Page 11 of Nightcaps at The Beach House Hotel

“Good thing ‘you know who’ didn’t see you,” said Rhonda.

“It was too early even for Brock,” I said. “I’m curious though to find out more about Abbie.”

“She must have a website. Let’s look her up,” said Rhonda after taking a sip of coffee. She typed in her name and came up with a website. “Here it is.Abbie Hathaway, personal trainer to the stars.And look, Annie, she’s the youngest in her family, with four older brothers. That’s the reverse of Darryl. There’s potential here.” Her smile widened as she rubbed her hands together.

“Oh, no! You’re not going to try any of your matchmaking skills with her and Darryl, are you?” The thought of Rhonda trying to put the two of them together made my stomach flip.

“I admit it’s a little early to think of how to make it work, but I like the idea,” said Rhonda.

“We don’t know either of them very well. It might backfire,” I protested. Rhonda was convinced she was an excellent matchmaker when, in truth, nature, not she, paired people up.

“I’ll know as time passes if I’m right, but there’s no reason for me not to try,” said Rhonda. “Just take a look at Lorraine and Arthur. I’ve never seen them this happy.”

I couldn’t deny it. The two of them acted like young lovers. “What else does the website say?” I asked, looking over Rhonda’s shoulder.

A list of clients included Sinclair Smith. I checked out Abbie’s training and was very impressed by her education. No wonder she could charge such high fees. The woman knew what she was doing.

“We’d better get to our Christmas campaign ideas,” I said to her. “We need to announce that it’s not too early to book rooms and dining facilities for Christmas parties. I don’t want to get caught turning away people like we had to do last year.”

“Yeah, that was a mess,” Rhonda agreed.

“Even though it’s a few months away, we need to talk to Bernie about bonuses for people who sign up to work Christmas and New Year’s Day.”

“It was great to be able to offer them something extra on top of their Christmas bonus. It helped a lot of families celebrate the holiday.” Rhonda grinned. “You know I love Christmas.”

“Oh yes,” I replied. Our first Christmas together was loads of fun for us and our girls. A far different experience from mine growing up when it was just a dutiful, cold grandmother and me.

We were working on holiday bookings when Dorothy appeared. Short and stocky and with short gray hair, she was a bundle of energy for someone her age. Her thick glasses made her eyes look large behind them, and one got the feeling she didn’t miss much.

“Hi, Dorothy,” I said. “Nice to see you. What brings you here today? You’re scheduled for tomorrow.”

“I couldn’t wait to tell you the latest news about Brock,” she said. “He’s now trying to get the Neighborhood Association to pass a new rule that the president be notified of any VIP guests arriving in the neighborhood.”

“That’s bullshit. He’s just mad because we won’t tell him or anyone else who’s staying here at the hotel,” said Rhonda.

“Even if such a crazy rule passed, we’re under no obligation to abide by it,” I said, unable to hold back a chuckle. “I think the man is losing it.”

“He’s become a joke among us, but he does a remarkable job in trying to build his self-importance,” said Dorothy. “At any rate, I thought you should be warned. He’s going to try to make a point of finding out who’s here at the hotel.”

“Just what we need,” grumped Rhonda. “We’re talking about the Christmas holiday. Are you willing to help us with our employee Christmas party like you did last year?”

“I’d be honored,” said Dorothy. “And with the Hanukkah and Kwanzaa celebrations too. That makes my holiday complete.”

“It’s months away but we want to be better prepared this year, so we can spend time with our own families. The triplets should be a lot of fun this Christmas.”

“It’s very exciting for me to see all the changes with both the hotel and your families in the past several years,” said Dorothy. “I feel a part of it.”

Rhonda got up out of her chair and hugged Dorothy. “You were our first volunteer. We’ll always be grateful.”

Back when we started, Dorothy had helped with mailings and worked with me in setting up various business files. A successful businesswoman herself, she was very capable.

“I’d better go. I’ll see you tomorrow,” said Dorothy.

After Dorothy left, Rhonda turned to me. “Brock is a real jackass. But we’d better be careful.”

“Let’s walk over to the houses and talk to Darryl, Tina, and Abbie,” I said. “They have a right to know what we’re up against.”

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