Chapter 1- When Everything Changed (Part 1)

“Yes, mmhm. Yup dad, I know. I love you too, now I gotta go” I say into my phone as I gather the last of my things off my desk before leaving for JFK International. 

“Make sure to call me when you get to the airport, then call again once you board the plane-“

“And call you again once I’ve landed” I say with a heavy sigh. “ Yes dad, I know the drill” my eyes roll as this exact conversation has played out a million times before. “You know we could just text.”

“It’s not the same, not as genuine as hearing your voice.” He says in a gruff upset tone, like the little worry wort he is. 

“Yeah, yeah dad. Listen, I’ve actually got to go now or I’m going to miss my flight!” I nod my head towards the tall, blue eyed, blonde woman with curly hair waiting for me patiently right outside my office. She nods back and starts walking towards the elevators and I follow, my suitcase in tow.

“You can’t miss your flight when you’ll be the only one on it. They won’t leave without you.” My father grumbled, annoyed.

“You know that isn’t true,” I say back smartly,”Martha will be going with me too.”

“That woman never goes anywhere without you.”

“And I don’t go anywhere without her. We’re a package deal.” 

I could practically see the man roll his eyes on the other side of the phone. My dad may act like he doesn’t like Martha, but I know him, and he secretly likes her because she makes me happy. If I’m happy then he’s happy. 

“Alright, well I’ll let you go. This old fart can sense when he isn’t wanted anymore.”

I scoff. “Dad, you're like fifty. You have at least another good twenty-six years until you kick the bucket. You’ll be fine not talking to me for-“ I pull my phone away from my ear and check the digital clock,”-six hours… I love you.”

“Love you too, pumpkin.” He said before hanging up. 

My eyes do another three-sixty when I see Martha smiling back at me. “He’s my dad, I can’t not talk to him. The man raised me by himself, it’s the least I can do.” 

“I wish my father and I had a relationship like that,” Martha lamented as the elevator doors finally opened. The two of us stepped in and waited as the elevator moved from the fifteenth floor to ground level. 

“Yeah, your dad does kinda suck” I tell Martha as we step out of the elevator. A sudden tension fills the air as my employees take notice of my presence. 

I wish they wouldn’t be so scared and intimidated by me just because I’m the owner and CEO. I get that I’m their boss and I have to be professional and all, but at every Summers Inn, not only do I want the guests to feel comfortable and at home, but the staff as well. 

This goes the same for the corporate building employees.

“Have a great trip, Miss Summers” the doorman to the Summers Inn Corporation building said as he held the door open for Martha and I.

“Mrs. Murdock” he said with a tip of his hat, addressing my best friend. 

We both returned the favor with a nod as I stepped into the busy sidewalk to try and hail a cab. 

“I don’t understand why you don’t send a car to come pick us up” Martha said, annoyed as she scrolled through her phone.

“Traffic is going to be the same no matter if we take a taxi or if I had a driver get us. One, this option is way cheaper and two, it’s part of the authentic New York experience.”

“Screw the ‘authentic New York experience!’” Martha grumbled as she clutched her belongings as close to her as possible. “I’d rather have a nice, quiet, chauffeur than an unpredictable and mean rando from off the streets.” 

I shrugged my shoulders then folded my arms into my chest,” Okay, you don’t have to come with me then. You can find a chauffeur and I’ll meet you at the airport.” I then started making my way to the bright yellow taxi cab that pulled over for us to get into. Martha glared at me as I put my bags into the trunk, standing there defiantly. She finally crumpled and hurriedly ran over to the cab when I started getting into the back passenger seat. A big grin was plastered on my face as I scooted over to make room for her next to me. 

“JFK, please.” I said to the annoyed looking driver. He gave me a nod of acknowledgement as he pulled back out into the busy streets of New York city. 

I glanced over to Martha whose nose was buried into her smartphone, no doubt going through her mountain of work emails she’s let pile up over the last week. She is my hard working CFO, so I could understand that she’d be too busy working on other projects to constantly keep up with her emails. I would honestly expect nothing less. 

Now don’t get me wrong, I love Martha to death and consider her my sister from another mister. She’s so talented, hard working with an impeccable work ethic, and knows how to party- found that out when we first met at NYU- a great employee and friend overall. The only difference between the two of us is how we grew up. Martha has always been wealthy her whole entire life since her dad is a corporate asshole and the Vice President for some large marketing firm and her mother owns and runs a successful restaurant. Unlike me, Martha has never had to worry about money and has practically had everything handed down to her. Her parents paid her way through college while I was working two different jobs just to be able to afford housing and tuition. 

Dad and I were always moving around when I was younger- he couldn’t find a steady job- which meant that some nights I wouldn’t even know if there would be something for dinner. But no matter how busy his schedule was, my dad would make time to hang out with me without fail. Moving all the time and being on the road so much meant staying in a bunch of cheap motels and every so often a nice hotel when he could afford it. Growing up like this, I developed a certain standard that I believed all guests would enjoy while staying in a hotel, and decided that I would start an inn of my own.

 My journey started at NYU where I earned a bachelor’s degree in business to learn how to properly run a hotel. I used all the savings from my two jobs to purchase an old run down inn and renovated it into the very first Summers Inn. My inn quickly gained popularity from both service and quality and within the first six months, I opened the second location. Fast forward three years and I’ve gone corporate, made a few hundred million, and am on Forbes’s Thirty Under Thirty list. I normally find an astonished Martha in awe when my habits from childhood show up because I sometimes find myself forgetting I’m a millionaire now. 

Even though I’ve made a pretty good name for myself and my dad can live out the rest of his days comfortably, I don’t want my sudden increase in wealth to influence the person I become in the future. Yes, I can live lavishly, and trust me I do, but keeping myself humble by reminding myself where I came from is very important for the image my company tries to project to its patrons. Iris Summers is not another corporate slave to captalism trying to get rich, but a regular woman who just wants their guests to have an enjoyable and pleasant experience while staying in one of my inns. 

I stare out the window at the passing cars, pedestrians, and skyscrapers as the cab driver’s choice of music plays- some Bon Jovi (good choice)- in the background. Before I even knew it, two hours had passed and we had finally made it to the entrance of the John F. Kennedy International Airport. I nudge Martha awake so we can both get out of the cab. She stretches quickly before getting out and lifting the trunk open. She pulls our luggage out all the while I get out and pay the fare, two hundred and fifty dollars. We quickly make our way into the busy terminal and get out of the hustle and bustle of the coming and going people getting in and getting out of their cars. Thirty minutes later we reached the front of the line for TSA and made it through security with relative ease. Martha and I then handed our luggage off and made our way to the private jet waiting for us to arrive. See I spoil myself. I have my very own private jet. I shot my dad a quick text and was received poorly as he sent back an angry face and crying face emoji.

“Good morning Miss Summers, Mrs. Murdock” the pilot says as he shakes our hands once we’ve boarded. “I’m Captain Reese and I’ll be flying you from JFK to LAX on this lovely day. The flight will be six hours today, so sit back, relax, and enjoy your flight.” 

Martha made her way towards the mini bar as I plopped down on the first comfortable looking seat I could find, and obviously it was a window seat. “It’s almost eleven o’clock in the morning” I informed Martha as she handed me a half full glass of champagne. She raised her brows in response as she took a big gulp out of the glass she poured for herself, choosing the window seat in the aisle across from me. 

“We have a meeting later.”

“It’s just one drink, c’mon. Please?”

I take a sip of the bubbly alcoholic beverage to appease Martha. We finish our first glass and Martha gets herself another after we departed around ten forty-five am. I capped myself at one drink then found myself falling asleep looking out at the scenery passing under the window listening to some calming music playing through my air pods. 

I was jolted awake by Martha shaking me awake. Wiping the drool off the corner of my mouth, I discovered we had time traveled back three hours from New York time and saw on one of the televisions mounted onto the wall that the little airplane had arrived in California and we were set to land in ten minutes. I helped Martha clean up whatever mess she had made in the past six hours before we both fassended our seatbelts as the airplane started its descent. After thanking the pilot, Martha and I made our way off the tarmac and into the terminal. We collected our luggage and to Martha’s relief, a black Cadillac was waiting to take us to Oasis Springs, which was about an hour and a half drive from the airport. The meeting with Momoko Yoshida, and a few other big hotel companies CEO’s for a potential beachfront property on her land, starts at four thirty in the afternoon and it was almost one thiry which would leave us roughly an hour to freshen up after arriving at the hotel. The meeting would be taking place in one of the hotel’s conference rooms. 

The drive to Oasis Springs was uneventful, but we did pass a tumbleweed or two which was a drastic change from the flat and desert-like landscape. We arrived at the Marriot where we would be staying for the next three days. Martha is forcing me to stay an extra day to go shopping and have a mini vacation. I’d rather not since this is a business trip and I have work to tend to back in New York, but Martha insists. When Martha has her heart set on something there's no stopping her until she gets what she wants. 

Check in went smoothly, and we made our way up to the third floor where our room was. The room itself was a suite where larger families would typically stay so there was a little kitchenette, living room area with a pull out couch and a tv stand, two queen sized beds, and a bathroom with a shower but a separate bathtub with jacuzzi jets in them. I reveled in the smell of cleaning products used to clean the rooms between guests. Hotels always have a distinct kind of smell to them, like hospitals or gas stations, and for some odd reason I just love the smell. My dad chalks it up to all the hotels/motels we stayed in. 

“DIBBS!!!” Martha yelled excitedly as she launched herself onto the bed on the right, which just so happened to be the bed that was closest to the big window that took up most of the wall. 

“Shh!” I hushed her harshly while throwing one of the pillows from my bed at her, in part to send the message and to also get revenge on her from taking the bed with the view. “Shut up you fat cow, we have neighbors!”

Martha adjusted herself to a more comfortable position,“Meh, neighbors schmeighbors. I wanna crash.”

“Not until after the meeting. Which, might I remind you, we have to get ready for.”

Martha let out a non committal noise before she drug herself up off of her bed. I handed her her bag as I placed my suit down on my bed, opening it to find a change of clothes. Martha and I knew we’d be traveling so we wore more casual clothes. I wore a nice noodle strapped, flowy, yellow dress that complimented my long wavy brown hair and accentuated my emerald green eyes. Wanting to go for a bad ass woman in the workplace look, I took out my two piece light gray pantsuit. I left the jacket unbuttoned to let my white bloused dress shirt show. I slipped on some gold bracelets and a gold necklace with an arrow on it. Martha changed out of her t-shirt and sweatpants into a black mid thigh length pencil skirt with a navy blue long sleeve dress shirt. She tied her hair into a messy bun and slipped on a pair of black stilettos. I left my hair down and put on my trusty black heel pointed pumps. Before Martha and I left for the meeting, I slipped into the bathroom to touch up my makeup. I decided to go for a bold red lip to make myself stand out more to Mrs. Yoshida. 

We were the first ones to arrive in the conference room besides Mrs. Yoshida and her husband Kentaro. Martha and I bowed out of respect for their culture. The two appreciated the gesture and we all went to our respective seats that had place cards on them. I pressed my lips into a line when I saw the placement card next to mine; Veronica Burns. As if on cue my quite intimidating business rival entered the room and took a seat next to me. She flashed me a fake smile before returning back to the stack of papers she brought with her. 

Veronica Burns. Thirty eight years old and the CEO of Burn Bright Villas. Veronica is beautiful and sexy looking for her age. Her outfit matched my bad ass woman in the workplace aesthetic very well. She was wearing a black suit jacket and pencil skirt that went past her knees. Her dark brown, almost black, hair was pulled up tightly into a professional looking bun. She also had a bold red lip, and was pulling it off better than me. She could be long lost twins with Sofia Carson. The two other CEOs that would be meeting with us finally showed up. They were two men in their late forties and fifties. Sexism and racism radiated off the both of them. 

The meeting started and one by one we presented the blueprints to our resorts, expected revenue reports, and expense costs. Veronica went before Martha and I, we were the third ones to go. The presentation portion of the meeting was done and over within an hour. 

“Mr. Smith, Mr. Green,” Mrs. Yoshida started, addressing the only other men in the room,”While my husband and I appreciate the time you took out of your busy schedules to come down here today, we will not be contracting my land to you. However, we will be hosting a work party tomorrow night at our estate and sincerely hope you come and join us.”

Mr. Smith of Sunrise Suites looked sad and dejected while you could tell that Mr. Green of Hospitality Inn was angered that a woman beat him out of his contract. His body remained calm but his feelings were plain as day on his face. Mrs. Yoshida brushed it off and continued debriefing us. 

“Mrs. Burns, I loved the floor plan of your resort and your revenue outlook looks fantastic!” Veronica humbly nodded her head to the shorter, older, asian woman. “Miss Summers, your resort also looks remarkable, and the expense report was expertly crafted and well thought out.” I smiled and Martha secretly fist pumped herself.

“So here is the deal ladies, I can’t decide which one of you I want to contract, so I propose a challenge. With cost not being a problem, I want you to create the blueprints for your dream resort. I need the blueprints, floor plan of each floor, a 3D generated motel, and list of building materials.” Momoko said excitedly.

“Sounds easy enough” Veronica said as she crossed her arms into her chest. 

Mrs. Yoshida looked at me for my response.

“I’m down for a little friendly competition.”

Mrs. Yoshida smiled a big, sly, smile. “Good. I want everything done by tomorrow night and turned into me when you arrive at the party. Seven pm sharp.”