Georgie dropped her gaze from Lottie down to her paper, then slowly lifted her gaze toward Nate. “The bed and breakfast. Also submitted by Lottie. She has some concerns.”
“This bed and breakfast? The Happy Hiccup Bed and Breakfast? What sort of concerns?” asked Nate.
“How it’s going to stay alive, for starters,” said Lottie.
“I wasn’t aware it was dying,” said Nate.
“There’s an assassin setting up her sniper rifle as we speak,” said Lottie. “And that assassin’s name is Nancy.”
“Nancy,” Gus muttered the same way Nate heard Jerry Seinfeld mutter “Newman” in oldSeinfeldreruns.
“Nancy? Who’s Nancy?” Nate asked.
“The lady who’s offering her home up as an Airbnb. Your mom didn’t tell you?” Lottie said to Nate. Then, “I can’t believe she didn’t tell him,” to the rest of the group. “That’s not a good sign. Hiding things from her own family. Makes me think she’s already struggling.”
“Is she already struggling?” Barb asked Nate.
“Nobody’s struggling,” Nate assured the group. Which didn’t assure him because his mom was too much like his aunt and wouldn’t admit anything was wrong until the B&B was on its own operating table for open-heart surgery. But he wasn’t about to say that to this group—especially Lottie. “She just got some chickens and goats. An emu is on the way. People don’t get emus when they’re struggling.”
“But they do leave town,” shot back Lottie.
“Only because my aunt will need help getting back on her feet after open-heart surgery,” Nate shot back.
“But who’s keeping your mom on her feet while Nancy steals all her customers?” Lottie started talking faster than ever. “What if your aunt needs more help than your mom realizes? Your mom might have to close for the rest of the summer, and businesses, especially small-town businesses, can’t afford to close for a day, let alone a few months. I should know. I certainly learned my lesson when I missed one meeting, didn’t I? If I’d slacked even a single day after that, I guarantee you we would not have been the most active and thriving PTA in middle Tennessee, including the Nashville area. No, you get behind as a business owner or a president of a committee and you’re in the red. There’s no way you survive after shutting down for an entire summer.”
“She’s not shutting down for the entire summer.” Nate scooted his chair back for a little space. It wasn’t enough. He scooted it back another inch. “The place is technically open right now.” Even though his mom said it was technically closed. “Sure, right now she doesn’t have any guests, but that’s fine. I’m using the downtime to make minor repairs while she takes a little time off.”
“And what happens when minor repairs turn into major repairs? What happens when ‘a little time’ turns into a long time off?” Lottie said, polishing her glasses again. “I’ll tell you what happens. We say goodbye to The Happy Hiccup Bed and Breakfast forever because the Nancys in this world don’t care one bit about adding another nail to the coffin in any town’s charm.”
Yeah, well right now Nate found the Nancys in the world a heap more likable than the Lotties. “My mom will be back soon, and in the meantime, I’m going to get this place back up to speed. Nothing to worry about.”
“Nothing to worry about except your mom deciding to sell the place because it’s turned into too much of a money pit. For all we know the next yahoo who buys this place could turn it into a Dollar Tree. And then what happens to this town? Dollar Trees and Airbnbs? It’ll be like living in the wild west again.”
“I hope it’s likeGunsmoke,” said Gus. “That wouldn’t be too bad.”
Before Lottie could respond, Georgie lifted her hand and said, “I think we’ve covered enough concerns for now when it comes to the B&B.”
More than enough. “So,” Nate said, clicking his pen. “Are we done with the agenda?”
Georgie looked down at her paper. “Nine more items to go.”
“And let me just say, I have a lot of concerns about the next few items,” said Lottie.
NATE
“The poet Rainer Maria Rilke once wrote in a letter that ‘We must learn to die: That is all of life.’ Well... if you ever need to learn a thing or two about dying, I know how you can go about it. Just sit through one of those meetings.”
25
HOA Meeting Minutes
Snow removal—find out where to put the snow.
Bed and breakfast—nothing to worry about.
Photographer for Dominoes Dance—still need one.
Loud noise last Thursday—not sure. Only Lottie heard it.
