This Kiss

Chapter 73

Upon reaching the hotel, Olivia was surprised not to see a single work truck. In fact, there was nothing to indicate that there was work being done at all. Olivia gave Natalia a skeptical look while she parked the car. She ran around to open Natalia's door.

"This is weird. I mean, there is no one here. They should be working."

"I agree, but let's go inside, Andrew is supposed to be meeting us. He should be here any minute. Let's get out of the cold and wait for him."

The two joined hands and walked to the front entrance. Olivia pulled out her keys to unlock the door, growing more confused and concerned by the moment. The two stood in the main lobby and looked around, there was little work done and it appeared that nothing had been done in the lobby at all. Just as Olivia was starting to panic, Andrew came through the front door.

"What the hell is going on here? Where is the construction crew and why aren't they working?" Olivia spat at him before he could even utter a hello.

"Well, um, Ms. Spencer there was a problem..."

"What kind of a problem Andrew?" her anger was rising as she towered over the young man in front of her.

"The uh, um,..." Andrew stuttered, unable to form words.

"If you value your job you had better start talking Mr. Jones."

"You see, the thing is..."

"What Andrew? What the hell happened?" Olivia was growing angrier by the second. Natalia placed a hand on her arm to calm her and looked at Andrew.

"Why don't we all sit down and you can tell us what's going on. Okay?" Natalia said in her usual calm manner.

Andrew nodded and the three walked down the hall to the main office, Olivia sat behind the desk with Natalia standing beside her. Andrew sat in one of the black chairs across from them.

Olivia took a deep breath and tried to keep her voice even. "Okay Mr. Jones. Can you please tell us why we don't have a construction crew hard at work right now?"

"Last week, on Friday, there was a problem. Mr. Tillman said that he needed to speak with you before they could go any further." Andrew took a deep breath before continuing. "When I called The Beacon Springfield, the lady I spoke to said that you and Ms. Rivera were both out for the day and wouldn't be in until Tuesday."

"Why didn't you call my cell phone?"

"I'm sorry Ms. Spencer. I misplaced the paper with your personal number on it. I tried to get the woman I spoke with to give it to me but she said under no circumstances was she going to hand out your personal number."

"Did you tell her who you were?"

"I tried. She said she would call you with my number but that she couldn't hand out yours or Ms. Rivera's."

Natalia looked at Olivia perplexed. "Cindy was on the front desk Friday when we left. She wouldn't not call us."

"No, she wouldn't." Olivia thought for a second. "We were at Emma's play Friday. I turned my phone to silent and I don't think I turned it back on. I don't recall using it on Saturday either. When I spoke to Doris about coffee I used the home phone and then when I got home we had family day in Rafe's apartment. I don't even know if it's on now. I didn't use it at all yesterday." Olivia pulled out her phone and found that it was in fact on, but it was on silent and she had seven missed calls. Five were from The Beacon on Friday afternoon and evening. She glanced up at the scared young man sitting across from her. "It would appear that I owe you an apology Andrew. However, you should have programmed mine and Natalia's numbers into your phone. I have been wondering why I haven't heard from you about the progress. I should have called you and I apologize for that as well."