“I don’t think she would have,” Nick agreed. “But Grandfather did the right thing. No one ever said anything to me directly, but I’ve overheard some of the kitchen staff muttering about her over the years. Andrea wasn’t easy to work with.”

“What do you think, honey? Now that you’ve thought about it, will you accept the promotion?” her mother asked.

Paula nodded. “How can I say no? It’s an incredible opportunity. I just had to think about it and process what it would mean. It’s going to be awkward with Andrea, though. I feel badly about that.”

“Don’t feel bad. It has nothing to do with you,” her father said. “That’s all on her. I agree with your grandfather that the concierge role is a much better fit. Hopefully she will see that too and accept it. It might be a little awkward at first, but it’s not a role that has any people management, so she won’t be at your weekly meetings anymore. You might be able to avoid her, for the most part.”

Paula sighed. “That all sounds good, but I don’t think Andrea is going to be easy to ignore. Knowing her, I suspect there might be a good amount of anger directed my way. She probably thinks I orchestrated this with Grandfather.”

“She should know you better than that, honey,” her mother said.

“She should, but I don’t think she ever really has taken the time to know me. She’s always seemed resentful for reasons I could never understand.”

“Andrea’s not a bad person. She’s had her issues. Things weren’t easy for her when she was younger. You know that,” her mother said.

Her mother was referring to when Andrea’s father disappeared for almost five years and her mother struggled as a single mother while he was gone. Andrea was in middle school then, around twelve or thirteen. Her grandfather wanted to help, but her mother wouldn’t take any handouts and insisted on working long hours at the hotel front desk.

Looking back, that was the beginning of Andrea turning difficult. Paula didn’t learn until many years later that Andrea’s father had been incarcerated, sent to Cape Cod and sentenced to five years in the Barnstable County jail for possession of drugs with intention to distribute.

“I know. But Hallie is such a sweetheart, and she went through the same thing.”

“Everyone is different with how they handle things like that. And as the oldest, Andrea was more aware of what was going on than the others. Tracy said she had a really hard time with it.” Paula’s Aunt Tracy was best friends with her mother. Paula had often wished that she and Andrea could have a similar close relationship, but it never happened. Hallie, on the other hand, was like a second sister.