Welcome to Coco Bay

by Kirsty McManus

  We returned to Lachie and the gang sometime after midnight, and they offered us the use of an empty bell tent, so we didn’t have to go all the way back to the staff quarters in the dark. Dash and Sasha were nowhere to be found, and I hoped that was a good thing.

  The next morning, it takes all my restraint not to stop multiple times on the walk back to make out with Noah against a tree. He seems to be struggling to contain himself too. I wonder if I can sneak him into my room for a follow-up of last night.

  Just as we’re passing the front counter at reception, I hear a loud smashing sound. I look at Noah, and we both hurry to the office.

  Cal is in there, looking livid. A glass vase is in pieces on the ground, and the bird of paradise flowers it had contained are lying amongst the debris.

  “Are you okay?” I ask.

  Cal spins around. “No, I’m not fucking okay. Fucking Bruce just decided to cut off any further funding.”

  My eyes widen. “You mean, he’s not going to pay for any more repairs?”

  “Or wages. Or bills. Or anything.”

  I look at Noah worriedly. His face reflects how I’m feeling.

  “What does he want to happen?”

  “I don’t fucking know. Only Bruce knows that. But from what I can gather, he’s lost interest in the place and doesn’t care if anything happens.”

  “You mean, he’s not even going to try to find a buyer?”

  “Not that he’s mentioned.”

  “So, did you ask him what he wanted all the staff to do?”

  “He said if we couldn’t manage ourselves using the money coming in from bookings, then we should just leave.”

  “Well, obviously, that’s what we plan on doing once the place reopens, but we still have a week left, plus a ton of repairs. Not to mention all the suppliers we need to pay, and food for the restaurants…”

  “I know, I know. I’m quite aware of the cost involved. Which means we’re screwed. I looked at the bank account this morning, and we have enough for one more week of wages, but that doesn’t allow for any new staff arriving next week, and there’s nothing left for repairs or supplies.”

  “What do you want to do?”

  Cal punches a nearby wall. “You know what? I don’t care. I’m done with this shit. I gave up a management role in a five-star hotel in Singapore a few weeks ago, and I stupidly chose this job out of some misguided sense of loyalty. But I’ve realised this island cannot be saved, at least not while Bruce owns it. I’m out of here.”

  He storms off, leaving Noah and I staring at each other.

  We don’t say anything for a minute, letting it all sink in.

  “Do you think we can still make it work?” I ask eventually.

  “I don’t know. But if we don’t, no one else will.”

  “How about we call a meeting of all existing staff and see if we can come up with a plan?”

  “Yeah, good idea. I’ll go round up everyone on the west side, and you can get everyone on the east. See you at the staff quarters in half an hour?”

  “Sounds good.”

  Before he leaves, he reaches out and tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. “You’re a kick-ass woman. With the two of us here, we’ll figure something out.” He kisses me on the forehead and disappears.

  I feel a little shell-shocked. As the only other manager, I don’t know if that leaves me in charge, but I plan on discussing it with everyone when we meet. It seems like letting all staff have a say would be the best way forward, especially because Cal was such a lone wolf. And while he said Bruce had basically abandoned the place, I should probably confirm that for myself.

  I’m not looking forward to talking to the man who originally wanted me fired, but I feel like if I don’t see where we stand, we might end up doing a bunch of work for nothing.

  I hunt around on Cal’s desk for any information he might have left behind. I don’t even know his password for his laptop. If only we had an IT guy, I could get him to help, but we’re about to run out of money to pay existing employees, let alone any new ones. I start making some notes to chase up later.

  I’m fortunate Cal was so bad with technology, because I find an old-fashioned Rolodex filled with a bunch of phone numbers. After a quick flick through, I locate Bruce’s mobile.

  I dial it, my heart pounding.

  “Yeah?” he answers.

  “Uh, hi, it’s Emily from Coco Bay Island Resort. I just wanted to inform you that Calvin has resigned as manager.”

  He snorts. “About fucking time. Useless piece of crap.”

  I blink. “Uh…”

  “And who are you again?” he barks.

  “Emily McIntosh.”

  “Who?”

  I hold my breath as I answer. “The night manager?”

  “Never heard of you. Listen, the island is a money pit. I’m not going to get any buyers in the current economic climate, so I’m focusing on other investments. I’ll tell you what I told Cal. If you want to keep your job, make do with whatever income you can generate from bookings. Otherwise, feel free to leave.”

  “Do you have a preference for a management team or any other requests in the meantime?” I check.

  “Couldn’t care less. I have to go.” He hangs up, and I stare into space. Well, that was weird. Fancy being so rich that you don’t care what happens to a whole island!

  At least he seems to have forgotten I puked in front of him.

  I head outside and round up Allie, Monty, and Sasha without giving too much detail. I stop by the construction crew building and ask that they all join us too.

  When everyone is finally gathered outside the staff quarters, I let Noah take the lead. He’s been at the resort the longest and has good relationships with everyone. But before he starts, he ushers me over to stand next to him.

  “Okay, just a heads-up. Calvin has quit his role here at the resort, and Bruce has halted all future funding, so it’s up to us to figure out what we’re going to do next.”

  He pauses while everyone reacts to the news. Sasha shoots me a wide-eyed stare. I mouth, “I’ll talk to you soon,” in return.

  “All right, so to be completely transparent, there’s only one week of wages left for everyone. After that, we’ll need to rely on whatever we can get from bookings and any other initiatives we come up with. If anyone doesn’t want to hang around, that’s totally fine. This is an unusual situation, and it will require a lot of work with not a lot of certainty.”

  I look at everyone murmuring to each other. I wonder how many will walk out.

  Noah continues. “The first order of business is to elect a new manager. I nominate Emily because she has extensive experience in tourism management, and she was already appointed the night manager.”

  I smile at him gratefully, but inside I’m terrified. I’m not sure I’m capable of doing something like this.

  “I’m cool with that,” Sasha says. “I’ve seen first-hand what she can do. We developed those new procedure manuals for reception that will make my job a lot easier.”

  “I’m fine with that too,” Monty says.

  “And me,” Allie adds.

  Dash nods, showing his agreement.

  I almost burst into tears. All these people vouching for me is overwhelming.

  “Okay, well, is there anyone else who would like to nominate themselves for the job?”

  No one says anything.

  “It’s sorted, then. Emily is our new manager. Over the next day or so, we’ll coordinate a strategy to boost cashflow in the short term. I’m sure a lot of you will have concerns, so come see me or Emily anytime.”

  There’s a bit more murmuring before everyone breaks off into small groups. I stand there, still a little stunned from the events of the past half hour.

  And then I remember I’ve been preparing for this already. I’ve spent almost three weeks putting together a bunch of marketing strategies, and now I can actually implement them.

  I just hope it’s enough to save t
he island.

  ***

  Interestingly, no one chooses to leave. I guess it came down to what Sasha said on my first day, that the staff who returned after the cyclone were the ones who really loved the place. I hope they don’t come to regret it.

  I take Noah and Sasha back with me to reception, and we gather in the office. Noah sweeps up the broken glass while Sasha gets us coffee. I sit at the spare computer and start looking through whatever files were saved to the shared drive. Everything is a huge mess.

  “We’re going to have our work cut out for us,” I say.

  “I know. But I have faith you’ll be a great leader. A million times better than Cal.”

  “I’m worried about being able to pay everyone.”

  “You’ll be surprised how little the staff here worry about their personal finances. They have free food and board, and they chose this lifestyle for a reason. I think they’ll be flexible if money is tight for a week or two.”

  “But they should be paid for their efforts. We need to do whatever we can to make sure they are.”

  Sasha returns with three coffees and hands me one.

  “Thanks,” I say, taking a sip. “Hey, I was thinking, would you two be interested in being co-assistant managers? I really can’t do this on my own, and I feel that between the three of us, we’d be a good team. I’m happy to split the shifts, so we all take turns at night, and distribute everything as evenly as possible.”

  They look at each other with big grins. “Hell, yeah,” Sasha says.

  “I’m in,” Noah agrees. “We’ve basically been doing a bit of everything anyway.”

  I breathe a sigh of relief. “Good. Man, this is so weird. I mean, normally you’d have some sort of official procedure at a workplace, but we’re kind of flying blind here. What kind of person doesn’t care about a multi-million-dollar island resort?”

  “Billionaires,” Sasha says dryly.

  “I suppose you’re right. But billionaires don’t get where they are by not caring about money. We have to turn this place around so that Bruce wants to keep it and let us continue running the resort the way we think will work.”

  “All right. So, what do you propose?” Noah asks.

  “I’m going to talk to Dash, but I think we should open up this weekend to locals as well as guests and run an event. Markets, live music, giveaways…”

  “I like it. They have some markets in town, so I’ll check if any of the overflow stalls want to come out to the island on Saturday.”

  “Perfect. And make sure you talk to Allie. Her mum makes a whole bunch of native Australian bush foods, so she might be interested in setting up here. And we’ll need to advertise in the local media. I wonder if it’s too late to get in the paper and on TV?”

  “I’ll follow that up,” Sasha says. “But we can definitely do social media. Between me and Noah, we pretty much know half of Mackay. We’ll be able to spread the word quickly.”

  “You guys are amazing. I couldn’t think of any other people I would rather be doing this with now than the two of you.”

  “Right back atcha, babe,” Sasha says.

  Noah winks at me, and my stomach flutters. It only just occurs to me that I inadvertently removed one of the reasons we couldn’t be together when I appointed him part of the management team.

  I can’t wait to get him alone later.

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  Emily

  The rest of the week flies by in a whirlwind of activity. A week is nowhere near enough time to finish everything we need and organise an event, but we manage to get pretty close.

  It helps that everyone is communicating and working with a common strategy now. It’s amazing how much Calvin was holding us back beforehand.

  And being able to spend time with Noah has been one of the highlights. He attacks every task with enthusiasm and knows exactly what to do or say to get the job done. It’s obvious everyone adores him, myself included.

  We managed to get the word out to the locals about our reopening event, and thanks to me hinting at a lawsuit with the news site that printed the article about my situation in Canada, they agreed to print a feature on Coco Bay in their travel section. The resulting bookings were almost worth the stress I went through at my old job. And if we can keep up this momentum, we’ll be profitable again in no time.

  On Saturday morning at 7am, all staff gather at reception, appropriately attired. We decided to reinstate the uniforms Henry had employees wear when he still owned the place: tan pants and a blue-grey tunic with a white and tan Indigenous print. Everyone agreed that they were more comfortable and island-appropriate than the outfits worn under Cal’s management, which for the women made them look like flight attendants from the 1950s.

  I stand in front of everyone and take a deep breath.

  “Good morning, everyone. I’m so impressed with all of you and how we’ve worked as a team to get as far as we have. In a way, we’re lucky we have total control over what happens in the next few weeks. It’s going to be busy and stressful, but hopefully very rewarding. Noah is about to go back to the mainland to pick up the first batch of stall-holders for the markets. The first guests won’t be here until just before two, so we have some time to make sure everything’s running smoothly. Make sure you have your phones with you and let me know if you experience any trouble throughout the day. Now off you go. And good luck!”

  Everyone claps and disperses.

  Noah comes over and checks to make sure no one is watching before he sneaks a quick kiss. “You’re awesome,” he says quietly.

  “No, you’re awesome,” I say, smiling.

  “We’re all awesome. I better go, but I’ll see you back here in just under two hours.”

  “Great.”

  I head off to reception with Sasha while Noah makes his way down to the jetty.

  I feel like today is going to be a great day.

  ***

  Throughout the morning, Sasha and I go over a few final details. She has been very focused on work since Cal left, which has obviously been extremely helpful, but I worry that means things with Dash didn’t work out the way she’d hoped. I should have asked her about it before now, but I make a point to definitely follow up once all the madness has died down.

  I return my attention to the resort. We’re as prepared as it’s possible to be considering we had such a short amount of time to get everything ready. I look around the reception area, and I just know people will love it. Everything has been repainted and polished, and we have a whole bunch of drinks and snacks ready to hand out to guests as they arrive.

  The stall-holders and musicians all show up mid-morning, so Sasha and I guide them to their allocated spaces, which extend from just beyond reception all the way to the lagoon pool. I personally check in with Allie’s mum, who looks exactly like her daughter, with long straight sandy hair and a dusting of freckles across her nose.

  “I’ve heard great things about your products,” I tell her.

  “I’m glad. And thank you for inviting me. It’s not always easy to get a stall in town, so I appreciate the opportunity to sell some of my stock. And I shouldn’t be saying this, but your stall-holder fees are too cheap!”

  I laugh. “We just wanted to make it easy for local businesses to come out here, considering we only gave them a few days’ notice. But if it all works out, we might make this a regular thing and revise the charges.” I lean in and lower my voice. “Except you’ll still get a discount because you have connections to the staff here.”

  She smiles broadly. “Come by later, and I’ll give you some samples to try.”

  “Will do.”

  I head back to reception just as Monty arrives with a batch of seafood carbonara for us to eat.

  “You remembered!” Sasha squeals, wrapping him in a huge hug. “You are the best chef ever!”

  He laughs. “I know.”

  I manage to eat a few bites before it gets cold and agree with Sasha that it is the most amazing dish in h
istory. This island is so lucky to have someone as accomplished as Monty.

  Just before 2pm, the catamaran pulls up to the jetty with the first batch of guests. Families and couples, as well as small groups of guys and girls, all disembark. Sasha is ready to hand out fresh coconuts and small bowls of macadamias.

  I’m standing at the top of the jetty, greeting everyone as they walk by and ushering them towards the counter for check-in. I’m just about to join Sasha to speed things along when I freeze. A familiar face is coming towards me. I can’t place her at first, but I’m certain I know her from somewhere.

  And then her companion appears, and I almost have a heart attack.

  It’s Seb. And he’s with his stepsister, Lola. I’ve never met her in person, which is why it took me a moment to place her. But I would obviously never forget Seb, even if I hadn’t seen his photo on Facebook recently.

  He sees me and breaks out into a huge grin. “Emily! Wow! You look great!”

  My mouth stops working. Possibly my heart too.

  He sees my stunned expression and laughs. “I guess you didn’t expect this, huh?”

  “Uh, no.” What is he doing here? Surely this isn’t a coincidence.

  “Oh, hey, you never met Lola, did you?” He gestures to his stepsister, who looks me up and down before holding out a limp hand for me to shake.

  “Hi.”

  “Hi,” I say, my brain on the verge of exploding. “So, what brings you to Coco Bay?”

  “Well, Alexis told me you’d been in touch, and then I saw that article about the resort online, and it mentioned an Emily McIntosh was the new manager. I knew it had to be you, so I made a booking to come check out the place. Lola was bored, so she tagged along.”

  “Right…”

  I’m confused. Why would he come all this way to see me when he’s engaged? And why did he bring Lola instead of Alexis?

  He runs his hands through his hair. “God, it’s so good to see you again after all this time.”

  My skin tingles, which makes me angry. How dare my body betray me this way? I’ve moved on from Seb… I’m with Noah now…