Riding through the snow, Melody struggles to find a hotel to stay. Then she stopped at a hotel to get a room. When she walked up to the concierge, she asks, "Is anyone there?"
Someone came up to her and it was Larry.
"Hi, welcome to the Mitchell Hotel, may I help you?"
"Yes, I need a room for one night only."
"Well, ma'm I'm afraid we're full."
Melody shocked. "Seriously!"
"Yeah well, I can help you."
"Is there another hotel around here?"
"Well the one up the hill is a few blocks away, unfortunately, they are full too."
"You know what that's ok." Said Melody, she walked away. But Larry stopped her.
"Wait I have a bed in my room that you can use then I can drop you off tomorrow."
"Thanks but no. I don't know you like that."
"Miss, I'm the manager of this hotel and my family owns it."
Melody asked, "Really?"
"Yeah", he said, showed his badge, "Larry Mitchell: General Manager"
Melody looked at his badge and looked at him. "Ok, I believe you."
"So where are you heading tomorrow?"
"Lake Hill Cabin."
"Oh I been there today, I dropped off a woman and her daughter. The Henson Family stays there."
"Yeah, that's my family. My sister is getting married."
"Right, she's marrying her."
Melody went dumbfounded. "Her? Who's her?"
Larry realized that she didn't know that her sister, Maureen is gay. "I didn't mean to tell you that. The woman who I've dropped off is your sister's fiancée."
"My sister is a lesbian," asked Melody. "I didn't know that. Why didn't she tell me?"
"Well, you're not the only one. Your family didn't know when they met her fiancée. Mistakenly, your family thought that I was marrying your sister."
Melody was silent.
"I'm sorry I told you."
Melody said, "No, it's ok. I didn't want to find out that way."
"Let me take your luggage," he said, "Follow me."
Melody followed Larry as he carried her luggage to his room. His room was one bedroom and one bathroom.
He went to the kitchen and asks, "You want hot chocolate?"
"Please", said Melody.
Melody took off her coat and placed it on the couch. She looked around the room and saw pictures of musician and mountains.
Then Larry came out of the kitchen with the whip-cream top over the hot chocolate. He gave it to Melody.
"You don't mind I put whip cream on this," he asked.
"No, I love whip cream."
"Me too," he said then introduced himself, "I'm Lawrence Mitchell, but call me Larry"
"Melody, thanks for letting me stay in your room."
"No problem."
Melody drinks her hot chocolate, "So you manage the hotel for how long?"
"Five years. My parents started building this hotel for 20 years. After college, I got a job as a bellhop, doorman. Then I started training for the management and started assistant managing then here I am."
"What college you went to?"
"University of California, Berkeley, Major in Hospitality and Business and minor in cooking. I'm head chef in this hotel also."
"Amazing, so you double majored?"
"Exactly"
"I'm a tv journalist myself. I work for MTV Network. I hosted the top 20 video countdown. You probably remember me?"
Larry recognizes her face and remembered. "Damn, I knew you look familiar. You co-hosted with Sway."
"Yeah," she laughed then sipped her hot chocolate but the whipped cream was on her nose.
Larry laughed.
"What?"
He grabbed the napkin and wiped her nose. "You had whip cream on your face"
Melody laughed, "Oh thanks."
"What's a beautiful woman like you go to Lake Tahoe alone?"
"Well I've been single for a long time but my goal is to find someone who I can live happily ever after and be like my two oldest siblings. I rode the bus because my plane was delay and our bus was out of gas." She looked at the clock. "Oh my God! I have to call my sister. Can I use your phone my cell phone is out of charge."
"Sure", he said, he gave the cordless phone to her.
"Hello?" answered Hayden.
"Who's this?" asked Melody.
"This is Maureen's fiancée, Hayden".
"Oh hi, I'm Melody, Maureen's little sister. Its nice to talk to you, I can't wait to see you tomorrow."
"Oh Maureen's here", Hayden gave the phone to Maureen
Maureen greeted Melody. "Melody, hey how you doing, where are you?"
"I'm at Mitchell Hotel, I'm coming to the cabin tomorrow I promise."
"All right, you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, I'll see you in the morning."
"Ok, bye hon."
"Bye". She hangs up.
She went to the kitchen and saw Larry cooking.
"I hope you hungry; I'm making spaghetti with my homemade sauce."
"Well smelling this delicious food, I'm so hungry."
"You'll like my spaghetti." He took a fork and scoop it for Melody to try it. When Melody taste the spaghetti, she said, "Mmm, this taste so good. No wonder why you are the head chef."
"I'm glad you like it. I'll make a plate for you."
Melody and Larry had spaghetti together and continued to get to know each other.
YOU ARE READING
The Christmas Closet
Short StoryA family preparing a wedding for their daughter with a surprising twist that will change the family dynamic forever.
