Page 15 of Love Marks

The elevator doors open and Luna comes barreling in straight towards me. Her tiny arms wrap around my legs.

“Uncle Wes! Daddy said we’re going to surprise you.”

“Surprise,” Ben smirks.

“Can I go exploring, daddy? Please please please?” Luna gives him her best pleading face, her brown eyes almost welling with tears, and he’s defenseless against her talents.

“Sure, but don’t go too far. And only for a little while.”

She takes off like a bat out of hell as I yell after her to be careful. Ben sits on the stool behind the kitchen island.

“Driving me crazy.” He shakes his head.

“Luna or Jamie?”

“Both, if you can believe it.” He sighs. “I was thinking…did Mom seem a little, I don’t know, out of it at lunch yesterday?”

I consider Ben’s words and my mom’s happy-go-lucky attitude at Giovanni’s yesterday. I had expected more tears from her after the story and dad’s move to the new rehab center. This whole process hasn’t been easy on her. I know she wishes she could do more.

“I guess. She didn’t seem as down as I was expecting.”

“You should talk to her. You’re the favorite son.”

“That’s not true and you know it,” I argue. He’s always saying shit like that, even though he and Mom spent a few years living in London while I was stuck in New York with my father. I was only eight at the time, and Ben was six, but I still wish I’d gone with them those three years.

Ben’s kind enough not to pry about that time, but I think even he knows how hard it was on me. He and my father have never had much of a relationship. When we were kids, I relished in the attention my father gave me, thinking that it made me special, but almost as soon as mom and Ben left for London, I learned my lesson. Time spent with my father was time I’d never get back. Years of my life where every word, every move I made was subject to his harsh criticism. Nothing was ever enough for Benjamin Marks.

“Alright. I’ll talk to her.”

“Daddy, look what I found!” Luna comes bounding into the room with a piece of chocolate. I have no idea where she managed to find it, but if there’s sugar somehow, I swear she’d sniff it out from a five-mile radius.

“Can I have it? Please?”

“Sure thing, sweetie,” I say.

Eventually, Luna gets cranky so they head out. He reminds me about mom again before bringing me in for a hug, thumping my back with his closed fist. I sweep Luna up in my arms and twirl her around, attacking her with kisses.

Once they’re gone, I give up on working for the rest of the night and settle into bed with a book. I read for a few minutes before my eyes start to feel heavy. Just as I turn over to turn the light off, my phone buzzes with a message from George:

Bad news. Construction delays on the office. Looks like we can’t get in until next Monday. Hope you like the penthouse office — we’ll work from home this week.

I groan. Another setback. I knew I should have been supervising the planned expansion of the Hyatt offices. George assured me over and over that he had it covered, but this is the second construction delay and I’m getting a little sick of bad news.

I plug my phone in and turn off the light, staring into the silent, dark room, praying for some good news on the horizon.

Chapter 8

Quinn

It’s my first day of work at the Hyatt. I’m in the locker room staring at myself in the mirror. When I’d signed up to be a housekeeper, I guess I forgot about the whole uniform part. The pastel pink and white two-piece set clings to me in all the wrong places. Maybe I should have gotten a size up. Do they purposefully make the top so low-cut? I feel like I should have a feather duster and learn to say ‘Oops’ a lot.

Just as I get my hands firmly down my shirt, Marguerite comes through the door. I drop my hands but she’s not even looking at me, she’s rifling through the stack of papers in her hands.

“Alright, Quinn.”

She’s finally got my name right, at least.

“You’ve been reassigned to the Penthouse.”

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