“That’s not what I think,” Meredith said in a teasing voice. “I think you’re waiting for the invitation from Jonathan and Elena, and every day it doesn’t arrive you wonder all over again if they’re still engaged.”
“That’s not what I was thinking,” Shelly said. Meredith’s surmise was only half true. She did wonder every now and then if Jonathan and Elena were still together. But she didn’t think about it every single day.
The airline’s business had picked up over the holidays, and Shelly had worked a full schedule in both November and December. Her bank account was in the pink again, which meant it was a shade above red. Because of her hectic flying schedule during November and December, Shelly hadn’t found much time to relax, let alone to feel sorry for herself or to ponder the state of Jonathan and Elena’s relationship.
However, now that January had brought a slower schedule, Shelly was afraid the loneliness and restlessness would drive her crazy.
“I think I need a hobby or something,” she said. “I don’t have enough to do, and I’m certain I won’t be working many hours until the summer. Do you want to take a tole-painting class with me?”
“What would we tole paint?” Meredith asked, carefully turning the marshmallows in the fireplace.
“I don’t know. What about ballroom dancing? Didn’t you always want to learn to dance?”
“Where are you coming up with these?” Meri asked.
“The community college adult electives classes. We received a catalog in the mail today for next semester’s classes.”
“Here,” Meri said, holding out the skewer. “Take the top two. Careful.”
Shelly extracted the gooey wads of toasted sugar and popped one in her mouth.
Meredith put her marshmallows back in the fire. “Did I tell you I saw Mr. Hadley today at the mailbox? He said the camp needs a new dining room hostess, and if we know anyone, we should tell him.”
“Exactly what is a dining room hostess?” Shelly asked, licking her sticky lips.
“Did you ever meet Emma Jane? She was the hostess for years. She would coordinate the setup for the different groups that came in and make sure everything ran smoothly at mealtime. I think she ended up doing a lot of their welcoming, too. When the conferees arrived, she would check them in and give them maps and keys to their cabins.”
“Sounds like a fun job,” Shelly said.
“Why don’t you do it?”
“Me?”
“Sure. Just until they can hire someone. Especially if your flight schedule for the spring is going to be as sparse as you say.” Meredith pulled her browned marshmallows from the fire and looked at them with approval. “Perfect.”
“I hate to admit this, but that’s not such a bad idea. I can walk to work, wear whatever I want, and eat camp food.”
Meredith laughed. “You’ve forgotten the biggest bonus. I almost considered taking the position for this reason.”
“What’s that?”
“Their weekend single men’s retreats!” Meredith lifted her skewer triumphantly. “You take the job, tell me when some fine specimens of God’s creation are checking in, and I’ll come over to set tables or something.”
In spite of all the joking, Shelly ended up taking the job. Jack Hadley said he understood about her sporadic schedule, and the camp was just glad to have her for whatever hours she could spare. His wife said she would fill in during the times Shelly had to fly.
The first two weeks the camp had two outdoor education groups come in back to back. The first week one hundred-twenty sixth-graders descended on the camp from the public school. They spent four days and three nights at the conference center. During the day they were taught science lessons regarding the trees and wildlife in the area. At night, they were the wildlife in the area. For the second group, the counselors kept tighter control of the kids, and the nights were much more peaceful.
Shelly’s duties were easy enough for her to finish in a few hours each day. She checked with the cook on the meals and gave him the number of campers to expect. She saw to setting the tables before each meal and made sure everything was cleared at the end of the meals.
During those two weeks, Shelly flew once. She streamlined and mastered the workload in the dining room and then asked Jack Hadley if she could take on a few other projects around the conference center. He was thrilled and gave her an open invitation to jump in to coordinate the hospitality area.
Shelly found that she was in her element. She designed a tea-and-coffee cart that could be set up at the back of the meeting rooms for the adult conferences. It met with immediate success at the first couples’ weekend conference. Jack called her into his office Monday morning. A middle-aged, balding man, he always wore knit vests. Shelly suspected his wife knitted them for him.
“I realize this may be way out of line,” Jack said, “but I want to at least ask. Would you consider coming on staff with us full-time? We could give you a combined job description that covered all the areas in which your talents lie. I was thinking of something like Hospitality and Facility Coordinator.”
Shelly hadn’t expected his offer and pulled back. She knew conference centers were not known for their abundance of funds for employees. Sometimes workers even had to raise their own support to work on staff. Since finances had been tight as it was with the airline position in flux, to join the staff of a camp was a scary thought.
“I’ve penciled out a benefits package for you,” Jack said. “We can discuss this, of course, and make whatever adjustments might be possible. All I ask is that you give it some prayer, and let’s meet next Monday at the same time. How does that sound?”
“Okay,” Shelly agreed, taking the paper from him. She considered telling him right then and there that her answer would have to be no. While she loved helping out part-time, she had never intended this to be her occupation. “I’ll give it some thought,” she said instead.
“Fine.” Jack got up and saw her to the door of his cramped office. “We’ll talk next Monday.”
Shelly couldn’t help but think he could use his space much more efficiently if he put in floor-to-ceiling bookshelves on the long south wall. A four-drawer filing cabinet instead of the short two-drawer would make more sense and would help clear the counter of all those stacks of files.
What am I doing? I’m already trying to coordinate the facilities! I’d better get out of here.
Shelly finished up her paperwork for the kitchen staff and went home. Meredith was busy working in her loft office so Shelly quietly settled in their one comfortable living room chair and took a closer look at the papers from Jack. The salary offer was lower than the amount she would receive for working eighty-five hours a month for the airline. She had expected that. Other benefits were being offered, though, that she hadn’t expected.
The Tulip Cottage was owned by someone on the camp’s board of directors. If Shelly joined the staff full-time, the cottage’s rent would be waived. That would save both Meredith and her a big chunk each month. Medical and dental coverage was included in the package, and meals were always available to her in the dining hall. To anyone else, that last point might not have been much of a perk, but ever since Shelly had become more active, her voracious appetite had returned, and she was eating constantly. The free meals could actually save her more than a hundred dollars a month.
The offer wasn’t looking so ridiculous after all. She would know when she was going to work every day, which had been the biggest drain on her at the airline. She would do what she loved, and she would be around lots of people. Besides, it wasn’t likely she would be scheduled for a full eighty-five hours of flight time until summer. Her total hours for January had been seventeen.
Folding the paper and looking out the window into the forest, Shelly wondered if this might be exactly what she needed. She could hear Meredith on the phone with her publishing house in Chicago discussing a project for a series of three children’s books about a couple of squirrels who lived under
a hydrangea bush. Meredith sounded quite enthusiastic about the proposal she had received and was saying she wanted to see the author before offering the contract. Apparently it fit within her travel plans and budget, because she ended the conversation by saying, “Terrific! I’ll make the plans and let you know what happens. Talk to you later. Bye.”
Meredith came downstairs wearing wool socks, her fluffy slippers, and a thick chenille robe over her pajamas. A purple headband held back her short, straight blond hair.
“Dressed for success, I see,” Shelly teased.
“I love my job,” Meredith said, wadding up some newspaper and stuffing it into the fireplace. “Is it me, or is it cold in here?”
“It’s cold.” Shelly still had on her thick jacket from when she had walked over from the camp. “Snow is predicted for tonight. Wouldn’t that be great? We haven’t had much snow this winter.”
“We’d better chop some kindling then,” Meredith said.
“I’ll do it. I have some time. The group doesn’t arrive at camp until dinner. And guess what!”
Meredith stacked the wood inside the fireplace and lit a match to the newspaper. “I give up. What?”
“Jack offered me a full-time position at Camp Autumn Brook. He even said they would customize it. And get this: If I went full-time, our rent would be zilch.”
“You’re kidding!” Meredith fanned the flickering sparks and tried to coax the fire to get going. “That would be fantastic. If that happened, I would cover all the utilities because I’m the one using the electricity around here. I was thinking of that the other day. You shouldn’t have to split the cost since it’s my computer and fax machine that are using up all the electricity. Last month your portion of the phone bill was under ten dollars.”
“Pathetic, isn’t it. I have no friends to call.”
“Oh, stop it,” Meredith said. “The truth is you’ve been too busy to call your friends.” She turned her backside to the fire and tried to warm her hands. “So are you going to take the position?”
“I’m thinking about it. I might be able to stay on reserve a few more months and work full-time at the camp, too.”
“I don’t know how you could swing that, but more power to you if you can. Do you want something to drink?” Meredith padded into the kitchen and put a kettle of water on the stove. Picking up a basket from the counter, Meri came back into the living room. “Did you make this up?”
“Yes. I was trying to figure out what would work best at the camp.”
The basket was filled with an assortment of tea bags and packets of hot cocoa, hot apple cider, and instant coffee. The look was colorful and appealing.
“I didn’t like the way they put out the boxes of generic tea and big canisters of cocoa at the break times,” Shelly explained. “I picked up twelve of those baskets in town on clearance at the hardware store. I also found a distributor who will supply us with the individual packages of hot beverages at the same cost we were paying for the industrial-sized generic stuff. The only catch was that we had to buy five big coffeemakers from them, too, which was no problem because we needed them.”
“Sounds like you scored some points there,” Meredith said, filing through the packets. “This is fun. Kind of like a little treasure hunt.”
“I also found a couple of steel carts in the storehouse, and I fixed them up, covered them with lace tablecloths, and set them up in the back of the two main meeting rooms so people could take coffee breaks in there.”
“I thought last week you said the linens were ancient.”
“They are,” Shelly said. “I decided to work with what was available and go with the old-fashioned look. I bleached all the stained white tablecloths, and then I soaked them in tea to make them look like antiques. Now the unraveling places look charming rather than ratty.”
Meredith laughed. “You are a nut! No wonder they love you. How do you think up all these things?”
“I don’t know. I guess I think if people are paying to get away for a few days, they like to feel a little pampered. I think of them as the first class passengers on the plane. When first class boards, we hang up coats, help store carry-ons, and bring everyone something to drink. They’re offered their choice of reading material, and anytime they want something more to drink, it’s available.”
The teakettle whistled. “Do you want something?” Meredith asked.
“Is there any Constant Comment tea in the basket?” Shelly asked.
“Yep.”
“That’s what I want. With a little honey.” As soon as Shelly said that, an idea occurred to her. She needed to add an accoutrement tray to the coffee carts. It wasn’t in the camp budget, but maybe she could run to town and buy some cartons of flavored coffee creamers and a squeezable honey bottle. She would use her money and try it with tonight’s group as an experiment before pitching the idea to Jack. The camp was expecting a group of 125 women tonight, who would stay until Wednesday. Shelly tried to estimate how many cartons of creamer she would need to buy.
“Here you go,” Meredith said, handing her a mug. “I brought you a spoon because the honey all sank to the bottom.”
“Thanks. This is great.” Shelly outlined her idea to her sister, and Meredith laughed some more. It was her sweet, affectionate laugh, the one that enveloped others in her gentle spirit.
“No wonder they want you to work for them full-time, Shelly. This could actually be your calling in life. Who would have guessed? The wanderlust girl finds contentment in her own backyard. It’s not an original plot, but it’s always a favorite.”
“You sound as if you’re evaluating my life the way you critique your manuscripts. This isn’t pretend. It’s a huge decision.”
“Oh, I know,” Meredith said, curling up close to the fire. “I didn’t mean for it to sound flippant. I honestly think you would love to work at the camp. It’s evident they’re crazy about you.”
Shelly sipped her tea and let Meredith’s comment sink in. That’s what she had been longing for. Whether she knew how to express it or not, Shelly Graham desired with all her heart that someone, somewhere in this world would be crazy about her. She wanted someone to think she was wonderful. Was that what she had secretly wished for all this time? Someone to pursue her?
She never would have guessed it would be Camp Autumn Brook’s proposal that would light this fire within her. A place, rather than a person? She had a lot of thinking to do.
Chapter Twenty-Two
With a burst of inspiration, Shelly spent the afternoon going all out to prepare the facilities for the women’s group that was scheduled to arrive at five. She instructed the kitchen staff to set the tables with linen for dinner. Usually they created a nice meal for the last night, but Shelly convinced them that first impressions were everything; so the first night should be the most impressive.
Shelly pulled out all the fancy hurricane candleholders and inserted fresh candles in them. She brought in an armful of cut evergreen sprigs to decorate the huge fireplace’s mantel in the lodge.
On her run to the store, Shelly picked up the honey and coffee creamers along with three boxes of Andes Mints, which she used as party favors by sprinkling them around the tables. A last minute search in the dusty storage closet produced several bags of silk flowers that Shelly rinsed off and laid out to dry on the counter in the camp kitchen. Within twenty minutes she had whipped up a trailing ivy vine dotted with rosebuds, and five mixed bouquets that she arranged in some cheap glass vases the cook provided for her. The vine worked nicely down the side of the tea cart, and the bouquets were placed throughout the dining hall to add spots of color.
Shelly was lighting the last candle on the dining room tables when Emma Jane, the former camp hospitality coordinator, stepped into the room.
“What’s going on here?” she asked. Emma Jane was a large woman who wore her hair wound in a tight gray bun on the very top of her head. She was as fluffily round as a pillow and had always run the camp in an institutionaliz
ed, efficient manner. Having suffered a minor stroke a month earlier, she had been advised by her doctor to retire two years earlier than she had planned.
“We have a women’s group arriving any minute,” Shelly explained. “Looks pretty, doesn’t it? I wanted to make a nice first impression.”
“This isn’t how we do things here,” Emma Jane said. “Does Mr. Hadley know you’ve done all this?”
“No, but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. He has turned over a lot of the decision-making to me.”
Emma Jane grew red in the face. “I told him I’d be coming back to work as soon as I got better.”
Shelly didn’t know what to say. It wouldn’t do for the arriving conferees to be spectators to this conflict. “Why don’t we go in the kitchen,” Shelly suggested.
“I have to go to the lodge to start checking the campers in when they arrive.”
“Actually, we changed the procedure. The women will come here first and have dinner. Our guys will unload all the suitcases off the buses and into the lodge for the conferees. Then the women will have an hour to check into their rooms before the evening meeting. It seemed a calmer way to start their retreat.”
Emma Jane looked flabbergasted.
“May I get you something to drink?” Shelly offered.
“No,” the woman snapped. “And don’t think I don’t know about your coffee baskets. You can’t fritter away the camp’s money like that, and you know it. You haven’t heard the last of this.” She turned and strode from the dining room with clomping steps.
As the side door slammed shut behind Emma Jane, the front doors of the dining room opened wide. The voices of many women suddenly filled the room. Shelly rushed to the door to welcome the ladies. “Please come in and make yourselves comfortable. Sit anywhere you like. Welcome. Hi, nice to have you. Come in, please.”
One of the camp maintenance guys had met the bus and had followed Shelly’s instructions, informing the women to proceed directly to the dining room.