Page 12 of A Chance Fall

Her head snapped up. "What? There weren't any towels down there or in their room?"

Richard shook his head. "Nope. I got this one from my room."

It was a wonder how he remembered to do things for himself but never other people. She wondered how her mother survived with that mindset of his. "Okay, I'll take some out there. Thank you."

April was mortified that the couple didn’t have anything to dry themselves off. Maybe it was just because she hated the feeling of sand on wet feet. The way it stuck to the bottom and prickled the toes as she walked made her want to throw up ever since she was a kid.

Not just that, it was embarrassing that the bed and breakfast hadn’t prepared for guests to go down to its one main attraction, the beach. She should have been more prepared than this.

She looked up and saw her dad still staring at her. She stood to leave. When her father didn't leave the desk, April's chest slowly sank with dread. "What?"

He bit his lip. "I was just wondering if maybe you could get me some Tylenol? I'm having a dreadful headache."

April's head was about to start throbbing if her father didn't stop making demands. Of course, she would have to get him something to help with his headache. He would never pack something like that for himself, even though April and her mother would never leave the house without it.

Just as she opened her mouth to answer him, she saw the Millers coming up the stairs from the beach soaking wet. She stumbled on her words, thinking about how quickly she would have to run to grab them towels before they got to the entryway.

"Here," she said, throwing her dad her purse from behind the counter. "It's in a white bottle in there. Take what you need."

Sprinting through the lobby, she grabbed two towels from the linen closet and made her way outside. She was hoping that they would be up to their standard, since they weren’t up to her father’s.

As April approached the beach, she could see that the Millers had already made it to the entryway, dripping wet. She quickly handed them the towels and apologized for the inconvenience.

"Thank you so much," the wife said, taking a towel and rubbing it over her arms. "We didn't realize how cold the water was until we got in."

April gave them both a sympathetic smile. "No problem at all. Sorry for not having them down at the beach."

As the couple began their trek back down to the water, April's phone vibrated in her pocket. It was hard to resist the urge to yell. What could it be now? What else could she have to deal with today?

She hoped the email logo wasn't another room request or complaint. Opening it immediately, she read the subject line.

Applicant to Attention all potential employees!

April almost teared up at the relief. It took seconds to pull up the application and read through the glowing resume with recommendations and hospitality experience.

She dialed the number right away and tapped her foot impatiently as she listened to the ring. Three rings in and she had almost given up hope, until she heard a woman's voice.

"Hello, is this Millie?"

"Yes, it is! Is this about the bed and breakfast?"

"Yes," April responded reluctantly. She wished she would have waited a few more minutes before responding to the application. But she needed help as soon as possible.

A few seconds of silence made her shoulders tense. Would this scare away her only applicant so far?

"Great! You guys are fast. I just applied not too long ago."

Relief flooded her. "When can you come in for an interview?"

"Today, if you'd like! I don't have anything going on."

April almost wanted to jump into the air with excitement. She had been so worried about finding help for the bnb, but now that her dream was coming true, she couldn't contain herself.

She ran through the list of chores she had to complete for the day and found that she could manage to fit in an interview if Millie didn't need too much time.

"Absolutely! Whenever you can make it would be great."

"I can be there in about two hours?"

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