Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Willow
“One of these days, I'm going to meet the love of my life, and he's going to be amazing," I shake the fluffy duvet on the queen-size bed and try not to think about all the obnoxious men I met at the Magnolia Club the previous evening.
“And he will look at me like an equal, not some peasant. And he will sweep me off my feet.”
"I hope I meet someone, too," Katherine says as she dusts the window half-heartedly. This is the fourth room we’ve cleaned in the last hour, and we’re all feeling tired.
"Me three," Brielle says as she sprays the mirror and wipes it down enthusiastically with a dry cloth. "I don't want to be cleaning hotel rooms for the rest of my life."
“Or working two jobs.” I yawn, my body feeling exhausted from being on my feet for so long the previous night. “I don’t know how long I’m going to be able to travel down to Manhattan in the afternoons for this job, especially if I’m not going to get any of the tips.”
“I know. I’m not loving the waitress job at the burger joint either.” Brielle stares at her reflection in the now-shiny mirror. “I feel like you can see the oil seeping out of my pores.” She rubs her forehead. “They should rename that place the Grease Joint.”
“Ha ha, I feel that. They should rename the Magnolia Club, The Snobs Dine Here Club.” I giggle. “I know rich people don’t have time for the help, but I didn’t realize just how rude some of them could be. It was horrible. If I’m ever super rich, I will treat everyone with kindness and respect.”
“Were they really horrible?” Brielle asks, making a face and scrunching her nose. “Like capitalistic pigs?”
“I mean, no,” I admit truthfully. “They weren’t mean like that, but I could tell that I wasn’t really seen, you know?
And then that one guy who thought I was going through his pocket.
He nearly got me fired. Then he was going on like he thought I knew who he was.
And I never heard of the man before in my life. ”
“You said he was cute though, right?” Katherine asks, and I can’t help but think about him.
“I mean, cute is not the right adjective. Gorgeous. Sexy. Charismatic.” I laugh.
“He seemed like a jerk, but he was one of the best-looking men I’ve ever seen in my life.
He was tall, with dark hair, dark eyes, juicy lips.
..” I pause as Katherine and Brielle stare at me with goofy expressions on their faces.
“Look, he sucked, but I can appreciate a good-looking man.” I laugh.
“I wouldn’t marry the man, but hey, one hot night in bed.
” I wink at them. “He sure looked like he knew how to move what he was working with.”
“Perv.” Brielle giggles and sits down on the side of the mattress. “Don’t tell Clark Kent that you wanna bang some billionaire from your new job, though. You might not get a second date.”
“I’m not dumb.” I take a seat next to her, even though that means I’ll have to redo the bed. “I really hope he’s nice. I’m a little nervous to meet him.”
“Oh no, why?”
“I don’t know. Just sometimes when I talk to him, something seems a bit off.”
“I bet it’s just ‘cause you haven’t met yet.” Katherine sits on the bed, as well. Her long, straight black hair bounces next to her cheek as she flops on the bed. “I bet once you meet him in person, sparks will fly.”
“Hopefully not lightsaber sparks.” I laugh and lean back onto the bed. I’m staring up at the ceiling now, and I feel Katherine and Brielle lean back, as well, our shoulders side by side as we all take a small break.
“Hopefully he’s not Darth Vader,” Brielle says with a giggle. “Hopefully, he’s amazing and has two brothers for me and Kat. Now that would be cool.”
“Imagine if we married brothers.” Katherine holds her hands up in the air. “We’d really be sisters then.”
“That would be cool.” I acknowledge. “But let’s not be too hopeful.
I haven’t even been on the first date yet.
” A deep yawn escapes me, and I close my eyes.
“Do you think we’ll ever raise enough money to actually buy our own hotel and do this for ourselves?
” I yawn again, and I can feel sleep wanting to take over.
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful that Charlotte lets us run the place, but—”
“She stole our dream and makes us do all the work.” Brielle’s voice is cold. She and Katherine both hate Charlotte and my aunt. “She had no interest in owning a bed and breakfast, and yet, she decides to buy this one.”
“She totally did it to rub our faces in it.” Katherine nods. “We’re good enough to clean and work here, but not good enough to have any real say.”
“I know.” I open my eyes and look at my two friends. “At least she’s barely here, though. And when we finally have enough, we will own our own place.”
We’re all silent as we think about achieving that dream. We've been best friends since we were five years old, and frankly, I don't know what I would've done without Katherine and Brielle in my life.
"I love you girls, and I just want to tell you that when I'm rich and famous, I will still love you."
"Oh, shut up," Katherine says, giggling. “But I will remind you of that statement when you’re balling.”
"Do you think we'll ever have enough money to buy our own hotel?" Brielle says, her voice cracking.
I look over at her, into her hazel green eyes, and nod. "I believe it in my heart. One day, we will."
"Yeah, I hope so, because I don't want to be one of Cinderella's best friends for the rest of my life," Brielle says, only half-joking. I start laughing then. It's been a running joke that I am Cinderella because I live with my aunt and my cousin, Charlotte, and they treat me a bit like their maid, but I am far from feeling like a princess. I am infinitely grateful that they took me in when my parents died in a car crash. I’d only been five. Young enough not to remember them, but old enough to carry the loss and suffering inside of me. Old enough to remember how they’d tuck me into bed at night and hug and squeeze me tight.
Old enough to remember them telling me they loved me.
Old enough to miss the memories we never got to make together.
“Charlotte is trying her—”
"Charlotte makes us feel indebted to her because we are gaining experience running the hotel for her, but she barely pays us anything," Katherine says bitterly. "We’re here scrubbing toilets, making beds, checking people in, vacuuming, answering the phones, and where is she? Gallivanting across the world with who knows who, doing who knows what.”
"I mean, I get it, but where would I have been if it wasn't for her? I could have been in the streets. I could have been in a foster home. I could have—"
"Yeah, I get it," Katherine says, nodding, though her expression still looks pissed. "I guess that's one good thing she and her mom have done in their lives."
"Yeah. My aunt didn't have to take me in. She wasn't even that close to my dad."
Brielle remains silent as Katherine and I go back and forth, but I can see her making a face.
"What?" I give her a pointed look, though I’m not really upset with either one of them. They’ve known me long enough to know how my aunt and cousin treat me.
"Your aunt Mildred was your dad's younger sister. Didn't she inherit everything from your parents because she was to use it to take care of you and—" She stops as I wince. "Sorry." She throws her hands up in the air and then reaches over to hug me. “They just suck, and I hate them.”
"I was five when she took me in. She's taken care of me my entire life. That cost a lot of money."
"How did Charlotte get the money to buy this hotel anyway?" Katherine asks, her face twisted.
"She won the lottery a couple of years ago, remember? And decided to buy this place."
"Yeah, I guess she got lucky."
I stare at my two best friends. "Anyway, let's not be upset or ungrateful. We both have jobs. We run this place, and we get to be together. And we barely see either of them."
"Thank God for that," Brielle says as she jumps up off the bed. "Okay, I'm not cleaning the toilets today." She glares at us. "I did them yesterday, and I don't want to clean shit today. I’m tired."
"I don't want to do it either," Katherine says. "I mean, honestly, I don't get paid enough to clean shit."
"Fine, I'll do it," I say, jumping up, as well. "I feel like this is going to be a really good month for us. We all have second jobs now. We will be out of here before we even know it."
"I hope so, because reservations are down." Brielle frowns. "And didn't Charlotte say in the last Zoom meeting that if we don’t start making more money, she’s going to have to lower our pay?”
“We’re not going to let that happen. This is a charming bed and breakfast, but no one knows about it," Katherine says. "She doesn't even advertise. How are people supposed to know about it?"
"Well, maybe we can market for her. I told you we should start a TikTok account,” I volunteer.
“We don’t have time for TikTok—between reservations and cleaning and cooking and just everything.”
I stare at my friends. “I know.”
“And I don’t want to say this, Willow, but if I meet the man of my dreams…” Katherine grins and dances around. “I’m out of here until we can buy our own place.”
“Me, too," Brielle says, laughing.
"Me three," I say. "But unfortunately for us, we have not met the men of our dreams, so we shall continue working at this bed and breakfast and doing our best."
“You may meet him tonight, though. Isn’t your date in a few hours?”
“It is.” I feel a warm feeling spreading through my body. “So let me clean these toilets and then go home and shower so I can be fresh and clean.”
My phone starts ringing then, and my heart races as I see the screen. "Oh my gosh. I think it's him. Is he psychic?"
"Who?" Brielle asks.
"The dude she's been chatting with, obviously.” Katherine giggles.
"Ssh!" I say, as I answer the phone. "Hi, this is Willow."
"Willow. I've been thinking about you all day." His voice is sensual and low.