The weekend goes by and there isn’t a sign of Lewis. In fact, Zeke checks the schedule three times just to make sure that the guy is supposed to be here. He goes so far as to shoot him a text on Saturday night just to check in on him. Weirdly, no response. Monday morning rolls around, and Zeke gathers at the front desk with Cherry and Kara. He’s sorta checked out though; he scrolls through his messages with Lewis as the two women talk. There’s just… Nothing.

No response, no matter how many times he checks. What’s worse, is that the message is still marked as delivered. There could be a chance this message oversteps some boundary of sorts. After all, their previous messages have all been work related. Just quick little clarifying texts such as when’s my break today? or are you in your office?

Nothing quite like this:

Zeke:

hey lewis. i saw youre on the schedule and

i just wanted to check in to see how youre

doing. mr. wright didnt fire you, did he?

He stares at his screen with contempt. Why the hell hasn’t Lewis responded yet, and why the hell did he care so much? The visions of the man’s anguished face shattered through glass darts to his mind. He feels chills down his spine as he turns his phone off and slides it into his back pocket. It’s Monday. They’re supposed to be having a meeting right now, hosted by Lewis Lockheart himself.

“You okay, Zeke?” Cherry asks. Her kind words sting the back of Zeke’s throat. He just nods.

“Someone mess with you or something, man? Cuz I’ll kill a bitch, I don’t care,” Kara adds with no remorse.

This comment makes Zeke chuckle a bit before he responds, “nah. Just a lot on my mind.”

“Mm,” Cherry hums, “what’s going on in that noggin of yours?” She asks, playfully tapping at the teen’s skull.

His smile grows, “nothing serious.”

“I think he’s upset that Lewis ain’t here,” Kara butts in, folding her arms from her usual place behind the front desk.

“Oh?” Cherry asks, her eyes darting to see Zeke’s reaction.

Zeke does a poor job of hiding the fact that that’s the truth, so he shrugs, “it’s weird that he hasn’t been here all weekend.”

“Maybe he’s just taking a relaxing weekend off,” Cherry smiles optimistically, “he needs the vacation, if you ask me.”

“As if. I’ve never seen him take a vacation before,” Kara states, “and I’ve worked at this shithole longer than he has.”

“Right,” Zeke butts in, “so it’s weird that he just… Hasn’t shown up. I mean, we’re doing fine without him, but god. It’s just unlike him. And after Friday night,” he says, but quickly stops himself. Lying to a packed restaurant, the uncomfortable phone call with Mr. Wright, the fact that they saw Cupid together, the shattered image of a broken man… Zeke doesn’t finish his thought.

The two women wait patiently for Zeke to continue, however it never comes. Kara speaks up, “what the hell happened while you two were in town? You guys were out pretty late, right?”

Cherry’s gaze presses for more information, although she doesn’t share her curiosities vocally. Zeke’s lips purse as he debates on telling them the full truth or not. Should he stick with his pattern of lying to cover up what’s really going on here? Eventually, he decides to say, “we saw Cupid.”

“No way,” Cherry’s mouth gapes in awe, “you both saw Cupid?”

“Together?” Kara adds to the other woman’s thought.

Zeke peers between the two women. Was that the wrong thing to say? Should he have just bottled it up? All he does is nod his head.

“Oh my god! Details!” Cherry claps her hands.

“Dish it,” Kara says, a twinge of curiosity behind her voice.

Zeke shifts in his footing, “well, uh,” he pauses, unsure of where to start, “we were out late, and Lewis gets this angry phone call from Mr. Wright. Right? So, we’re booking it up the mountain, and - "

Before he can finish his thought, Kara interrupts in a hushed tone, “shut up. Look who’s here,” she says as she points towards the front door. Zeke and Cherry look over their shoulders to see the Hotel’s assistant manager making his way down the lobby’s corridor.

Lewis wears his typical smile; he’s acting as if he didn’t go missing for a weekend, or as if he didn’t break that mirror with his own fist. With just a bit too much glee, he says, “good morning, everyone,” while waving at the small group with his dominant hand. Zeke immediately notices that Lewis’ hand is currently wrapped in bandages; although this doesn’t come as a surprise, it’s still staggering to see.

“Hey,” Kara says shortly.

“Good morning, Lew,” Cherry hums softly, her eyes watching the bandaged hand as he waves.

Zeke can’t even say a proper good morning, because he’s finding it hard to hide the concern that’s been building all weekend. Completely disregarding his typical nonchalant attitude, he asks, “you okay, man?”

“Ah, me? I’m feeling wonderful this morning,” he beams back.

Kara gestures towards him, “what happened to your hand?”

“Oh, right. Just a little sailing accident,” Lewis says casually, and Zeke is taken aback at how good he is at lying; if he hadn’t seen the mirror break himself, he would have believed the guy. Lewis continues, “would anybody like to see some pictures? Oh, the river was just beautiful,” he says, reaching for his phone. He pulls up a few pictures as the other three gather around.

“Here’s one of me and my dad,” he hums, showing them a photo of his father and himself up on a sailboat. The two look as happy as can be, all dressed up in Hawaiian button-downs and swim trunks. The resemblance to his father is striking; the man wears the same nose, with similar kind eyes but in brown. The man’s hair is similarly curly, however it’s dirty-blonde, almost brown, and graying with age.

“Here’s me and my mom,” Lewis smiles, and his cheeks glow red with embarrassment as he scrolls through this weekend’s photos. It seems as though his freckles and ginger hair come from his mom’s side. There’s a few pictures of the river followed by a goofy picture of Lewis waving at the camera with his bandaged hand. Zeke can’t help but chuckle at the assortment of photos. He’s never seen Lewis wear shorts before… With his pink, knobby knees sticking out. It was kind of sweet to see his boss spend time with his family like that.

“Aw,” Cherry hums, “you had a good vacation then?”

“Oh, yes. I suppose you could call it that,” Lewis hums, sliding his phone back into his pocket, “it was nice. Typically we make a trip down to the ocean. Luckily for us, the Delaware River is just as beautiful in the summertime.”

“Happy for you, Lew,” Cherry says, her full cheeks rosy with delight for the man.

“Bring anything back for us or what?” Kara adds, staring daggers at the man by default.

This makes Lewis chuckle, “ah… No souvenirs, sadly. But,” his smile widens, “there’s plenty of work to catch up on. So let’s all get into our places and make today great.”

Kara rolls her eyes, “ew. Why’d I even ask?”

Cherry pouts playfully at the sentiment, “okay… I’ll go find Rosa then. Bye, guys! Catch up with you later, Zeke?”

“Uh,” he purrs, recalling that his story about Cupid got cut off, “yeah, of course. See ya in a bit.”

She gives everyone a little wave before she dips back into the depths of the Hotel. Kara busies herself by organizing the front desk, though it mostly looks like she’s doing it for show. Lewis peers down at Zeke, “follow me to my office, would you?”

Zeke just nods his head, and as they depart towards the managerial hallway, he trails behind Lewis instead of by his side. Getting right down to business, the assistant manager asks, “what’d I miss while I was gone?”

“Nothing, really. It was a chill weekend,” Zeke says shallowly. It’s true. All they did was clean at a very leisurely pace.

“I hardly believe that,” Lewis smiles back at the teenager.

Zeke shrugs his shoulders as they round into the managerial hallway, “don’t know what to tell ya, man. It was a quiet couple days.”

Lewis digs into his pocket, fishes out a pair of keys, and unlocks the door to his closet-office. He flips the old lights on as he steps inside. He places a hand on his hip as he breathes in the stuffy air of his office. Zeke just watches from behind.

Seeing him now… No. Seeing his back, all Zeke can think about is the man lurching over that sink, huffing in distress. He shakes that thought off as Lewis sets his messenger bag atop his office chair. He fishes out his trusty pink clipboard and begins to flip through his notorious notetaking. Lewis doesn’t say a word as he reviews some things, and Zeke finds the tepid humming from the aging overhead lights rather irritating.

Are they going to talk about Friday? The restaurant, that phone call. What about Cupid? Lewis is acting like nothing happened at all, and Zeke is afraid of accidentally triggering him like that again. After all, now he has a taste for what’s hiding behind that managerial loner he’s getting to know: something complex, intriguing, and just a bit frightening. The ginger speaks, but he keeps his eyes down at his paperwork, “I suppose we could get to some of these weekend tasks. Did you get to oversee maintenance and housekeeping?”

“Yeah. Everything looked good. Lauren was busy replacing the air filters. Rosa had no complaints,” Zeke hums.

“Lovely,” Lewis checks it off the list, “and did you see where Kara is with our end-of-week report?”

“Yup. She’s got it all organized. Done by now, submitted to Becka as our second most capable manager.”

This makes Lewis smile gently, “thank you, Zeke. And… Did you happen to deal with any customer complaints over the weekend?”

“Smooth sailing, man. All three total guests seemed content.”

“Wonderful,” Lewis checks it off his list, “oh, and did you happen to deep clean the break room?”

“Yeah.”

“And what about the employee bathroom?”

Zeke blinks a few times, because that broken glass is bleached into the back of his eyelids. He asks, “what about it?”

“Did you deep clean it?” Lewis looks up from his clipboard, and the two lock eyes for the first time that day. Zeke swallows his guilt. He shouldn’t have seen that; now he’s put on the spot. Is this a test? Did Lewis see him running for his life? Zeke nods his head.

Lewis smiles, “you’re the best. Thank you.”

“Sure.”

Lewis takes a seat at his desk as he replies, “well, I suppose that’s all the important stuff out of the way. Thank you for looking after the Hotel while I was gone. I greatly appreciate it, Zeke.”

He can’t do anything else but nod, because he feels uneasy at the avoidance. This dude is acting like absolutely nothing happened to them a few days ago. Is he really that ready to bury the whole day under the matted pink rugs of the Hotel? He can’t hide behind that clipboard forever, and the cramped desk that separates them can’t take back their joint sighting of Cupid.

Goddamnit it all.

Lewis’ silence is deafening, and these ancient humming lights are more irritating now than they’ve ever been. To drown it out, Zeke blurts out, “I was worried about you, ya know.”

Lewis’ light eyes dart up from his paperwork, and his face is impeccably hard to read. At his silence, Zeke speaks up again, “you could've texted a guy back at least.”

“Ah. Yes. Your text,” Lewis breaks their eye contact. He clamps his lips together before dropping his voice down real quiet, “quite frankly, it was… New having one of my coworkers reach out like that. I - Ah, I didn’t know if it was appropriate for me to respond.”

“I mean, I get it. I made this big deal about personal life at work. But… I dunno,” Zeke sighs passively, “this is different. Mr. Wright had it out for you that night, and then you completely disappeared for the weekend.”

Lewis dips his head as he considers this. Lightly, he says, “I’m sorry for worrying you. Andrei thought that I needed some time off to… Ah. Clear my head, I suppose.”

Zeke’s eyes press for details, but Lewis doesn’t get the message as he’s too busy staring down at the desk while his idle hands tidy things up. So, Zeke stumbles out a low, “is everything okay, man? Do you… Uh. Do you wanna talk about it?”

A mild, yet troubled smile rests on Lewis’ face as he stacks multiple sticky note pads off to the side of his desk. He clears his throat, “I’m good. Everything’s good,” he says, almost as if he were convincing himself of that. Zeke bites his tongue, because this lie was a lot less convincing than the one earlier today about that sailing accident. When Lewis finally meets Zeke’s prying gaze, he simply says, “I appreciate your concern though.”

Zeke nods gently, although he can’t help but feel disappointed. Yet again, he was the one to throw that fit about work and personal lives mixing, so his own bullshit statement has come to bite him in the ass yet again. At the teenager’s silence, Lewis hardly speaks above a whisper when he asks, “are you okay, Zeke?”

The stinging in the back of his throat screams no, but Zeke nods his head yes. After all, they still have so much up in the air. Should he come clean about seeing that mirror break? Should he bring up Cupid? And god, he desperately wants to hear the details of what Lewis and Mr. Wright had spoken about in the break room.

Just then, someone knocks on the door frame right above Zeke’s head. He jumps in response and shoots Mr. Wright, who just moved up to the quaint little closet-office, a deadly look.

The old man hoists his pants up by the belt buckle, “Jesus, you two are inseparable.”

“Good to see you too, Mr. Wright,” Lewis says under his breath, although the big boss man just grins.

“You know, we had a couple employees complain about the bathroom mirror while you were gone,” he says, smiling crudely, “just thought you should know.”

 Lewis’ voice falters, “and what did you tell them?”

“Well, I asked pipsqueak here to go get us another mirror. Lad says he can’t drive. So… Go ahead and add that to your little pink clipboard to do later this week.”
Lewis hides a sigh, but Zeke watches closely as the light pink fabric atop his chest tightens, “yes, sir.”

“Good,” Mr. Wright hums, “now, howsabout we have some fun today? Huh?”

Zeke just furrows his eyebrows in confusion at the guy. Lewis looks pained as he writes something down in his clipboard, “well, I was hoping to continue business as usual. As you can imagine, I have a lot of work to catch up on, and - "

“Nonsense, boy,” Mr. Wright grins, “why, I took care of the place while you were gone. Nothing to catch up on. But… I did realize something this weekend.”

“And what might that be, sir?”

“Well… I thought I was running a tight ship here. But it seems some vermin have slipped through the cracks,” he eyes Zeke directly, “so, I thought, hey! What better way to take these old reins back, then to put my hands in first.”

Lewis is silent for a moment. He peers up from his notes, his thin ginger eyebrows concerned as he asks, “what are you getting at?”

“It seems ol’ captain Wright needs to come back down to the floor and take a look at how things are being run here. Because, frankly,” he laughs, “it seems like my first mate might be letting his vulnerabilities get to him.”

Zeke sneers while Lewis dips his head, “I understand, sir.”

“Great. Well then… Let’s get to following that clipboard of yours, and let this old captain see how his ship’s been sailing.”

Zeke feels the need to ask for some direction, “uh - Lewis? Want me to get started on something?”

“Nonsense,” Mr. Wright hums, placing a firm hand atop the teenager’s shoulder. Shivers wave down Zeke’s spine, and Lewis’ kind eyes suddenly don’t look so kind anymore. The old man commands, “you’ll be tagging along today. You’ve got a lot to learn about Mr. Andrei Wright’s Resort.”

“You mean Hotel?” Zeke shrugs off the unwelcome hand.

“Sure, sure. We’ll just focus on the Hotel today. Keep it nice and simple for ya, boy.”

Zeke does his best to hide an eye-roll. If only he weren’t so curious about Lewis’ whereabouts, because he realizes now that he should have just called out.

❧

Their first order of business for the day is to check up on the many unfinished maintenance projects. As the small group of three treks down the long corridors of the Hotel, Mr. Wright leads them with stride, “one fascinating thing about my managerial style, is that I hire everyone for a good reason. Keep that in mind, Lewis, for the next time you hire someone,” he adds, looking back towards Zeke. The teen just shoots daggers back at him with his umber eyes.

As they pass through the towering rotunda, the old man elaborates, “for instance, take our maintenance guy Lauren. He’s talented, but he can get side-tracked very easily. That being said, it’s important to constantly oversee what he’s doing and stay on top of him.” 

Just as they’re about to enter the first floor maintenance access room, Mr. Wright laughs before he adds, “well… I don’t know about staying on top for you, Lewis. Maybe on the bottom.”

Lewis hides a gasp, but Zeke watches as the ginger’s face contorts to something of undeniable upset. Mr. Wright opens up the door to the maintenance room to see Lauren at his work bench. He peers up at the intruders, and his face quickly curls into his usual smile, “well, heya! If it ain’t the full management gang! What can I do for you three on this gloomy Monday morning?”

Mr. Wright, of course, speaks first, “well, just checking in on your maintenance projects. Gotta keep ya straight, man,” he gives Lewis a look, who doesn’t even give him the satisfaction of meeting eyes.

“Well, sure! Which projects, exactly?” Lauren smiles, leaning his hip against the workbench.

“Ah…” Mr. Wright hums before peering back towards Lewis, “what’s that clipboard say, boy?”

“Ahem,” Lewis flips through a few pages before finally getting down to business, “I heard that you got to the guest room air filters this weekend. Anything to note?”

“No, sir,” Lauren smiles endlessly, “I had plenty to keep us afloat; I even have a few left over. Got it marked in my calendar for when we need to do it again.”

“Lovely. Please make a note of how many we have remaining,  so that we can order the next batch accordingly,” Lewis hums, green eyes cast down at his clipboard as he reviews the next topics, “where are you with the elevator repair?”

“Ah… That one’s tricky. I located what piece is causing the issue, but I think a professional might have a better line of action,” Lauren says, a bit downtrodden.

“I’ll speak with Mr. Wright about the budget and get back with you in regards to that,” Lewis hums, almost acting as if the man weren’t in the room with them, “in the meantime, would you send me the piece that’s causing the problem? We might be able to order it from backstock at a lower price.”

“Ten-four, good man,” Lauren smiles, “what else?”

“And lastly… How are the repairs going for that honeymoon suite downstairs? The… The one with the raccoons,” Lewis smiles a bit sheepishly as he looks up from his clipboard towards Lauren.

“Nearly all straight-away. Just need to get another round mattress from Heartwood Hall and we should be all set,” Lauren gives him a thumbs up.

“Lovely. Zeke and I can assist you with that later this week,” the ginger hums gently as he writes a note down in his clipboard.

“While we’re all here,” Lauren claps his hands together before pointing towards Zeke, “big shout-out to Zeke for getting those raccoons back to their natural habitat,” he laughs, “nobody ever goes down to the ground level these days. It’s a miracle you heard ‘em scooting around in there. Especially considering they’re nocturnal creatures. Bravo, Zeke!”

The teenager’s eyes widen. Did Lauren somehow know that he’s been staying in the room right next door? It’s not like he’s been flat out telling people that he’s illegally squatting here. Mr. Wright peers back towards Zeke, “really? You noticed those freeloaders?”

Zeke just nods his head. Is it really that surprising?

“Hm,” Mr. Wright hums, staring daggers at the kid with those sharp gray eyes, “how’d you figure that one out, eh?”

Lewis butts in, “it’s not like they were exactly quiet down there,” he smiles, “Zeke must have very keen ears.”

Oh, if only Lewis knew just how much he was covering up Zeke’s tracks right now. He decides to play into that narrative, “yeah. I mean, I clean this place top down like, every damn week.”

“Right,” Mr. Wright hums as he eyes the two men for a moment. He changes the subject, “anything else for Lauren on that clipboard of yours, Lockheart?”

“No, sir. Great job this weekend, Lauren. Thank you for staying on task,” Lewis smiles earnestly, cradling his pink clipboard.

“Sure thing, boss. The Hotel is in good hands,” he gestures towards the other men in the room.

“Well,” Mr. Wright takes the opportunity to boast, “I am the general manager, after all. I run a tight ship around here,” he peers back towards Zeke and Lewis. Zeke rolls his eyes, Lewis just busies himself with his clipboard. The old man hoists his pants up, “well. On with our day then. Good work, Lauren.”

“Thank you, sir,” Lauren smiles with a thumbs up, “good luck out on the floor, you three!”

Even though Lauren said you three, for some reason, Zeke can’t help but feel as though that comment was directed towards himself and Lewis. Mostly because… Goddamn. He needs the luck so as to keep his composure around this dickhead.

❧

Their next line of business is to check in with the front desk and go over the most recent end-of-week report. As they trek back down the old Hotel hall, Mr. Wright leads the pack, “quick, time for another management lesson. It’s important to give associates busy work so they feel valued. And just between us men? The women need to feel especially important,” he grins back towards Zeke and Lewis, who trail behind the man side-by-side. The brunette teenager couldn’t possibly sneer any harder at that. Lewis, on the other hand, elects to stay completely silent. Mr. Wright whistles as he leads them through the corridors, a clear sense of pride with every step.

In a whisper, Zeke grabs Lewis’ attention, “hey.”

“Mm?” He peers down at his associate.

“What do you think Mr. Wright’s on right now? My guess is coke,” he grins, meeting Lewis’ light green gaze.

The ginger tries his best to stifle a laugh. This light amusement catches Mr. Wright’s attention as he turns around, “the hell are you two giggling about back there, huh?”

Zeke’s voice quickly falls flat, “nothing.” 

Mr. Wright gives them a suspicious glare as he rounds the rotunda towards the front lobby. Zeke finds himself chuckling as the man turns his back once again. Up front, Kara gives the three men a dirty scowl as they enter her lobby, “ew, what the hell? This is like that time my parents held an intervention for me when they caught me smoking weed in high school,” she says. This warrants a pretty big laugh out of Zeke.

Mr. Wright grins, “nothing of the sort, my dear. We’re just coming to check up on… What is it we’re checking on, Lockheart?”

“The end-of-week report, sir.”

“Right! That. And… Uh… What exactly does this report cover?”

Zeke and Kara make eye contact as Mr. Wright makes an idiot of himself. Lewis gently educates him, “the end-of-week report mostly covers guest satisfaction and complaints, as well as other metrics: how many rooms we sold each night, how much money we made from rooms alone, which rooms we sold, etcetera. We then compare it to this time last year, so we can strive for greater numbers and understand our business patterns.”

It’s clear that the rusty gears are churning under that graying head of hair as Mr. Wright responds dismissively, “right. Well, you know. I’m so far removed from the ground level work at this point… It’s hardly any of my business.”

“Sir, with all due respect,” Lewis starts, his voice poised in the utmost managerial tone he could muster, “it’s your business’ numbers that we’re reviewing. Maybe, if you’d like to stay more on top of things around here…”

“I’ll cut ’cha off right there, boy,” Mr. Wright puts a hand up to keep Lewis from continuing. Hidden behind those baby green eyes of his, Lewis holds a deep seated resentment. Mr. Wright continues, “I’ve got plenty on my plate already. In fact,” he laughs, “I had to cancel some plans today in order to babysit you, Lockheart. So, maybe think twice before you tell me how to do my job.”

“Oh my god,” Kara hums as she watches this take place.

Zeke, staying silent, feels his blood begin to boil. Maybe he understands now why Lewis snapped like that after his confrontation with Mr. Wright on Friday night. He watches Lewis' broad shoulders slump with a quiet, “yes, sir.”

“Thank you. Jesus,” Mr. Wright says aloud, looking up towards Kara, “so. Tell me about this report.”

She shrugs as she combs out her long black hair with her long black fingernails, “I already went over everything with Becka last night.”

Mr. Wright claps his hands together, “well, great! That’s less on our plate then, huh?” He glances back towards Lewis with a smile. The assistant manager just keeps his eyes down at his clipboard as he makes notes. To no response from his subordinate, Mr. Wright continues, “so, onto the next task I guess.”

“Real quick,” Kara catches the group’s attention, “I need answers. What the hell happened to the mirror in the employee break room? Because, seriously, how am I supposed to fix my eyeliner in these conditions?”

Mr. Wright just grins as he looks back towards Lewis, “you wanna tell her what happened, boy?”

Just as Lewis is about to speak, Zeke butts in, “pretty sure it fell,” he says, deliberately covering up for Lewis’ sake, “but we’re gonna go get a new one later this week, right?”

Lewis peers down at Zeke; his face is filled with gentle surprise, “uh. Yes. Installing a new mirror is at the top of my to-do list.”

Kara flips her hair over her shoulder as she barks, “the sooner the better. I have the best makeup at this Hotel and I fully intend to keep it that way.”

“Mm,” Mr. Wright hums skeptically as his eyes dart between the two men. He eventually says, “sure. Let’s just go with that. It fell.”

Lewis hugs his clipboard tightly, “let’s continue? Unless, Kara, you have anything else for us..?”

She shakes her head, “nope. Get outta my hair. I’m busy,” she says, before pressing play on her phone as it sits horizontally on the front desk. Zeke just grins. If only he could be as bold as her.

❧

As the three men venture off to go find where housekeeping is currently located, Zeke and Lewis trail behind their unusually ambitious boss. Zeke looks up at Lewis, “hey, man. You’re doing a great job at keeping it together. Mr. Wright’s being a goddamn tyrant today.”

“Oh. Ah. Thank you, Zeke,” Lewis whispers back.

“Seriously. I woulda’ popped off on him by now.”

“I suppose it’s a good thing he sent me on that vacation. He is certainly… Testing me today,” Lewis says hopelessly. Despite the implication, this makes Zeke chuckle; he keeps it quiet so as to not alert Mr. Wright that they’re having fun at work. After determining that Rosa and Cherry aren’t on the first floor, they take an awkward elevator ride up to the second.

“Here’s something most people don’t think about,” Mr. Wright starts as the old elevator car drifts them up a story, “housekeepers are vital to the continued success of the Hotel. That’s why it’s important to set these kinds of meetings aside. Ya know, listen to their woes and complaints about how broken the system is. It’s just important to make them feel heard. Now… Whether or not you actually make those changes? Ehhh. That’s up for debate.”

Neither Zeke nor Lewis try to get a word in edgewise, despite just how insufferable the man is being today. The elevator doors slide open, and Mr. Wright makes the first stride out. They spot the housekeeper’s cart resting in the long hallway, indicating that the two women in question are working in a guest’s room. Down the hall they go; as Mr. Wright rounds into the room, he gives the door frame a little knock knock. This garners the attention of the two women inside, both of them peering up from their individual work.

Cherry completely halts in her process of changing the queen size bed sheets as she watches everybody pile into the small room. Her eyes plead towards Zeke for answers, however he just clasps his hands together and mouths help me.

“Andrei,” Rosa hisses, “what a surprise.”

“C’mon,” the big man grins, “acting like I never check in on my favorite housekeepers.”

“It’s just us two, ya know,” Rosa puts a hand on her hip, “now, if you’d like to hire anybody else to help: by all means.”

“You two do a fine job by yourselves,” he huffs back, “now. Down to real business. We’re here to… What? Have a meeting?”

Lewis speaks up from behind him, “I’d like to review this weekend’s housekeeping.”

“Right, right,” Mr. Wright waves a hand around carelessly.

Zeke hears Lewis sigh, so he cranes his neck upwards to silently check in with the guy; his managerial facade is cracking quickly. As Zeke looks away, he contemplates on how to get the two from tearing each other apart today.

Lewis continues, “well, Rosa, if you’d like to meet me out in the hallway,” he gestures towards the door, although he’s already halfway out of the room.

She sets her cleaning supplies down next to the room’s dated CRT television, “alright. Let’s get this over with then.”

Rosa and Lewis exit the room with Mr. Wright following suit. Zeke slides up to his friend, “hey, Cher. Good time to catch up?”

“Yeah, totally,” she hums excitedly, “first though… I wanna know what the heck is going on. Why is Mr. Wright here?”

“I dunno,” Zeke starts, grabbing hold of the other side of the fresh sheets to help Cherry make the bed, “he thinks he’s babysitting Lewis. Which, by the way. We’re totally babysitting him.”

She shakes her head as she tugs at the sheet, “that’s so weird. He’s never out on the floor like this,” she drops her voice real low, “he, like, totally freaks me out.”

“Right?” Zeke looks across the mattress towards Cherry, “dude, he’s such an asshole. He’s been making awful remarks about everybody all day. Especially towards Lewis.”

“I never got why he’s so hard on him.”

“Me neither. It’s like… Why would you hire a guy you hate?”

Cherry smooths out the bed sheets as she says, “a lot of people don’t really like Lewis. I feel bad for him.”

“I mean… Like, I guess I get it,” Zeke shrugs, his eyes cast down towards the pink carpeting underfoot, “but after seeing what he puts up with on a daily basis, and getting trapped in an elevator with him, and trying to set him up for a date, and going into town with him… God, and seeing Cupid with him? He’s not a bad guy. I don’t know why other people don’t see that.”

“Oh, Zeke, you gotta tell me about you and Lewis’ time in town before they come back in,” she nods towards the door.

“Right,” he huffs, putting his hands on his sides. Is he so sure that he wants to talk about this? Yet again, Cherry is trustworthy, so he decides to continue, “uh. So, yeah. We were dropping a package off for Mr. Wright, right? While we’re down there, Lewis shows me the Heart Hollow Oak, which is totally insane by the way. Like, cool tree and all… But apparently there’s a dead lady buried in there?”

“Oh, yeah. Henrietta,” she says, already knowing the history.

“Yeah, her. And you all, like, worship her? Or what?”

Cherry giggles, “well, I wouldn’t say we worship her. It’s more about the implications of her death and what the tree represents.”

Zeke shakes his head, “what’dya mean?”

“Well, her death was avoidable if the Hearts and the Wrights just came together in the first place. Her husband, Hugh, recognized this. So, I guess he swore to make this town a friendlier, more cohesive place to live.”

“But… Don’t the Hearts and the Wrights still have some unspoken feud or whatever?”

“I mean… Yeah, all the families have stupid rich people beef with each other,” she giggles, “but they all worked together to build this town up. I guess, at the end of the day, the Hearts and the Wrights aren’t so different from one another.”

Zeke scratches his head, “right, well, all I know is that Mr. Wright despises Lewis. Whether that’s because he’s a Heart, or because he’s gay, I’ll never know.”

Cherry bites her lip and shrugs indifferently. She decides to say, “so, what else happened in town?”

“Oh, right. Uh, yeah, so… Lewis suggests that we go get something to eat, and obviously I said yes because neither of us had taken our break that day. We went to… Oh, what’s the name of it? It’s downtown by the Oak.”

Cherry smiles knowingly, “Trueheart’s?”

“Yes! Yeah, Trueheart’s. This hostess seats us, who I guess Lewis knew cuz they went to school together? It was weird. Whatever. Ms. Trueheart comes up and she starts telling us about how she saw Cupid in the eighties. The whole restaurant was listening in on the story, it was bizarre. Anyways, she asked me if I had seen Cupid before, and, like… I dunno. Everyone was staring, so I shook my head no.”

“Wait… Zeke,” Cherry butts in, “have you seen him before?”

“Uh,” he pauses, because he realizes he hasn’t told anybody about that. Well, he’s in too deep now, so he continues, “I dunno if it was Cupid, but it was this big ass buck with these... God, these antlers,” he throws his hands out to indicate how large they were.

“When’d you see him?”

“Remember that day the power went out?”

“Yeah?”

“That was the day I saw him.”

“Oh my gosh,” her eyes go wide with thrill, “you first saw him during the biggest storm of the season, and the power went out at the Hotel? Kinda ominous, don’t you think?”

“I mean - okay, so it turns out that Mr. Wright was just overdue on the electric bill so the power company pulled the plug. It just so happened to be during hurricane force winds.”

Cherry takes a deep breath in, because she doesn’t seem so convinced that it was just a coincidence. Regardless, she says, “okay, so you told Ms. Trueheart and Lewis that you hadn’t seen Cupid, when you really had. What happened next?”

“Uh, okay, yeah. Basically the conversation falls flat after I lied, and Ms. Trueheart leaves us be. It’s, like, kinda quiet at our table. Lewis must have some personal beef with Cupid or something, because he’s all butthurt that he hasn’t seen him before either. Anyways, he gets a call from Mr. Wright, and apparently the old fart is completely livid that we’re still out. Lewis speeds us back up the mountain, and it’s super tense, ya know? Neither of us are speaking, and all I wanna know is what Mr. Wright said over that phone.”

Cherry’s lost in the story, so Zeke continues, “all of the sudden, the car lurches to a complete stop. I’m like what the hell, man? But Lewis is turning even paler than he usually is. I look out the front windshield, and… And there’s Cupid. Just standing in the road, barely lit up by the headlights,” Zeke gasps as he finally catches his breath after holding that in all weekend long.

“Woah,” Cherry hums gently, giving him the space to continue. Zeke, however, opts to remain silent. The woman’s soft voice picks up, “so what do you think it means? Like… That you’re destined to be together, or something?”

“I dunno. I kinda don’t believe in that. It’s cheesy.”

“What? Fate?”

Zeke halfheartedly laughs, “that too. But mainly the entire thing about how this deer god can change your love life. It’s dumb.”

“Oooh,” Cherry starts, “yeah, I totally get why it’s weird. Cupid’s kinda like… Aliens. Or ghosts. They don’t make sense to our feeble human minds, and yet a lot of people have a lot of very convincing stories about them being real.”

“Heh,” Zeke huffs in amusement, because she makes a good point. Ms. Trueheart was so damn convinced that she saw Cupid that night in the eighties. Sure, Zeke’s first encounter could have been written off as him bumping his head when that shitty golf cart hydroplaned. It could have been a blurry vision in the chaos of the rain. But Friday’s encounter… Both he and Lewis saw the local god of love that night. Zeke didn’t hit his head, nor was it raining, so he couldn’t have made that up. Right? Maybe that’s why Lewis hasn’t brought it up since. Maybe Zeke was just stressed, starved, and tired.

Then, Cherry’s sweet voice says, “can I ask you a question?”

“Shoot.”

“Are you… Interested in Lewis? At all?”

“Interested in him? I mean, I guess - "

“You’re gay too?”

Zeke sees all three of the folks standing out in the hallway peek their heads into the door frame to see what’s going on. He panics, “I’m aromantic, Cherry! You know this,” he forcefully laughs. Rosa, Lewis, and Mr. Wright all poke their heads back into their own business. In a hushed tone, Zeke adds, “I don’t know. I don’t mean I’m romantically interested. I just mean, like, he’s a super interesting guy. There’s more than meets the eye there. And I’m interested in picking him apart.”

Cherry smiles endlessly, hardly able to keep her accusations at bay, “whatever you say, Zekey-poo.”

“It’s true! I’m - "

Mr. Wright clears his throat as he enters the room, followed by Lewis and Rosa, “care to finish that thought, boy?”

Zeke just stares the man down before turning his head towards Cherry, “I’m not interested in dating anyone,” he says. Not to Mr. Wright’s request, but to really get that idea out of Cherry’s head. He doesn’t need anyone else playing Cupid here.

Mr. Wright, of course, laughs at that as he glances back towards Lewis for a mere moment. He says, “well. I reckon it’s about time for a break. I’m starving. Boys?” He asks, gesturing for his subordinates to follow him.

Zeke gives one last look back towards Cherry, and the woman just smiles at him shamelessly. God, if he didn’t have such a big mouth, he wouldn’t be digging himself into these endless pits.

❧

Despite the fact that it’s not break time just yet, Zeke and Lewis follow Mr. Wright’s wishes. As they walk down the rotunda steps, Zeke trails behind feeling a little embarrassed. He tries to brush it off…

Focus.

How is he going to entice Mr. Wright away from Lewis for a moment so that the guy can catch a break? As they come down into the rotunda, Mr. Wright begins to turn for the break room. Lewis follows suit, and Zeke stands still.

“Hey, Mr. Wright,” Zeke calls, garnering the man’s attention, “I think I’ll have a smoke out front. Wanna join?”

The old man peers over his shoulder, “only if you’re paying for the cig, boy,” he hums, sauntering towards the lobby. From behind, Zeke gestures for Lewis to go take a break. The ginger man smiles, mouthing out a simple thank you. Zeke just gives him a peace sign before darting off to go catch up with Mr. Wright.

The two men make their way down the lobby’s corridor, and once the huge stained glass doors are shut behind them, the tinny sounds emanating from Kara’s shows are nullified. They’re greeted by the muggy, temperate air of an upcoming rain. They stand under the porte cochère to get some sort of coverage from the light drizzle that sprays down from the clouds.

As Zeke digs into his pockets for his lighter and cigarette box, he feels Mr. Wright’s heavy gray eyes rest on him uncomfortably. Zeke hands the first cigarette to the man and keeps the second for himself. He flicks the lighter towards Mr. Wright, and he takes it without a word. After a thick plume of smoke emits from his mouth, Mr. Wright says, “I ain’t had one of these things in a long ass time.”

“You used to smoke?” Zeke says, lighting up his own nicotine.

“Ehhh… A bit. I mostly dabble in cigars now. My ex-girlfriend was into cigarettes though. Haven’t really gone back to 'em since.”

“Oh,” Zeke hums to his vulnerability, “sorry to hear that.”

The man laughs, “no need to be sorry. That was twenty some-odd years ago. I’m a big boy. I’ve gotten over it.”

He skeptically side-eyes the man. Maybe it’s the cloudy weather deepening his gray gaze, but Mr. Wright’s eyes are darker than usual with that statement. Zeke exhales some smoke and continues, “you know, man. I’m curious. Earlier this morning, you said you hire everyone with good reason.”

“That’s true. I’m very methodical about it.”

“So… Why’d you hire me then, huh?” The teen grins playfully.

“Eh… You?” Mr. Wright scans him visually, “I didn’t hire you.”

Zeke’s playful attitude drops with his shoulders, “yeah, I guess Lewis hired me. Well… What about Kara? I’ve always been curious about that. I mean she’s, like, a mega bitch to everyone,” he says, his playful little smirk returning.

Mr. Wright takes a long drag off his cigarette. As he turns his body towards the Hotel’s front doors, he exhales. With the hand that holds the cigarette, he gestures towards the stained glass, “look inside. What do you see?”

“Uh,” Zeke falters, turning to look over his shoulder, “the main lobby to the Hotel. A woman behind the front desk that’s watching videos on her phone.”

“Mmhm,” Mr. Wright hums, looking back down at his teenage subordinate, “now tell me. This woman: is she, or is she not beautiful?”

There’s a moment of silence as the look on Zeke’s face softens. Eventually, he sighs, “she’s breathtaking.”

“That’s why I hired her. True beauty is… Undeniable,” he says, turning away from the door, “and she is, without a doubt, undeniably beautiful. You know… There’s kind of a funny story about her. You’re good at keeping secrets, aintcha, boy?”

Zeke doesn’t respond. Frankly, he doesn’t know how to respond, because Mr. Wright is alluding to knowing something about the secrets that have been piling up since Zeke moved to Heart Hollow. 

What could he possibly know?

The big man continues at the teenager’s silence, “when she first showed up to my doorstep, I knew I had to have her as that dazzling face you see when you first enter my establishment. She tried back then, ya know? Putting smiles on, helping customers… But the issue was: she was only seventeen,” he says. Zeke just stares as Mr. Wright continues, “so ya know what I did? I paid her under the table. Put it as other expenses.”

Isn’t that illegal? All Zeke can say is a small, “no way.”

Mr. Wright nods his head slowly as he takes another drag off his cigarette. Zeke decides to backtrack a bit, “so… Okay. You hired Kara for her beauty. You’ve piqued my curiosity now,” he smiles, “why’d you hire Lewis? You seemingly hate the guy.”

“Eh… Lewis is a bit more… Complicated.”

“How so?”

There’s a long moment of silence as Mr. Wright compiles his thoughts. Eventually, he asks, “you want the truth, kid?”

This uneasy pit in his stomach isn’t so sure, but his curiosity gets the best of him, “sure.”

The old man exudes a long, exhausted breath before he responds with, “I took pity on him.”

Zeke’s considerably taken aback by that. So, he pries for more information, “pity? Why?”

Mr. Wright’s sharp gray gaze shoots towards him, “you’re not from around here. You don’t get the full picture. What I will say though, is that Lewis has a lot of skeletons in his closet,” he shakes his head solemnly, keeping his eyes glued on the brunette, “have you ever heard of Cupid’s curse?”

“Well, sure,” Zeke hums, mulling the thought over, “I mean, I know that everyone here believes in the god of love, or whatever. And that he can, supposedly, bless people with true love,” he says, putting his hands out with skepticism. 

Mr. Wright gives him a light laugh, “sure. But he can also curse you for a lifetime if he sees fit. And you know, Lewis has come face to face with ol’ Cupid once before.”

“Wait. Really?” Zeke stammers, looking up towards the man, “he told me that he’s never seen him before.”

Mr. Wright shakes his head. He takes a puff off his cigarette and gives Zeke a look, “you live here now. What about some classic Heart Hollow, Pennsylvania gossip? You up for it?”

After everything he’s been learning about Lewis… Is this really a good idea? But before he can protest, Mr. Wright continues, and the worst part is that Zeke doesn’t even try to stop him, “twenty years ago or so, Mr. Lawrence and Mrs. Linda Lockheart were spending their Valentine’s Day weekend at the most romantic getaway at the Poconos: Heart Hollow Honeymoon Hotel & Resort. I was there, you know. I saw, shortly after the clock struck midnight, poor Linda Lockheart’s water broke all over the Club of Hearts. Ugh, what a mess to clean up. Lawrence guides her down to the parking level and rushes her to the hospital. Well, as their story goes: just as they’re about to leave the Resort grounds, Lawrence has to push hard on his breaks… Right in front of their car, in the middle of the road, is Cupid.”

Zeke remains silent for a moment as he lets that sink in. He doesn’t like the parallels to their own encounter with the buck. Eventually, he says, “is that true?”

Mr. Wright chuckles, “I’m sure you’ll get the chance to ask ‘em for yourself,” he says, taking a drag off his cigarette for a moment, “god, it’s all anybody was talking about back then. Biggest Cupid sighting for years. Truth be told… He’s been a little dormant since the nineties."

Zeke, again, doesn’t know what to say. This growing pit in his stomach alludes to something bad happening; maybe he shouldn’t be talking about Lewis behind his back. But his curiosity outweighs the sense of uneasiness that grows within him. He just responds, “I’ll take your word for it.”

He feels Mr. Wright’s eyes on him, but he doesn’t meet them. Not out of disrespect, but for the fact that he can’t right now. A little hunch within him whispers, and he wishes that he could have heard that story from Lewis first. Zeke drops his cigarette down onto the warm asphalt below and stamps it out with the bottom of his sneakers.

“Done so soon?”

Zeke just peers up at him, “yeah. I think I need to go eat something before break is over,” he says. Maybe this looming feeling of dread in his stomach is hunger. After all, he hasn’t been eating much of anything since he left home.

“Suit yourself,” Mr. Wright hums, “make sure Lewis eats something too, would you? I may be hard on him, but… That kid hardly knows what’s good for him.”

Zeke considers this a moment as he stops in his tracks. He doesn’t think as he asks, “you never had kids, did you, Andrei?”

“Heh,” his gray gaze falls back out to the woods beside them, “ya know? I constantly wonder what life would have been like if I had.”

A solemn air washes over the two; beside the light rainfall and the distant wailing of police sirens, it’s completely silent between the two men. Zeke turns back towards the door, “I’ll go tell Lewis to eat then. Uh… Thanks for the chat, man.”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t go getting all soft on me,” he waves a hand, looking back towards the teenager. There’s a light twinkle of comradery in his eyes. Zeke just smiles back at him before going inside.

Inside, the air is cool; it stings Zeke’s warm skin as he makes his way back into the depths of the Hotel. Kara just glances up at him for a moment, before darting her attention back down to whatever trash TV show she was currently streaming. As he wanders down the hallway towards the break room, that unignorable pit in his stomach only grows. What has him feeling so… Empty? Nervous?

Wary and unsettled?

A Resort founder’s sudden disappearance. A god that curses those as he sees fit. A dead woman buried under a divided town’s sacred tree. A shattered, pitiful man with a closet full of skeletons. And that story about Cupid showing himself to Mrs. Lockheart as she goes into labor… How can he be certain that it’s true? How can he be certain that anything he’s heard in this town is true?

With heavy feet, Zeke drags himself into the break room. He peeks inside and recalls the last time he poked his head through this very same doorway. While Lewis remains on the other side, he sits at the table calmly with a steaming cup of coffee in front of him. The lights in the room are flicked off, and the ginger boss stares out the large floor-to-ceiling window which leaves the room in a dreary light.
“Hey,” Zeke hums from the doorway.

Clearly, this startles Lewis, because the man jolts out of his daydream, “ah - hi. You scared me.”

“Sorry,” a little grimace forms on his face for a split second. Zeke gestures towards the empty chairs that surround the break room table, “can I join you?”

“Always.”

The brunette teenager enters the room; he slides a chair out and takes a seat across from the ginger. He eyes the steaming cup of coffee placed firmly between the man’s sturdy hands, “that your lunch?”

“For now,” Lewis starts, his eyes cast out towards the window to their side. From here, they can see Mr. Wright finishing up his cigarette under the Hotel’s porte cochère. The ginger’s voice picks up again, “truth be told, I’m just not feeling all that hungry today.”

“Mr. Wright says you should eat something. I second that.”

This makes Lewis smile a bit, and his attention darts down to his cup of coffee, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

A silence falls over the break room. It’s not exactly awkward, but it’s not totally comfortable either. Zeke momentarily thinks about bringing up the mirror break, but upon seeing the man’s bandaged fist, he decides against it. Instead, he asks, “how you holdin’ up today?”

“Hm?” Lewis peers up at his co-worker, “I’m good. Really.”

There he goes, lying again. Zeke decides to confront him this time, “nah, man. You seem off.”

Lewis opens his mouth to say something, but ultimately closes his lips. After a moment of silence, he says in a quiet voice, “I suppose I haven’t been doing so well this last week or two.”

Zeke can’t help but think about how that’s an understatement. The guy punched a mirror for crying out loud. He decides to ask, “anything going on in specific? Other than… Uh, Mr. Wright being super pissed the other night.”

By the way Lewis’ Adam’s apple bobs, it’s clear that he’s feeling some strong emotions hidden away under all that managerial red tape. He just purses his lips, and his eyes focus on his thumbs absently playing with the rim of his mug. There’s something on his mind, but he can’t find the words. Or… Maybe he doesn’t want to talk about it. To his silence, Zeke speaks up again, “if that’s too personal, I get it.”

“I’m just not used to employees asking. That’s all.”

His vulnerable tone tugs at Zeke’s heart strings in a way that he’s unfamiliar with, so he says, “okay. Well… I am. I’m asking.”

Through his ginger lashes, Lewis peers up towards Zeke with gentle ambivalence. His light green gaze falls back towards his coffee when he speaks, “I guess. Ah. Andrei is just… A lot sometimes. And he’s been,” he pauses for a moment to compile his thoughts, “he’s really been on my tail end, for the lack of a better term,” he smiles down at his coffee, “so. Thank you for letting me have some time away from him. Even if only for a moment.”

“Sure, man,” Zeke hums back, “you know, I had kind of an interesting conversation with him out there.”

“Yeah?” Lewis peers back up towards his assistant.

“Maybe I’m crazy for thinking this, but I kinda feel like… Behind that stubborn ego of his, there’s maybe this teeny, tiny, little semblance of a heart still puttering away in that chest of his.”

This makes Lewis chuckle, which acts as a much needed ice-breaker for how glum the room is. Eventually, he responds, “thank you for saying that, Zeke. Honestly, I was starting to wonder if I was losing my marbles for thinking the same thing.”

Zeke grins, “right? I mean, don’t get me wrong. He’s still a sleazy, racist, homophobic, sexist dirtbag. But, I dunno. It seems like he hides his empathy under all that shit.”

“I suppose we all have things he hide about ourselves.”

Zeke just watches his boss for a moment as he takes this comment into consideration. Mr. Wright did say that Lewis has a closet full of skeletons... He’d be a hypocrite if he didn’t agree, so he hums out a small, “yeah, that’s true.”

Perfectly in sync, both men gaze out the large window, watching as Mr. Wright stands in deep thought with that cigarette. As he observes the lone smoker, Zeke fills the silence, “so… Mr. Wright acquired the Hotel after Wallace Heartwood’s disappearance. I guess I just don’t understand how he became so miserable. Like - okay, his business is failing, I get that. But it’s gotta be deeper than that, right?”

“From what I gather, he’s been through a lot.”

“What happened to him?” Zeke asks.

A light smile rests at the corners of Lewis’ lips, and after some hesitation, he playfully asks in a sweet, quiet voice, “are you asking me for a Heart Hollow history lesson?”

Zeke grins at his humor, “as long as I’m not being graded.”

“Of course not,” Lewis smiles warmly before starting, “well… You recently read our plaque about how Hugh Heartwood unified the land after burying his wife under the Great Oak, so let’s start with the family rivalry between the Hearts and the Wrights.

“The Hearts have always been known for their passion as they cultivated their community. They were often legislators, or teachers, or… Or officers of the law. The Wrights were a little more… Ah,” he pauses as he finds the right word to fill the spot, “self-sufficient, so to say. They’re pioneers at heart. They’re always looking for ways to forge their own path.

“The Wrights got their big break during the prohibition. They supplied moonshine and liquor to local brothels and made quite a fortune from it. Ever since then, the Wrights have been sitting pretty on the only craft distillery in Heart Hollow. They’re very strict about who gets to work for them; management is held exclusively by Wrights.

“As we saw in that photo album, Andrei and Wallace were close during the seventies. Once Wallace disappeared, the Wrights sought to expand their market into local hospitality by acquiring Heart Hollow Honeymoon Hotel & Resort. Ohohoh,” he grins, “and how controversial it was back then. After all, the Resort was built on sacred Heart land.

“The Wright family gives ownership to their son Andrei Wright, and sweeping changes are made across the grounds. Oh, and of course, Wright Liquors became the sole alcohol provider at the Resort.”

Zeke butts in to confidently say, “so this place was designed to look like a swinger’s club.”

“Ah,” Lewis hums, “redesigned… Sure.”

“Knew it. Alright, so… The Wrights own this big liquor company, they buy the Resort, make changes, and they put Mr. Wright in charge. How the hell did it end up like this?” He asks, gesturing his hands out to the dreary break room they sit in.

“From what I understand, the Resort did have a substantial swingback with the locals after the Wrights took over. However, it didn’t fare so well with the average vacationer. During the eighties and nineties, people either wanted a more exotic destination, or something a bit more family friendly. Honeymoon getaways throughout the Poconos were falling out of fashion, and Heart Hollow Resort was no different. I’m unsure of the exact date, but I believe it was sometime during the late nineties that Wright Liquors pulled out entirely. And… And they kind of just left Andrei here to fend for himself.”

All Zeke can utter is, “wow.”

Lewis just responds with a simple, “yeah.”

The room falls silent between the two men as Zeke ponders what he’s just learned. After a moment, he says, “you know, Rosa thinks that the Wright family may have been behind Wallace’s disappearance.”

“Really?” Lewis’ eyes go wide, “that’s a stretch.”
“What? You don’t think it could be possible?”

“I mean… Nobody knows for certain what happened to him,” Lewis states. He then decides to add with a light chuckle, “besides, malpractice to that extent doesn’t really happen in Heart Hollow.”

“Hm,” Zeke hums as he mulls that over. Doesn’t stuff like that happen everywhere? As they sit in silence, Lewis takes a sip out of his coffee. Both of the men glance back towards the window at their side. Even from within the thick Hotel walls, they can hear the distant call of police sirens echoing throughout the hills. Someone, somewhere, is about to get caught doing malpractice, and Zeke is sure that the gossip will spread up the mountainside in no time. He peers over towards his boss, and without even thinking, he asks, “have you ever considered being, like, a history teacher? Or a historian or something?”

A shy smile makes its way onto Lewis’ freckled face as he meets eyes with his assistant, “I’m not sure I have. But… I’ll consider it, if you think I’d be good.”

Zeke can’t help but stifle a smile. As he feels Lewis’ kind gaze rest upon him, a bubbling sense of panic rises within his chest. The teenager pops up out of his chair and says, “think I’ll… Uh... Find something to eat. I guess.”

“Oh. I have some snacks up in the pantry there,” Lewis responds, shifting in his seat to point in the general direction. Zeke follows the man’s guidance: just to the left of the employee restroom door, above the microwave, is an open box of assorted, individually wrapped snack packages.

Zeke asks as he digs around within the box for something that looks appetizing, “is it cool if I take some cheesy crackers?”

“Of course. That’s why I offered,” Lewis smiles gently. The teenager grabs his desired pack and rips into it. From the back of the break room’s kitchen, he watches as Lewis stares out that window in thought. In today’s gloomy weather, his fair coloring looks muted; his ginger eyelashes almost look white from here. Zeke’s gaze quickly redirects down towards his snack pack.

What a weird day… What a weird weekend, really.

Downtown Heart Hollow was cool, but that Great Oak made him feel a little uneasy. Sure, it’s history, but there’s supposed to be a dead woman buried within that tree’s heart shaped maw. Oh, and the way the townspeople gawked at them as if they were in a zoo… Just plain weird. Lewis says it’s because he’s part of the Heart family, but Zeke isn’t sure he believes that.

Meeting Ms. Trueheart was pleasant. He liked that she had called Lewis Baby Valentine. However, he didn’t like the way the whole restaurant paused as they waited to hear if he had seen Cupid; he didn’t like the fact that he lied, and he didn’t like the fact that he and Lewis came face to face with the buck deity not even an hour later on these religious Resort grounds.

Just like that, the mental image of Lewis shattering that bathroom mirror darts back to his mind. Part of him wishes he hadn’t seen that; another part of him wants to find out what exactly made the tolerant ginger snap. At least he knows why Lewis went missing for the weekend; in a quiet way, he feels special knowing the real reason why Lewis now wears bandages on his fist. 

God, and today’s been so… Out of their usual routine. Usually Zeke is off doing some random thing around the Hotel, and usually Lewis is facilitating each task with neatly written lists and directions. Mr. Wright’s continual presence has just been downright unsettling today to both Zeke and Lewis. Oh, and that conversation he just had with Mr. Wright outside? That only made him feel even weirder.

As he’s absently working his way through his individually wrapped snack, his attention is brought back to real life as Lewis lurches forward in his seat. His eyes are focused out the window as he firmly states, “oh my god.”

By Lewis’ tone, this statement doesn’t sit right within Zeke’s stomach. He rushes over, snack pack in hand, and directs his attention towards the scene unfolding outside their very window.

All Zeke can say is, “holy shit.”

Outside, a plethora of police cars circle the porte cochère. The two pink-shirts watch as uniformed men get out of their vehicles; many of which place an intimidating hand on their holstered guns. Mr. Wright, who’s still outside, drops his cigarette to the ground and puts his hands up in the air. A few uniformed men cautiously approach him and they begin to talk rather casually.

“What’s going on?” Zeke squeaks out, and his heart begins to pump with fear and adrenaline. He’s been squatting on the Hotel grounds; is he about to get arrested?

“I have just as much information as you do right now,” Lewis hums from his seat. They watch as one of the officers pulls out a folded piece of paper. He shows it to Mr. Wright, and the man’s shoulders immediately slump. Within the blink of an eye, the group of cops put the general manager in hand-cuffs, and he doesn’t even try to fight it either. They don’t even have to shove him into the backseat either; he just goes ahead and takes a seat right inside. As soon as that tinted door closes, the rest of the police officers deploy towards the front entrance of the Hotel.

Lewis, clearly frazzled, tries to figure out what to do. He leaves his mug on the table and desperately tries to compose himself. He shakes his hands out, tries to regulate his breathing, and unsticks his eyes from the window. Zeke, who’s freaking out internally, fills the room’s silence by asking for some sense of leadership right now, “are you gonna go talk to them?”

“I - um. Yes, I should. I need to go out there. I’m,” Lewis’ breathing hitches, and he lets out a long winded breath before calmly saying, “I’m the manager on duty.”

Lewis takes a few deep breaths, and once his hands are shaking a little bit less, he heads for the door to the break room. Just as he’s about to open it, he peers back towards his assistant with fearful eyes and pleads, “come with me?”

Instantly, Zeke complies. He tosses his snack pack onto the table right alongside Lewis’ unfinished coffee, and as soon as Zeke is by his side, Lewis pulls the break room door open. Just as they expect, cops make beelines through the once dead hallways. They’re clearly on the hunt for something.

Lewis quickly leads them towards the front of the Hotel with purpose; Zeke struggles to keep pace with the man’s long strides. As they enter the towering rotunda, the ginger nearly bumps into Kara as she turns the corner from the lobby. They each exclaim in their own ways, Kara taking several steps back in her big platform boots. Once Zeke catches up, he can’t help but notice the genuine fear on her face as she says, “Andrei just got arrested. What the hell is happening?”

“I know just as much as you do right now,” Lewis reiterates, his eyes following several officers as they parade inside.

“I don’t. Like. Cops,” she hisses back.

“I know, Kara. Did - did they say anything to you?”

But before she can respond, a voice cuts them off, “well if it isn’t Baby Valentine. Long time no see,” a firm voice states. The three pink-shirts turn their attention to the cop that saunters up to them. He’s tall; but no taller than Lewis, of course. Zeke can’t really get a good idea of his stature under all that police gear he wears. Aside from that, the man’s skin is fairly sun-tanned and freckled, while his icy blue eyes stare through dirty-blonde lashes.

Zeke whips his head towards Lewis, who completely freezes in his spot as he meets the cop’s gaze, “hi, Alex.”

“Oh? You didn’t hear? I’m Officer Stoneheart now,” the man smiles smugly, pulling at the name badge on his uniform.

“Of course. My apologies,” Lewis says. Even though his facade is good, Zeke can tell that his boss really isn’t all that sorry.

“So… You’re the general manager around here, yeah?” The officer asks, looking around with disgust all over his face.

“That would be Andrei. I’m the assistant manager,” Lewis says. Zeke just glances up at his boss. Normally, he’d be beaming with pride about that fact, but right now…

“Really? Just the assistant manager?”

“That’s correct.”

“Hm. Well, who’s this then?” He asks, peering those stone cold eyes towards the teenager. Zeke feels a shiver go down his spine.

“This is Zeke,” Lewis says. So far, this is the only thing he’s said with full confidence to the officer.

“Right. I’ve heard about you. The new face in town,” he smiles smugly. He puts a hand out to shake on it, “Officer Stoneheart.”

Zeke reluctantly takes his hand; the officer’s grip is much sturdier and firmer than his own, however he doesn’t let that daunt him as he simply responds with his name, “Zeke.”

“Good to put a face with a name. You’re… Different from how I thought you’d look,” the officer practically sneers.

What the hell is that supposed to mean? 

Lewis clears his throat before speaking up, “look, ah… Maybe you could tell us what’s going on here? We’re all a bit lost.”

“Sure,” Officer Stoneheart says as he puts both hands at his vest, “the state of Pennsylvania issued a warrant to arrest Andrei Wright for fraudulent activity. We’re searching the grounds now for more information as we speak. Actually, Lockheart, maybe you have a second to chat?” His cold eyes pierce through Zeke and Kara to signal for them to scram, although neither of them move a muscle.

“I - I can do that,” Lewis stutters.

Zeke butts in, “what’s gonna happen to the Hotel?”

By the way Officer Stoneheart looks at him, Zeke can tell that he didn’t like being interrupted. He sizes the rather short Zeke up with his eyes before saying, “first, we’re evacuating the rooms.”

Kara chimes in, “we’re kicking the guests out?”

Officer Stoneheart merely glances her way, “as well as the staff,” he says. All three of the pink-shirts’ mouths go agape. The cop continues, “operations at Heart Hollow Honeymoon Hotel & Resort are being suspended until Andrei Wright is proven either guilty or innocent in the court of law.”

“So we’re shut down?” Kara asks, “just like that? I don’t have another job lined up.”

“Well, Kara, you better fix up the old resume then,” the cop responds, completely dismissing her as he turns back towards the manager, “Lockheart. How about you show me to your office?”

Lewis peers down towards his two subordinates who just stare up at him with fear. In their final hour, Lewis does what he does best and manages his team, “Kara, would you handle customers? Don’t tell them we’re shut down just yet please. Zeke,” his green, terrified eyes rest on his hopeless assistant, “please inform the rest of the staff about what’s happening. Don’t cause panic. Let’s be managerial about this, okay? I trust you.”

Just like that, Lewis is whisked away to the other side of the Hotel with Officer Stoneheart. Zeke just watches as the two trail down the hallway, and he wonders what on Earth their conversation is going to look like. Kara peers towards the brunette hopelessly.

Then, Zeke gasps, “I - Kara. I might need a place to crash.”

“Why?”

“Because I’ve been living here,” his tone is hushed, “in one of the honeymoon suites downstairs - I - I don’t know what to do.”

Anticipating something cruel or snarky, Zeke is pleasantly surprised when Kara responds, “I’ll text Cherry. You got a couch to crash on at our place, okay?”

The teenager’s eyes soften, “thank you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she pulls her phone out, presumably to text her roommate. Zeke anxiously fills the air, “uh - you’re right about stuff, like, ninety-five percent of the time, yeah? How’s this gonna turn out?”

Her gray eyes peer back up towards the teenager with uncertainty, “I don’t know, Zeke. Really. This doesn’t feel good.”

Zeke bites his lip and nods his head solemnly. After all he’s been through, after all the time he’s wasted here… Is this really the end to Heart Hollow Honeymoon Hotel & Resort?