Working on the Weekend

Their next door neighbor was kind and dropped them off at the hotel with his huge truck. He waved goodbye then headed off to help those who got stuck in the streets trying to venture out in the winter storm in their ill-equipped cars.

Lillian looked up at the grand hotel in front of them, the sign on the front was covered by ice and snow, but she could tell it was fancy. As they walked inside a lobby filled with twinkling chandeliers and regal floors met their eyes.

Lillian glanced over at the insignia engraved into a shiny bronze plate hanging behind the check in desk. A large cursive G embellished with elegant designs - Geldan! We're at one of the Geldan hotels! How did my parents manage to afford this place?!

"Woah, was there no other hotel available? Why are we staying at such a fancy place?" She gave her parents a quizzical look.

"Ohoho!" Her mom giggled to herself, and whipped out an envelope from her purse. "We won a Valentine's raffle on our date last night. 5 nights stay at any Geldan Hotel in the country. To be honest, we were thinking about saving it for this summer, but with our current circumstances, this seemed like the best time."

Lillian's jaw dropped. Could I not get away from anything involving the Geldan Group for one day!

"Thanks, mom. I'm sorry we had to use them for this," she forced a smile, feeling guilty about how she would've preferred a cheaper place, but her mother seemed happy.

Check in went by smoothly. The woman at the front desk was kind and gave them a free spa package after her father sweetly bragged she works for the Geldan Group. If only this woman knew she was just a concierge, maybe they wouldn't have been treated as nicely.

Lillian still felt insecure about the position she had, though she was trying to make the best of it. She had worked really hard all her life to get good grades and do well at her part time jobs, promised by her teachers and parents that she would end up with a great career and succeed. But, in the end she ended up in a position that didn't even need a university degree to apply for. It seemed like all the paying jobs she had applied for in her field always had an applicant just that much better than her or had a connection from the inside.

If her family had been more well off, she may have taken the offers for unpaid internships that would add to her resume, but her dad had recently lost his job after the owner of the building his shop was in decided to sell to a large developer. It made her feel like all those years of effort had been for naught.

She mulled over her intrusive thoughts, as she wandered around the hotel. Her parents were enjoying the large bath tub in the room, and she wanted to give them space. She loves her parents, but it was awkward to be around them when they were in their lovey dovey state. Lillian shivered at the memory of it, and turned a corner to a wide hallway.

Hm? Is that Peter? Why does he look like he's dressed for work, isn't it a Saturday?

Lillian furrowed her brows as she squinted at the opposite end of the hallway, perplexed by the presence of the CEO's personal secretary.

She tried to quickly walk by without being noticed when his back was turned. She was just about out of the hallway when she heard someone call out her name. Without thinking she turned around on instinct.

"Lillian, it is you," Peter waved a friendly hello and walked her way. "What a delightful surprise. I was just thinking how wonderful it would be if someone was here to help me out. The director made me organize some marriage candidates for Andrew, but he's being incredibly hard to deal with. Watching over him is a full time job and I'm having trouble making sure he doesn't run away while also escorting the ladies to the private dining room... I'm sorry to bother you on your day off, but I would be forever grateful if you helped me out." Peter put on his best puppy dog eyes and pleaded with all his heart.

"O-okay," Lillian replied, shocking herself. Wait, what, why did I agree? Is it because he looks so pitiful?

Peters expression immediately turned to that of a cunning snake, hiding behind the smile of an innocent man. "You're too kind. Please meet me back here in-," he looked at the sweats she was wearing and continued, "more professional clothes in 15 minutes. The next meeting is scheduled to begin then."

---

"Marianne Von Maur," Lillian greeted the next woman in the lobby. She'd already lead six other women to the room and back. Just how many blind dates could you have in one day?

She guided the woman to the room and knocked on the door. Peter came out and brought her inside, then joined Lillian in the hallway.

"Don't worry, there's just one more meeting arranged after this one today. And tomorrow the first one won't be arriving until 11:30am, so you'll have plenty of time to sleep in."

"What? There's more tomorrow? Is our CEO planning on dating all the women in the city before Monday?" Lillian felt her heart sink, realizing her stress free weekend was now taken over by work.

"Haha, no. He only has three planned for tomorrow." Peter noticed some of the color drain from Lillian's face and added, "I'll be sure to tell the CEO that you assisted me greatly this weekend. Then I'm sure he'll forgive yesterday's misunderstanding."

"You better sing high praises. I'm not even getting paid overtime for this," Lillian quipped, eliciting an amused smile from the equally worn out secretary.

An hour later, Lillian escorted the last date to the room. She looked familiar, maybe she'd see her on TV somewhere.

"Peter."

"Yes?"

"Why is Andrew having all of these marriage meetings? I thought he was dating that famous actress."

Peter looked around the empty hallway then leaned in closer to her ear. "Just between you and me," he whispered. "I've known Andrew since high school and he's never been the dating, let alone marrying type. All those women he's pictured with in the papers are just casual flings, usually he just invites them to be his plus one to some events, then cuts them off when they want to become more serious."

"Oh My God, seriously!" Lillian gasped and threw her hands over her mouth, afraid they'd hear her from inside the room. "Why's he even getting married then? I thought people like that like to live the playboy lifestyle until their hair turns gray. Isn't he only 30?"

"Haha, first off he's only 28, though I see why you might suspect him to be older. Secondly, he's definitely not a playboy, he only took them out when his family pressured him. Usually, all he cares about is his work, which is why I've been stuck without a vacation for 18 months. And on the topic of why he might be getting married, I'm not the one who should answer that question."

The door to the room suddenly clicked open, putting an end to their juicy conversation. Lillian knew that she'd probably just learned a lot more than she was supposed to about their cold CEO, but Peter seemed oddly willing to share such information with her - so she just left it at that.

Lillian stepped forward to complete her duties and escort the last woman for the evening, when she felt a chill run up her spine. She looked to her side and saw the none other than Andrew Geldan himself had stepped out of the room and was looking directly at her.

Eek. I knew it. He's definitely angry with me because of yesterday. Please, don't turn me into a mop or broom.

Lillian politely bowed her head to greet the CEO then quickly turned her attention to the beautiful woman in front of her, eager to flee from the presence of that man as fast as possible. She then took her leave and lead the woman outside to a black car that had been waiting to drive her home.

Alright, Lillian. You made it through one day alive, just one more and you'll be back to work on Monday on a floor far far away from that scary CEO.