to me.
“Go ahead and fill these out, we have a lot to cover today.”
“We?” I almost misspelled my name when he said that.
“Yes, I’ll be training you. I watched the front desk at night during my teens, and I still train the new front desk associates. We just don’t get anyone new often enough to have a large training program like other hotels.”
I couldn’t help but feel a little perked up by that knowledge. I’d be spending my night with Kieran. Not that I saw him as anything more than a boss, but he seemed to know more than anyone else here, and I wanted to learn from the best.
“That’s cool though, it gives you a chance to see how things are going on a smaller scale.”
The new goal I was setting for the night was to prove I was competent. If my boss knew they could trust me with the job, I’d feel much better.
I quickly filled out some of the paperwork, but in the bank account info section, I paused.
“Is there a problem?” Kieran asked a few moments after my pen stopped scribbling away.
“I, uh, don’t have a bank anymore. I need to start a new account.”
Kieran nodded. He pulled out his phone and tapped away. He got a reply quickly and immediately scanned over the text.
“Viv goes into town a few times a week to run errands and charge up the credit card until she’s content. She said she’d be happy to drive you if you needed to pick up anything or take care of any business. Just leave the form blank and we can worry about it later.”
“That would be a big help. I need to pick up a few things.”
“You didn’t bring much with you, did you?”
I turned to look at Kieran’s face, but he kept his eyes trained on the computer screen that sat on the lower shelf for the workers of the concierge desk.
“No. Left a lot behind. It’s fine really. Gives me a chance to update my clothes. It’s been a while.”
That wasn’t a lie. As much as Scott wanted me to go to his work events, he would pick my clothes out for me without my input. At first, I thought it was sweet, but then I quickly realized anything that wasn’t up to his standard would immediately get tossed when I wasn’t looking.
“If you didn’t get the job, Brenna, what would you have done? Is there any family out there you would have gone to or somewhere you could have stayed besides here?”
Kieran turned to look at me. His dark eyes bored into me. It was as if he could read me just from a glance. He seemed the type of person to pick up on subtleties. He’d probably know if I was lying, so I figured the best option was the truth.
“No. I didn’t have another place lined up. Probably would have kept taking buses north until I found someone willing to hire me. There’s no one else to go to either, except for my best friend, but staying with her wasn’t an option.”
“Why’s that?”
Why did he have so many questions for me? Was this just his way of trying to feel me out and see what sort of person I was? I kept feeling like I was being tested, but I had no clue what the test was actually about.
“She cares for her younger brother. She’s had custody of him since their parents died six years ago. There’s just no room, and I didn’t want to do that to her.”
He nodded and went back to the screen. Whatever he wanted to know, it seemed he had his answer.
The conversation ended as quickly as it had begun. The more I talked to him, the more of a mystery Kieran was to me.
Kieran started showing me the computer system that was used to check guests in and out. Everything was pretty straight foreword, so getting used to it only took up half the night.
He covered my lunch break, so I got to eat the extra snacks Molly had gotten me. She thought ahead and made sure to get things that would keep during my shift. I would have to find a way to thank her soon.
After my lunch shift, we went over the phones and the easiest ways to get ahold of housekeeping, maintenance, the pool attendants, and security. From the sounds of it though, security was only called during weekends at the bar.
There were even cheat sheets, with all the manager’s names, numbers, and office locations in case I needed any of them during the night. For such a large hotel only three managers were listed, Viv, Eren, and Justin as well as Kieran’s information.
I snuck a peek at my phone. Just another hour and I was free. There weren’t any guest check-ins for the night, so that helped me focus on just getting the hang of everything else.
“Oh, before you finish up…” Kieran said as he startled to go through a couple of different binders at the bottom of the desk.
He finally pulled out a gray binder and pulled out a sheet of paper before putting the binder away.
“This is the hotel map. I’m sorry you didn’t have it earlier,” he lowered his eyes as his lip curled down into the beginnings of a frown.
Why did it sound like he was taking responsibility for my panic attack? It’s not like he knew about it happening, right? How could he?
“No, it’s fine. I didn’t get too lost or anything,” I reached for the map quickly as he went to pass it to me.
When our skin touched, that same sensation washed over me, just as it had in his office. It was like someone dropped a rock into a still lake. The ripple spread from our hands outward. I could feel it in my head and all the down to my toes as I gasped.
Kieran quickly pulled his hand away, and the sensation was gone just as quickly as it had arrived.
“Excuse me, I need to go,” and Kieran walked briskly toward the stairs without so much as a glance back at me.
What was that just now? I mean, I know I felt it, but it seemed like it happened to him too? What was going on?
Cadeaux
-- Cadeau
reçu État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone