At precisely eight o’clock this morning our phone started ringing. I think everyone wanted to give us enough time to wake up and get our day under way before they began the bombardment of questions and excitement.
We had dinner last night with Tom and Dawn and their daughter Amy. And Joe and Rhonda were there with their daughter Tammi. Trish and I surprised everyone including Teri and Tracy with the news that they are all invited to join us on a two week honeymoon cruise to the Caribbean on our own private chartered ship. They went nuts!
We’ll be visiting several ports and a few private islands as well. The entire cruise of course will be clothing optional except for the major ports of call. The crew will consist of a captain, and a crew of three women who will handle all of the cooking and sailing duties. They do these clothing optional cruises on a regular basis and I have seen their photos and read reviews by former passengers. It should be a great time for everyone.
So the calls today were to thank us for the invitation and get more details. Trish and I accepted the thanks and for questions beyond what we knew right away, we referred them to our travel coordinator, Rita. She already has a list of the confirmed guests and Trish and I will be finalizing the list in the next few days. In addition to the dinner guests from last night we plan to include Carol, without whose help, the wedding would not be happening at all. We’ve talked about Sue and I hope that after tonight Trish will want to add Candi to the list. I think if we invite the twins, Lucinda and Melinda, they would probably come and could be a lot of help as well. Trish and I have even discussed the possibility of employing them on a full time basis in our home.
Ralph and Sandi are also invited to the wedding, and it would be appropriate to invite them on the cruise even though we’ve not been quite as intimate with them both as we have with the others. They both have jobs though that I think will prevent them from being able to join us. So I think we’ll extend the invitation as a courtesy and see if they can arrange to come.
I suggested to Trish that she call Melinda and ask her if she could come over today to help with our dinner party and we could also discuss the other opportunities. Trish asked if I wanted to invite anyone else tonight, especially since I was going to be the only guy. Of course she knew that I had no problem with that aspect and I politely thanked her but said that I thought the guest list was good as it was.
Trish made the call and Melinda readily accepted. Lucinda was just getting ready to return to Phoenix and she was tempted to stay, but she had a commitment at work. Trish told her that we wanted her to come back and visit soon and she said she would try to get back by next week.
Once we had handled and referred all of the phone calls we got dressed and went shopping. Trish had the day off and we wanted to be together anyway. I had a few errands to run in town so we did it all together. Trish needed a few things from the grocery store so we did that last.
By the time we got home, Teri and Tracy were home too. They helped us unpack the groceries and get things set up for supper. I was telling everyone about Candi and how much I thought she was like Trish.
'Does she have any kids?' Teri asked.
'No, she doesn't.' I told her. 'She told us that she always wanted to have a daughter, but it never happened. Now her husband is gone and she's resolved that she probably won't have any children at all. I think she's kind of sad about it.'
'I'm a daughter.' Teri said jokingly, 'Maybe she'd like me.'
We laughed. 'I'm sure she'll love you.' Trish told her, 'And I suppose I can share you with her. Let's see if Rob is right about her first. She might be a witch, and we might all hate her too.
Again we all laughed. But I was confident. I've become a pretty good judge of character and I know what kind of traits the girls like too.
A few minutes later the doorbell rang. It was Melinda. She came inside and immediately started getting things arranged in the kitchen. Trish showed her the fish that we had bought for the grill and the other items we had prepared for dinner. Melinda found all of the plates and utensils and got busy taking them to the table outside. Within just a few minutes she had everything all set up and in order. There was nothing left to do until it was time to start cooking.
Trish and I sat down with her at the kitchen table.
'Oh Ms Trish we had so much fun the other night. Thank you for inviting us to your party. You make us feel so welcome.'
'Your sister was right,' Trish told Melinda, 'when she said that we would like you. In fact, not only do we want you and Lucinda to be here for our wedding, we want you to join us on our honeymoon cruise.'
Melinda's eyes widened in amazement.
Trish continued. 'We'll be on our own privately chartered ship in the Caribbean for two weeks. Would you like to join us?'
Melinda was slightly overwhelmed. 'Oh yes! I would love to. I have to talk to my boss man at Enchantment though. I don't know if I can be gone that long.' There was sadness in her voice that she might not be able to come due to her commitment at work.
'Well that's something else that we would like to talk about.' I said. 'Trish and I are in need of some more help here at home. We'd like to offer you a full time position here. Your duties would be similar to what you are doing now at the resort, and perhaps a bit more varied and interesting. We need a person to handle cleaning and maintenance in the house as well as cooking and managing the kitchen. You'll have a generous budget for shopping at the grocery store. I'll match the salary that that you're currently earning at Enchantment, plus any benefits that you receive. You can take two days off each week. And since this is a big home and needs a lot of attention, we plan to offer your sister the same opportunity. Do you think she would be interested in moving to Sedona and working here with you in our home?'
I could tell that Melinda was excited at the prospect of becoming our full time housekeeper. Her mind was churning and she asked thoughtfully, 'Yes I would like very much to come to work for you. And I believe that Lucinda would like that too. My apartment is small but I think we could live together there. We had such a small house in Mexico. Should I call her and ask?'
Trish replied. 'Do you think it would be good to ask her on the phone? Or should we wait and have her come up here next week so we can sit down together like this? That way we can address any questions that she has face to face.'
'Yes I think that would be better.' Melinda agreed. 'But I will speak to my employer this week. When would you like me to start working here?'
'We could use you immediately.' Trish answered. 'But you should give Enchantment at least a two week notice. That way they'll have time to find a replacement for you. If by some chance they let you go sooner, then you can start here right away.'
Melinda nodded. She understood that we wanted her to be able to leave under the best circumstances and not burn any bridges.