“What’s that? Spoken for by who? That’s outrageous. Trudi and I have been coming here longer than anyone else here at the Surf. We should have first priority.”
“That’s actually not how it works around here. I’ll let you know if anything else comes available, but in the meantime, maybe you better tell Trudi she can stop packing.”
Letty waited until he’d stomped angrily out of the office. “Wow. He didn’t even wait an hour before coming in here to demand the Bronsons’ unit. And Harry is his best buddy. That’s what I call cold.”
“He’s used to getting his way,” Ava said. “But unfortunately for Merwin, I’m not so easy to bulldoze anymore.”
Letty craned her neck to see the Murmuring Surf sign out by the road. “Who did you rent the Bronsons’ unit to? I didn’t even see the vacancy sign lit up until just now.”
“I thought I’d move you and Maya over there,” Ava said. “After all, it’s paid for until after Easter, and that little efficiency you’re in is way too small a space for you to be trying to raise a child. The good news is, since you cleared out the old storage room and it’s a viable room again, I can easily rent it at market rate.”
A slow smile spread over Letty’s face. “For real? You’d let us move into the Bronsons’ unit? That place is twice the size of ours.”
“You’ve earned it,” Ava said. “I honestly don’t know how I’ve been running this place all this time without you. I called Anita, andshe’s going to come in early today to turn their unit. You should be able to move over there this afternoon.”
“But what about Merwin? Won’t he be pissed you’re letting me have the Bronsons’ room?”
“You let me worry about that old goat,” Ava said. “In the meantime, why don’t you run back over to your place and take some photos of it all neatened up and cute? The sooner we get it listed on our website, the sooner I can get it rented for the rest of the season. I’m always getting inquiries from singles who want a smaller, cheaper efficiency.”
Lettyrolled her suitcase across the threshold of unit 11, stopped, and exhaled. The tile floor sparkled and smelled of Pine-Sol. She was standing in the combined living and dining room, which held a sofa, armchair, and coffee table, as well as a table with four wooden chairs. A counter-height bar separated the dining area from the compact kitchen alcove, with a full-size refrigerator, stove, and dishwasher. On the other side of the room, an open pocket door revealed the bedroom, with a queen-size bed, a double dresser, and a closet. She poked her head in the bathroom, which had obviously been updated. The white tile floor gleamed, as did the combined tub and shower.
“Look, Letty,” Maya said, pointing to the far side of the bedroom, where a small rollaway bed was made up with fresh linens and a pink flowered bedspread. “That’s where I sleep!” She ran to the bed and placed Ellie on the pillow. “Ellie sleeps here too!”
The very best aspect of their new home was a set of sliding glass doors that let out on a tiny courtyard garden.
Letty opened the sliders and stepped out onto the courtyard. The space held a pair of wrought-iron patio chairs with a small table between them, but every other inch of free space was a lush green garden.
Harry Bronson’s hobby was in full flower. A pair of tall potted palms were planted on either side of the low garden gate, and otherpots held blooming hibiscus plants, a fragrant gardenia shrub, and feathery ferns. Huge staghorn ferns grew from boards that had been hung on the fence, which was nearly covered with sweet-smelling jasmine. Pots of blooming white and pink orchids hung from the low branches of a shade tree. There was a dwarf citrus tree whose limbs drooped with almost ripe lemons, and there were terra-cotta pots growing parsley and chives, and cherry tomatoes in various stages of ripening.
“You like it?” Ava stood in the doorway with a bundle of fresh towels in her arms.
“I can’t believe we get to live here,” Letty said, gesturing toward the patio. “I didn’t even know we had a space like this.”
“We’ve got three courtyard units, but this is by far the nicest. And that’s because of Harry. He grew a lot of these plants from seed in his greenhouse back home, and the rest he bought at a nursery down here. Every year he added something new.” Ava pointed to a small concrete birdbath in the shape of a seahorse in the right corner of the garden. “He just bought that birdbath last month.”
“I’ve never had a garden before,” Letty said. “Unless you count a Chia Pet. I don’t know how to take care of any of this. What if I kill it all?”
“You won’t.” Ava handed her two sheets of paper. “Harry left you detailed instructions. I’m not supposed to tell you this, but it was his idea to move you over here. He knew some of the others would be lining up to get this unit, and he thought you and Maya should have it. He didn’t say as much, but I think this is his way of thanking you for saving his life.”
“I didn’t save his life,” Letty protested. “Joe’s the one who got the ambulance here, and the doctors at the hospital did the rest. All I did was give him some aspirin.”
Ava arched an eyebrow. “Are you saying you don’t want this place after all?”
“No! I mean, yes, I want it, but I don’t exactly deserve it. That’s all I’m saying. And thank you. Thanks so much, Ava.”
“You’re welcome. Just don’t kill the lemon tree, okay? I count on those for my iced tea.”
Lettyuploaded the last of the photos of the efficiency unit onto the Murmuring Surf’s website and allowed herself a tiny, self-congratulatory pat on the back. Even she had to admit the efficiency had undergone an amazing transformation. She’d convinced Ava to replace the nasty old shag carpet with a boring but unobjectionable indoor-outdoor carpet thatalmostlooked like seagrass. With Ava’s permission she’d painted the battered dresser and the mismatched nightstands with a homemade chalk paint she’d created with a quart of flat turquoise enamel mixed with non-sanding grout mix from the hardware store.
Letty had “borrowed” from Maya’s stash of seashells and hot-glued them in a mosaic pattern around the frame of the dresser mirror.
Then she’d raided the motel’s linen supply and found four white cotton chenille bedspreads, and used clip-on curtain rings to transform three of them into drapes, while the fourth bedspread was actually used for its intended purpose.
There wasn’t much she could do with the dated dusty-pink bathroom except scrub the tile and style the photos with a pile of folded towels on top of the closed commode and a vase of hot-pink hibiscus blossoms plonked into a water glass on the sink.
“Okay, done!” she said, closing the lid on the laptop.
She poured herself a glass of wine and took it out to her new patio garden. Isabelle and Maya were baking cookies together at Ava’s, so she had a rare and precious hour all to herself.
