Carefully.â
Jeannie made something approaching a chewing sound, which indicated that she was rotating her jaw, something she does when confronted with an idea she had not considered before. â
How
carefully?â she asked.
âIâm a gift horse, Jeannie. You want to look me in the mouth?â
There was a long pause while Jeannie undoubtedly considered her options. She had none. âOkay, youâre hired,â she said.
âTry not to sound too grateful,â I told her. âYou donât want me to get a swelled head.â
âOh, come on, you know I love you, and Iâm thrilled youâre taking Oliver! But . . .â
I smiled, but she couldnât see it. âBut youâve never left him alone this long before, and youâre nervous. I get that.â
Jeannie had the nerve to sound amazed. âHow did you know?â
âI told you. I have a child.â
We arranged for Tony and Jeannie to drop Oliver off at noon the next day. I started mentally calculating how much Iâd have to pay Melissa to help me out with the baby whenever I couldnât care for him myself but was interrupted by two of my Senior Plus guests, Don Coburn and his âbetter half,â Tammy, returning from their day at the incredibly hot beach.
In addition to the Coburns, I had another couple and two single guests at the moment, and while six people are plenty to deal with, at the height of the season, having any guest rooms vacant was not a great sign. We were still struggling to get back to normal after the Sandy damage, no matter what the TV commercials told us about being âStronger Than the Storm.â I wasnât worried about making the mortgage payments, but the knowledge that college tuition was just seven years away could send me into a cold sweat at night.
Red as beets, walking slowly with fatigued legs, the Coburns nevertheless appeared to be the two happiest people on the planet. Tammy was from Grinnell, Iowa, she had told me, and she was getting a look at the ocean for the first time in her life. Don, whoâd moved to Iowa and met Tammy forty years earlier but had grown up in Avon-by-the-Sea, not far from Harbor Haven, just seemed tickled that she was so pleased.
They agreed that the Shore was the best ever (although Tammy really didnât have a basis for comparison) and went up to their room to shower and change before heading out to dinner. A lot down the Shore is different since the storm, but sand still gets into your clothes and hair.
Paul rose up from the basement at that momentâit was clear I just wasnât going to get much cleaning done this afternoonâwith a puzzled look on his face. âI tried to contact Detective Ferry, and as we suspected, he is not yet in contact, if he ever will be,â he reported. âIt would be much easier if everyone evolved the same way.â
âThe lack of rules really bothers you, doesnât it?â I asked him.
âA lot of things bother me,â he said. That was unexpected. Paul usually didnât do the passive-aggressive thing; that was Maxieâs territory. And sometimes my motherâs.
âWhat do you mean?â
He waved a hand. âNothing,â he said. âI am a little concerned, however.â
âWhy?â I decided to go into the kitchen in case any more guests arrived. The Senior Plus tourists are used to my conversing with people who arenât there, and since Iâd publicly declared the guesthouse to be haunted, Iâd been getting fewer âcivilianâ guests. Still, it can be unnerving to see your hostess talking to the ceiling or the wall, so I try to keep the kitchen a guest-free zone and conduct conversations with Paul and Maxie there.
Besides, since I donât cook, the guesthouse is not a bed-and-breakfastâno breakfastâso the kitchen is usually unoccupied.
Paul followed me. âAfter trying to contact Detective