“What do you mean it's not going to happen? Dad always gave me money.” She leaned forward, ready for a fight, her eyes flashing.
“I'm not Dad,” Griffen said, still calm, refusing to give her the argument she wanted. “You've had a free ride for long enough. You want money, get a job.”
“That seems to be the theme for the day,” I added. Sterling raised one perfectly arched eyebrow in my direction. “You're third in line today. Fourth if you separate Ophelia and Bryce into two people.”
“Who was number three?” Sterling asked, distracted by her curiosity.
“Your former sister-in-law.”
Sterling's eyebrows shot up. “That bitch had the nerve to ask you for money?”
“She did, right after Ophelia and Bryce hit me up. And I told all three of them the same thing Griffen just told you. You want money? Get a job.”
“Are you going to give me a job? Or do you expect me to go all over town putting in resumes?”
I glanced across the desk at Griffen, who raised an eyebrow at me in question. I shrugged in answer. “Do you want to work at The Inn? It is tradition. The rest of us all put in time at The Inn when we were growing up.”
“Are you going to stick me in housekeeping?” Sterling’s upper lip curled in a sneer that again reminded me of Bryce. While I hadn't had a shred of sympathy for our cousin, who'd grown up with every luxury including his mother's doting affection, I did have some sympathy for my baby sister.
“I don't know. If you don't want housekeeping, what do you think you'd be good at? I expect you to do whatever job you get, not just clock in and collect a paycheck. You understand that, right?”
“Duh. You're way too much of a hard-ass to make it that easy.” She slouched back in the chair and eyed me appraisingly. “I don't know what I'm good at. I've never really done anything.”
“What do you think you'd like?” I had something in mind, but I wanted to see what Sterling would say first.
“I don't know.” She stared up at the ceiling, thinking. “I don't think I want to wait tables. Or work the front desk. Are there any jobs in the office? I'm good at organizing things.”
Griffen and I stared at her in disbelief, both of us remembering the state of her bedroom when we’d moved back into the house. It had been filthy, so disgusting that Griffen had refused to let our own housekeeping staff touch it until Sterling cleaned it herself.
Sterling shrugged a shoulder and straightened in the chair. “Okay, fine, I get why you guys are giving me those looks, but it's true. I was always in charge of throwing parties at my sorority, which takes a lot of coordination, even if it doesn't look like it. I know word processing and spreadsheets. I'm not totally useless.”
“I didn't think you were,” I said, hoping my idea was a good one. “Our head of event coordination has an assistant, and that assistant is about to go on maternity leave. She may be back, she may not, but the person we hired to fill in for her just decided to take a different position. If you're interested, show up at The Inn tomorrow by 8:30. I'll introduce you to Marcy, and we’ll see how it goes. It doesn't pay a lot, and Marcy will work you hard, but I think you’ll like it, and her.”
Sterling sat frozen for a long minute. “Really? You’ll give me a job at The Inn?”
“I'll hire you on a trial basis. In the end, it will be up to Marcy.”
Sterling stood and nodded. “I'll kick ass in event coordination, you'll see.”
“I can't wait.”
Sterling's smile was a little shy when she said, “Can I, um, ride in with you tomorrow? I don't have any gas in my car, and I guess I won't have any money to fill it until I get a paycheck.”
“I go in at eight, and I'd love to give you a ride.”
“I can't remember the last time I got up that early,” Sterling said. She leaned over and gave me a quick hug. “Thanks, you're the best, Royal. I swear I won’t fuck this up.”
“What about me?” Griffen said, sounding affronted.
Sterling sent him a saucy wink. “You're not bad, but Royal just gave me a job, so he’s my number one brother right now. If he fires me I'll give the spot back to you.”
“If he doesn't fire you because you have a job you like and you're doing well at it, then I'm happy to take number two. As long as you don't put Tenn ahead of me.”
Sterling laughed, a sound I realized we didn't hear enough. For a party girl, she never seemed to be having that much fun. A moment later she was gone, closing the office door behind her.