The Mystery at Cherry Creek

Chapter 2: Breakfast at Ray's

I woke up the next morning to Susie's baby drool hitting the side of my face. As I slowly opened my eyes I saw the giggling face of Victor as he held Susie over me so she could drool on me. "Don't you have anything better to do besides torture me" I huffed out and rolled over in the now empty bed, tugging the quilt we had slept on over me. From the light of the room, and the sound of birds chirping on a tree some distance from the window next to the mattress I guessed that it must be early morning.
"Dad said that it's time for us to go eat breakfast and that it was my job to do whatever it takes to get you out of bed and into the car in five minutes top" Victor said very proudly as he sat Susie back down. As I sat up and tried to rub the sleep out of my eyes there was a very loud crashing noise that came from what must be the next room over.

Me and Victor look at each other wide-eyed before looking at the wall where the noise came from, and then once again back at each other. A few short moments later my dad comes in through the door looking very frazzled and covered in a small amount of dust and debris. " ah well as it turns out the bathroom door in room one was not jammed closed but instead not on the door frame... so I may or may not have just accidentally broken the door... and maybe the bathroom sink" he said before coughing up whatever dust he must have breathed in when he and the door fell into the bathroom. Selene came out of the bathroom from where she was doing her makeup, and Arden looked up from where she was seated on the floor playing with ABC blocks with Susie. "Of course it's not even day one and you have already broken something," Selene grumbles while she finishes applying her lip gloss.

Ignoring her comment my dad puts back on his optimistic smile, " well I guess we will just have to wait on fixing the bathroom until after breakfast" he says before patting off the leftover dust on his shirt and pants. Arden chooses this as the perfect time to pipe in as she screams, "I call shotgun!" And quickly runs out of the room and makes a bee-line to the car. I went into the bathroom and on the way the floor boards under the brown shaggy carpet creaked and groaned at the sudden weight. As I changed into a grey top and pulled on some black jeans I could hear Selene ranting about how unfair it is for her to have to sit in the backseat when she is the oldest. When I was finally dressed I took a deep breath to try to relax myself. I knew today was probably going to be a long day with all of the work we were going to have to put into cleaning up the motel, and having to hear Selene complain about it all. I waited until all of the commotion outside had died down to feel confident enough to leave the bathroom and head to the car.

....
Tiny silver bells jingled at the top of the door as me and my family walked in. "Feel free to seat your self" said a middle aged lady behind the counter, she began to resume pouring someone a cup of coffee sitting at the counter. As we walked to a random empty booth in the diner, there were a couple of stares from people that seemed to look like they were locals. The rest of the couple of families sitting in booths scattered throughout the diner paid no mind to us.We sat three on one side and two on the other leaving me to be squished between Arden and the window. Looking outside of the window I got a great view of the little downtown strip of Cherry Creek. It was about 7 in the morning so there was a light morning fog still in the town leaving everything looking slightly mysterious but beautiful. More people were walking about downtown whether they were out for a morning jog, walking their dog, or opening up shop for the day. As I scanned the shops I took note of a couple that were definitely grabbing my interest like the retro coffee shop, the tiny flower market near the town square, and of course the old library that sat next to a quaint little church. The waitress walking up to the table dragged my thoughts away from the town and back towards where we were.

"Well hello and welcome to town! Are y'all those folks that are trying to fix up that inn? I just think that's so great of you all to take that on! I mean if I wasn't here working at the diner I would love to do something of the sort like that because you know I just LOVE retro antiques so if you ever need a gal to help out I'm definitely it! Back when I lived in Louisiana my mama ran a bed and breakfast so I guess I just have an affinity for the service industry, that and because I'm a cancer and you know us cancers just love to make other people more comfortable" The young waitress who looked to be between me and Selene's age said with a very big toothy smile and a thick southern accent. As she was talking a mile a minute I guess it dawned on her that she had not let us get a word in since she walked up, "oh my sweet baby Jesus I'm so sorry, I have this habit of talking until my head falls off" she pauses and takes a deep breath, "well welcome to Ray's, I'll be y'alls waitress this morning and my name is Hillie" she finishes with a confident smile.
"Oh wow what an interesting name" Selene says sarcastically. Hillie not noticing the sarcasm or maybe just ignoring it says chirpily, "Oh my goodness thank you well my full name is Hillary after my grandmother, bless her soul, but everyone just calls me Hillie...well anywho,what can I get y'all to drink this morning?".