Chapter 18: Familiar Faces
1532 Words
July arrived with longer shifts and busier weekends.
Summer was one of the hotel's busiest seasons, and La Paloma seemed determined to prove it.
Tourists filled the lobby.
Conference groups rotated through meeting rooms.
Wedding parties occupied entire floors.
The hotel rarely had a quiet moment.
For Reina, that meant one thing.
Extra hours.
Whenever an extra shift became available, Reina took it.
July was proving to be exactly what she'd hoped for.
More guests.
More hours.
More pay.
Every week her savings account grew a little more.
Slowly, she was getting closer to the future she'd been working toward.
Later that afternoon, Reina crossed the lobby on her way toward the service elevators.
A woman swept past her carrying a designer handbag Reina recognized from a magazine display she'd seen months earlier.
The leather looked impossibly soft.
Effortless.
Everything about the woman looked effortless.
For a moment, Reina found herself staring.
One handbag probably cost more than three months of her wages.
Not that she wanted the handbag.
Not really.
She just wondered what it felt like to buy something because you liked it instead of because you needed it.
Then she pushed the thought aside and kept walking.
She had goals.
That mattered more than handbags.
Not long after, she stepped out of a service elevator and nearly walked past Anthony standing outside.
"There you are."
Reina paused.
"There I am?"
"I have a question."
"That sounds dangerous."
Anthony ignored that.
"How many hours are you working this week?"
She adjusted the clipboard beneath her arm.
"Why?"
"I'm curious."
"That's never reassuring."
His grin widened.
"How many?"
She considered walking away.
Instead she answered.
"Fifty."
Anthony blinked.
"Fifty?"
"Approximately."
"That's ridiculous."
"No."
"It absolutely is."
Reina continued down the hallway.
Anthony followed.
Not close enough to be annoying.
Just close enough to continue talking.
"What are you saving for?"
Reina kept walking.
Anthony waited.
When she didn't answer, he tried again.
"A new designer bag?"
"No."
"Vacation?"
"No."
"Secret underground gambling operation?"
She gave him a look.
Anthony grinned.
"Had to check."
A few more steps passed before Anthony spoke again.
"So what exactly are you saving for?"
Reina adjusted the clipboard beneath her arm.
"School expenses."
Anthony nodded.
"Fair enough."
She rolled her eyes.
Anthony glanced sideways at her.
"And?"
"And what?"
"You're working fifty hours a week. Nobody works fifty hours a week for just one thing."
She considered ignoring him.
Unfortunately, he seemed perfectly willing to wait.
Eventually she gave in.
"A car."
"And some new clothes."
For the first time since they'd started talking, Anthony's grin slipped.
He looked at her for a second.
"Clothes?"
Reina shrugged.
"I've been wearing the same things for years."
She immediately regretted saying even that much.
When she didn't continue, he raised an eyebrow.
"That's all you're giving me?"
"Yes."
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Anthony nodded.
"Fair."
That was it.
No joke.
No teasing.
No attempt to turn it into something bigger.
Oddly enough, Reina appreciated that.
Most people either pitied her or immediately started offering solutions.
Anthony simply accepted the answer and moved on.
At the next intersection of hallways, he lifted a hand in farewell.
"I'll let you get back to work."
"Good idea."
Anthony laughed and headed in the opposite direction.
As Reina turned the corner toward the lobby, an elderly woman near the concierge desk caught her attention.
The woman looked frustrated.
Confused.
And completely lost.
Reina hesitated.
Then changed direction.
"Ma'am?"
The woman looked relieved.
"Oh, thank goodness."
Several minutes later, Reina was still trying to help her locate a meeting room that seemed determined not to exist.
At least according to the hotel's signage.
The woman repeated the name again, slower this time, as if that might somehow make it easier to find.
Reina nodded, trying to piece it together, her stomach tightening with each passing second.
She should know this.
She worked here.
Guests weren’t supposed to feel lost.
And yet—
Across the lobby, David glanced up from a conversation.
His attention lingered.
Reina felt it before she fully registered it.
Her chest tightened.
No.
Please don’t come over.
He watched for a moment.
Then excused himself and crossed the floor.
Mortification flooded her.
Of course he was coming.
Of course he’d seen.
The woman launched into an explanation the second he approached.
Reina stepped back slightly, suddenly very aware of how out of her depth she must look.
David listened patiently.
Asked two questions.
Then smiled.
"I know exactly where you're supposed to be."
The relief on the woman's face was immediate.
A few moments later, the problem was solved.
The woman thanked both of them before heading toward the elevators.
Reina let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.
Her hands felt cold.
"Thank you."
David glanced at her.
"You stayed."
She frowned slightly, still trying to shake the lingering embarrassment.
"What?"
"Most people would've sent her to the front desk."
The observation caught her off guard.
"I didn't know where she needed to go."
"No."
A faint smile touched his face.
"But you stayed anyway."
For some reason, the compliment didn’t quite erase the knot in her chest.
If anything, it only reminded her how naturally he seemed to solve problems she'd barely understood.
Before she could think of a response, David's attention shifted toward something happening across the lobby.
"Have a good afternoon, Reina."
Then he was gone.
Just like that.
A few days later, she arrived in housekeeping to find Violet holding a cup of coffee.
Trina had one too.
So did Anna.
Reina immediately knew who was responsible.
Sure enough, Anthony was standing near the doorway carrying an empty cardboard tray.
"Morning."
Several employees greeted him at once.
Anthony smiled.
Then his gaze landed on Reina.
Without a word, he held out a cup.
She stared at it.
"It's coffee."
"I know."
"Just checking."
Reina accepted it.
Mostly because refusing would have been ridiculous.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Then he left.
Just like that.
No conversation.
No lingering.
No obvious attempt to talk to her.
The moment he disappeared, Violet slowly turned toward Reina.
"Oh."
Reina sighed.
"No."
"Oh, absolutely."
"It's coffee."
"It is never just coffee."
"It is literally coffee."
Trina laughed so hard she nearly spilled hers.
Reina chose not to participate in the discussion.
Some battles weren't worth fighting.
Later that week, she was organizing supplies when Anthony appeared in the doorway.
Again.
"Question."
She didn't look up.
"Why do you always start with that?"
"Because it gets your attention."
"It really doesn't."
Anthony ignored that too.
"Do you ever do anything besides work?"
"Yes."
Silence.
Anthony waited.
Several more seconds passed.
Eventually he sighed.
"Would you like to elaborate?"
"No."
"Movies?"
"No."
"Dinners?"
"No."
"Parties?"
"No."
"Friends?"
Reina finally looked up.
"I have friends."
His expression brightened.
"Good."
"That sounded insulting."
"A little."
She shook her head.
"You should probably stop saying things like that."
Anthony laughed.
The sound echoed through the storage room.
For reasons she couldn't explain, it made her smile.
Only slightly.
Unfortunately, Anthony noticed.
"There it is."
"What?"
"The smile."
Reina immediately looked away.
"I have work to do."
"You always have work to do."
"Exactly."
Anthony stepped aside.
"Have a good shift, Reina."
She pushed her cart into the hallway.
For some reason, the fact that he remembered her name felt strangely nice.
Across the hotel, David watched Anthony leave the storage area.
Again.
Lately, he'd noticed something.
Anthony talked to everyone.
Always had.
What caught David's attention now wasn't that Anthony spoke to Reina.
It was that Reina actually spoke back.
Not much.
Not enthusiastically.
But more than she did with most people.
Strange.
David dismissed the thought immediately.
He had more important things to worry about.
He picked up the report on his desk and forced himself to keep reading.
Halfway down the page, he stopped.
He'd read the same paragraph three times.
He couldn't remember a single word of it.
Irritated, he set the report back down.
Since when had one employee become this distracting?
That evening, Reina sat on her bed reviewing her budget for the month.
The numbers looked better than they had the week before.
Progress.
Slow.
But real.
For a moment, she found herself wishing she could tell her father about it.
The job.
The hotel.
The savings account that was finally growing instead of shrinking.
He would've asked a hundred questions.
Probably worried she was working too much.
Then pretended he wasn't worried at all.
A small smile touched her lips.
It disappeared just as quickly.
The ache never really left.
Some days it was simply easier to ignore than others.
Her phone buzzed with a text from Brittany.
How's New York?
Busy.
That's not an answer.
It's the only answer you're getting.
Liar.
Reina smiled despite herself.
As she set the phone aside, another thought surfaced unexpectedly.
Anthony was exhausting.
Friendly.
Talkative.
Entirely too comfortable speaking to strangers.
Exactly the kind of person she normally avoided.
Yet lately she'd started answering his questions.
She wasn't entirely sure when that had happened.
Or why.
The realization made her smile.
Immediately, she frowned.
That was annoying.
- Writer
