“You’re lucky,” Em said, typing out a response. “My brother is a jackass.”
I waited for her to elaborate.
She took a breath and then told me how her brother was Paige’s ex, but now he was married to her own wife’s sister, and they had a daughter and then twins on the way.
“The word ‘complicated’ doesn’t even begin to describe their relationship. I can’t tell you how many times they’ve said they were divorcing and then he went and bought her a diamond or took her to Europe and then they were fine. Their biggest blowup was right before she got pregnant and that jackass got her back with an ugly as hell Birkin. Don’t even ask me where he got the money.”
I let Em rant because she seemed like she needed to.
“Wow,” I said when she finished.
“Yeah. Complete chaos. And now they’re going to have two more babies and they’re going to give them silly names like Brayson and Bryson.”
I cringed at those names.
“Exactly,” Em said. She was still fuming but calmed down when we found some more shells near the large rocks that sheltered crabs and created all kinds of tidepools.
I was feeling heated in the sun and said goodbye to Em and got into my car and cranked the air conditioning. I really wanted a shower, but I didn’t know if I could take one without a bunch of construction dudes potentially walking in on me.
I always kept a change of clothes with me and took a risk by heading to the Honeysuckle Inn and paying Alivia a visit.
She was in the dining room setting up napkins for dinner.
“Hey,” I said, and she looked up and smiled at me.
“Hey, you coming for dinner?”
I shook my head. “No, I actually came to make a weird request. Are you at capacity?”
“No, why? Do you need a room?”
“I actually only need a bathroom. Would it be totally out of line to ask if I could take a shower here? My house is crawling with workmen and they’re all over the place.”
Alivia adjusted a napkin and nodded at the table as if it had passed her inspection.
“Sure, no problem. Let me grab you a key. You can go in and do what you need to do.”
“I seriously appreciate it. I know you’ll have to clean the room after me,” I said, but Alivia ignored me and went to grab a key from the front desk.
“Room 206,” she said. “We don’t have anyone checking in for a few days.”
“I owe you one,” I said.
A guest arrived and grabbed Alivia’s attention, so I left her alone. I was going to have to do something nice for her to make up for this.
I headed upstairs to the second floor and down the hall to the room. I passed a housekeeper on the way, and I remembered her from my time here, and let her know what I was doing so she didn’t think someone had broken into the Inn.
The room was beautiful, done in soft dusty rose and gray. I put my bag on the counter and turned on the shower. I wanted to make sure I made as little mess as possible.
The towels were still slightly warm and smelled so fresh. I used the shampoo, conditioner, and body wash before stepping out of the shower and putting my new outfit on. I made sure the floor was dry and I left the towel on the counter. The bottles went into my bag for the next time I found myself in this situation.
My wet hair went into a braid that would give me great waves when I took it out later.
Alivia was off dealing with some sort of room issue, but I really wanted to thank her, so I waited until she could come back down.
“How do you feel?” she asked.
“Much better. You’re my hero,” I said, putting my hand to my chest.
Alivia shook her head. “It’s nothing. You were a good guest and I’m glad you’re sticking around, even if you don’t want to run with me.”
I made a face. Running was fine for her, but it was not my thing at all. I’d much rather swim or hike or even do a yoga class at home. At least I would if I had a place to do that in my house. It was too bad that Castleton didn’t have a yoga studio, although I knew McKenna taught classes during the summer at the beach.
“I’m more of a Pilates girl,” I said. When I’d lived in Boston, I’d loved going to group fitness classes. There was nothing like that here.
“I think McKenna is going to start teaching classes here sometimes,” Alivia said. “The guests have really responded lately wanting yoga classes.”
“Sounds cool. Let me know when that’s happening. I’d love to come.”
She told me she would, and I headed out so she could prep for the dinner rush.