“Brownie, singular,” Renee confirmed. “I’ve never heard of a household having more than one.”
Naomi frowned, trying to remember what she’d read of brownies, which wasn’t much anyway. And they were just fairy tales anyway, she’d had no idea they were real. “They do work in the house, cleaning and so forth, in return for milk and… cakes?”
Renee regarded her with approval. “Very good. Yes, they’ll also help out in the field and the barn, if so inclined. But they don’t accept any other type of gifts, especially clothing.”
“Yes, but, I thought they were a Celtic thing?” Naomi ventured, perplexed. “At least, I have some kind of vague recollection that they were a thing in, like, Scotland, I think. What is a brownie doing in America?”
Renee gave her deep chuckle. “Well, it’s not like I could ask him.” She paused, a thoughtful look on her face. “I suppose I could try, if I happened to see him. Usually they disappear when they hear people approaching, but I’ve caught a glimpse of him now and then. We simply assumed he had come across from Europe with the original owners of the Inn.”
“They also do mischief if I remember?” Naomi ventured, still dredging up memories of childhood books.
“Yes, playful mischief, nothing malicious unless they feel disrespected,” Renee said. “They have a great deal of pride.”
Naomi was aghast. “I’d never speak of them disrespectfully! Who would?”
Renee shrugged, and turned back to the door. “There are all kinds of people, Naomi. But I guarantee, if someone speaks wrong of a brownie and suffers their retaliation, that person will not make that mistake again.”
Chuckling, Naomi followed Renee into the hallway. “I suppose not.” She turned toward the staircase. “I’d better go shower and start getting ready.”
Renee paused, looking over her shoulder. “Ah, yes. Are you excited about your first day at work?”
Naomi nodded. “Yes. I’m a bit nervous, but excited at the same time. Starting this job, it’s like it’s really the step into my new life, you know? I don’t know how to quite describe it.”
Renee came to her, resting a hand on her shoulder. “I do understand. You’ve felt like you have been simply marking time, and the new job is the first step back to a normal, day-to-day life.”
“Yes! That’s it, exactly. Also, I love libraries,” she confided. “The hushed atmosphere, the smell of books and bindings, the shuffle of feet, the scraping of chairs.”
“I never thought of it quite like that,” Renee admitted. “I always assumed the draw was the books themselves.”
“Oh, it is,” Naomi assured her. “But that’s only part of it. It’s the feel of it, the overall experience that begins when you walk in the door. There’s nothing quite like a library… well, unless it’s an old used bookstore!”
Renee joined in her laughter, and with another pat of Naomi’s shoulder, turned and disappeared into the dining room.
An hour later, Naomi regarded herself in the mirror. Freshly showered, dressed in a classy light grey pantsuit with a pinstripe, and a cream-colored silk shell beneath the tailored jacket, her feet in comfortable loafers, and pretty golden hoops in her ears, she was ready. Her hair was pulled back in a simple French braid.
“Well,” she told her reflection. “Here we go. It’s the first day of the rest of your life.”
Feeling rather triumphant,Naomi parked her car behind the bed and breakfast nine hours later. She was a little tired, but that didn’t dim her happy glow from a successful first day at work. What’s more, she planned to celebrate! Liam had the evening shift at the clinic tonight, so she was on her own. She could, of course, call one of her new friends, Jacinth, or Katerina, or Tamera, but they all had significant others, and except for Beth, she’d been on her own for so long, it was kind of nice to have some alone time.
So she was doing her own Girl’s Night Out. To that end, she’d swung by a big craft store on the way home to pick up a pretty little wicker basket.
No one was at the front desk when she came through the lobby loaded down with her purse, laptop bag, the basket, and a tote full of books she’d checked out from the library. Because, you know, all the books she’d picked up on Saturday weren’t enough. She snickered, remembering the look on Liam’s face when he’d walked into the hotel room and seen all those stacks of books. Hesitating at the bottom of the staircase, she redirected her steps toward the lounge. From the small buffet table where beverages and snacks were available at all hours, she chose a selection of Renee’s amazing cookies, as well as a pear and a bunch of grapes to munch on while she read. She tucked these into the basket, and made her way upstairs.
The first thing she did when she let herself into the room was go to the fireplace and turn on the flames to begin warming the room up. Since she planned to treat herself to a long, hot bubble bath, she didn’t want to get chilled when she came back to her room. She knew, because she had checked, that while some of the guest rooms had full bathrooms, those that didn’t had the half bath like she did, with a simple toilet and sink. So, this early in the evening she wouldn’t be disturbing anyone by hogging the shared bathroom down the hall, with its claw-foot tub. Going to her wardrobe, she pulled out a pretty lounge set of flannel-backed satin, laying them out on the bed. She’d splurged and bought these when she’d first arrived in New York, her life in Florida not having prepared her for the colder fall and winter weather here.
Into the wicker basket she arranged her bath goods. By now she had a fair collection… bubble bath, bath salts and bombs, scented soaps, even a loofah. The basket would make it easy to carry them to and from the bathroom, not to mention it looked attractive. She sat back, inspecting it with a sense of satisfaction. Oh! Rummaging in her purse, she pulled out her phone, making sure her playlist of gentle, relaxing music was loaded up and ready to go. She put the phone in the basket, gathered her thick flannel robe and slippers, as well as a plush towel from her bathroom, and headed down the hall.
It was almost an hour later that she made her way back down the hall to her room. Besides being as limp as overcooked spaghetti, she was also pruny, her skin wrinkled from being submerged for so long. But she was infused with a marvelous sense of well-being, not to mention smelling wonderful and all aromatic from her cherry blossom bubble bath. Now she thought about it, she’d go to the mall this weekend and buy a bunch more of the bath goods, and make up a care package to send Beth; her twin deserved long, relaxing bubble baths, too.
Going into her room, she slithered on the bed, melting into the mattress, laying there a few minutes, simply enjoying being in the moment. For the next part of her plan, she was going to order a dinner to be delivered from a local Italian restaurant, and hang out with her books, and read and relax all evening. Good plan.
She’d just sent in her order and was about to set her phone down, when it chirped at her. She hesitated… this was her alone time, after all. But looking at the screen, she saw it was Liam calling, and she hurried to swipe to get the call.
“Hey!” She said, pulling her feet under her as she sat up on the bed. “What’s up?”
“Didn’t you say you had Thursday off this week?”
“Well, half day,” she amended. “Because I work on Saturday.”
