Tiny Blessings

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

“Okay, time’s up,” Lizzy said at breakfast the next morning. “Something is going on with you—” she pointed at Sophia and then moved her finger around to Hunter—“and you, so spit it out. Are we having a double wedding or a single one?”

“Double,” Sophia whispered, “but . . .”

Hunter laid a hand on her arm. “Let me, darlin’.” Then he went on to tell Lizzy what had happened. “We thought we had our whole lives in order, and then . . .” He shrugged. “We are kind of struggling with the question of whether we get our résumés ready to apply for new jobs today, or maybe wait until after the wedding.”

Clara got up from the table and gave her sister a hug. “I’m so sorry. Want me to ask if there are any positions open at my bank?”

“I’m still in shock, so I don’t even know what I want to do or where to start,” Sophia answered.

“Right now, you’ve got a place to live and food to eat,” Lizzy said, “but I’ve got a better offer than a bank job. Why don’t you girls let me give you this hotel? Hunter, you can take over the operations. Clara can do the books and Sophia can do the day-to-day work with Luther and oversee the cleaning crew. I figure it will take at least three people to do what I do, and there’s three of you sitting right here at the table with me.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Hunter whispered.

“Nothing,” Lizzy said. “You don’t say a single word until you’ve all thought about it for at least twenty-four hours. It’s a big decision and you need time to process it. If you look at the books, you’ll see that you would all have a generous salary, probably more than any of you make right now. I’ll stick around until the end of the summer to help you make the transition, and then I’m out of here. My friends from Sunday school class and I are going to Grand Teton for a few months. I’ll see if I . . .”

“Mama Lizzy!” Sophia gasped. “You can’t leave for that long!”

“That’s what you’ve got out of what I just offered?” Lizzy finished off a cup of coffee, stood up, and went to the counter for a refill, then came back and sat down. “I’ve got a buyer on the hook right now. The deal can easily be closed by the end of August. I’d rather give the inn to you than sell it and put the money in trust funds for you. Either way, the place has always been and still is your inheritance, whether you take the hotel itself or the value of it in a retirement fund. Besides, the two of you don’t come around for days, or sometimes even months.” She glanced over at Clara and then shifted her gaze to Sophia. “You won’t really miss me.”

Guilt wrapped its cold arms around Sophia and tears flooded her eyes. She couldn’t argue with her grandmother because what she’d said was the truth.

“This is the first time ever that I haven’t had a full house for the Dogwood Trails Festival weeks, so I’m going to take advantage of the free time these next couple of days. Marlene and two of our other friends and I are going on a little jaunt to Shreveport to hit a casino or two. Wedding guests will start arriving on Thursday and I want to be here to greet them. Luther will be here, and the cleaning staff and the dining room folks will be back on duty that afternoon,” Lizzy said.

“But . . .” Clara gasped.

“There are no buts,” Lizzy said. “You’ve got until Thursday night to think about my offer. If you don’t want the place to be sold, you’ll take over. If you decide you want the place, I’ll make an appointment with my lawyer for you to sign the papers I already have drawn up. If you don’t, I’ll take the bid a corporation has offered me. That’s all there is to it.”

“What about the rest of the wedding plans?” Sophia’s mind was whipping around in circles so fast that everything was a blur.

“I’ll be home on Thursday to help with whatever last-minute details need to be done, but I’ve been working on these plans since you announced your engagements, so everything is pretty well taken care of. Basically, y’all have a couple of days to think about my offer because you have nothing else to do,” Lizzy answered. “This will give you some time. Clara, you’ll have to talk things over with Trevor, and maybe the two of you can spend some time together on the ranch. Sophia, you and Hunter will be on your own here in the hotel if Clara decides to leave.”

Sophia glanced over at Hunter. The poor man looked as bewildered as she felt. Learning that their jobs had been thrown out the back door like trash, then trying to figure out how to tell her the horrible news as he made the drive, must have been agonizing. And now, this offer to consider.

“Mama Lizzy, I’ve never stayed a night in this place without you being here,” Sophia managed to say.

“No time like the present,” Lizzy replied and stood up. “My suitcase is packed and in the lobby. I’m taking Jezebel because the Shreveport hotel has valet parking and she won’t be sitting out in the weather. She’s spent her whole life in the climate-controlled garage just off the courtyard. I would never mistreat her. Got to admit, it does feel strange to be wheeling my brand-new suitcase out of the hotel.”

“Have a good time,” Clara said, “and call us when you get there so we know you are safe.”

Lizzy waved her hand around. “I know. I know. Don’t pick up strangers. Never carry all your money in one place. I made up all those rules, so you don’t have to recite them to me. See y’all Thursday around noon. If folks arrive earlier than that, y’all can greet them, hand out room keys, and make them welcome,” she said as she left the kitchen.

“I can’t believe that just happened,” Sophia whispered. The quiet in the kitchen was almost deafening. Neither Hunter nor Clara had spoken a word. “Say something, please,” she begged. “My mind is going crazy right now.”

“So is mine,” Clara said. “I thought I had my life all planned out until retirement and now I get thrown this curveball.”

Hunter finally said, “That’s a lot to consider, and I appreciate the offer, but you never wanted to move back here. This would be a lifetime commitment.”

Clara stood up and began to clear the table. “I can’t bear to see this place sold out of the family and possibly torn down, but . . .”

“But are we really going to even consider this?” Sophia said as she and Hunter both pushed back their chairs, got to their feet, and carried their plates to the sink. “It’s a permanent commitment for years to come, not just a temporary job until we find something better.”

“How many rooms does the hotel have?” Hunter asked.

“Forty,” Clara answered, “but two of them aren’t available to anyone but me and Sophia.”

Sophia loaded the dishwasher and poured three more cups of coffee. “Let’s take this to the lobby, where it’s more comfortable. In addition to the hotel rooms, there’s the dining room, which seats fifty, and folks come from all around the area to eat here. Luther’s cooking is well-known and liked, and Mama Lizzy told us that he’s training his son to take over the kitchen when he retires.”

“How far in the future is that?” Hunter asked as he followed the two women out of the kitchen.

“Luther was maybe twenty-five and had just taken his father’s place when we were little girls, so he might be here for another five or ten years,” Clara answered and then sat down in one of the wingback chairs that faced the sofa. “If we decide to keep the hotel, we will have plenty of time to get settled in before he retires.”

“Would we have to live here?” Hunter asked. “At first it would be fine, but what about when we have a family?” He waited for Sophia to take a seat on the sofa and then sat down beside her.

Sophia shrugged. “We were raised in this place. There’s a two-bedroom apartment back behind the check-in desk.”

“I can’t live here,” Clara declared. “Trevor and I already have a house on the ranch.”

“Were you planning to work after you get married?” Sophia asked.

“Of course,” Clara replied. “I don’t know jack squat about ranching.”

Sophia shot a look across the coffee table at her.

“What?” Clara snapped.

Sophia tapped her forehead in a gesture directing Clara to think. “What’s the difference between going to the bank for eight hours a day or coming here for the same amount of time? Your job would involve taking care of books and numbers, taking money to the bank, dealing with finances. Hunter and I would be responsible for the hiring and firing of staff and general management. We would need to live here unless we hired a manager for each shift, which would cut down on profit.”

Hunter ran his fingers through his hair, which left no doubt in Sophia’s mind that he was nervous even thinking about such a commitment. “At first we could hire a night manager and we’d be responsible for the day shift, but are we seriously even considering this? I love you, Sophia, and I’m willing to do whatever you want. After all, this is your heritage, and it would be a shame to see it torn down. But remember, this isn’t our only option as far as jobs go.”

“I just never saw myself living here, much less running the hotel,” Sophia said with a long sigh. “In my mind, Mama Lizzy was going to live forever.”

“In mine too.” Clara matched her sigh.

“Why do you call her that?” Hunter asked. “She’s not your mother.”

“Because she told us to,” Clara answered. “For all intents and purposes, she is our mother, even if she didn’t give birth to us. She wanted us to call her ‘mama.’ She says we tacked on the Lizzy because we heard everyone in the hotel calling her that, and it just stuck. What do you call your grandparents, and do they even know about the company having to close its doors?”

“My dad’s folks are ‘Grandmother’ and ‘Grandfather, ’ and on the other side they’re ‘Grandpa’ and ‘Granny,’ ” he replied. “Yes, they know about the company. Grandfather was pretty upset about it. He advised my dad on more than one occasion against borrowing more and more money for new ventures that didn’t pan out. Dad has always been what they call a big-or-bust man, and he got in over his head.”

Sophia snuggled up closer to him and took his hand in hers. “What are they going to think about you running a hotel if we decide to do this?”

“I’m not sure, but it’s really not their decision,” Hunter answered. “I’m glad we’ve got some time to think about things, to go over the books and see what kind of salary we would have, and then decide together what we’re going to do.”

Clara stood up and headed toward the check-in counter. “We might as well see about the finances before we go any further with this conversation.”

“Do you know how to go about that?” Sophia asked.

“I know the passwords to get into the accounts,” Clara answered.

“Should we ask Lizzy to be sure that she meant for us to go snooping around in the finances?” Hunter asked.

“I helped Mama Lizzy set up the program to put everything on the computer, but she keeps double books because she doesn’t trust cyberspace,” Clara said and kept walking. “Let’s look at what we’d be getting into, what the overhead is, and all that. She told me what passwords to use when I set everything up for her. She offered to give us the place, and she actually encouraged us to look at the books, so I don’t think she will mind.”

Sophia tucked her hand into Hunter’s, and together they followed Clara into the office—the small, “holy sanctuary” that they had never been allowed to enter unless Mama Lizzy was in there with them. Clara switched on the light, and nothing had changed. Metal file cabinets still lined one wall, and Sophia shuddered at the idea of going all through the hard copy folders and ledgers that were housed there. The old oak desk in the middle of the floor faced the door, and the chair behind it should have already been donated to a museum. Mama Lizzy had told them that the desk had been set in place when the hotel was being built, back before all the walls were even put up. The thing was so big that it would have to be torn apart to get it out of the room. Without even closing her eyes, Sophia could imagine her grandmother sitting there as straight as a lightning rod with her reading glasses perched on the end of her nose.

That morning Clara sat down in the chair, turned on the desktop computer, and then looked up with a smile. “Take a deep breath.”

Sophia inhaled and then nodded. “Youth Dew.”

“What’s that?” Hunter asked.

“That would be the faint scent of Mama Lizzy’s perfume still lingering in this room,” Clara answered.

“Well, she does spend a lot of time in here,” Hunter said, “doesn’t she?”

Sophia kissed him on the cheek. “Yes, darlin’, she does, and if we take over the hotel, that chair will be Clara’s brand-new throne.”

“If I put a pillow in the chair, it’ll be comfortable enough,” Clara said as she poked a button and the printer sitting on a smaller file cabinet behind her began to churn out papers. “Mama Lizzy must’ve known that we would come looking. She’s got a projected statement including the profit margin for next year and salaries for each of us, ready for us to view.”

Three copies came out already collated and ready for them to look over. Clara handed them out and powered down the computer. “Looks like she’s invested in a new, modern printer, even if we do still have old, black desk phones in the rooms.”

Hunter hiked a leg on the edge of the desk and flipped through the pages. “Holy smoke! Sophia, darlin’, are you seeing these numbers? How does a small place like this have such an income? And these salaries are at least thirty percent more than we were making at the oil company. We would be crazy not to take this job.”

“Plus, she has worked in insurance and a retirement fund that matches what we put into it up to eight percent,” Clara said without even looking up, “but it’s not just about the money.”

“I know, I know,” Sophia whispered, “it’s also about hanging on to what our ancestors started. This seems like a silver lining to a really dark cloud and almost too good to be true. Am I dreaming? If so, don’t wake me. But still, I vote that we sleep on it for two nights before we really make up our minds.”

“Look at you,” Clara said. “The twin who was always so impulsive now becomes the careful one.”

Sophia couldn’t argue with that, but this decision involved more than making a choice on a whim. It had to do with the rest of her—and Hunter’s—lives. Would their marriage survive if they lived in a hotel and worked together at a job where their paths would cross more than a couple of times a day? She loved him enough that she would rather be a greeter at a big box store or flip burgers in a greasy spoon diner than accept a position that would jeopardize their marriage.

“Sophia is right,” Hunter defended her. “Let’s give this some more thought before we jump right in and say yes.”

Clara powered down the computer. “On that note, I’ll be going out to the ranch for a couple of nights. I’ll be back Thursday.” The chair squeaked when she stood and pushed it away. “By then we should have all the pros and cons worked out.”

“Do you think that . . .” Sophia said and paused.

“That we can work together and not argue about every single decision?” Clara asked.

“Looks like you two have more in common than you think,” Hunter said with a chuckle. “Your sister just finished your sentence.”

Sophia carried her set of papers across the room. “Well, it is something to think about.”

Clara followed her and switched off the light at the door. “It’s something to add to the con list you know we’ll both start making up in the next few hours.”

“Minutes, not hours,” Sophia said.

“I’m already writing things down mentally,” Clara said as she started up the stairs. “You’ve got the hotel to yourselves. Be sure to lock the lobby doors if you don’t want to stand watch behind the check-in desk all night.”

“That sounded just like Mama Lizzy,” Sophia said, “but thanks for the reminder. I bet this place has never been locked up before in all the years it’s been here.”

Clara waved from the top of the steps. “Except for the past few days, when even the night clerk has been given a paid vacation.”

Sophia turned and wrapped her arms around Hunter’s neck. “Darlin’, we’ve got the next couple of days alone. As of right now, I’m going to pretend this is a fancy hotel, that we’re already married, and you’ve rented the whole hotel so that we won’t be disturbed. Neither of us will even have to get dressed.”

“I love you so much.” Hunter tipped up her chin with his fist and kissed her—long, lingering, and passionately.

“Hey, you two,” Clara teased as she carried a small tote bag and her purse down to the lobby, “get a room.”

“We’ve got one,” Hunter said. “Would you please lock the door on your way out?”

“Of course,” Clara said.

When she was gone, Hunter scooped Sophia up like a bride and carried her up the stairs and into their room.

“You don’t even have to close the door,” she whispered.

“What if Clara comes back?” he asked as he laid her on the bed.

“There’s only one key and it’s behind the desk. This is our honeymoon hotel and no one can come inside unless we let them,” she whispered and pulled him down beside her.