Page 24 of Things We Need to Say (Second Chance Love Stories #2)

Emma sat gingerly on the chair opposite Faye’s desk and waited for her to speak. ‘Heather phoned in sick this morning and informed us that she is likely to be off for at least the next two weeks.’

Immediately Emma felt a surge of relief. She wouldn’t have to see her for a whole fortnight. Despite her jubilance, she kept her face nonchalant.

‘Two weeks. That sounds serious. I thought it was just a migraine.’

‘Yes, so did I, but it appears she is suffering from severe stress.’

‘Stress?’ Emma was shocked. ‘Did she say what has caused the stress? She’s not blaming me, is she?’

‘No, you don’t need to worry about that. I’m just advising you that I’ll be taking over as your line manager in Heather’s absence.’

‘You will?’ Emma once again felt a surge of relief.

‘Yes, so if you can let me know where you’re up to in your training programme?’

‘Training programme?’

‘Yes, your four-week rota covering each department from the top to the bottom. Which departments have you covered so far?’

‘Well, um...’ Even though it wasn’t her fault that Heather had never actually told her about the plan, Emma felt the heat rise in her face.

‘I haven’t done any of them. Not really.

Most of the time I’ve just been filling in wherever I’ve been needed most. So I’ve been a server in the restaurant, room cleaning, the bar and whatever admin she has needed me to do. ’

Faye pursed her lips. ‘So, no formal training plan, then?’

‘No, I’m sorry. I wasn’t even aware there was one.’

‘No need for you to apologise.’ Faye put down the pen she’d been fiddling with. ‘In fact, I’m sorry. We should have kept a closer eye on what was going on. There’s a lesson for us all in this and I can assure you that it will be investigated.’

‘Oh, okay.’ Emma thought to herself that, if Heather thought she was stressed now, she’d be under even more pressure when she did return to work.

‘So, we established last night that you’re experienced in functions. Where would you say you have the least knowledge?’

‘Well, I’ve never worked on Reception or had anything to do with room allocation.’

‘Right, well then, I suggest you take the weekend as your days off and from Monday you’ll start a four-week stint on Reception, followed by housekeeping, where you can learn how to run the department, not just clean rooms, then twelve weeks in the office, four doing general admin, four in finance and a further four in HR, and, after that, twelve weeks in food and beverage. How does that sound?’

‘That sounds fantastic.’

Emma was stunned. She had never imagined today would turn out like this. Finally, she was going to get the all-round training she’d been hoping for when she’d first taken the job.

‘Good. You might want to finish up any paperwork in your office for the rest of today so the decks are cleared, and I’ll liaise with Reception to sort out a new rota for the next four weeks. Is that okay?’

‘That’s wonderful, Faye. I can’t thank you enough for this.’

‘There’s no need to thank me. This should have been implemented from the start of your employment.’

Emma rose from her seat. ‘I’ll get straight to it.’

‘Good.’ As Emma was about to leave the office, Faye added, ‘Oh, sorry, just one more thing. Could you go through the paperwork on Heather’s desk and let me know if there’s anything that needs to be dealt with?’

‘Will do,’ Emma said. She was barely able to keep the smile off her face as she stopped off at the staffroom to make a quick cup of coffee. She couldn’t wait to get stuck into the outstanding paperwork so that she could start afresh on Monday, learning the ropes of Reception.

* * *

When she had cleared her own desk later that afternoon, Emma sat herself down in Heather’s chair.

It felt weird to be there and occasionally she looked over her shoulder in case she was caught in the act of doing something she shouldn’t.

But Faye had asked her to do this, so she was only following instructions.

The desktop and in-trays were clear, so Emma opened the top drawer of the desk just to make sure she hadn’t missed anything.

But as she struggled with the drawer, she found she had to push down the contents before she could pull it open.

Inside was a huge mass of paperwork. Emma pulled it out and piled it up in the centre of the desk.

The other drawers revealed similar rafts of paperwork, which Emma piled up with the others. It formed quite an impressive tower.

Emma eyed the paper. ‘So this is where you’ve been hiding it.’ She’d often wondered how Heather always managed to look so efficient, with the top of her desk clear. Now she knew the answer — she’d been hiding it all away.

As Emma began to work her way through the pile, a knot of anxiety grew in her stomach.

There was so much outstanding. Changes to future function bookings, personnel requests that needed to be followed up with HR, reports to be compiled for management meetings.

As much as Emma didn’t get on with Heather, and was unhappy about the way the woman had treated her, she didn’t feel comfortable reporting her to management.

It was such a mess. She began to work through it all, dealing with what she could but knowing she would have to pass a lot of it on to Faye.

Emma gasped as she read an email that had been printed out.

She blinked and re-read it, not sure if she was seeing things.

Her thoughts slipped back to the first function she’d overseen for Heather, when twenty guests had unexpectedly turned up.

She remembered the roasting Heather had given her for not checking the paperwork, accusing her of incompetence, yet here was an email dated five days before the function advising them of the change in guest numbers.

And Heather had obviously seen it because she’d printed it.

She let out the breath she’d been holding.

Had this been an oversight? Had Heather printed this off and forgotten about it, or had she planned that Emma would be in charge of the function and had deliberately withheld the information to drop her in it on the day?

What Emma did know was that the complaint was still being investigated and she had no choice but to pass this on to Faye.

It wasn’t even a matter of conscience. She put the email to one side and continued to sort the rest of the papers into type of action and order of urgency.

When she’d finished, she placed the most incriminating email on the top and went to find Faye.

Faye was at her desk, her eyes focused on her computer screen. She looked up and smiled when Emma tapped gently on the door.

‘Ah, Emma, what can I do for you?’

Emma walked into the office, aware that Faye’s smile wasn’t going to last for very long. She put the folder she was carrying down on her manager’s desk and said simply, ‘You asked me to go through Heather’s paperwork and bring to you anything that needed to be dealt with.’

Faye’s eyes widened. ‘And all this needs to be dealt with, does it?’

‘I’m afraid so. I’ve done whatever I could, but this is what is left.’

‘Where did you find this? Heather’s desk looked pretty clear to me.’

‘It was. I found these in the drawers. I’ve sorted them into department and urgency.’

Faye nodded and pulled the pile towards her. As she picked up the piece of paper on top, Emma explained what it was.

‘So, we did receive the revised numbers after all?’ Faye asked when Emma had finished explaining.

‘Heather must have known because she printed it off, but she categorically denied it.’ She paused. ‘I really didn’t want to drop her in it, but I felt it was important.’

Faye nodded. ‘You’ve done the right thing.

Not having this information would have made us look very foolish when reporting back to the client.

And don’t worry about dropping Heather in it.

She certainly didn’t have any qualms about doing the same to you.

’ She paused and passed over another piece of paper to Emma.

‘Here you are — your shifts for the next four weeks. I’ve put you on earlies for the first week so you can get to grips with what happens from the beginning of the day.

You’ll be shadowing Inga — she’s one of our most experienced receptionists and she enjoys training up the newbies, so you’ll be in good hands. ’

‘Thank you,’ Emma said. She couldn’t believe how relieved she felt to be working for a manager who had her best interests at heart. She knew she would have to make the most of the next few weeks because there would be hell to pay when Heather came back to work.’

Faye looked at her watch. ‘It’s almost the end of your shift. Why don’t you get off and enjoy your weekend?’

‘Thank you. I will do.’ Emma paused at the doorway. ‘I really do appreciate this, you know.’

Faye smiled and nodded. ‘There’s absolutely no need for you to thank me.

From now on, you’ll be getting the training you deserve, and I can only apologise for what you’ve suffered so far.

I can assure you, it will be properly investigated, and it will be my mission to make sure it never happens again. ’

Emma resisted the temptation to say thank you again. Instead she nodded and got up to leave, a smile spreading across her face.