Thomas had an eye for talent. He knew that the night receptionist with the crew cut had talent. Every shift he would read over his shoulder, greedily drinking in every word, edit and sigh of satisfaction. He learned that the young man had plans to self-publish on Amazon. He applauded the drive and lauded the ease at which people could write and distribute their creative work. In his day there was no internet, not such a thing as A03. The up-and-coming author had started off posting on sites like these. His prose had improved from the first draft from a year ago and soon he would be finished. He had already sketched out plans for a sequel. Thomas would nudge him in the right direction and ask Alison to keep an eye out for him.
Speaking of nudging, one of the maids had caught his eye. Mercifully she didn't remind him of anyone he had fallen in love with before. He liked her sparkling wit and frothy laugh and her hair gleamed like a chestnut roan…He shook himself. His days of mooning over crushes and languishing in love were over. No more poems dedicated to anyone's heaving bosom…he shook himself again. Perhaps he could, possibly, sketch out some quick descriptions while she was cleaning the honeymoon suite. Just in case…he could write something and ask Julian to slip it into her workbook. Thrill her with an anonymous note. He could start with…