CHAPTER 5
“Iwant to ring it, Mama!” Charlotte pulled on Sara’s arm, and she bent down to lift her daughter up so she could reach the small silver bell that sat on the counter.
“That’s good.” Sara set her back down after she’d hit the bell several times in a row.
Trevor eyed the front sitting room of the B&B suspiciously. “Are you sure this is a hotel?”
“It’s a bed and breakfast.” One that Sara hoped would have a vacancy.
“So you come here and get a bed and breakfast?” Trevor did not seem to share his mother’s desire.
“Yep.”
Sara craned her neck to see if she could detect any movement toward the back of the house. There was a sign above the bell that said Ring for Service, which both she and Charlotte had done, but she wasn’t sure if anyone had heard it. So she called out, “Hello!”
“When can we go to the haunted castle?” Trevor had been begging to go to the attraction since Deb had mentioned it being haunted.
“Not today, maybe tomorrow.” Today, she wanted to go down to the lake and see the exact spot where the picture of her Grandma Betty had been taken.
Plus, if they went to the “haunted” castle this early in the game, Sara would lose any leverage to ensure that baths were taken, bedtimes were smooth sailing, and backtalk was kept to a minimum. Bribing your child may be frowned upon in some parenting circles, but it had always worked like a charm for Sara. Her kids already outnumbered her two to one, so she would take any advantage she could get.
She’d written several popular blogs about that very subject. She’d had an overwhelmingly positive response, but the backlash was equally impressive. Whenever she’d discuss the “trolls” as her sister called them, Shelby would remind Sara that she never claimed to be perfect, thus the tagline, figuring life out one f word at a time.
Her sister was very proud of herself for that one.
“Well, hello there.” A slender, cheery older woman appeared from the hallway. “What can I do ya for?”
“Hi, I was wondering if you have a room available.” Sara internally crossed her fingers, toes, arms, legs, and eyes that the answer was yes.
The woman sucked in a breath through her teeth as she cringed. “Actually, this week has been booked solid for the past eight months. What with the festival and all.”
Sara’s heart sank like the Titanic. Now she had to find somewhere else for them to stay, which could prove difficult since this wasn’t a sprawling metropolis. However, the real reason this news had affected her so much was that she wouldn’t be staying in the place her Grandma Betty had. For some totally illogical reason, she’d blindly believed that she would. Fate, and all.
She should’ve known better. This was her life, not a fairytale, even if the entire town was themed as one. And if there was one thing she was used to dealing with, it was disappointment.
Pasting the brightest smile she could manage, she took Charlotte’s hand. “Okay. Thank you anyway.”
“But,” the rail-thin woman said loudly as she lifted her hand holding up her pointer finger. “We had a last-minute cancellation just an hour ago, so there is a room available.”
Way to bury the lead.
“There were actually two, but the owner just blew into town, so it’s down to one.”
Sara briefly wondered what the deal was with the ‘blowing into town’, it was the same term that Deb had used, but she quickly recovered. “Oh, okay. Great. I’ll take it.”
She was going to stay at the same place Grandma Betty had stayed. Maybe her luck was changing after all.
The woman moved behind the counter and pulled out a book with the word Reservations printed in bold letters on the front. “I’m Karen, by the way. Karen Carpenter, not the singer.”
The smile that Sara had pasted on her face was now there with no effort at all. “Hi, I’m Sara Kellan, and this is Trevor and Charlotte.”
“Well hello, Trevor and Charlotte. It’s so nice to meet you.”
“Got the washer fixed,” a tall, imposing man barked as he walked behind Karen.
“Whoa…” Sara heard her son whisper beside her.
Not acknowledging his comment, Karen nodded in the man’s direction. “And this is my husband. Sylvester, not the cat.”