Chapter 8
After making sure all the guests had everything they needed for breakfast, Helen decided to head out onto the front porch with a cup of coffee. Grabbing her coat, she took her broom with her to sweep away any leaves that had blown onto the steps.
The cold, crisp air had her inhaling deep as she stepped outside. She shivered and wrapped her scarf tighter against her neck.
Her phone buzzed in her apron pocket. She leaned her broom against the house and pulled her phone out.
Hope you have a great holiday. This holiday will be different without you.
She cringed when she read it and promptly tossed her phone back in her pocket. Carl must have gotten a new number. The question was, how had he gotten the number to the bed and breakfast?
Since the divorce, he’d not tried to contact her, so she wasn’t sure what he was trying to do now.
It was best for everyone if they never spoke again.
Picking up the broom, Helen began sweeping the porch.
When she was done, she went over to the seating area.
She picked up leaves off the chairs and fluffed up the pillows.
She found an empty ceramic coffee mug from one of the guests.
After she swept the steps and made sure it looked inviting, she picked up the coffee mug and her broom and headed inside.
She could hear guests moving around upstairs. Mr. and Mrs. Hill were leaving today, along with Mrs. Lewis. Tomorrow morning would only be two for breakfast.
Helen glanced around the dining room. She grabbed the large tray and placed the dirty dishes in it.
After taking the dishes into the kitchen and putting them in the dishwasher, she went back into the dining room.
She wiped down the tables, scooted the chairs under the tables, and swept the floor.
She bent and opened the cabinet of the large sideboard and pulled out some bottled water to place in the refrigerator.
Her gaze landed on a basket of linens. She sifted through them and realized there were a lot of Christmas themed tablecloths and napkins. Some were even vintage.
This pulled a smile out of her as she thought of how she could decorate the table for Thanksgiving dinner and then, afterwards, Christmas dinner.
She grabbed her clipboard so she could start making notes.
The cell phone rang, and she pulled it out of her apron.
“Laurel Cove Bed and Breakfast. How may I help you?” She kept her tone cheerful
“I was wondering if you have availability for two nights?” The man with a deep voice gave her the dates he needed.
She bit her lip. “Please hold.” She headed into the office and sat down at the computer. She pulled up the reservation screen. She keyed in the dates.
“We have a room available for those dates.”
He sighed with relief. “I’ll take it.” He gave her his name and credit card information.
“Thank you, Mr. Sykes. So just to confirm, it’s just you in the room?”
He cleared his throat. “Yes, just me.”
She smiled. “I have you down. Check in is after three and check out time is eleven.”
After the call ended, she studied the calendar. With the new guest, that would make a total of three for Thanksgiving dinner.
If she were going to pull that off, she was going to have to plan everything down to the last detail.
She glanced at the time.
She needed to go ahead and plan a grocery list for Thanksgiving as well as breakfast.
Pulling up her recipe board on Pinterest she quickly made a list of ingredients. She would make a quick trip to town and be back before checkout time.