Page 11 of June Bride
Chapter 8
SUNNY
The most inconvenient thing about getting married at the height of tourist season wasn’t blocking out B&B reservations for that week. It was telling nice old men like Mr. Murray that, no, the house wouldn’t be available atalluntil well after Fourth of July.
“You mean you don’t have anyone running the place at all while you’re gone?” The wiry man with stark white hair and a collared shirt always tucked into his jeans followed Sunny into the kitchen, where she prepped the coffee pot for the afternoon. The landscaper that came by once a month rode by the window on his lawnmower. Between him and Mr. Murray, Sunny was liable to have a stress-related heart attack.
“The whole place is totally shut down while I’m off on my honeymoon, I’m afraid.” Sunny offered her regular guest a smile. “I don’t really have anyone to run it while I’m gone. Nobody I trust enough, anyway.” She turned that fake smile into a genuine grin. “If you book now, though, I’m sure you can get a room somewhere for the Fourth of July celebrations, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“It’s not so much that, Miss Sunny.” He always called her that, and she always called him Mr. Murray. Seemed weird to call the kindly old retired professor anything else. The man was hard at work on both a memoir and an original novel about the Portland underground. He rented a room for a few days every month, declaring Paradise Valley the best place to get away from the metro area and “just write.” Indeed, he was usually hard at work typing on his Chromebook or writing longhand in a notebook. The stacks of books he brought from the libraries – both in Paradise Valley and from Portland – confused some of other guests, who sometimes thought they belonged to Waterlily House. When Sunny informed him that the house would be closed while she was on her honeymoon, he looked as lost as the occasional bear wandering into the yard. “It’s… I’m not sure where to go now…”
Sunny turned away from the coffee maker. Poor Mr. Murray was so defeated that he had removed his bifocals. “Now, I know for a fact you’ve been talking about going to Astoria for a bit of change.”
“Well, yes…”
“I truly appreciate your continued patronage, Mr. Murray.” Sunny went as far as to put a gentle hand on his arm, which made him blush and look away in that infallible politeness of his. “You know how rare it is for me to get out of town for a while. Sometimes I have somebody take over the place, but for my honeymoon, I think I’d like to not have to worry about it.” Anita would be driving by every other day to keep an eye on things, but Sunny wasn’t about to ask her to run the place in her absence. Not even with young Leigh Ann volunteering at her side.That would be awkward, anyway. Leigh Ann is one of Anita’s students.It was already weird enough that Leigh Ann knew Sunny was best friends with the high school English teacher.
“You really do deserve a break, Miss Sunny.”
“Gonna be Mrs. Sunny soon!”
“Indeed! And a doctor!” Mr. Murray’s chuckles meant he was about to put his bifocals back on his face. “Well, I’ll figure something out for my Fourth of July excursion. Like you said, I’ve been meaning to give Astoria another chance. I only worry it might be crazy over the Fourth of July, too. Sometimes these small towns take it more seriously than anyone in the city.”
Sunny was about to suggest a town on the coast when she was summoned by the phone ringing next to the fridge. Mr. Murray excused himself from the kitchen. Sunny bypassed the sign asking guests to please not answer the phone if she was around. Likewise, local calls were free, but long distance required a small fee. Since service was still spotty out there for some cell phone types, it remained a pertinent reminder to keep an eye on the landline.
Especially if it were ringing!
“Hello, you have reached Waterlily House. This is Sunny speaking.” Sunny was alone by the time she answered. Good. Mr. Murray might be a bit miffed to know what happened next.
“Yes, hello, Sunny, is it?” The woman on the other end was as no-nonsense as the wedding planner. “This is Dahlia Granger from Hibiscus Films. I believe I emailed you the other day? I hadn’t heard a response, so I’m calling to follow up.”
“Hibiscus…” Yes, Sunny recalled some of that. She had in fact received a reservation request for the whole of Waterlily House for most of July.I haven’t had the chance to look it over.Mostly because she was so busy with the rest of her life and business. A reservation for all of July? When she would be gone for part of it? She might as well be asked to play the role of King Solomon between an unknown entity and her quiet regulars.
Still, that was a lot of money…
“Yes,” Sunny eventually said. “I do believe I received your reservation request the other day, but didn’t have the time to go over it yet. How can I help you, Ms. Granger?”
“Well, as stipulated in the request, my crew and I will be in Paradise Valley next month for some filming. There are four of us, and we should like to rent three to four rooms from you for most of July. I’m not sure exactly how long we’ll be there for, but we’re arriving into town on the second.”
Lovely. Two days after the wedding. Because Sunny would totally be around for that. “Yes, that’s part of the snafu, I suppose.”
“Oh, are you already booked? Mayor Rath assured me that you usually have a couple rooms available at any time.”
Thank you, Ms. Mayor.If Karen kept it up, she would soon have people believing that all of Paradise Valley was losing business by the month. “Actually, I’m getting married at the end of this month and shall be on my honeymoon for the first chunk of July.”
“Oh! I had no idea. Congratulations.” Before Sunny could accept any congratulations, however, the prospective guest continued. “Are you saying that you won’t be open for part of that time? Could you refer me to any of the other fine establishments in your area that may be able to accommodate us? I must admit, it’s been a bit of a trial to figure this part of our project out, because there seem to be few lodges in the area.”
“Especially in July,” Sunny further explained. “It’s a big tourist season around here, yes.” Those who didn’t come only for the Fourth of July festivities often lingered or returned for Paradise Pride at the end of the month. That was therealparty, and both Brandy and Sunny agreed to be back in time for it. There was usually a small to-do for newlyweds, and they didn’t want to miss out on their free goodies. “Well, I hadn’t planned on being open, but if it’s only the four of you, I may be able to open those rooms for you. You must keep in mind, however, that it might only be part-timed staffed during the day, so you would be on your own for most of it.” Poor Anita was about to be roped into some adventure over the course of her summer vacation.At least Leigh Ann will have something to do.Last Sunny heard, the student hadn’t lined up a job for the break. She neededsomethingto keep her preoccupied.
“We mostly keep to ourselves, and any time spent at the house would be working on our film. We’ve looked into renting a proper house elsewhere, but there don’t seem to be many up for short-term rentals. Air BnB was really quite sad.”
Especially in Summer, yes.Sunny would be repeating that until the point was driven into Dahlia’s head. “I can give you a group rate. It will help mitigate my inability to be there the first part of the month to offer the usual breakfast, but as long as you sign a cleaning waiver and pay a small deposit, you can have free range of the kitchen to make your meals.” She remembered the Halcyon days when she didn’t need a deposit to use the damn kitchen. “I’ll have to take a close look at my calendar. If you can send me some more concrete dates, I can figure something out.”
“Thank yousomuch.” Dahlia sighed in relief. “We can list you as one of our sponsors at the end of our film about Paradise Valley.”
Film about Paradise Valley?Sunny scrunched her nose. She hadn’t heard anything about that. Wouldn’t a movie being made in town make the news? Hell, those camera crews showing up last April to stalk Jalen had created such a stir that they made front page of the newspaper. Was Sunny out of the loop because of the wedding planning? She needed to go into town more often. The summer was really bad for avoiding town, due to the great weather keeping her in the outdoors and a booming business preoccupying her time with guests. The wedding only made her more detached from the gossip around town.
“What exactly is this film about?” Sunny braved asking.
