too busy taking reservations, managing the housekeeping staff, and pulling together tidbits for Nina’s newsletter. Nina’s readings had picked up.
“Darling, I’m exhausted. Just ground to pencil dust!” If she wasn’t giving a reading she was recovering from one. “So much negativity!” she’d exclaim.
“Nothing Metamucil can’t cure,” I’d mumble out of her hearing.
Nina and I disagreed on this point. It’s not that I don’t believe in spirits, I do. But I just thought that the folks who’d come to Nina needed to try a laxative first. They may be full of evil spirits. Or they may be full of something else.
Out of the blue, Nina said, “Darling, my cousin’s not coming back. She’s moving to New Zealand with her new husband.”
Nina was calm when she said this, which surprised me. I expected a “Oh, my Goddess!” or something like it.
Her eyes, through a pair of cranberry-red eyeglasses trimmed in rhinestones, probed my face.
“Have you ever thought about going into the inn-keeping business, Juanita?”
Yeah, I had . . .
In true Nina-style, she did not give me time to answer.
“You’d be mah-va-lous here, just mah-va-lous. I did the cards last night. We’ll be partners. You manage the inn part of the business, I handle the psychic stuff, and we share the rest. What d’you say?”
“Wait up, Nina!” She was talking ten miles a minute. Business? Partners? “You’re goin’ way too fast, girl. I don’t know nothin’ about running a business.” I thought about Jess’s receipts and spreadsheets and appointments with the accountant in Missoula. Me, I just wanted to cook.
“It’s nothing!” Nina exclaimed, with a snap of her ever-changing nails now polished a tangerine shade called “Tropical Orange Freeze Punch.” “You’d pick it up just like that!”
“But what about your cousin?”
Nina shrugged and a tinkling sound filled the room. Nina wears armloads of bangle bracelets, long dangling earrings in her double-pierced ears, and tiny little silver bells on her ankle bracelets. You can hear her coming and going. When she breathes, it sounds like a choir of wind chimes with cow bells keeping the beat.
She gave me a look that was very un-Nina like. It was steady, unblinking, and wise.
“I’ve offered to buy her out,” she answered in a calm, low-pitched, businesslike tone. “My attorney’s drawing up the papers. If she accepts, the deal could close by the end of May.”
She pushed a very thick heavily printed document across the desk toward me. I didn’t try to read it. Except for the numbers that followed the dollar sign.
“You’re the best thing that’s happened to me since tarot cards, darling,” Nina continued. “Reservations are up, the word of mouth has been very productive, and your inventory control enhancements have markedly improved the bottom line. A fifteen percent savings on food alone! I just needed someone to keep things organized!”
Inventory control enhancements? Bottom line? Who was this woman?
“But I can’t operate the hacienda by myself,” she continued. “Once I get the buyout wrapped up, I want you to work with me.” Nina’s four-tiered chandelier earrings danced around her swanlike neck. “You have the talent, darling, and a real aptitude for this work.”
I slid the intimidating papers back to her.
“You want me to work for you? Take Butterfly’s place as the cook full-time?” That didn’t surprise me. I am a good cook and Nina’s guests seemed to agree, the few times any of them had eaten enough food to count for anything.
Nina’s answer surprised me.
“Noooo, darling, not as the cook. Weren’t you
listening
? As my
partner.
My spirit guide, Ramona, says it’d be a good idea for us to go into business
together.
”
Well,
namaste,
darling.
Ever hear people talk about their lives turning upside down? You would think that my life flip-flopped like that when I left the Midwest and ended up in Montana. Or that it
“Darling, I’m exhausted. Just ground to pencil dust!” If she wasn’t giving a reading she was recovering from one. “So much negativity!” she’d exclaim.
“Nothing Metamucil can’t cure,” I’d mumble out of her hearing.
Nina and I disagreed on this point. It’s not that I don’t believe in spirits, I do. But I just thought that the folks who’d come to Nina needed to try a laxative first. They may be full of evil spirits. Or they may be full of something else.
Out of the blue, Nina said, “Darling, my cousin’s not coming back. She’s moving to New Zealand with her new husband.”
Nina was calm when she said this, which surprised me. I expected a “Oh, my Goddess!” or something like it.
Her eyes, through a pair of cranberry-red eyeglasses trimmed in rhinestones, probed my face.
“Have you ever thought about going into the inn-keeping business, Juanita?”
Yeah, I had . . .
In true Nina-style, she did not give me time to answer.
“You’d be mah-va-lous here, just mah-va-lous. I did the cards last night. We’ll be partners. You manage the inn part of the business, I handle the psychic stuff, and we share the rest. What d’you say?”
“Wait up, Nina!” She was talking ten miles a minute. Business? Partners? “You’re goin’ way too fast, girl. I don’t know nothin’ about running a business.” I thought about Jess’s receipts and spreadsheets and appointments with the accountant in Missoula. Me, I just wanted to cook.
“It’s nothing!” Nina exclaimed, with a snap of her ever-changing nails now polished a tangerine shade called “Tropical Orange Freeze Punch.” “You’d pick it up just like that!”
“But what about your cousin?”
Nina shrugged and a tinkling sound filled the room. Nina wears armloads of bangle bracelets, long dangling earrings in her double-pierced ears, and tiny little silver bells on her ankle bracelets. You can hear her coming and going. When she breathes, it sounds like a choir of wind chimes with cow bells keeping the beat.
She gave me a look that was very un-Nina like. It was steady, unblinking, and wise.
“I’ve offered to buy her out,” she answered in a calm, low-pitched, businesslike tone. “My attorney’s drawing up the papers. If she accepts, the deal could close by the end of May.”
She pushed a very thick heavily printed document across the desk toward me. I didn’t try to read it. Except for the numbers that followed the dollar sign.
“You’re the best thing that’s happened to me since tarot cards, darling,” Nina continued. “Reservations are up, the word of mouth has been very productive, and your inventory control enhancements have markedly improved the bottom line. A fifteen percent savings on food alone! I just needed someone to keep things organized!”
Inventory control enhancements? Bottom line? Who was this woman?
“But I can’t operate the hacienda by myself,” she continued. “Once I get the buyout wrapped up, I want you to work with me.” Nina’s four-tiered chandelier earrings danced around her swanlike neck. “You have the talent, darling, and a real aptitude for this work.”
I slid the intimidating papers back to her.
“You want me to work for you? Take Butterfly’s place as the cook full-time?” That didn’t surprise me. I am a good cook and Nina’s guests seemed to agree, the few times any of them had eaten enough food to count for anything.
Nina’s answer surprised me.
“Noooo, darling, not as the cook. Weren’t you
listening
? As my
partner.
My spirit guide, Ramona, says it’d be a good idea for us to go into business
together.
”
Well,
namaste,
darling.
Ever hear people talk about their lives turning upside down? You would think that my life flip-flopped like that when I left the Midwest and ended up in Montana. Or that it
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