Mandy straightened her shoulders.
“The Grangers are nice people. You’re right, it would be good to do this for them. Make it special. Okay, where would I start—” She surveyed the room, suddenly businesslike. “I’d pull on a pair of gloves and clear all the rubbish and also bag up any bedding or cushions that are ruined.” She eyed Abby, gauging if that was the right answer. “Then I’d take it a step at a time.”
“Sounds good. And you’ll want me to make a note of anything that’s broken or damaged beyond repair. I’ll do that, and I’ll take a few photos right now so that we have that on record. You can leave this to us, Evie.” Abby was already pulling on gloves from Mandy’s trolley. “If in a few hours we don’t think we can do it, we’ll let you know and you can call the Grangers. Mandy and I have got this.”
Evie admired Abby’s optimism and enthusiasm (and also theway she’d skilfully managed Mandy), but despite her obvious willingness to get her hands dirty Evie doubted they’d be able to turn the room around in that time and not only because of the enormity of the task. Mandy loved to chat, and Abby presented her with a whole new audience. That would slow the pace of things considerably.
Still, the room needed to be dealt with either way, so she left them to it and went to handle the next problem, which was a long line at the reception desk.
She worked there until the line was cleared, then headed back to her office to deal with all the paperwork that was mounting up.
A few hours passed before she even lifted her head to check the time and when she did she discovered it was lunchtime. She couldn’t put the moment off any longer. She was going to have to call the Grangers and work out a way to make it up to them. Whatever she offered would eat into the hotel’s profits, but she didn’t see an alternative.
She closed her laptop and walked through the hotel greeting staff and guests, quietly observing everything before ending up back at the room Abby and Mandy were turning over.
She opened the door with her key.
Two large black bin bags leaned against the wall, both stuffed to the brim.
She heard laughter and Mandy’s voice.
“So she said to him,listen, sunshine, I’m old enough to be your mother, and that’s when he told her!”
“You’re kidding.” Abby was laughing so hard she could barely speak. “I’m convinced you’re making this up. Grab the end of this, Mandy, and we’ll give it a shake.”
“Every word is the truth. He saidyou are my mother, and can you imagine her response?”
“Honestly? No, I can’t. I wish I’d been there to see it for myself. That’s the best story ever. Throw me that pillow, will you?”
Evie paused in the doorway. She hadn’t expected this to be a fun task, but they were both laughing like old friends. Abby hadn’t struck her as the talkative sort, but it seemed she was as chatty as Mandy. Which was good on one level, but presumably meant they hadn’t made much progress.
Resigned to making that phone call, Evie stepped into the room.
“How are you doing here? It’s lunchtime, and you should—” She stopped, stunned.
If she hadn’t seen them both standing there, she wouldn’t have known it was the same room.
The rubbish had been removed, every surface shone and the carpet had been returned to its previously pristine state. The bed was freshly made, the white linens displaying not a single crease. The bed looked so inviting Evie was tempted to lie down on it herself.
“How did you do this?”
“Mandy is brilliant,” Abby said. “Just brilliant.”
“We worked hard.” Mandy patted the last pillow and placed it carefully on the bed. “And it helped that Abby is a genius with stains and blobs. Also full of great stories. When you have a moment you have to ask her about the mess she had to clean up at a hotel in Cape Cod last year. It involves guests who decided to barbecue fish on their balcony, the fire service and a dramatic rescue of a dog who shouldn’t have been in the room in the first place.” Mandy smiled at Abby. “Hilarious.”
“We made a note of the damage, but there’s nothing too dramatic. I’ll email you the list,” Abby said. “Apart from needing to replace one cushion from the sofa, and the pretty onewith the sea-bird that was on the bed, this room is ready to welcome the Grangers.”
“Thank you.” Evie felt weak with relief. “You’ve both done a great job. I’ll get those cushions and sort out a welcome basket and some fresh flowers.”
“I can do both those things,” Mandy said. “I’m about to dispose of the rubbish so I’ll do that afterwards.”
Evie wondered if she’d noticed the time. “It’s lunch—”
“Oh, we already agreed that we’re not going for lunch until we’ve finished here,” Abby said. “You’re okay with that, aren’t you, Mandy?”
“Definitely.” Mandy nodded and patted Abby on the shoulder. “Please tell me you’re going to be working in housekeeping the whole time you’re here. I hope I didn’t bore you with all my stories about how the hotel used to be when I first joined. It was a real trip down memory lane.”
“I loved hearing about it. This whole thing ended up being so much fun.” Abby frowned, as if that was surprising.
