White Magic Christmas

Chapter 11: December 5

[Dear beloved handful of readers: if you would appreciate a trigger warning regarding a very short but potentially sensitive scene, please know that two characters will discuss suicide in the final paragraphs of this chapter. If you prefer skip this part, you can continue reading until the XXXXXXXXXXs and then simply stop reading for the day. Anything you need to know for the sake of the plot, I'll make sure is restated elsewhere later on so you will miss nothing by skipping this bit. Thanks for coming along for the ride!]

"There's no argument," Ivy said after breakfast the next morning. "Show me where the cleaning supplies are, or I won't vacate the room." In fact, she had already repacked Jeffrey into his box, and her bags were ready to go. Go where, she still did not know, but she'd finally talked to Gavin the night before and gotten his approval for another week of hotel expenses... somewhere. He'd protested initially, then wisely measured the cost of another week of hotels against the cost of another week of hotels another time, plus another round-trip airfare.

"I can't!" Geri said, that note of desperation back in her voice. "I can't let a guest clean her own room! You paid the high season rate! The breakfasts have been terrible! You can't do this too, that's not how it works. Think of the yelp review!" Her attempt at a joke faltered into a half-sob.

Ivy took the dish towel out of Geri's hands, set it on the counter, then grasped Geri by both arms and looked her square in the face.

"What you can't do is all of this by yourself," Ivy said. "As it happens, I find myself in need of a little spending money, and I am willing to take any job on offer, for any wage. I haven't found another home for the kitty yet. Someone has got to keep her in kibble until that changes. I know you would have hired more help if there was anyone available to hire. So here I am. I'll be the best seasonal staff you've ever hired."

Tears leaked from Geri's eyes, and she turned away. Ivy let her go and handed her a paper towel. 

After taking a moment to compose herself, Geri gave Ivy a watery smile and nodded.

"Brynn can show you where things are," she said. "She'll be up on the second floor somewhere. Mr. Murphy is leaving today. Thank god, he was eating nearly my weight in eggs every day." She laughed, though it sounded forced.

"You keep on with the kitchen and don't worry about us," Ivy said. "If we finish up early, maybe I can take Brynn up the hill to look around Slate House while you wrangle the new batch of guests."

Ivy found Brynn sitting on a stripped guest bed, scrolling on her phone. Brynn jumped when Ivy appeared, making as if to hide the phone, then giving up halfway.

"I'm your new coworker," Ivy announced. "Show me the toilet scrubber!"

"No, really?" Brynn asked. Ivy explained again, and repeated her promise to walk Brynn up the hill if they finished early enough. She could see the motivation kindle with that carrot hanging above her.

Half the rooms were checking out today, and the other half contained guests planning to stay for the next week, and maybe the week after that.

"Some of them come back every year," Brynn told her as they made beds together. "They'll rent a room for the whole month, so they can be here whenever the ice freezes. Sometimes, they pay for a whole month and leave after, like, a week, if the ice freezes early. They don't even care that they don't get their money back!"

Once you got Brynn talking, she turned into a bottomless font of information. Ivy's room, it turned out, had become available only moments before she called, when a guest had broken a leg and had to cancel at the last minute.

"What do all these people do out here while they're sitting around waiting for the lake to freeze?" Ivy asked.

"They Spend Money!" Brynn said. Her voice had dropped an octave, and she accompanied the comment with a pump of her arm, which suggested she was imitating something she'd heard some town patron say. Ivy laughed. Aside from Ned's deli, there was only one other restaurant in town, but a whole fleet of food trucks had turned up and were camped out in the grocery store parking lot. Apparently they were an annual holiday fixture, and the locals seemed as pleased to have them as the tourists did. Even Ned thought they were great, and they were his competition.