“This is nothing short of magnificent, Elizabeth,” he says, raising his arms to the antique beams, taking in the whaling-boat chandelier, the James Ogilvy photograph, the beachy elegance of the lobby. “What an appealing space.”
Beatriz from the service kitchen appears with a deep red cocktail—it’s the Heartbreaker; Alessandra has heard all about it—and a tiny basket of gougères from the Blue Bar bakery box. The gougères are golden and fragrant, fresh from the oven but no doubt cooled to the perfect temperature so that Xavier doesn’t burn his tongue. When Alessandra and Xavier are together, her life will be blessed with exquisite welcomes like this.
Xavier accepts the cocktail and raises his glass to the front desk. “Here’s to you!” he says, and he drinks. Lizbet leads him over to meet Edie, who has just hung up the phone; she steps out from behind the desk, faces Xavier, and curtsies. Alessandra wants to cringe but Xavier throws his head back and laughs. He and Edie shake hands and while Lizbet brags to Xavier （“Edie was a Statler Fellow at Cornell!”）， Alessandra steps out from behind the desk and waits a respectful distance behind Edie until it’s her turn to be introduced. Xavier takes a deeper interest in Edie once she mentions that she grew up on the island, and Edie draws Zeke into the conversation because Zeke was raised on Nantucket as well, then Lizbet tells Xavier that Zeke is an accomplished surfer and also the nephew of Magda English, head of housekeeping, and that gets Xavier’s attention. He’s known Magda for over thirty years, he says. Alessandra is starting to feel awkward, like a literal lady-in-waiting; however, Raoul is in a mirrored position to Alessandra behind Xavier and his expression radiates good-natured interest in this conversation that has nothing to do with him. Alessandra takes a sustaining breath and reminds herself that she will stand on deck for as long as it takes, and when she gets into the batter’s box, she will hit a grand slam.
The hotel phone rings, and although Alessandra is closest, she makes no move to answer it. She hasn’t met Xavier yet! She wills Edie to hear the phone and sense that she should be the one to answer it, but Edie is still deep in conversation and Alessandra catches a pointed look from Lizbet （she doesn’t like to hear the phone ring more than twice）。 She goes back behind the desk to answer the phone.
It’s the secretary of a Mr. Ianucci, who will be checking in later that afternoon. The secretary is confirming the reservation in a pool-view room for two nights.
Yes, yes, confirmed, didn’t Mr. Ianucci receive the e-mail? Alessandra knows he did but he was probably too busy to even open it.
“We look forward to welcoming Mr. Ianucci this afternoon,” Alessandra says, her voice maybe a touch louder than it needs to be so that Xavier will hear her superlative phone skills and realize that at least someone is working while everyone else grovels.
Alessandra hangs up just as Lizbet says, “Let me show you the break room.”
Edie returns to the desk, and Zeke and Raoul head back out to the entrance. “Lovely to meet you all!” Xavier says. Except he hasn’t met Alessandra yet and he sent that e-mail expressly to her, so she waits a moment and then, in a rare act of desperation, follows Xavier and Lizbet into the break room.
Xavier is standing at the pinball machine. “Hokus Pokus! I played this during my one American summer back in the seventies. I lived with my aunt and uncle in Casper, Wyoming, of all places. My uncle owned a ranch there, and the local watering hole had this game.” He presses the buttons on either side and the flippers clickety-clack. Xavier turns to Lizbet. “You don’t happen to have a quarter, do you?”
Alessandra clears her throat. “I have one, sir.”
Both Xavier and Lizbet turn around. Alessandra thinks that Lizbet might be irked that she trailed them into the break room but Lizbet just smiles and in her new cheerleader voice says, “Xavier, this is Alessandra Powell, our front-desk manager!”
Alessandra makes eye contact and shakes Xavier’s hand, then pulls a quarter from behind her ear like a magician, but only Lizbet seems impressed. Alessandra has played a lot of pinball this summer. It has given her a chance to relive her own adolescence—there was a Hokus Pokus at the pizza parlor in Haight-Ashbury where she used to go with Duffy. （Alessandra can’t think about Duffy now, though she has a friend request rotting in her Facebook account.） “Here you go, Mr. Darling. It’s lovely to meet you.”
Xavier accepts the quarter and Alessandra waits for him to say something about her remarkable performance on the desk this summer, at which point she’ll mention her previous work experience in Europe. Surely they could have an excellent conversation about Italy or Ibiza or St. Tropez, but Xavier simply says, “Thank you very much,” and turns to the pinball machine, inserts the coin, pulls back the springy lever, and lets the first silver ball fly. The machine comes to life, all dinging bells and flashing lights. It’s clear Lizbet is going to stay and watch Xavier play but Alessandra senses she would be pushing her luck to stay as well. She returns to the desk.