“I needed to reset.” She stands up and kisses him. “And I did!”
“Well,” he says, handing her the coffee, “that makes one of us.”
“Are you nervous about Xavier?”
“He’s my boss too,” Mario says. “You noticed I tossed and turned last night?”
“You did?” Since they’ve been back together, Mario has spent every night at Lizbet’s cottage. Lizbet climbs into bed at a reasonable hour, wakes up when Mario comes in, then dozes right back off. “What are you nervous about?”
“I’m not sure.”
“The bar is amazing, Mario,” Lizbet says. “It’s packed every night, and it has an absurdly high rating on every restaurant-review app. It’s positioned to become every bit as iconic as the Blue Bistro, if not more so.”
Mario smiles but she can tell he’s not feeling it.
“I’m serious,” she says.
“I know,” Mario says. “But men like Xavier…”
“I’m the one who should be nervous,” Lizbet says. “I have a whole hotel to present—twelve suites, thirty-six rooms, the lobby, the pools, the gym and sauna, this studio. But I’m confident in what we built.” She wraps her arms around Mario’s neck and presses the length of her body against him. “I know you’re anxious because you’ve lost a restaurant on this island before, but Xavier is going to love us. We have absolutely nothing to worry about.”
That evening at change of shift, Lizbet calls a meeting in the break room. She asks Love to watch the desk so that Richie can come to the meeting along with Edie, Alessandra, Adam, Raoul, Zeke, Magda, and Yolanda. Lizbet thinks about the staff meeting she called back on opening day, when the hotel was like a fawn wobbling on new legs. She had barely known these people and they’d barely known one another.
Richie has shed thirty pounds, gotten a tan, and is smiling far more genuinely than the night Lizbet interviewed him. He’s in love with Kimber Marsh, their long-term guest; it’s the stuff rom-coms are made of! （Lizbet will not mention this romance to Xavier, however, in case he disapproves.） Edie has been consistently thoughtful and kind, the perfect foil for Alessandra, with her fierce beauty and blinding confidence. But even Alessandra has softened a bit lately, so much so that Lizbet noticed Edie and Alessandra laughing together. （Lizbet did a double take. Was it genuine? Yes, it seemed so.） Zeke has grown into the bellman job beautifully; if his mother could see him now, she would be so proud. Yolanda is as serene as a hidden pond in an enchanted wood, and Lizbet is so glad she didn’t tell Mario about her suspicions, because once that genie was out of the bottle, it could never have been put back: Lizbet would feel awkward, and so would Yolanda and Mario and Beatriz.
Magda sits with perfect posture on the edge of the sofa, legs crossed at the ankles. She remains unreadable, a sphinx. Has she ever let her guard down, shared a candid moment or personal revelation? She has not. She is the ultimate professional; Lizbet hasn’t worried for one second about housekeeping. There hasn’t been a single complaint about the cleanliness of the rooms. There were the two missing items, but Magda handled these incidents herself with the guests and her staff. Housekeeping is the bedrock of any hotel—if the hotel isn’t clean, forget it—which makes Magda the most important person on the staff, maybe more important than Lizbet herself.
Lizbet remembers thinking that she didn’t want to know her staff’s secrets. But now that summer is nearly over, she decides that she would very much like to know Magda’s secrets.
“Mr. Darling is arriving tomorrow,” Lizbet says. “I want you all to do your jobs precisely the way you’ve been doing them. Mr. Darling will introduce himself to all of you over the course of his stay. We want to make sure he’s comfortable and that his needs are met, just like any other guest. Does anyone have any questions?”
“How long will he be here?” Adam asks.
“Four nights,” Lizbet says. “He’s scheduled to leave on Sunday.”
Alessandra raises her hand. “Does Mr. Darling have dinner reservations? If he wants to go to Cru or Nautilus…”
“Then he needed to make them thirty days ago,” Edie says. “But Alessandra has an in at Nautilus and I’ve developed a nice rapport with the reservations people at Cru. So just let us know.”
“Excellent question,” Lizbet says. Xavier hasn’t said a word about what he plans to do during his visit. It’s his first time to Nantucket; he should read the Blue Book, or Lizbet can pull together some itineraries for him. She wonders if the chauffeur （who is staying at the Beach Club because their own hotel is full!） knows how to drive a Jeep on the beach. “I’ll find out what Mr. Darling’s plans are once I speak to him in person. If that’s all the questions, then I’ll end the meeting. Please, everyone, go home and get a good night’s sleep. I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow.”