Mary #46

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46

Elizabeth took a pill.  “After all the excitement, I’m going to go lie down upstairs.  I’m so happy Mary.  We’ll be back together again.  This will be some adventure we’ll be going on together.”

“You bet.  Have a good rest” and they both hugged. 

Mary watched Elizabeth slowly go up the stairs.  She worried about her friend holding up during all of this but she hoped having something else to concentrate on besides the cancer would be of help.

Mary went back into the kitchen and decided to wash the dishes.  She thought about what she was going to do about her apartment.  Luckily, her lease was up the first of January.  She would have to go back before then and pack up her stuff and figure out what she would want to bring here.  She decided she would miss some of the nightlife in New York but she had also longed for the quiet of where she was born. 

She would miss Sadie terribly.  She would have to tell her soon.  Then she thought if Sadie had a hard time finding a job, maybe she would want to come and help with getting the B&B started.  

When she was done with the dishes she wrapped up the cake and put it in the fridge.  She grabbed a cup of coffee and went into the living room and saw Elizabeth sitting on the couch. 

“Hey, aren’t you supposed to be in bed?”

“I couldn’t sleep.  I’m way too excited.  What do you think about us working on the B&B?”

“I thought we were going to save that for something to do during your treatments?”

“Mary if you want to start renovations after the holidays we have a lot of research to do.  We’ll have plenty to figure out still at my next treatment” she said excitedly.

“I’ll get my notebook.”  Mary found the notebook. “Where do we want to start?”

“I was thinking about a name for the place?  When I was in bed and couldn’t sleep, I came up with something.  Do you want to hear?”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me” and she laughed.  “What name did you come up with?”

“Jenkins Place” Elizabeth said.  “Doesn’t it sound perfect?”

“That sure would be a nice way to honor Pa and Ma.  I bet they would like it.”

“I thought that too.  We could have a hand painted sign.  We could have one of the local artists paint something up with the name and flowers on it.  Or we could have the artist do a couple of sketches and we can pick the best one.”

“It sounds like a plan.  What’s next?”

“Have you ever stayed in a B&B?”

“No.”

“It seems like there are two kinds.  One the owner doesn’t live in the place.  They are there when the customers come and then they give them a key so they can go in and out as they please. The owner comes back in the mornings for breakfast.  Some places we went, it was a continental breakfast.  Other places we went, the owner made a big breakfast; bacon, eggs, pancakes, waffles.  You get the idea.  Then the owner is there at check out.

The other kind I’ve seen is the owner lives in the home all the time.  It seems like it would be kind of awkward always having strangers around all the time.  The owner must keep all the valuable stuff in their bedroom and they have a lock on the door.  The place we stayed at though it didn’t seem to bother the couple.  They were very friendly people and enjoyed having others around.  Also, I guess people will be in and out all the time.  What do you think you would want to do?”

“Yikes I’m not positive but I would guess maybe at first I would want to stay here.  Since this will be new to me, I’d be a little leery about letting strangers stay here themselves. I suppose I could take Pa and Ma’s room because I could fit more stuff in there for my private area.”

“Yeah, if you decided eventually you wanted to move out you could come stay with me.”

Mary’s phone started to ring and she picked up “Hello..She’s doing pretty well…Wait I’ll ask her.”  Mary took the phone away from her ear putting her hand over it and whispered “It’s Eli.  He’s going to pick up a pizza and wanted to know if he could stop by and share it with us.  What do you think?”

“That’s fine with me.  I’m a little hungry.”

“Okay if you’re sure” and Elizabeth nodded. 

Mary put the receiver to her ear and said “That would be great.  We haven’t eaten supper yet. Half hour. Okay, we’ll be here.  Thanks.  Bye.”

“We better freshen up” Elizabeth said.

“Yeah companies coming” and they both giggled as they went up the stairs. 

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