Del turned to Olivia and Emily.“Good afternoon, ladies. And who is this?”
“This is Heather, my cousin,”Olivia answered.
“Nice to meet you, Heather.”Del gave her a warm smile.
“We were talking about the hotel yesterday, and Emily here works at the history museum. Knew some interesting facts about the hotel, so I invited them to come see it,”Barry explained.
“I’ve seen you working at Parker’s, but you work at the history museum, too?”Del’s eyes lit up.“And you know about the hotel?”
Emily nodded.“I’ve been researching it some while I’m working at the museum.”
“Ah, that’s fabulous. I found a whole storeroom of albums and memorabilia from days gone by here at the hotel. I’d actually been planning on a kind of history of the hotel with photos and displays in the library room off of the lobby.”
“Oh, that’s a cool idea.”Emily nodded enthusiastically.
“I need someone who’s interested in…well, to sort through everything and put things together for the room. Is that something you’d be interested in?”
“Are you kidding? I’d love to do that.”Emily practically hopped up and down.
Donna smiled at Emily’s eagerness and energy. The girl did love her history.
“That’s perfect. I could show you the room now, then you could come and sort through things when it fits in your schedule. I know you must be busy with two jobs and school.”
“We can adjust her workload at Parker’s so she has time for this,”Donna assured him.“I’m sure it’s something she’d really enjoy.”
“I’ll pay you a fair wage, of course.”
“You’ll pay me to do it?”Emily’s eyes widened.“Heck, I’d do it for free. It’s so cool.”
They all laughed and Delbert smiled.“Of course, I’ll pay you. And it will be nice to have someone with knowledge of the hotel that I can ask questions of. Let me show you the room.”
“I’ll be back, Mom. Okay?”
Olivia nodded and turned to Donna as Emily and Del walked away.“Well, that’s a job right up Emily’s alley. She’ll be thrilled to sort through all those pieces of the past.”
“Well, I’m grateful. I know Del had all that in storage and I was hoping he wasn’t wanting me to sort through it all. Much better someone who knows a bit about the town and the hotel.”Barry turned to her.“You sure you can spare her from Parker’s? I hate to steal her way.”
“We’ll be fine,”Donna said.
“Mind if Heather and I go upstairs and peek in some of the guest rooms?”Olivia asked.
“Go right ahead. The ones on the top floor are mostly finished. The second floor, not so much.”
“Okay, thanks. We’ll be back soon,”Heather said as she and Olivia hurried off to the main stairway.
Barry turned back to her.“Want to poke around or sit and enjoy the view?”
“Let’s sit for a few minutes.”She sat down on the top step of the wide wooden porch and Barry settled beside her.
“Going to put some Adirondack chairs out here and a few gliders. I want this porch to be a place people can sit and chat and drink and just enjoy the view.”
“I predict this hotel will be a smashing success when it’s opened again. I’m glad Del bought it and is giving it the care it deserves.”She glanced down the long porch, noticing random new planks put down here and there. The workers had been busy fixing things up.“I’ve missed the hotel. Missed coming here. And Moonbeam is always grateful for another attraction to bring people to town. Tourism keeps the town going.”
“I hope it is successful. It was a shame to let this fine place just sit empty.”
“Not to mention the clamoring that had started to tear it down.”She sighed.“But it couldn’t just stay here empty forever.”
“Well, now it won’t. We just need to finish the rehabbing and she’ll be open again and filled with people.”
