I finished up at the motel on Columbus Day and Lenny put an extra two hundred dollars in my final check. "It's just a little way to say thank you," he told me. I couldn't thank him enough, not only for the extra money, but for all the help and advice he had given me.
Lenny also told me that Suzanne wouldn't be coming back next year. "I just think it was getting too much for her. Not the work so much as the dragging the vacuum cleaner and cart all over the grounds and then breaking her wrist. Well,... she's going to missed. I'm losing my two best workers," he laughed.
I thanked Lenny again and left the motel but instead of heading home I swung by Suzanne's house to check on her broken wrist and see if she might entertain the idea of working at the Red Wheel.
"It's not that I can't do the work, I just won't have time to do it. Check out's at eleven and check in's at two and I'll be cleaning up after breakfast and taking care of guests so I need someone that's reliable to clean the rooms. I can only pay you what Lenny paid but, being a Bed and Breakfast, there should be some tips involved." She seemed to like the idea and said she'd take the job after I told her that there was a vacuum cleaner on both floors so she wouldn't have to lug one up and down the stairs.
I got back to the Red Wheel to find that two rooms were booked for the first week of January and a message on the phone inquiring about a room for the third week. I returned the call and, after a pleasant conversation, I booked room three. These were my first clients and I was so excited I ran over to tell the news to Jen. She wasn't in a very good mood as the girl that was covering for her over the weekend didn't do anything and Jen was stuck with four days of work. Her mood changed however when I told her I had booked three rooms in January.
"Great!" she exclaimed giving me a big hug. "I needed some good news today."
She wrapped rubber bands around three stacks of printed card files. "I'm going to drop these off at the hospital and pick up todays reports. Do you want a pizza?"
"Sure, we can talk about an idea I had. It may require your great wisdom."
Jen rolled her eyes. "Just call Benny's in twenty minutes so the pizzas will be hot when I pick them up."
On her return the two of us settled in at the breakfast room table with two pizzas and a couple of wine coolers.
"So, what's this big idea you have?" Jen queried.
"I thought I'd decorate the place for Christmas and have an open house. I'd invite everyone who had a hand in getting this place ready. They'd all get to see the finished product and it would give me a chance to thank all of them."
Jen loved the idea and volunteered to help in any way she could. I got my notebook and started writing down the names of everyone I should invite. When I got to Suzanne's name I told Jen that I offered her a housekeeping job.
"You know," she started, "I guess I would have brought it up sooner or later. You won't have the time to serve breakfast, check guests in and out, and clean the rooms. One, if not all of those duties would suffer and you can't afford that. Once this place is open it's all about PR."
Jen went to use the bathroom when a car pulled into the driveway and stopped in front of Jen's apartment. I walked onto the porch to see a woman knocking on the apartment door.
"Can I help you?" I asked in a friendly manner.
"We're looking for Jen Taylor," came her response. We walked toward each other and met in the middle of the driveway. "We're friends of hers and wanted to see her new place. We've been putting it off long enough," she half laughed. "This where she lives?"
"You've got the right place but she's over here with me. We were just finishing a pizza. I'm Margie Gilday by the way."
Molly Kozlowski," she said, shaking my hand. That's my husband and chauffeur, Tom. We own the gift shop over in Waterville."
Molly beckoned to him. Tom shut the car down and joined us. Jen was cleaning off the table when we entered through the kitchen door but dropped everything when she saw her guests.
"What are you guys doing here?"
"Your name came up today and you know how Tom gets," she laughed. "We decided to have dinner at the Elk Horn and since we were right down the street we picked up a little celebration wine and a house warming gift."
"Well, I think we're done here. Let's go over and I'll show you around. You too, Margie. Grab your coat." Jen ordered.
"I don't want to impose on your guests..."