“Call me Bella,” she whispered soundlessly.
Then the door opened behind her and she fell back, knocking straight into Brady.
“What the hell’re you doing?” He set her back onto her feet.
“Thinking that I can’t wait to have a place of my own!”
“Not that again. You can’t afford a place of your own.”
“Not yet, but I will. And I’d think you’d be glad about that.” She poked him in the chest. “Seeing how you’re going to need the room I’m using.”
“What for?”
She went around him toward the staircase. “Who for, would be more the point, wouldn’t it?”
“Bella—”
“Don’t worry.” She started up the stairs. “I won’t say a word more about it until the two of you are ready to announce it. But—” She shot him a look. “I just have to say one thing first.”
“Just one?”
She let the sarcasm pass and smiled broadly. “You’re already a heck of a dad, Brady. I can’t wait to see you with a baby, too.”
He frowned suddenly and seemed to find the newel post at the base of the staircase inordinately interesting. “What if I screw it up?”
She went back down a couple steps until she was at his eye-level. “Then you’ll adjust and do it better. But you won’t screw it up.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I see Tyler and Toby.” She gave him a quick, hard hug. “Gord and his wife knew what they were doing when they named you in their will as the boys’ guardian.”
“I can’t imagine life without them now,” Brady admitted huskily. “I wouldn’t have moved to Rambling Rose if not for them. Would never have met Harper.” He sniffed and gave an awkward laugh that just reminded her why he had always been her favorite brother. “Rambling Rose seems pretty lucky for those of the Fortune persuasion.”
Arabella smiled and gave him another hug. “That’s what I’m counting on, big brother.”
Then, before he could make too big a deal out of that, she turned and hurried up the stairs.
“All right, then.” Sybil smiled at Arabella the next morning. Instead of leaving instructions at the front desk for her, she’d met Arabella there in person and escorted her to housekeeping. “I’ll leave you in Hallie’s capable hands to get you started. She’s an excellent floor supervisor so you couldn’t have a better trainer. We’ll check in again—officially—next week.” Nursing her coffee cup, she walked out of the office.
Hallie, who’d turned out to be the same girl that Arabella had seen cleaning in the lobby the day before, cast a measuring look over Arabella before hunting through a shelving unit stacked high with folded shirts wrapped in plastic. She pulled one out and handed it to Arabella. “You can try it on in the night supervisor’s office.” She waved at a darkened doorway. “It’s empty. Jordan quit a week ago and they haven’t replaced her yet.”
“Am I going to be fired if I admit I don’t know what the night supervisor even does?”
Hallie laughed. “Night supervisor’s responsible for all the public area cleaning that’s done while everyone else is supposed to be sleeping and makes sure that all guest requests are answered after regular hours.”
While she’d explained, Arabella had unzipped the plastic pouch and pulled out the T-shirt. It was black with the stylized Hotel Fortune logo embroidered in turquoise on the cap sleeve. “What about pants?” she asked as she headed toward the office.
“Those black jeans you’re wearing are fine. Basically anything black is allowed except leggings.” Hallie covered a yawn. “I’m going to grab a coffee. You want one?”
“I’ve already had two. Thanks, though.” She stepped into the office and found the light switch on the wall before closing the door.
Arabella whipped her own blouse off her head and pulled on the T-shirt. It was identical to the one that Hallie wore, though Hallie’s clung to her generous curves and Arabella’s hung loosely from her shoulders.
She left the office again and went to the lockers lining one wall adjacent to the control desk where an unsmiling woman sat in front of a computer with a phone headset on her head. Her name was Beulah, which would have probably wiped a smile off of Arabella’s face, too.
She’d already been assigned one of the lockers and she stored her blouse inside along with her book bag and lunch box that she’d crammed inside earlier. Hallie still hadn’t returned, so she pocketed her locker key and wandered over to the bulletin board that was covered with as many little scraps of paper as it was with large employment posters.
She peered closer at one of the scraps—Roommate Wanted—and made a mental note to check the board again in a few weeks when she had her first paycheck in the bank.
Two other young women, both wearing the turquoise-accented T-shirts, came in. They stopped in front of Beulah and signed in, then waited for the woman to give them their assignments for the morning.
Hallie returned then and she, too, stopped in front of Beulah. A few seconds later, she had a printed sheet in hand and came back over to Arabella. “You learn quick to stay on the right side of Beulah,” she said under her breath as she led Arabella out of the office. “She handles the scheduling for all the room attendants. Get on her bad side and she’ll either assign you enough rooms to kill an elephant or else so few that you’ll be looking for a second and third job just to make it through to payday.”
She led the way to the service elevator and they went down to the second floor. There, Hallie unlocked a door near the service elevator and rolled out one of the large carts stored inside. She showed Arabella the chart on the sheet that Beulah had given her, which indicated the rooms that had been occupied the night
