Page 5 of Nightcaps at The Beach House Hotel

He’d grown recently and I realized he’d be tall like his father.

I left him and hurried to let Cindy out before fixing breakfast for both. It was going to be a busy day at the hotel with a new group moving in for a small conference. As much as we relied on our regular guests, we needed a lot of group and wedding business. Rhonda and I always tried to give personal attention to them.

Robbie came into the kitchen. “Remember, I have a swim meet today. Are you coming?”

“I’ve got it marked down and will keep that time free. But emergencies do arise. I’ve heard from Stephanie. She and Randolph are planning on being there.” Longtime guests at the hotel, the Willises had become substitute grandparents to Robbie. A pleasant situation for all.

“Great,” said Robbie. “When is Dad coming back?”

“Not for a couple of weeks. The movie is taking longer than they thought. But you know him. He’s anxious to get home and get out on the water in the sailboat with you.”

“I know,” said Robbie. He quickly ate the cereal and drank the juice I’d set out for him.

I handed him some protein bars, and he tucked them into his backpack.

“Make sure you get a healthy lunch at school,” I said snatching a kiss from him. I loved that he still let me kiss him.

“The coach makes sure we all eat well,” Robbie said.

We got into the car, and I dropped him off at school before heading home again to get ready for work.

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At the hotel, I slid into my seat in Bernhard Bruner’s office just in time for his meeting. Bernie was a talented hotel general manager whom we trusted to run the hotel for us. Rhonda was already there, but she looked as if she’d stayed up past her bedtime, too.

Bernie asked us if we’d decided about having Darryl Douglas stay at the hotel. With a nod of approval from Rhonda, I said that we would agree to let him have the house for up to six weeks.

“Then I think that the guests assigned to the house for part of that time should be offered a stay in the Presidential Suite for the same price they would’ve paid for the house,” said Bernie. “Is that agreeable to both of you?”

Rhonda and I quickly agreed. The Presidential Suite was beautiful. No guest would have reason to complain.

“The problem is that one of the guests we’re talking about is someone who has been in verbal warfare with Darryl recently,” said Bernie, giving us a worried look.

Rhonda’s eyes widened. “Do you mean Darryl’s ex-wife?”

“Yes,” said Bernie. “I will suggest she come another time when the house will be available, but if she refuses, there’s nothing I can do about it. Just a heads up.”

Rhonda and I exchanged glances. Tina, Darryl, and his ex-wife would all be staying at the hotel wanting confidentiality at the same time. Could we do it?

“Why don’t we hire additional security to block anyone else from gaining access to either house?” said Bernie. “Having a guard protect the road leading to them is nothing new. No one would suspect a thing.”

“Good idea,” I said. “I just don’t want trouble. Being exclusive and able to promise a certain degree of privacy is what has made The Beach House Hotel in such demand.”

“We only have one person needing to be monitored round the clock,” muttered Rhonda. “Brock Goodwin is such a pain in the ass.”

“The staff is aware of the need to keep him out of that area,” said Bernie. “But having a security guard by the road’s entrance to the houses will be helpful.”

“Okay, then, we’ve agreed on that. What else do we need to deal with?” I asked.

“This next weekend, we have the Gorman wedding. This is a social win for us,” said Bernie. “Lorraine, why don’t you fill us in on any special requirements.”

Lorraine Grace ran Wedding Perfections for us. Married now to Angie’s father-in-law, Arthur Smythe, she looked fabulous. We were lucky she still wanted to continue her business through the hotel. It seemed to work well that she was as busy as Arthur was with his financial consulting business.

“The Gorman’s are a prominent family in New York and are well-known to Arthur. It was he who persuaded them to have the wedding here at the hotel. There will be lots of publicity both there and here in Florida, but I assure you it will be handled properly,” Lorraine said.

“Are any of the guests staying on at the hotel?” I asked.

“A few of them may remain for an extra couple of days but nothing that would cause a problem, in my opinion,” said Lorraine.

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