Page 48 of Nightcaps at The Beach House Hotel

“Really? Who is she?”

Lorraine looked down at her paperwork and said, “Lily Dorio. Her name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it.”

Rhonda looked as surprised as I felt. “That woman is no friend of Ann’s.”

Lorraine gave me an apologetic look. “I’m sorry; I didn’t realize. But what could I have done? She told me she was best friends with the bride.”

“You did nothing wrong,” I said. “It’s just that she was behind bad publicity for Vaughn, claiming they were lovers and that he’d fathered a child with her. It’s a long complicated story, and I detest her. Vaughn isn’t a fan either. But there’s no reason either one of us must deal with her here.”

“I’ll make sure of it,” said Lorraine.

“And I’ll help too,” said Rhonda.

“Thanks,” I said, wondering why our troublesome guests seemed to be the most well-known ones. I was glad Vaughn would be busy with Darryl and away from the hotel. I didn’t want Lily to see either one of them.

We spoke with Lorraine about arrangements and went to our office after a quick stop in the kitchen.

Sitting in a chair facing me, Rhonda looked solemn.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her.

“I don’t like Lily Dorio being here. She causes trouble no matter where she is. We’ve got enough to handle with Darryl and Abbie hiding out here. Tina arrives here today.”

“Tina can take care of herself with Lily, though working with her new husband makes it a bit touchy,” I said. “It’s Darryl I’m worried about. He needs this time to himself to finalize arrangements for leaving the network.”

My cellphone chimed and I saw I had a message from Tina:

‘Guess who’s on the plane with me? Lily Dorio says she’s coming to The Beach House Hotel for the Brooks wedding and insisted I ride in her limo to the hotel. I thought you’d want to know. Please don’t greet us when we arrive. She wants to get a selfie with you two.’

I sighed and handed the phone to Rhonda.

Rhonda’s eyes widened as she read it. “That bitch! She’s never going to leave you alone.”

“We’ll ask Bernie to meet the limo, but I know there will come a time when I’ll be forced to face her,” I said.

“I’ll take care of being with the guests during the wedding reception,” said Rhonda. “We don’t want anything to disrupt the celebration.”

“Thank you. That would be nice,” I said, wishing I didn’t feel unsettled by the idea of Lily staying at the hotel. More than that, I didn’t want any pictures of me with her. She’d almost destroyed my marriage. Or tried to.

We went over the financials for the wedding, adding staff where we thought we needed, and then we went to see Bernie.

We discussed costs and staffing for the wedding, and then I told him Darryl wanted to stay at the house on the hotel property indefinitely.

“I understand you gave Lily Dorio a special rate for the Presidential Suite.”

“Yes. It’s a good idea to have it rented out again,” said Bernie. “Everything is in excellent condition. We wouldn’t want anyone staying there if it wasn’t so. But if I remember correctly, Ms. Dorio isn’t a favorite of yours.”

I shook my head. “Even though she’s still using her business name, she’s newly married. Some might think that will have changed her, but I doubt it. I want as little to do with her as possible.”

“I’m taking over for the two of us at the wedding reception,” said Rhonda. “And Annette will be there too.”

Bernie bobbed his head. “Oh, yes. I’ll post a note on the VIP board to let the staff know all of Lily Dorio’s needs should be taken care of promptly. She claims she’s a friend of the bride.” In the “back of the house” near the staff room, Bernie had hung a VIP bulletin board with pictures and requirements, if any, of our in-house VIPs. It was helpful for the staff to know who might need extra attention, even though we expected each guest to feel important.

“Thanks,” I said. “I don’t want her to make trouble for the hotel.”

“Anything else we should know about?” Rhonda asked.

“Nothing out of the ordinary. I haven’t seen Brock at the hotel recently, but I suppose he doesn’t want to return to the scene of the crime, so to speak.” Bernie’s eyes twinkled with humor. “I hope he’s learned to stay away from our guests. I’ve spoken to him many times about his intrusions, but this might be the best message of all.”

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