The Hammond Hotel in Daven’s Port, North Carolina, had to have been one of the most tightly managed establishments in the city. Ask anybody who’d stayed there, and they’d agree with you.
People would fly in from all across the country to admire the scenic shore and natural beauty offered by the coast, and they would do it all while wallowing in a style that could only have been provided by the good people at Hammond.
Incredible meals catered by local cuisine auteurs, numerous unofficial partnerships with Daven’s Port businesses, and various packages were offered in junction as sort of “tour packages” of the city that kept their guests well fed, relaxed, and at the pinnacle of relaxation for the duration of their stay had gone a surprisingly long way in turning a dying port town into a tourist destination.
This actually became an issue with the other branches of the business, who were not offering these things to people in, say, Portland or Michigan. You would have jet setting customers who, dazzled by their treatment below the Mason-Dixon line, would naturally expect the other establishments with that familiar embossed H logo to honor all of the (frankly) ridiculous pampering that they had experienced on their last vacation or business trip, only to be told that they didn’t have a clue as to what they were talking about.
Daddy Hammond, the acting head of the company, had never felt the need to check in on his daughter excessively. When she had graduated and come into her own, he had given her that backwater branch as a sort of litmus test—to see if she had what it took to maybe take over one day for him, after he died. A quintessential 80’s man who owed much his success to the best parts about Reaganomics, he preferred the laissez faire approach with all of his branches. He felt that red tape got in the way of a lot of things, especially where his little girl was concerned.
Checkbook’s in the green, no need to intervene.
It hadn’t been until he’d actually looked at how much money went into keeping that branch afloat that he and his wife became concerned. Sure Hannah was bringing in about as much profit as any other hotel and the guests were happy, but how much money she sank into the budget for middling results was downright concerning.
Honestly, he had expected that she’d been embezzling.
To find out that she was simply too kind and perhaps overzealous of a manager was quite the relief.
He made his visit, had a long talk with his daughter, and explained to her the responsibilities of management. He made her make a promise to tighten her belt, and then they hugged, and it was nice. After eating in the onsite Thai restaurant, he even relented and let her keep it.
But to Hannah, even the notion of tightening her belt was counterproductive to the realreason that she kept everyone so happy around here…
“Oh it’s Jamie~”
“Hi Ms. Hammond!” the pudgy blonde behind the desk said with a little smile, shyly tucking away the bag of gummy bears that she’d absconded with from the vending machine, “Um… I hope you don’t mind. I know it’s not my lunch for another few minutes…”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Hannah said with a sly wink, and equally deft hand sliding a comp voucher for a free meal from their restaurant across the surface of the desk, “Enjoy your lunch today, sweetie.”
The pie-faced blonde flashed a giddy grin as she claimed her prize, a chubby arm dragging ever so slightly against the polished shine of her station. Now that she had been working with the Hammond family for more than just weekends, Hannah could really tell that her latest acquisition was coming along nicely. A full Summer and not even an entire semester into college, and that little swimmer was plumping out in all the right ways…
“Oh! Before I forget—” the attendant said with a click of her tongue, “There’s a woman who wanted to see you? She said that you two went to school together?”
“Oh right, my own little lunch break.” Hannah placed her hand on her chest, her cultured laugh eliciting a little compliant giggle from Jamie, “Thank you so much for telling me, I’ll head right up.”
Another comped voucher made its way onto the counter, which Jamie eagerly claimed for herself.
Hannah had hoped that it would be put to good use. Judging by the way that she was already eyeballing the Thai restaurant’s neon glow, strategically placed an alluring distance away from the front desk for employees just like Jamie, she felt confident that her newest employee’s lunch would be very fulfilling. Hannah didn’t know how long it would be before Jamie’s concern over her swelling swimmer’s figure would outweigh what appeared to be a natural inclination towards indulgence but, realistically, Hannah expected to have her front counter girl for quite a while…
It wasn’t like she hadn’t put enough money into keeping this place a booming attraction for guests, but an incentive emporium to keep her employees around. Her special projects, after all, had always been her first priority—though she supposed, now that Daddy was on her tail, she was going to have to play it cool for a little while. Manage her money smartly—her purse strings tingled in anticipation of a lot of deals to be made under the table…
But there were far more important things for her to worry about today.
Much bigger matters to attend to.
A larger fish to fry.
The puns—they are aplenty.
Because Hannah Hammond was about to have lunch with an old colleague looking for a job! Someone from Buttercombe Academy that she hadn't seen in far, far too long...
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