Love Fast

The uniforms at the Colorado Club have less than nothing in common with the gray polyester coveralls I had to wear at Frank’s garage. I used to itch just looking at them. Nothing I’m wearing right now could withstand a flamethrower the way a Eugene Auto Sales uniform could. My plain black pantsuit—black trousers, a fitted white shirt, and a black vest—might not be fireproof, but it feels anything but plain. I feel like I should be a patron of a fancy restaurant, not a server at one.

“You look great,” the girl with the sleek black bob says from where she’s changing beside me.

“Thanks. You too. The suits are nice, right?”

There are three of us starting today. I’m glad I’m not the only one.

Bob Girl lowers her voice. “I heard Hugo Boss designed them.”

I couldn’t tell you exactly who Hugo Boss is, but he sure does make nice clothes.

“They feel…” The fabric is soft against my skin and fits like it’s been tailored specifically for me. The outfit is unadorned but makes me feel sexy. Pretty. Prettier than I felt on my wedding day. But I also feel so comfortable, because it’s such a good fit. This uniform makes me feel like I’m meant to be here. Like I fit.

“Sophisticated,” she says. “I guess billionaires want their waitresses to look expensive.”

“Billionaires?” I ask.

“Yeah, you know—the guests who will be staying here.”

I nod like I understand what she’s getting at. It’s a hotel. It’s not like everyone’s going to be a billionaire.

“I’m only here to find a husband,” the woman on the other side of the locker room says. “I heard they take centimillionaires too. I’d be okay with that.”

She and the other girl laugh. I feel like I’m missing something.

“What’s a centimillionaire?” I ask. That seems the most obvious question of the five I have in my head right now.

“You know, someone with over a hundred million in the bank,” Bob Girl says. “I’m Akira, by the way. This is Eden.” She nods at the husband-shopper.

“I’m Rosey.”

“Where are you from?” Eden asks. “Because I know it’s not Star Falls.”

I smile, not quite sure how she’s so certain. “Oregon.”

“Oh, so you just came for the job too?” Akira asks. “As soon as I saw ‘exclusive private members resort,’ I packed my bags.”noveldrama

“Private members resort? I thought this was a hotel?” I ask.

“You can’t come here unless you’re a member,” Akira says. “You have to apply, be accepted, pay a membership fee. It’s a whole thing.”

Wow, that sounds… weird. “So… not a hotel,” I say, hoping for a confirmation.

“It is,” Akira says. “And it has lodges and chalets too. Some are owned and some are rented. But you can only get into this place if you’re a member.”

Eden’s eyes grow wide. “And guess what? Annual membership is a hundred and fifty thousand a year. You gotta be rich to afford that. I just hope some of them are single.”

A hundred and fifty grand a year? Just to be able to come here? That’s insane. “So it’s like an all-inclusive?” I say. One of the girls back at the garage went to an all-inclusive in Jamaica for her honeymoon. Everything was free once you got there. She said she and her husband had the time of their lives.

“The exact opposite,” Akira says, who seems to know everything I don’t about the Colorado Club. “You pay the membership, then you have to pay for everything else on top. So drinks, food, your room—everything.”

“I don’t get it,” I say. “Why would you do that? Why wouldn’t you go to Aspen and not spend a hundred and fifty grand a year to come here?”

Akira just laughs. “Because the people who come here only want to mix with other people who are as rich as them. They want the slopes to themselves. They want caviar on every menu. They want waitresses dressed by Hugo Boss. Millionaires go to Aspen. Billionaires come to the Colorado Club.”

“You should really get a job in the marketing department,” Eden says. “You make it sound like heaven for VIPs.”

“That’s what it is. A roped-off section of heaven.”

“And we’re lucky enough to work here,” I say on a laugh.

“Until we land rich husbands and become guests ourselves,” Eden says on a wink.

“I heard the real big fish is the owner of the place. He’s a multibillionaire apparently,” Akira says.

“And about a hundred years old, no doubt,” I say.

“Even better!” Eden says, and dissolves into laughter. “The only problem is, he might never be here. Someone that rich probably doesn’t get involved in like, running the place.”

“Apparently this guy is here,” Akira says. “One of the reception agents thinks he’s gay. Or hopes he is. Apparently he’s in the gym a lot. He’s got quite the bod, by all accounts.”

“Does he wear a ring?” Eden asks. “How old is he? I need details. Is he definitely gay? Is there flexibility?”

“Flexibility?” I ask, unsure what she’s talking about.

“Like is he bisexual?” Eden asks. “I could make that work.”

“We need to go,” I say, not wanting to tumble down that particular rabbit hole. “We’re meeting Hazel in the lobby. Maybe we’ll get to see the owner on our tour.”

“If I see him, I might propose on the spot,” Eden says.

“Sounds like an excellent way to lose your job,” I reply.

Eden mutters something and we make our way out of the locker room. We head to the main lobby, where we’ve been told we’re going to start our tour.

“I’m Hazel,” a tall Black woman says. “I’m heading up your induction today. Any problems with your uniform, fill out the form you received over email.”

Akira puts up her hand. “If we’re not open yet and there are no guests around, why are we wearing uniforms?”

Hazel mostly covers up her irritation. I’m not sure if she’s been asked the question a hundred times and is sick of it, or she just doesn’t like questions. Either way, Akira doesn’t seem to notice.

“If you’re in member areas, you must always be in a uniform. No excuses. Yes, you’re training, but it’s best to start as we mean to go on. The uniform helps create a mindset of professionalism and service.” She doesn’t invite any further questions. “We’re going to start with a tour and I’ll give you some information about the resort and our expectations in terms of our approach to members and service.” She pauses and winces slightly. “There will be pop quizzes along the way. I wanted to tell you up front so you don’t get a shock.”

“You’re going to test us?” Eden asks.

“Yes. The service we provide to members needs to be consistently first class across the entire resort, so there’s an expectation for all staff to share a baseline of operational knowledge. The tests help us ensure consistency and understanding. They also help us understand how well senior management are communicating.”

I’m not sure what she said, but I’m starting to feel real pressure and we’re only three minutes in.

Hazel takes a step closer to us. “Look, we’re not trying to catch you out. That’s not the aim. We just want you to know the resort well and be able to communicate with members properly. If they want to know what time the slopes open, we want you to be able to say, The lifts are manned twenty-four hours a day and lighting is available on the green, blue, and red runs on request.”

“Oh, so it’s not like… questions about the menu?” Akira asks.

“It will be that too, but the members here will have huge expectations of you, so you’ll need to know about the entire resort.”

Because they’re rich, I think. The richer they are, the more power they have. The more they expect. I always thought Frank was rich, but although his house was in a great neighborhood and he didn’t look at prices in the grocery store, he wasn’t the kind of rich that could spend a hundred and fifty grand a year just to get a chance to book this place.

“There’s no need to feel intimidated,” Hazel says. “We’ll role-play a lot of scenarios, and there are work-arounds to everything.” Her smile is warm and encouraging, but I can’t help feeling intimidated. Checking in cars for service at Frank’s dealership was a job I’d done for two years. I could do it with my eyes closed. It was just a few clicks on a mouse, filling out a name and address, and asking the customer a couple of questions I read from the screen. This sounds much more complicated.

“Let’s start here,” Hazel says, her attention pulled toward the enormous flower arrangement on the round, polished table in the center of the lobby. “A member might ask you what flowers are in the arrangement.”

Jesus, were we all going to be trained in floristry now too?

“We don’t expect you to be able to keep up with the different arrangements here or elsewhere throughout the resort, but there’s a full list in reception at all times. So all you would say is, ‘We use a local florist. I can get you full details.’ Then you would tell your supervisor of the request and either you or your supervisor would retrieve the details and bring them to the member. Reception will have the information on a beautifully presented card with a scannable QR code, which allows the member to order an arrangement with the same or different flowers for their accommodation. Does that make sense?”

I swallow as I realize the expectations these guests are going to have of us. Of me.

“What’s the average length of stay for a guest?” Akira asks. “Will we get a chance to get to know them?”

Hazel smiles. “We refer to people staying here as members. Or members and their guests. So if you’re staying in the resort, you’re either a member or the guest of a member. We want people to feel they belong here. This is their home away from home. Indeed, some of the members will own lodges here.”

We must look a little shell-shocked, because Hazel smiles. Again. Maybe a little too wide this time. “It will take some getting used to, but we recruited you because we know you’re capable of providing the level of service we aim to provide.”

“It’s a lot,” Eden says. “But no pain, no gain. We’ll probably need to know about the owner of the place too, won’t we?”

“We’re not going to overload you on your first day. Today we’ll be focusing on the tour so you can understand the layout of the resort.”

“Sounds good,” I say, before Eden can reveal her real motivation for taking this job.

“First on our tour are our four main restaurants. You’ll get a sense of the difference in vibe. All three of you will be working primarily in Autumn, but it’s important you know all the restaurants so you can advise our members accordingly. You’ll be required to cover in other restaurants from time to time, depending on bookings and staffing levels.”

We follow Hazel along the corridor, down some steps into the first restaurant of our trip—Blossom. Its booths are pink velvet and the color scheme somehow contrasts beautifully with the gray blue of the sky beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows. As we walk through the restaurant, I notice how the staff are dressed exactly like us. I guess we’ll all fade into the background when the members are here.

It feels like a very different world to one I’ve ever visited before. If I’d married Frank, I wouldn’t know places like the Colorado Club existed. I wouldn’t understand that waiters and waitresses for the seriously wealthy don’t dress the same as normal waitstaff. It feels like I’ve woken up on a different planet. It’s certainly a world away from Oregon. I’m surrounded by people I’ve known for less than an hour, in a town I’ve been in just over two days. All I can think is how I was about to get married and cement my future when I knew so little of the world.

Eden’s looking around, probably trying to spot the wealthy, gay owner of the Colorado Club.

“Here we are at Blossom. It’s our fine-dining restaurant. Some members will want to eat here all the time, but we think most will come here once or twice a week.”

The tables are very spread out and the space seems small. Then again, I don’t have much to compare it to. I’ve only ever been out to dinner with Frank and he just wanted the best steak. Fine dining wasn’t really his scene. Hazel keeps talking about the chefs and the menu, and I mentally rush to commit it all to memory. I wish I had my cell, so I could take notes, but it’s strictly forbidden to have a personal phone while you’re on shift.

“Did you see that guy in the suit?” Eden whispers as we trail Hazel toward the kitchen. I was focused on Hazel, worrying about how I’ll remember to pronounce fois gras correctly.

Eden turns her head and I follow her gaze. Three men head in the opposite direction, so all I see is their backs. Living next door to Byron has done a real number on me. I swear, I’m imagining him everywhere. It’s just, the middle guy is about the same height and has the same broad shoulders.

“The guy in the middle?” I ask. As well as broad shoulders, he also has a nice ass. I haven’t noticed Byron’s ass, but I make a mental note to check it out next time I see him. Maybe that will be tonight. I don’t know why he’s filling up my head when I have so much else to think about. I keep thinking about how open he was, talking about his family. Like we’re already close confidants or something. Mom always told us we should keep ourselves to ourselves—keep it in the family, she’d say. So while I’ve never before had the kind of bare-your-soul conversation Byron and I shared, with him, it felt entirely natural.

She shakes her head. “The one on the left. You think that’s the owner?”

I shrug. I want to tell Eden that marrying a man because he’s rich might not make her happy, but I know there’s no point. Maybe it will be enough for her. It wouldn’t have been for me. I don’t know what will be enough for me, now that I’ve cut my tether to the life I thought I had to have in Oregon. But Star Falls might be the place where I start to figure it out.