Checking Inn (7 page)

“We hope you enjoy your stay Detec– Mr. Gable.  Let us know if you need anything else.” 

“Will do,” he says, smiling.

I make a note on my clipboard on the way back down the stairs to make sure Luisa is in charge of the guest in the “room of death”.

I also make a note for her to iron his shirts while he’s at dinner.

Five

Okay, I need to calm down.  I need to take a deep breath and calm down.  There are six hours left in the day; what could possibly go wrong in six hours?

You know what, forget I asked.

I blame my inhaler.  I haven’t had this much
 corticosteroid in my system since I tried to do the track and field meet in grade six.  That day didn’t go very well either.

Greg and Vivienne have already arrived and they’re waiting for me in the dining room.  I changed into one of the dresses I keep at the Inn for the evenings I don’t manage to make it home before dinner.  The black cocktail dress hugs my figure, but the high neckline and hem that comes to my knees give it a sophisticated, if not a bit reserved, look.  Just the way I like it.

Becky’s gone to my house to walk Maggie, and I hope she has better luck with her than I did.

I enter the dining room and shake my head when I see both Vivienne and Greg on their cellphones.  The two of them are workaholics.  Greg’s a financial advisor for the Bank of America and is constantly on the phone, checking his mail, or talking to clients.  It’s actually kind of annoying, as I will be in the middle of a conversation with him, and the minute his phone rings he reaches for it like it’s the last chocolate chip cookie. One time I hid it for the whole afternoon and I honestly thought Greg was going to go mental.  I couldn’t even enjoy the quiet because he was ripping his place apart looking for it.  He was actually pretty mad about that for a while.

And Vivienne’s business seems to be getting more and more glowing reviews, which means she is pretty busy most of the time, as well.  I actually have no idea how she did it.  It just seems like one day I woke up and she was this new famous designer.  I asked her how she got so many great reviews, but she wouldn’t tell me.  Like I was somehow going to steal all her glory, or she wouldn’t be the most famous person in town anymore.

Which is crazy.  Everyone knows the most famous person is Whitey, our town’s ghost.

Not that Greg and Vivienne really live in our town anymore.  The two of them go back and forth to New York so much that Greg has a place here and one in Manhattan; but he is almost always in the city.

He’s wearing his black suit tonight– he always wears a suit when he comes to the Inn for dinner; he says it gives the illusion to other guests that there is a distinguished quality to the place.  At which point I always correct him, arguing it’s not an illusion.  He then brushes away the argument as though I’m not seeing what he meant.  It’s our couple banter. 

His hair is neatly combed to the side with gel, making it glisten.  The severe style plays up his classic Greek features, making him strikingly handsome– which I know is precisely why he styles it that way.  Greg spends more time on his hair than I do, not that I mind.  I mean, perfection obviously takes the time it needs to take. Though, sometimes an hour does seem a bit excessive.

Greg gets his good looks from Vivienne, who, as she gets older, seems to get more beautiful.  She celebrated her sixtieth birthday last year and she still doesn’t look a day over forty-five.  Her red hair is set off tonight with her gold dress, and her ever present matching red nails.

“Hello, you two,” I say, sliding into the seat across from Greg.

“One second honey, I’m just sending an email,” he says, his fingers flying over the phone’s little keyboard.

“I think I might have finally convinced the Cilans to part with their furniture, but the wife is adamant about this god awful chaise,” Vivienne says, as she too types away on her phone.

I sit for a few moments in silence, watching them both engrossed in their tasks, and feel a little bored.  I mean, I kept the plans for dinner tonight so I could get my mind off of everything; not to sit here and watch them send emails all night.

“Right,” Greg starts to put his phone down but it beeps.  He looks at the screen, shaking his head, but thankfully places it on the table to look at me and smile.  He has such great teeth.  “How’s your day?”

“Well, not great actually,” I say as Vivienne puts her phone away in her purse.

“Luisa giving you a hard time again?” Vivienne asks sympathetically.  Luisa, unfortunately, is on “Team Mother” and has never been friendly to Vivienne.

“No, just busy,” I say. 

“Oh, good!  You didn’t start without me,” my mother says as she walks into the dining room.  She’s wearing a long purple sequined gown that makes her look like a mermaid.  The silver head wrap isn’t doing her any favors, either.

“Tara, darling.   I was worried you weren’t going to be able to join us,” Vivienne says, placing her hand on my mother’s fingers.   I can see my mother staring at Viv’s nails but thankfully she doesn’t say anything.

“You know I wouldn’t miss dinner with my three favorite people for the world,” my mother’s sing song voice sounds forced.

“And what a special outfit you have on!” Vivienne smiles.  “What designer is that?”

“It’s vintage,” my mother says.  “Something I just threw on.”

Vivienne smiles again before lifting up the menu to block her face.

My mother turns to me and tries to smile, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. 

“Mom, I forgot to tell you that dinner wasn’t cancelled–” I begin but my mother waves away the rest of my sentence.

“Oh, not a problem.  Luckily Luisa mentioned to me an hour or so ago that our names were still down on the reservation list tonight,” she says.  “It must have just slipped your mind.”

I smile at her for not making a scene and pick up my own menu.

“Though a lot of things seem to be slipping your mind today,” she says, and my eyes stop reading. 

“Mom…” I smile and move my eyes to Greg and Vivienne to remind her we are not alone.

“No, you’ve had a busy day,” she pats my hand and lifts up her own menu.  “Though you seem to have the time to fill everyone else in on what’s going on.”

Luckily, our waiter Lucas, chooses this moment to come to our table to ask if we would like any wine.

My mother orders a bottle of red, probably because she knows Vivienne hates it, and continues to read her menu.

“Kate, is that woman who’s reviewing the Inn coming to the dining room tonight?” Lucas asks, and my hand freezes on my glass.  “Only, she was supposed to be here at six and a couple are waiting for her table.”

“No, she won’t be coming for dinner,” I say and lift my gaze to the others at the table.  “She’s umm… gone home.”

“What?” Greg says, lifting his napkin from his lap and placing it on the table.  “What do you mean Samantha left?”

“Something came up,” I say and try to stop the panic rising from my chest.  I’m at my maximum dose of inhalations today.  “She had to go back to New York I think.”

“But– what about the review?” he asks, and I can’t help but feel better at his outraged tone.  He’s always looking out for me.  He’s so great.

“I’m sure they will send someone else,” I say.  That is, if we are still open for business after the investigation.

Greg shakes his head and picks up his ringing phone.  “Excuse me, I have to take this,” he says, getting up and walking into the main hall.

Vivienne’s phone rings from inside her purse and after she sees the caller id she looks at me, “Sorry honey, this is Mrs. Cilan.  I’ll be right back.”

I tell Lucas to hold off on our dinner orders for a minute, and when I see him begin to interact with another couple I turn to my mother.  “Do you think they suspect anything?” I ask.

“Not a thing,” she reassures me.  “In fact, it startles me what a good liar you seem to becoming.”

“Mother, please,” I beg and lean towards her.  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Samantha and about dinner, but I have honestly had the worst day of my life so could you please just cut me a 
little
 slack?”

She looks at my face before sighing.  “You’re right.  I’m sorry.  That woman just makes me crazy! She knew full well this was polyester before she asked who made it.”

I choose not to comment in case it upsets our new found truce.

“They’re coming back,” I say as Greg and Vivienne both re-enter the dining room.

“I’m so sorry honey, but I have to run.  Mrs. Cilan has decided to let go of all the furniture, but she insists we get it out tonight,” she comes around the table to kiss me on the cheek.  “We will try this again, next week perhaps?”

“Of course,” I say, and see my mother visibly relax.  Well, at least I won’t have to be a referee between the two of them for the rest of the night.  Greg thinks we should let the two of them sort it out themselves, but he doesn’t know that if I let that happen one of them would end up killing the other.  And quite frankly, I’ve already had to deal with too many dead bodies today.

“I have to run too, I’m afraid,” he says, coming to kiss me on the other cheek.

“What? Why?”

“One of our clients insists on being briefed tomorrow morning about some of his new holdings, and I have to get everything together for it tonight,” he says apologetically.

“Oh, okay.”

“I’ll make it up to you,” he says before kissing my mother on the cheek.  “Nice seeing you, Tara.”

I smile at him as he leaves the dining room. 

Well, that’s disappointing.  Though he did say he would make it up to me, which is nice.  Trouble is, he says that an awful lot and I’m not sure if he ever does.  But obviously work can’t be helped.  He’s successful and needs to dedicate a lot of time to his clients.  They all think he’s great as well.

“Well, kiddo.  It’s just you and me again,” my mother says, then takes a gulp of her red wine.  I nod absently as I notice Ben come through the door of the dining room.

He’s changed into a pair of beige dress pants with a shirt and tie for dinner.  The shirt is actually ironed, which I suspect might be Luisa’s doing, but the tie he’s wearing sits loose around his collar like he didn’t bother to push it up all the way.  I’m going to be staring at that for the entire evening, I know it.

“Hello ladies,” he says as he approaches our table. 

“Mr. Gable, so nice to see you,” my mother says, standing up and kissing his cheek.  I saw the two of them talking on the back lawn for an hour or so this afternoon and from the smile on my mother’s face I can see he charmed the pants off her. 

First he charms my dog.  Now my mother… what’s next?

“Tara, didn’t I tell you to call me Ben?” he winks at her.  She laughs at this before taking her seat.

“Don’t let me disturb you,” he says, taking a step backwards.

“Please join us,” my mother says, and I clamp my teeth down in frustration.

Okay, it’s not like I have anything personal against the guy.  In fact, I will even admit– though reluctantly– that he helped me a lot today.  You know with the costumes, and not announcing there had been a murder.  But, even so, he’s just so…

It took everything inside of me to not go out to his car and clean up the coffee drops.  It’s all I could think about all afternoon.  Well, besides the dead body of course.

All I am asking is for everyone to respect the boundaries.  I will help him with the investigation in any way I possibly can, and he will stop moving my business cards.

“I really shouldn’t,” he says, then lowers his voice, “I don’t want anyone to get suspicious.”

“You’re probably right–” I begin.

“Oh nonsense,” my mother cuts me off and waves away his objections.  “We invite guests of the Inn to our table all the time, don’t we Kate?”

I nod slightly and put a false smile on my face.

“Well, if you’re sure…” he says, pulling out the seat in front of him.  “I actually thought I might be too late for dinner.  I saw some guests leaving just as I was coming in.”

“That must have been Vivienne and Greg the Great,” my mother says and leans forward.  “They got called into work or something.  Their loss, our gain.”

Ben smiles and looks from me to my mother, “Greg the Great?”

“My boyfriend,” I explain.  “It’s my mother’s silly nickname for him.”

“Don’t look at me,” my mother laughs, “it’s all Kate’s doing.  Anytime I ever ask her anything about Greg her response is ‘he’s great’.  Whether he’s getting his hair cut or trading stocks, he does everything ‘great’.”

“I do not say that,” I argue. 

I don’t.

Okay, maybe I have said it on the odd occasion. 

But, it’s true.  He is great.

“And Vivienne’s the one you were telling me about, Tara?” he asks, and I have to tamper down my anger when I look at my mom.

“Mother.”

“I didn’t say anything bad,” she puts up her arms in defense.  “At least, I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true.”

I look to get Lucas’ attention and call him over to take our dinner orders. 

I also order a huge glass of wine.

My mom and Ben have a conversation back and forth throughout dinner; he asks questions about the town and the construction of the Inn, and my mother tells him all the latest town gossip.  They seem to have forgotten that I am even at the table.

Which is fine.  In fact, it’s better this way.

The less I talk, the more I can drink.

And I’m really not sure what my mother is doing.  I mean, she’s obviously flirting with him, but Ben is half her age. 

Not that there is anything 
wrong
 with that.  He just doesn’t strike me as the type who would go for an older woman. 

He seems like he likes adventure, staying active.

Though, my mother is more adventurous than most people I know.  She also does yoga every day and nature hikes.

But still.  The two of them can’t see each other.  It’s… It’s…

Against the Inn’s policy!  That’s right, I forgot.  There is a section in the employee handbook that says staff can’t date.