Page 71 of Red Mountain Burning
But that wasn’t half of it! She’d promised several guests a bagged lunch; she was hosting a gender reveal luncheon at one; and worst of all, like an anvil that had just dropped on her head, the air conditioning had gone out on the hottest day of the year so far. Her guests had been complaining all morning, and while trying to find a heating and air company that would come out immediately, she’d been begging her guests’ forgiveness with free mimosas and bloody marys.
Her habit of pulling at her long hair was in full effect today as Margot the Chia Pet answered her cell phone with her best attempt at cheeriness. “Hi, this is Margot at Épiphanie. How may I help you?” As she did often, she’d forwarded the inn’s calls to her cell.
“Margot, this is Alexander.” He was the dad who’d arranged the gender reveal.
“Hi, Alexander. I’m just about to pop into the kitchen to finish prepping for you.”
“I’m glad I caught you then.” He sounded out of breath. “The word got out that we were having a party, and now my in-laws have invited half the world. Is there any way we can up the count from twenty to forty?”
Margot felt like a juggler who’d just been thrown four more flaming sticks. But she wouldn’t dare reveal her hesitation, so in the cheeriest voice she’d used since Broadway, she said, “The more, the merrier. No problem. We can do that!”
“Oh, thank you so much, Margot. I love my in-laws, but sometimes they drive me nuts.”
“It’s my pleasure.” She was already thinking of what else she had in the freezer and fridge. As long as Adriana could take care of flipping the rooms, Margot could handle the luncheon and be done in time to start checking in the next round of guests, who wouldn’t be arriving until three.
Her phone rang again, and she was terrified to answer this time. “Épiphanie. This is Margot.”
“Hi,” said a woman in a tired voice. “We’re checking in today and got an early head start from Seattle. Is there any way we could…maybe…get into our room a little earlier? There’s a club event this afternoon at Cooper, and I’d love to wash my hair.”
If Margot had been at the end of her rope, she might have said, “Didn’t you read the email? Three o’clock check-in. Are numbers hard for you? Three. Not two. Not one.”
She didn’t say that, though, because Margot enjoyed the pressure. Once you’d run an inn for a while, you got used to the surprises. And if you wanted to be a fine innkeeper, you had to embrace them.
So with the spirit of the finest innkeeper on the mountain, Margot nearly sang, “We can’t have dirty hair, can we? By all means, we’ll find a room for you. Guests are just starting to check out, but I’ll make sure your room is ready first. What’s your last name?”
Once she hung up, she jogged into the kitchen where Adriana was helping prep for the gender reveal. “Would you like the bad news? The really bad news? Or the devastating news?”
Adriana cracked a smile and looked up from the mixer. It had livened up the inn to have her friend back in good spirits. Selfishly, because of the news regarding Michael, Margot suspected Adriana was no longer planning on leaving. Margot couldn’t bear to think of running the inn without her.
“Let’s start with the best of the bad news,” Adriana said, “and get worse from there.”
Margot counted the problems on her hand. “I’ve just gotten off the phone with the Dykhuis party, and they’ve requested an early check-in.”
“Oh,díos,” Adriana said animatedly. “Not like we have anything else going on around here.”
“I know,” Margot agreed. “As if we always have clean rooms waiting for the arrival of our guests, no matter the hour.”
“Let me guess,” Adriana said, pulling the bowl from the mixer. “You told her we’d be happy to accommodate.”
“Of course, I did. So the rest of the problems”—she went back to counting on her hand—“in ascending order of severity. I can’t find anyone to come out today to work on the air conditioning. It’s officially the hottest day on record in June. Five of our six rooms have yet to check out. And,” Margot said matter-of-factly, “the gender reveal is now forty people.”
“Forty? I thought it was twenty.”
“It was.”
Adriana dropped the mixing bowl into the sink and turned back to Margot. “Okay, okay,no problemo.”
Margot put a hand on her chest and fluttered her eyes. “Oh, how I love having someone willing to suffer with me. You’re a gem.”
Adriana dried off her hands on a towel hanging from a rack by the sink. “What would you like me to do first?” she asked, then deadpanned, “Should we order pizza?”
“I know you’re joking, but I would actually consider the idea. However, there’s one small problem. Not even Domino’s delivers out here.” She held out her hands. “Twenty…forty. It’s only double. If you’ll start working on the rooms, I’ll focus on the food. The moment the guests check out of number four, please drop what you’re doing and get it cleaned. We must allow Ms. Dykhuis time to wash her hair before the club event.”
As Adriana passed by, Margot gave her a high five. “We’ve got this.”
“Never a dull moment at Épiphanie,” Adriana said, pushing through the swinging doors.
