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“Do you know if one of the delivery guys used the downstairs bathroom?”
“I’m not sure,” I replied. “There were a bunch of people coming and going, and I couldn’t keep track of all of them.”
She let out a disgusted breath. “Well, the toilet’s all backed up.”
Yuck. Probably one of the last things you wanted to deal with on the eve of your wedding day. “Do you have a plunger?”
“No,” she said. “We’ve never needed one before now.”
Hazel, who’d just finished setting out her little palette of watercolors, looked over at us and said, “I have one at my Airbnb. It’s a lot closer than having to run over to Walmart.”
And definitely closer than having to drive to either Hazel’s or my house, both of which were located outside Globe’s town limits.
Victoria raised an eyebrow. “I thought Selena’s new assistant was staying there.”
“She is,” I said, even though Victoria had been addressing Hazel rather than me. “But she’s at work right now, watching the shop for me. Why don’t I call her and see if it’s okay if I can go borrow it?”
Because it made much more sense for me to run the errand, since Hazel was busy with painting the cover of the reception book, and Victoria really needed to stay put to intercept any other deliveries that might arrive today.
“Oh, would you?” Victoria asked, looking much relieved. “I really need to know if it’s something that can be fixed easily, or whether I need to call a plumber. We’ve only got the one bathroom downstairs, and I can’t have it out of commission with a house full of people coming over tomorrow.”
“Not a problem,” I said, and went over to the spot where I’d left my purse on the kitchen counter so I could get out my phone and make the call. The phone rang twice, and then Melanie picked up.
“Once in a Blue Moon.”
“Hi, Melanie,” I said. “It’s Selena. I wanted to know if it was okay if I popped over to your Airbnb and got the plunger from the bathroom. It’s kind of an emergency.”
“Um…sure,” she replied, sounding a little startled. “I think it’s tucked behind the toilet.”
“I’ll find it,” I told her. “How’s everything going at the shop?”
“Just fine,” she said. “Quiet so far. Do you need me to meet you over there?”
“No, it’s okay,” I replied. “Hazel still has a key, so I’m going to use that.”
Maybe there was the faintest pause as Melanie appeared to absorb my reply. Had she forgotten that she hadn’t signed a real lease on the cottage yet, and therefore of course Hazel would have a key?
Hard to say, because after that very brief hesitation, Melanie said, “Oh, sure. Then yeah, go ahead and get it. I hope that will solve your problem.”
“Me too,” I said. Considering everything else Victoria was juggling at the moment, she really didn’t need to deal with a plumber’s bill — assuming she could even get someone out here that quickly — on top of everything else.
I thanked Melanie and ended the call, then turned back toward Hazel. “The key?”
“Right here.” She set down her paintbrush and dug a set of keys out of her jeans pocket. “It’s the one with the fox design on it.”
Sure enough, all of Hazel’s keys were as colorful as the palettes she used in her paintings, with flowers and rainbows and, as described, an adorable pale blue one with an orange fox head on it.
“Got it,” I said. I glanced over at Victoria and added, “I’ll be as fast as I can.”
“Thank you so much.”
I told her it wasn’t a problem, then hurried out and got into my Renegade. Technically, the cottage was within walking distance from Victoria and Archie’s house, but that would have taken twice as long as driving, and time was of the essence.
Hazel’s Airbnb looked just the same as it always had, although some flowers in the beds were starting to appear a little tired, as if they knew their winter sleep was coming up fast. Keys in hand, I mounted the front steps and went inside.
Although I’d spent plenty of time here before she moved in with Chuck, something about the place felt different now. It could have been that some of her personal artwork had been removed from the walls and replaced with more generic canvas prints, but I thought it was something more than that, as if the essence of Hazel that had once existed here was now long gone and nothing had ever taken its place, since the cottage had seen a not-quite-steady stream of vacationers since she left.
But at least it looked neat and clean enough, and I was glad to learn that Melanie wasn’t secretly a slob or something. True, there were worse character traits, but I’d always had a kind of a low opinion of people who trashed hotel rooms or apartments, and basically showed disdain for the places they were renting.
