Monday Aug 12

Bobbie woke after a pretty good night’s rest; All things considered. Fossey was pretty quiet. He sure didn’t like her to sleep in, he was adjusting to Eddie being there too. It was 07:30 and he was meowing very loudly for his breakfast. “You are a growing boy. And such a good boy.” She cooed, as she fed him and decided what she was going to have. She decided to let Eddie fend for himself, got dressed and headed down for a coffee in the restaurant. She was surprised to see her accountant Frank at a table. She poured herself a coffee and went over to join him.

“You’re here bright and early Frank.”

“The early bird gets the worm, I say.”

Bobbie laughed. “Ray and Quinn and the girls checked out last weekend and staff is finished cleaning your room now.”

That’s good. My wife arrives today and she’ll be a little salty if I don’t have a living situation sorted. We’re building a house in the new Oceanbright development but I don’t think they have started it yet.”

“That development has been on the books for a while. They are supposed to be giving it a new highway exit to make traffic better.”

“It’s good to have a road in and a road out in case of emergency I guess.”

“My Dad used to say in case of an ambush. But you could always escape by boat. All those lots are coastal, aren’t they?

“Ours is. It will be pretty swell once it’s built but Belinda wants a nice place to stay until it’s finished”.

“So, Belinda is your wife’s name?”

That’s right she’s an airline pilot and was tired of the many international flights. She recently took an administrative position at Crow harbour Airport.”

“I’ll look forward to meeting her.”

“You won’t have to wait long, here she is.” Frank rose from the table and kissed his wife on the cheek.

Belinda Jones was a tall statuesque blond. Bobbie figured they were the same height but Belinda wore high heeled pumps and had a thick high ponytail and seemed taller. She was perfectly made up. Bobbie stood and greeted her, introducing herself. She was glad she put on a clean shirt and blazer and had on a bit of makeup. She was stepping up her professional appearance game because people were still taking her picture.

Belinda looked around. “It’s so nice to meet you, Bobbie. I admit when Frank told me we were staying at the Water Wheel, I had my doubts. I stayed here about 5 years ago and it was poor service and dumpy little rooms. You have done an amazing renovation.”

Just then, Mink appeared with a coffee tray. “May I interest you in coffee. We also have fresh blueberry and oatmeal muffins and fresh sourdough molasses toast.”

Mink always seemed to arrive when someone interesting was in the restaurant. “This is my service manager Mink, and Mink this is Frank and Belinda Jones they will be staying with us in Suite 5 for a few months.”

“Charmed” Mink trailed away, leaving the cart.

Frank smiled nervously. “Well dear, I think it’s nice here, we’ll have coffee and then see about the room if it’s OK with Bobbie.”

They chatted a bit and when they looked finished Bobbie stood. “If you’re ready, you can follow me.”

“Don’t we have to pay for the coffee and toast?”

“It’s a continental breakfast that’s included with your room. I should probably pay but I own the place.”

They laughed and went out through the SPOKES door.

“This pool wasn’t here before, was it? “

“No, it was one of the first things we did. My husband built it for me right after we bought the place. It was his way of convincing me it was a good retirement project.”

“When do we get to meet your husband?”

“I’m sorry, my husband passed away about 10 months ago…”

“No, I’m sorry. I sure put my size tens in my mouth that time. We’ll have to get to know each other over a bottle of wine sometime later so I’m all clued in.”

“I would like that, Belinda. So, here’s the room.”

Effie and Drey were just finished cleaning Quinn and Rays room when they arrived. Drey wiped a side table. “They moved the cribs and stuff out yesterday; I had the minibus full and we dropped it off at their farm. I don’t know how Lorne and Rocco did it, the farm looks twice as big.”

Effie began ushering Drey out. “We’ll just get out of your way. I’m Effie, the head of housekeeping and this is Drey the head of maintenance.”

Frank raised his eyebrows. “You have a lot of management Bobbie.”

Belinda looked around. “This room is huge. It’s like a kitchen and living room here.” She continued down the short hallway. “And two bedrooms here. This room connects with the bathroom. There is only one bathroom, right?

“Yes, the bathroom is accessed by the back entrance near the back of the kitchen and it has two doors.”

“That’s like a full-sized kitchen and that little peninsula is a great place to eat. The table and chairs outside are nice. It should be pretty private too because we are at the end of the hotel.”

“Its a little busy in the afternoons, SPOKES is open for lunch and there’s the art gallery and we have a High Tea from 2-4 that’s really popular. I’m still learning about the food service industry so I’m taking it slow. Not offering a dinner service is also keeping me in the good books of all the fine dining establishments in Crow Harbour and Oceanbright that you can try.”

“It’s OK Dear, our days of fine dining are over; we have a house to pay for. I signed up for a cooking class at the local grocery store.”

“If it’s not to short notice, maybe I can interest you in dinner at my house tonight. I was just planning on spaghetti and Ceaser salad but I’d love it if you can swing it.”

“That’s very gracious of you we’d be happy to join you. I’ll leave Frankie to move us in and head out to my office and see you later tonight.”

“Excellent, I’ll leave you guys to it. Frank has checked you in already so I hope you enjoy the room. You can access the help desk through our website. I’ll see you around 7.”

Bobbie walked out of the room and along the pool to her private stairway. When she got in, she decided to go buy a cheesecake and some nice wine to go with dinner and headed right down the back stairs to her car. She went to the cheesecake store and discovered they had a selection with gluten free crust; if she was buying a whole cheesecake she’d want to share it with Johnny.  Then she decided to invite him for dinner and sent him a text.

Around 6:30 Bobbie got a text from Johnny asking him to send the elevator down. She smiled and pressed the button. Johnny liked to show off the elevator. She was all ready. The spaghetti was cooked and just needed to have boiling water runover it to reheat it when served and the spaghetti sauce was on the stove. The salad was waiting to be tossed and she had spritzers and had a few bacon wrapped scallops and cheese and rice crackers ready to take out to the deck.

Frank appeared first. “That elevator is great the chandelier is awesome and your apartment is bigger than I thought.”

Belinda was nodding and looking around. “Wow you have such nice views.”

Johnny laughed. “Bobbie talked me into having a second story apartment when I build my place too. I agree that views are worth it. Bobbie, can I help you carry out the tray to the deck”

Johnny let them down the short hall and out to the door.

Bobbie gestured everyone to sit. It’s such a nice night I thought we’d have a drink out here and then maybe even eat here. She moved over and turned on the lights that hung around the table.

They sipped drinks and enjoyed the sunset and Belinda commented that it was almost like a vacation and she was glad they had decided to move here. Johnny said he’d lived in Crow Harbour a long time and this area was starting to develop and Bobbie’s motel started it.

“Oh no Johnny, I’m a newcomer. The river rafting and canoeing and concert grounds and market really draw people here.

“They only came her because you were fixing up the motel.”

“We have the Art Gallery and a few hiking trails up the mountain and then the white-water canoeing and lazy river tubing and Market. There’s something for everyone.”

“Belinda, we’ll have to check out the weekend market.”

“It’s an adjustment realizing I’m working a regular work week and will have a weekend.”

“Do you think you’ll miss bring a pilot?”

“Maybe a little but after a while, every Airport looks the same. I can’t complain, we did a lot of travelling but we both want to be more settled now.”

“They chatted a while more and Bobbie explained about her situation with Alex and CanCom, the company he started and their refusal to release his shares.”

“Trixie told me about that and how you chipped away at your private investments to finish the motel. We’ll build them back up licketly split. The motel is generating revenue now.”

“That’s good to hear Frank, now, can I ask you to help me carry the appetizers in and help me serve dinner?”

Bobbie prepared a big dish of spaghetti and sauce. Johnny tossed the salad, setting aside a dish with no croutons and warmed up his own gluten free spaghetti. Belinda carried out the salad, Bobbie carried the spaghetti and Frank brought the red wine and glasses.

Eddie arrived, was introduced to Frank and Belinda and agreed to dine with them.

They sat down and they ate and drank and chatted until almost 10 o’clock. They all agreed they were too full for dessert and thanked Bobbie. She said goodnight to Frank and Belinda and she and Johnny and Eddie brought all the dishes in from the deck.

Eddie excused himself and she said goodnight to Johnny and gave him a hug. “You’ll have to come over for gluten free cheesecake tomorrow, Johnny, I have a lot.”