The Hammond Hotel in Daven’s Port, North Carolina, had to have been the most tightly managed hotel in all of the East Coast. But at the end of the day, all that mattered was that it was hemorrhaging money. Daddy Hammond couldn’t have understood why—he requested that his daughter open up an assistant position to help her balance the budget, not destroy it! Looking at some of the expenses that Hannah had written off, they were downright weird! Extra wide chairs. Fudging the numbers on their grocery bills. Changing the dispensary to Yeng for Vending Machines was a good idea, but all of the money that she saved went right to reinforced chairs! Add in for construction costs (with *wider doorframes scribbled hastily on the receipt), and Hannah’s father had been more convinced than ever that his daughter was embezzling. Once he saw extra wide, reinforced chairs on the list, he started seeing red! Hannah had been told to tighten her managerial belt, and it looked like she’d done the exact

Time has a way of making fools out of us all. As the months began to blur and she managed little to no progress towards the next step of her life, Lyla couldn’t help but feel like she’d let herself get a little foolish. Laying around all day had its benefits, as did having a doting grandmother who could make sure that she never went hungry. But as the floorboards of her Granny Barb’s old house began to creak beneath her with every heavy step, Lyla had truly begun to wonder if she hadn’t been taking advantage of the situation. “Lyla baby, are you ‘bout ready?” “Just a minute, Granny!” Lyla called out as she struggled with the clasp on her jeans, “You stupid pieces of—!” Lyla gave up and backed against the wall, her belly pouring out of her stretchiest pants and heaving up and down with her labored breaths. Taking a big girl breath, she sucked her gut back in and tried her best to wriggle her heft inside the wide neck of her jeans. “Hold…” “Hold…” “There we go!” Finally, the

The Hammond Hotel in Daven’s Port, North Carolina, was the most indulgent and pampering resort on the East Coast. Nobody in town could even hope to compare with the panache that its management staff put forward, all but ensuring that anyone who walked through those doors would be so spoiled that they wouldn’t know what to do with themselves. Lately, especially so. With that in mind, keeping Rachel Elvers well-fed was not going to be an issue—Hannah knew that no matter how hard she’d try, Rachel was just as greedy now as she had ever been. Sure enough, it had taken absolutely no time at all for her to start sneaking snacks at her workstation. After all, if everyone else could get away with a little snacking here or there, surely the woman who had known the boss since they were both 15 should be able to get away with it too. Rachel was a puddle in the face of any and all temptation and, though she’d never realize it, her good friend Hannah liked to keep it that way. Just one of the