This Kiss

Chapter 70

The week seemed to fly by. Emma going to school every day and with Jane after school, the rest of the family was back to work at The Beacon Springfield. It was discussed that Ava would become the general manager, Natalia would start training to take her place beside Olivia, and once Rafe was done with training, he would become Ava's assistant.

Olivia and Natalia had their hands full getting construction underway at The Beacon Chicago, and also trying to evaluate the staff. It was hard when they couldn't be there in person. But they were needed in Springfield. Not only was their family working on cohabitating now that the moms were home, but they also needed to help Ava get resettled at The Beacon and start assessing Rafe.

Although he still needed to cycle through several departments, it was decided that once he finished with Karen in the Food and Beverage department, he would start shadowing Greg. He would be able to work with the other three remaining departments and learn on the job like Natalia did. As long as he had an understanding of the main areas he would be able to start as Ava's assistant sooner rather than later.

Olivia wanted him to truly understand every aspect of the hotel before he took his position as executive assistant, but recent events had changed that. Not only was Ava back and taking the place of general manager, Olivia and Natalia needed their attention to be in Chicago as well as another property Olivia had been looking into. She didn't want to make another purchase until The Beacon Chicago was up to standards and running smoothly, and not until after their wedding, but she couldn't pass up the opportunity for another property. It was in St. Louis and selling for a very good price.

She had called and asked the current owners if they would be willing to hold off until after the new year. Assuring them that she was very interested and that she would make it worth their while to wait. They agreed, which gave Olivia the time she needed to work on everything else she had going on and talk to Natalia about it. She didn't want to overload herself or the family, but franchising The Beacon had always been her dream, and buying two new properties within a few months of each other would be a great start.

Renovations in Chicago would take two months. Being complete about the second week of January. They had initially planned on keeping it open during the construction, but since they didn't have the time to go back and forth right now, they decided to close and have a grand re-opening once it was complete. Olivia paid their staff well for the two months they would be off and assured them that they would have the opportunity to maintain their jobs after the renovations should they wish to. This would also give Olivia and Natalia time to look over the staff files and asses who needed to be replaced if any. They also decided upon re-opening, they would be doing interviews of each staff member to make sure they had the best employees.

That decision had been hard for Olivia to make, it was going to cost them a great deal, but she knew it was for the best. They needed to properly assess their staff and make sure the general manager was a good fit for their company. They couldn't do that from Springfield. This way, they could focus on getting their family situated, bringing Ava's belongings home from California, the barn renovations, and their wedding. Their plates were full, but they were all so happy to be together that none of them let the stress affect them.

It was Friday, and the long week was finally setting in on everyone, but they were also very excited to head to San Francisco and bring Ava home for good. Olivia and Natalia were having lunch in her office together finalizing their plans.

"So, Rafe's parole officer is on board as long as we check in first thing Monday morning. He is headed there now for his weekly meeting and then we should be good to go." Olivia said, taking a bite of her turkey sandwich.

"Yes, and Ava just finished getting her new office set up and is going to help me finish up with mine after lunch."

"When we get home we will have a week and a half before Emma's off for Thanksgiving break. I would like to have Rafe's office ready by then so all of us can take off the three days with Emma."