Beautiful Mistake Book 3

My nude Marc Jacobs heels echoed smartly through the Grand Hotel’s lobby.

I was back.

Back in my favorite shoes.

Back full-time at my job as Marketing Director, a position I’d achieved after years of hard work and dedication.

That’s not to say there hadn’t been a few changes in the six months I’d been away.

The concierge desk, where my best friend Coleen used to work, was now occupied by a tall, curly-haired woman named Laura.

Instead of my usual designer purse, a bulky diaper bag was slung over my shoulder.

But the biggest change was the one currently winding a pudgy fist into my hair and giving it a hard yank.

“Ow! Charlie, let go of Mommy’s hair, please,” I said to my daughter, who was currently strapped to my front in a baby carrier.

Charlie gurgled with delight at her latest trick and pulled harder.

“Charlene Eleanor, are you being feisty today?” I teased, pausing to unwind my hair from her surprisingly strong grip.

She laughed—a bright sound that never failed to go straight to my heart.

Her eyes were beginning to lose the standard dark blue common to newborns, and I just knew they were going to be the exact same azure shade as her father’s.

This little girl had grown in my belly for nine long months, entering the world only after sixteen excruciating hours of labor.

“Here, destroy this instead,” I said, reaching into the diaper bag for her favorite toy: a chewed-up parrot with one eye missing.

With a squeal, Charlie released my hair and stuffed the poor bird’s head into her mouth.

“Ohhh you brought the baby!” a high voice rang through the lobby.

With a strained smile, I looked up from my baby to see Naomi Wildman, the hotel’s desk manager, coming toward me.

“Hi Charlie!” Naomi said, leaning in close to beam at my daughter, who was entirely focused on gnawing Mr. Feathers’ beak off.

“Good morning, Naomi.”

She finally tore her eyes away from the baby to look at me. “I can’t believe you let her put that disgusting thing in her mouth.”

“We wash it twice a week,” I smiled down at the dilapidated parrot. “And Charlie loves it.”

“I only let my Henry play with toys made from organic, naturally-sourced materials.”

“How nice for him,” I replied, struggling not to sound sarcastic.

In the years we’d worked together at the Grand Hotel, Naomi Wildman hadn’t spoken more than two words to me.

Until I had a baby.

Now she cornered me whenever I came into the hotel. As it turned out, she had a son a few months older than Charlie.

Naomi said she wanted us to be “mom friends”—which she seemed to think meant asking questions designed to make me feel like I was doing something wrong.

“Is she sitting up by herself yet?” Naomi asked.

“Not quite, but she’s nearly there.”

“Did I tell you Henry could sit up unassisted at only five and a half months?”

“How wonderful.” My eyes darted across the lobby, searching for an escape.

It appeared in the form of my secretary, Rhea, who came through the door holding a tray of coffees.

“Actually, Naomi, I have to go catch up with Rhea real quick. Have a great day.”

I was already five feet away before she could respond.

“Rhea!” I called.

“Kyla! Welcome back,” she said, giving me a one-armed hug.

“Fifteen hours a week? For you that’s practically unemployed,” Rhea laughed as we walked up the stairs to the executive offices.

When Charlie had been around three months old, I’d started popping into the office now and then to check on things.

Eventually, Jensen and I agreed it would be better for me to work part-time for a few weeks.

But now I was rested—sort of—ready to go, and beyond thrilled to be back full-time.

Heading inside my office, I set down the heavy diaper bag.

Charlie cooed, waving the soggy parrot in her hand.

“Hey Kyla, I brought you a coffee if you want one!” Rhea called.

“Yes, please!”

My phone buzzed in my purse, and I grabbed it, smiling when I saw the screen.

Rhea brought me a coffee, and I leaned back in my leather office chair. The best thing about not being pregnant was that I could have caffeine again.

Right now, I felt ready to conquer anything they could throw at me.

I was on top of the world.

“Where are we on the O’Reilly account?” I asked my team, who were seated around the conference table.

“Overall, they spent two hundred thousand last quarter on our joint marketing effort,” Sarah Barnes said. She was the lead marketing assistant, responsible for the hotel’s top accounts.

My brow furrowed. “Two hundred thousand? Didn’t they spend more than half a million last year?”

Everyone looked uncomfortable.

“It seems that Sean O’Reilly recently sealed a contract with Nathan Holmes. Which might explain the sharp decrease in revenue,” Sarah replied.

“The Olympia account has also been halved, thanks to Holmes,” someone chimed in.

Nathan Holmes was the CEO of Holmes Luxury Hotels, our main competitor. He had been making more and more trouble for Hawksley Enterprises over the last few months.

I sighed, my eyes flicking to Charlie, who was sound asleep nestled against my chest.

I hadn’t had a chance to pump before the meeting, and my breasts were painfully full.

“Well, let’s not focus on what we don’t have,” I said. “Instead, let’s try to come up with some new marketing strategies that will bring in new streams of revenue.”

“Actually, I think Sarah had an idea the other day regarding that,” Richard Morales said.

Richard, my social media analyst, was a shy young man who I had enjoyed working with before Charlie was born. I was glad to see him still doing well on the team.

I was equally glad to see that his former counterpart, Bruce Parker, was nowhere to be seen.

He’d transferred to the sales department not long after my maternity leave began.

His mysterious jump might have been due to the fact that I suspected him of attempting to sabotage the Ambassador’s Ball last summer.

Sarah looked embarrassed by the attention.

“I think we need to focus on sustainability and other eco-friendly approaches,” she said. “People are a lot more worried about their carbon footprints these days.”

“I think that’s a great idea,” Richard added, making goo-goo eyes at Sarah.

He’d had a crush on Sarah for months, though he had yet to make a move.

Rhea glared daggers at both of them.

Trying to stay focused, I nodded at my team. “Sustainability is huge right now. The recent issue with the Greenway Center is proof of that.”

The Greenway Center, the location for Hawksley Enterprises’ new corporate offices, was currently under construction, courtesy of Jensen’s brother, Julian Hawksley.

And thanks to his new girlfriend, Zoey Curtis, who had fought tooth and nail for a community-centered approach to the headquarters.

With a little help from me, of course. But that was another story entirely.

An eco-friendly campaign could be a great way to show off the Grand Hotel as more than just a getaway for the super-rich.

My mind began brimming with ideas.

“We need to begin doing some market research—finding out what our customers are looking for when it comes to environmentally-conscious hotels.”

“Actually, with all due respect, Mrs. Hawksley, Sarah was outlining some of her ideas the other day, and I think she’s really onto something,” Richard said.

“Oh! Of course,” I said, stumbling a little. “Sarah, what have you got?”

Sarah beamed at Richard and started explaining her plans.

Rhea was gripping her pen so tightly I thought it meant snap in half.

Charlie began to wail. My swollen breasts began aching even harder.

Should I just…feed her here in front of everyone?

The gung-ho feminist part of me wanted to, just to prove that I could.

But the idea of exposing my engorged nipples for everyone to see was not a pleasant thought.

“Will you guys excuse me?” I asked, gently rubbing Charlie’s head.

“Of course. We can take it from here, Mrs. Hawksley,” Richard said.

I took Charlie into my office and peeled down the side of my nursing bra to give her access to what she wanted.

My phone buzzed, and I nearly dropped it on the floor as I swiped it open.

I dropped my phone onto the desk, my earlier buoyant mood gone.

Back in the conference room, my team was preparing our new strategy.

I’d done well in choosing them. Everyone worked hard; they were great at their jobs.

All of a sudden, my glorious return didn’t seem quite so thrilling.

There was a December chill in the air as I walked with Charlie through the park.

My feet ached, and I longed to kick off my heels and relax on the couch with Jensen.

When she was a newborn, my colicky daughter had refused to sleep unless someone was carrying her.

Jensen and I spent hour after exhausted hour pacing up and down the hall of our penthouse.

Eventually, one evening, I had gotten tired of the apartment and taken Charlie to the nearby park.

Maybe it was the fresh air on her skin, but it worked like a charm: she was asleep in fifteen minutes.

Daily walks were now our routine, and today I was thankful for the quiet stroll.

It was a great way to shake off the stress of my first day back at work.

Like the first time I’d returned home after leaving for college. In my narrow childhood bed, I hadn’t slept a wink.

The thing that had been such a big part of my life simply no longer fit.

Lost in my thoughts, I didn’t notice the deep crack in the sidewalk.

The heel of my shoe slipped into the crevice and broke off with a dull snap.

My heart leapt, my arms pinwheeling.

But it was too late. I lost my balance.

With Charlie on my chest, I began to fall toward the hard concrete.