“Welcome wagon. Your grandmother told us you’d be coming.” Pixie Haircut thrust the basket toward them. “We brought you some goodies.”
“Thank you.” Maddie took the basket. “So you were friends of our grandmother?”
“Yep.” The third lady, who was medium height with a spikey haircut and an abrupt demeanor, gestured around the room. “We made sure the lights were on for you.”
“And we had the cleaning service come in to do the motel, and we had a room prepared for each of you.” The tall one looked at the windowsill and frowned. “Sorry if it’s a little dusty. We don’t exactly have top-notch cleaning people in town anymore.”
“But that’s going to change.” Pixie Haircut made a face. “Oh, how forgetful of us. We haven’t even introduced ourselves. I’m Pearl Flannery.”
The tall one came forward. “And I’m Rose Wisnewski.”
“Leena McCain,” the other woman said simply.
Jules got the impression she wasn’t one to waste words.
The girls introduced themselves, though the ladies seemed to know who each of them was anyway.
“How nice of you to come.” Jules peered into the basket. It was loaded with goodies: bread, pasta, peanut butter, even milk.
“Would you like to come into the kitchen for some tea?” Maddie asked.
The three ladies exchanged a glance.
“We’d love to.” Rose looked around the room, a wistful smile on her face. “We haven’t been in here in nearly thirty years.”
“Really? You guys have lived in town all this time?”
“Yes, we were good friends with your grandmother and want to extend our condolences for her passing,” Pearl said.
“Thank you,” all three of them murmured.
In the kitchen, Jules rummaged through the basket and broke out some shortbread cookies that looked homemade while Gina made the tea.
“Rose made the cookies. They’re her specialty.” Pearl took a crystal plate out of the cupboard and arranged the cookies on it then grabbed napkins from the basket and mugs and silverware from the cupboard and drawers. Apparently she was familiar with where things were kept in the kitchen.
“Did you guys spend a lot of time in here with Gram?” Jules asked.
“Oh yes. The four of us were always together back in the day,” Rose said.
“We’re going to miss her terribly,” Pearl added.
“So, what do you girls plan to do with the motel?” Leena asked bluntly.
“We were just talking about that. Gram’s will states that we have to try to make a go of it, and I think we’ve agreed.” Jules glanced at her cousins.
Maddie nodded enthusiastically.
Gina shrugged.
“We were just making a plan.” Maddie pointed to the day planner that lay open on the table.
“A day planner. That’s very organized of you.” Rose looked at Maddie over the rim of her mug. “We could really use someone like you here.”
Jules frowned. What did they mean by here? At the motel? Maddie was already at the motel.
“The problem is…” Gina’s tone dripped with pessimism. “We don’t have any money to fix up the hotel, and the town is a ghost town.”
The welcome-wagon ladies seemed to consider that. “That may be true, but we have an idea for the town. It will be easy to bring the town back. All we need is a bit of interest to bring tourists.”
