“Temporary truce,” I said.
“Whatever you say.”
“What did you get done?” I asked.
Braxton pulled out his list, showing me his progress like a report card. “I am in good shape and have decided to help Jane tomorrow.”
“Good idea.”
I went back to my room, showered and got to work with my laptop. I should have been working on Lucy’s Christmas List, but I found myself sketching rough plans for shelving in the little used parlor. I would need William’s help for lumber and a good reason to keep Lucy away from that side of the hall for a day or two. It would be a small miracle if no one spoiled the surprise, but I had learned by now that this family enjoyed a good secret.
When the plan looked solid, I shut the laptop. The vision of Lucy sitting in the room, enjoying her small library wouldn’t leave my mind.
Chapter Nineteen: A Secret
Lucy.
By breakfast the inn had returned to its usual rhythm which meant organized chaos. Guests were able to go to town for the day on an excursion to shop local which left us with time to do much needed tasks before the upcoming dance. I made a list at the front desk of everything that needed doing, everything that was in progress, and everything that had been completed. To my surprise, two boxes of antique ornaments had materialized by the desk which made me smile.
Mom swept through holding a bolt of tulle she had found somewhere. “We will need greenery for the banister and tiny lights for the window frames. If we put some lights in the tulleit will look so pretty. Also, is there such a thing as a gold ribbon that looks expensive but isn’t?”
“There is but it will probably tangle,” I cautioned. Cheap ribbons often were the bain of my existence since I had three younger sisters.
“Perfect,” she said, missing the warning. “Put it on your list.”
Jane slid a tray of warm brownies onto the counter and gave me a look that meant I shouldn’t tease our mother. I sighed and stuffed a brownie in my mouth before I could say anything uncharitable. I added goldribbon to my ever growing list of things to order today.
“How is the menu coming?” I mumbled past the brownie.
“I have narrowed it down and am trying to cross reference ingredients so it won’t cost so much. I need to get my orderin by five this afternoon so it gets delivered on time,” Jane mentioned.
Braxton wandered in and grabbed a brownie. He looked unfairly happy for a man who had shoveled the walk twice before eight. “These are amazing.”
Jane gave him a shy smile.
“We need a place to put the coats,” Dad observed as he approached. He took out his reading glasses and looked at his to-do list. “A reception table for tickets. I think there is a folding one in the basement. Then the platform for the band if we go with live music. If we do speakers, I still want a riser so the wires don’t take anyone out.”
“No live music. It’s too much short notice and a stage will take too much time to build. Do we have any speakers? I’ll have to look online for some,” I fretted as I wrote things down.
“I can get the speakers. We can do blue tooth so they don’t have any wires except to plug into the power outlets. Put it on my list of things to do and text it to me,” Braxton offered.
“Good. We can double the reception table for the gift table later in the night. I was hoping to create a photo corner for our guests,” I mentioned.
“Kitty can do it. She has artistic talent,” Jane suggested.
“What about servers and waiters for the evening?” Braxton wondered.
“We don’t have servers,” Jane replied.
“We are the servers. We are also the decorators and the dishwashers and the floor moppers. It costs too much to hire out,” I observed.
“Even with the revenue from the tickets?” Braxton asked.
“We need that revenue to go to other projects at the inn, like funding repairs of the swimming pool when it comes time to open it,” I reasoned.
“With over a hundred people coming, do you think that it’s realistic to have less than ten people serving, catering, dealing with anything that goes wrong, taking tickets, and more?” Braxton looked unconvinced. “I really think there is no choice but to hire extra help.”
“That’s all taken care of. I have a friend who is coming with staff who need experience and will do it all at a super discounted price as part of their education so there’s no need to worry about it. I also have our dance branding finished,” Lydia announced as she came into the room, placing her phone on the counter like a trophy for all of us to look at. The graphic did, in fact, have snowflakes. It also had our name spelled correctly and a festive font. She beamed. “We have a hundred and twelve confirmed and a waitlist.”
