Too Good to Forget

Chapter 4

Six years later!

"Thank you so much for coming out on your day off," Coleen said as she slipped on wedge sandals, adjusted the skirt of her emerald sleeveless dress, and then slung her purse over her shoulder. "My boss doesn't call meetings very often, but when he does, I have to attend."
"I understand, and it's no problen." Jane, a sweet woman in her sixties who'd nannied Kathy from birth, scanned the kitchen for her young charge. "Where is the little scamp, anyway?"
"Changing her clothes." Coleen's mouth hitched in a halfsmile as they exchange a commiserating glance. "Again."
"Jane!" squeled five-year-old Kathy as she galloped into the kitchen to give her nanny a hug. "You're here!"
"I sure am, honey." Jane pressed Kathy back and scanned her newest wardrobe change. "My, aren't you looking pretty this afternoon?" she observed, beaming at Kathy's colorful combination of glittery princess attire and pink tennis shoes.

Kathy grinned back, reaching to adjust her plastic tiara.
"An' I'm wearing a crown, too."
"I see. Are you Snow White today?" Jane teased as she reached to ruffle Kathy's golden hair. "Or the little Mermaid?"
"I'm Cinderella, silly!" Kathy cocked her head and then lifted her tulle skirt out from her sides. "See? My dress is blue!"
"Land sake's alive, you're right," confessed Jane in feigned chagrin as she bent to squint at Kathy's dress. "It's a good thing I've got such a smart girl to remind me of my colors!"

Coleen's heart pinched as she watched her daughter giggle and then spin an artless Cinderella twirl. Kathy was growing up so fast that missing even one additional minute of her precious childhood made Coleen wish anew for a fairy godmother of her own. Not that she'd entertain thoughts of fairytale endings ever again. Not when duty and employment and reality called.
"Come here, sweetheart," Coleen as she squatted down and hauled Kathy into a hug. "Momma has a meeting at work, but I'll be done before you know it, and then we'll go to the park, okay?"
"Kay," said Kathy as she squirmed free and skipped back to Jane's side. "Love you!"

Thirty five minutes later, Coleen checked her watch as she pressed against the interminably slow revolving door of the Xavier's Hotel. The meeting had started four minutes ago and she hated being late.

When she neared the open convention room doors, she coul hear Ben Master's sonorous voice filling the room with its typical warmth and enthusiasm. Spotting her best friend Harold, she ducked into the chair he'd saved her in one of the back rows. "Hey," she whispered. "Did I miss anything?"
"Oui," he whispered back, his eyes wide and his face pale.
"Very big news you miss. Enorme."

A frisson of alarm sent ice down her spine. "What is it?"

He shushe her wth a wave of his narrow hand.
"Tell me!"

Harold tipped his head toward hers abd hissed, "Ben, he has sold the hotel."

She blached, the thought of being laid off settling hard in her belly. She couldn't afford to lose her seniority, her position as manager, and start all over again. "What? Why?"

Harold pressed his lips together, cinfusion and worry evident in his brown eyez as he gestured towards the stage with his gelled ruff of platinum hair. "The new boss, he bought the Xavier already. He takes charge tomorrow."

Coleen shifted her attention to the stage, tuning in to the tail-end of Ben's introduction. The man who'd been like a father to them all these past few years said something about their jobs being secure and how he'd chosen his replacement based on what was best for the Xavier's family.
"But why didn't Ben tell us anything about this?" she whispered, while the other enployees surged to their feet and their questions began to crescwndo. "Why keep it a secret until now?"
"Quiet down. Quiet down, folks," said Ben, leaning over the microphone with his palms extended. "Things will be fine. I promise." He dipped his attention to the front row and backoned someone forward. "Why don't you come up here and introduced yourself?" he asked. "Set everyone's worries at ease.

The murmurs increased in volume as Coleen stood as well. The employees in front of her craned their necks and rose up on tiptoes, blocking her view. Dipping to peer through a crosshatch of arms, necks and heads, she caught disjointed glimpsea of their new boss as he made his way across the small stage: jet-black hair, broad shoulders, a dark hint of stubble along a chiseled plane of whiskered cheek and bone--

Her stomach reacted first, quivering with an alertness she hadn't felt for years.
NO.

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Sorry for late update.. and also for the short chapter.. AGAIN!!

see you next update.. :)

ms. C