Monday October 14

When Bobbie awoke, Fossie was standing on her chest. She felt well rested and recharged. Johnny brought Thai food last night and they had a bottle of decent Pino Gris. She told him all about the memorial and how she inherited everything and Townes’s friends started out a little salty but came around when she sold them the ranch. They laughed over that.

She got up, had her shower and fed Fossie and even though it was early, she decided to go down to the restaurant. She was filling the big coffee urn with water when Mark arrived. “Hi Mark, how’s it going? I have a lot to catch up on.”

Mark fired up his oven and went and hung up his coat. He came in and washed his hands and brought the coffee grounds over and they filled the urn and started it brewing. “I’ll just get my biscuits in the oven and then I’ll come out and we can chat.”

She grabbed some water and went out to the restaurant and sat down with only the light from the kitchen and the grey glow from the windows for illumination.

About 15 minutes later Mark came out with a tray holding two fresh coffees and 2 hot biscuits. He sat down. “We have 20 minutes before I’ve got to set up for breakfast. I want to ask you about the text I got Saturday night about cows.”

Bobbie laughed. “I’ve inherited land in ranch country and I thought we could serve our own fresh beef here.”

“Can you imagine how much money we’d save if we didn’t have to pay retail for beef. I’d probably use a whole cow every month. When you think of how much ground meat we go through for chili and how popular the French dip lunch sandwiches are. I could make really good stew and we could have a hip of beef with Sunday brunch.”

“You’ve really been thinking about the cows. I sold the ranch house but kept the fields and the stock. Last night Johnny decided he’d help me build my new ranch building and hire ranch hands. I can’t imagine where he’ll get the time but he’s stoked. We have to figure out how to get the cows here but that’s a problem for another day. How was the wedding?”

Mark laughed. “Joan, she said I can call her Joan, had everything planned. I mostly just got her familiar with the kitchen and made sure her the buffet was full. I helped her a bit when she was running out of food.”

“Was the Sunday brunch busy?”

“It was no busier than usual, I guess. We had three full sittings and I made a lot of omelettes. Denny helped with brunch and Rose and Britt were around to lend a hand at the wedding. SPOKES is full most lunches, now too.”

It sounds like everything went well. It’s good that Lunch is getting so popular but that might die down now that the weather is colder and we can’t use the patio.

“Maybe we could think about using the restaurant for lunch service; take it right out of SPOKES when the patio closes. Will thinks it would work.”

“That’s a really good idea. I have a meeting with Will in a few minutes.”

The lights in the restaurant came on and Mink peeked around the corner. “Good morning. The coffee smells divine.”

Mark stood up. “I best get moving do you want more coffee?”

Bobbie rose too and picked up her dishes. “No, I’ll help you until Will comes. I might have some coffee with him.”

Bobbie spread clean cloths on the buffet tables along the wall and started folding the napkins for the continental service. She was just finishing up when Will came in. He set his tablet on the table and greeted Bobbie and they went into the kitchen for something to drink. They came out and sat down.

“So, everything went well at the wedding?”

Will nodded. “Joan and Mink made the gallery look like a fairy cotillion and Mark gave me the name of a couple girls to help set up and clear out and it went really smooth. Joan is really a pro and the food set up was good. Mark saved her bacon, literally, and supplied her with bacon wrapped scallops when she ran out.  I’m pretty sure we can plan on hosting more weddings. Joan wouldn’t mind getting more work too.”

“That’s great, we always wanted to have weddings. And the market; how did the market go?”

It was good. Johnny sang a bit and there was a local choir and we sold all the chili and baked beans we brought. It’s so popular I’d like to buy some big display fridges and sell it all week.

We could get one cooler and one freezer. Where would we put these new fridges?

“We could put them in SPOKES in that corner where the bands set up. We don’t have much entertainment there any more.”

“We had some pretty good parties there but you’re right. It’s a good spot for some fridges and they are right by the only point of sale we have, currently.”

“I was talking to Mark about how popular the lunch service has become and we were thinking of moving into the main restaurant when the patio closes down.

I was wondering how the tea service would work in that case. Would we just set up the sweets table and tea around 2 and coffee and keep serving lunch? I think that would change the nature of the special tea service.

They discussed the tea service and lunch for a while longer. Bobbie gave the go ahead for the purchase of the new coolers and she left to go find Effie.

Effie and Roger were in the laundry room.” Hi guys, were you run off your feet during the wedding weekend?”

Roger nodded. “I like wedding weekends though. Everyone is happy.”

“What I really wanted to know is do you think we have enough staff to make up all the rooms where we’re full? I’m hoping we’ll have lots of rooms filled for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas and I want you guys to enjoy holidays too.”

Ellie smiled and put down the towels she was holding. “We can definitely handle making up 18 rooms. If there are 12 complete check outs, I can turn them around between checkout and check in. That leaves me the afternoon to do the suites with longer-term guests. We seldom have more than ten checkouts in one day. You set up the little system that pops up in the morning that tells me how many rooms are checking out and It’s easy for me to plan. Rose and I talked about the holidays this year. She and Brit want to pick up some hours and I trust Rose to sub for me because she knows the system and works well. Brit can’t sew as well as Roger but she can run the laundry.”

Roger was getting excited, thinking about Christmas. “I want to go spend Christmas with my mom. Effie is going to help me get her a good present. Bobbie, can you help me get Effie a good present and maybe Drey. We have lots of time though.”

“We have a lot of time Roger but I have started my Christmas knitting so it’s never too soon to plan.”

Bobbie thanked them for their hard work and left thinking about her Christmas knitting. She had to go work on her spreadsheet and was lost in thought as she made her way back to her apartment. It was her first Christmas at the motel and she wanted to make a little something for everyone. She had her son’s and daughter in laws and grand kids and Johnny and Trixie would want something fancy although she did like cozy socks. She wanted to make Roger a hat and Effie some mitts and then Mark…

She spent a couple of hours making her spreadsheet and decided she couldn’t knit for her entire staff. She’d make hats for the three boys, Sidney, Denny and Kirby that seemed to be shadowing Johnny these days and she’d make something for Roger. Then she’s focus on her friends and family. And if she started now, and knit for 20 hours a week. That’s a couple hours a night. Then she thought of the baby twins, Cora and Edie and thought maybe 30 hours a week.

She was thinking about baby knits as she walked to the gallery/reception area.

“Good morning, Quinn. How’s everything going?”

“We are very busy. Most of our rooms are full. I’m sort of becoming a wedding planner. Three couples have contacted us already.”

Bobbie leaned against the front desk. “They say things happen in threes. I have to check with Frank to make sure it’s worth it to hold weddings.”

Frank was coming down the stairs from the offices. “Do I hear my name being thrown around. It’s good to see you, Bobbie. You survived the memorial. What a nightmare. I’m glad Ruggles has come around though. You should come up to my office when you have a minute.”

“I’ll come right now Frank.” Bobbie smiled and gave a little wave to Quinn as she went upstairs.

They arrived at Frank’s office and he motioned her to sit down. “What’s going on Frank?”

“It’s bad Bobbie, Rulggles and I are fielding calls from all the contractors and partners that Townes and I set up to build his big condominium project. There is a lot of uncertainty about how we’re moving forward now that Townes is gone.”

“Well Frank, His vision must survive. I’ll have to take over the funding somehow. I don’t have much cash. I can cash out investments to keep the wolves from the door. When I actually possess the Carson estate I can sell more shares. Trixie says Fox Energy wants some.”

“I know Ruggles is working his hardest to get the estate handled. Do you think you’d be amenable to taking out a loan against the Motel? It has really shot up in value. I could pay all the contractors and we wouldn’t miss a beat.”

“Oh Frank. I just got it paid off. I own it and now; all my profits are mine and…”

“It would be worth your while to borrow against it. It’s a total business right off. You would make even more money. You are good with household finances Bobbie. You can make a budget and stick to it like nobody’s business. Big projects like this are seldom funded with actual cash. I could line up investors if you’d rather.”

“No, I want to keep other investors out of this, if I can. We can leverage the Motel if you think that’s the right thing to do. To make things worse, I’ve promised to go on a big vacation with Trixie and Barb in two days.”

Frank shook his head. “Well, I’ll get some documents together for you to sign later today and please give me you’re address; I might have to send registered documents. I’m sure I can hold down the fort though.”