Chapter Ten
CHAPTER TEN
After Franny left and there were no other guests expected for breakfast, Beth refilled her coffee cup and opened her laptop to check email and any bookings that had come in the night before. Riley quickly put everything away in the kitchen and then poured herself a fresh cup of coffee, sat at the table with Beth, and opened her own laptop.
There were more emails than usual to go through, which was encouraging. Beth replied to several questions about the inn and weather this time of year in Chatham. Then she clicked over to the reservation software to see if there were any new bookings. She’d been about to take a sip of coffee, but put her cup down instead when she saw the booking activity.
“Riley, we’re full now, and have a few new bookings for the following week as well. I’m not sure what you did, but it worked, and fast, too.”
“Really? That’s awesome.” Riley looked happy to hear it. “It was the content marketing mostly, I think. I put up a few blog posts focusing on Christmas Stroll and all the fun activities here over that weekend. And I found some old pictures from past strolls. There were some good ones with lots of snow and holiday festivity. I also ran a small Facebook ad, using your email list and making a look-alike audience and ad so Face book would remind anyone that has stayed here before as well as similar profiles—people that might be open to a Christmas weekend.”
Beth laughed. “That sounds complicated, but I really appreciate it, honey. If this is what you can do, I’m sure you will get snapped up fast.”
“Thanks. Let’s hope so. I saw a few positions online last night that looked interesting and sent some resumes in. We’ll see if I get any bites.”
“Now that we are fully booked, maybe I should call someone to come take a look at those two rooms that need repairs. Jess gave me the name of someone a while back when I mentioned it to the girls. Her boyfriend, Ryan, knows a guy that does carpentry jobs of all sizes. I think I have his number here somewhere.” Beth opened her purse and fished around in it until she found the scrap of paper she’d stuffed into a side pocket.
“Definitely call him. If he’s able to fix the rooms before the weekend, you can rent those rooms out, too,” Riley said.
“Oh, I doubt he will be available that soon. I’ll call him, though.”
Beth punched the numbers into her cell phone and after two rings a deep voice answered, “Andrews Construction.”
“Hello, I was referred to Sean Andrews, if he’s available?”
“You’ve got him. How can I help you?” His tone was friendly and businesslike.
Beth explained that Jess had referred him and that she needed some minor repair work done to two rooms.
“How soon are you looking to have this done?” he asked.
“The sooner the better.”
“I could come out this afternoon and take a look if you like. See what you need and give you an idea of how long it will take. You’re in luck—I just had a project pushed out so I am available this week.”
“Great!” They settled on two o’clock that afternoon and Beth filled Riley in when she ended the call.
“If it just takes a few days, you might be able to sell those rooms, too!” Riley seemed excited about the idea and Beth was, too. If she was able to rent out two additional rooms for the weekend, that would come close to covering the cost of the repairs, she imagined.
Sean arrived at a few minutes before two, which both Beth and Riley thought was a good first impression. Many of the locals that worked in various areas of construction on the Cape had a relaxed approach to work—missing a day or showing up late wasn’t a big deal.
Riley let him in and brought him into the living room where Beth sat on a chair with her crutches by her side.
“I’m sorry that I didn’t get the door myself. This is my daughter, Riley. She’s in town for the holidays and is helping me out a bit since I broke my leg.”
Sean gazed at the cast on her leg. “I fell off a ladder,” she explained. “Not my finest moment. I should have been more careful.”
Sean looked sympathetic. “It happens more often than you’d think. Ladders can be dangerous. Hopefully you’ll heal up quickly.”
“Yes. Hopefully. The two rooms are on the ground level, so I can show you.” Beth got to her feet and settled onto the crutches. She led Sean to the two rooms that were on the side of the inn. She explained about the repair work needed as they walked. “We had a bad storm a few months ago, and water got through the flashing and I think some of the hardwood in the floors might need to be replaced. It got waterlogged and swollen and now it’s discolored, too.”
“I remember that storm. It was a doozy. Kept us busy for a while.” Sean smiled as Beth opened the door to the first room and he stepped inside. She pointed out the areas of concern. He looked in both rooms and then wanted to go outside to check the flashing where they suspected the water came in.
“Mom, he’s kind of hot. I didn’t notice a ring. Do you know anything about his situation?” Riley asked. Beth glanced to the door, where Sean stood just outside. “The door is shut, he can’t hear us.” Riley sounded amused.
Her daughter was right. Beth had noticed right away that Sean had an attractive ruggedness to him. He was almost a foot taller than Beth, who was barely five foot three. His skin was tanned from working outside and she’d noticed the laugh lines around his mouth and eyes and they looked good on him. His hair was dark brown and his eyes were lighter, hazel maybe. She’d noticed his eyes right away as they took in the surroundings. He was lean and muscular. His work clearly kept him in good shape. She hadn’t noticed the lack of a wedding ring. Beth almost never noticed that, though. Especially as she wasn’t looking. At one point she was, years ago, for about a year. She did all the things, including online dating and setups from friends. And she’d had a few dates. But there were no real sparks and it just seemed like so much effort that she took a break from it. It was easier to just worry about it later. But months turned into years more quickly than she’d ever anticipated and now she was in her mid-fifties and still alone.
She had good friends and went out often with them, but they were all coupled up now. Her one remaining single friend had met someone on Instagram of all places. He was a podcaster that she admired and she slid into his DMs, as they put it—not intending for anything romantic, just to tell him how much she enjoyed his show. But after a few back-and-forth exchanges, the podcaster asked her on a date and a month later, she moved to Key West to live with him. Now a few months later, they were engaged. It seemed like a whirlwind to Beth, but she’d never seen Rachel so happy.
Beth had actually considered trying online dating again, and then the next day she fell off the ladder. So once again, she took that as a sign that it wasn’t her time yet. She wasn’t sure if it ever would be. And she hadn’t cared much until recently. Suddenly she was noticing how coupled up everyone was and how alone she was. It would be nice to have someone to do things with: dinner, watch TV, stroll along Main Street, or relax at the beach.
“Okay, so you definitely have an issue with your flashing.” Sean had returned, and his voice snapped Beth back to attention. She turned to face him. “It needs to be replaced and part of the drywall where the water came in should be replaced, too. But the good news is you don’t need to replace the hardwood. It’s just a little swollen and that will continue to dry out as long as it doesn’t get wet again.”
Beth nodded. It was all Greek to her, but she trusted Sean as he came so highly recommended. He quoted her a price that was reasonable and even a little lower than she’d expected. “I can start first thing tomorrow, if that works for you. If you want to think about it or get a few other quotes, though, that’s fine, too.”
Beth didn’t hesitate. “No, that sounds good. Let’s do it. If you could start tomorrow, how long do you think it would take to finish?” It sounded like a lot of work to her, so she doubted it would be ready in time to rent out the rooms. But maybe for the following week.
“It won’t take me long. Maybe by end of day Wednesday. Thursday at the latest. The material you have here is common. I have some on hand and if I need more I can get it without waiting. Same with the flashing materials. Fortunately your walls are painted white so that’s an easy match once we’re done.”
“Mom, that means you can rent two additional rooms for this weekend. That’s huge!” Riley sounded as excited as Beth felt.
“That is great news. I didn’t really think it was possible.”
Sean grinned. “I’m pretty certain I’ll be done by end of day Wednesday.”
They agreed that Sean would start first thing the next day.
“We put breakfast out for guests at eight, feel free to join us if you like,” Riley invited him.
“Yes, please do. There’s always plenty,” Beth said.
He nodded. “Maybe I’ll take you up on that. At least for a hot coffee anyway. I’ll see you both tomorrow.”
They walked him out and Beth was in a great mood. “If we can really rent out those two rooms so quickly, that would be wonderful.”
“I was thinking the same thing. I’ll make a new blog post saying that we’re almost sold out but that two newly renovated rooms will be ready. I’ll make them sound extra special.”
“Perfect. Thanks, honey.”
Beth breathed a sigh of relief. She’d been concerned that the inn had been so slow, and she’d also worried about spending money she didn’t have on repairs. When she’d fallen off the ladder, it had really scared her. Fortunately it had just slowed her down, but the timing couldn’t have been worse. But now, thanks to Riley’s help and after meeting with Sean, she was feeling much more optimistic about everything.