Chapter Twenty-One

It was officially opening day of the motel. All the hard work had finally paid off. We were doing this.

The rooms were half booked. That was intentional on my part. I wanted to be sure that the people who came the first month or so got the best experience possible, and going straight to fully packed didn't sound like the way to do that. We were still trying to figure out how things would run once people were here. We knew the tasks that had to be done each day, and we were even able to divide out who would do which ones. But until we actually had people here, knowing how long all of that would take was all in the hypothetical.

Thia was dressed in her favorite tutu and crown. She was also wearing bunny ears and holding a wand nearly as long as her torso. I wasn't even sure where Ripley had found it, but she adored it. It made noise when she swished it and lit up if she swished just the right way. According to her, it was the perfect wand.

"I'm ready to greet them with fairy dust."

"And by fairy dust, you mean?" If she was going to say glitter, I was going to have to break her heart. Most people, once their ages reached double digits, tended to see glitter as a nuisance. I didn't understand it. I was one of the few over twenty who saw how wonderful glitter was. But it wasn't only me that we had to worry about, it was our guests. And if they were covered in glitter, our reviews weren't going to be covered in great words, that was for sure.

"No. It's pretend fairy dust." She shook her head at me like I should've known better.

"Oh, in that case, carry on."

Car wheels crunched in the driveway and we could hear the rumbling sounds of an unfamiliar engine. Someone had arrived.

Thia ran to the door. "They're here! They're here! They're here!" She jumped up and down.

I don't know who she thought they were, if it was any one of our guests in particular or just a random person she was excited to hear from, but she was right. Somebody had pulled in, and they were getting out of their car. It was a single person, and he carried a little overnight bag with him and a small suitcase.

Thia opened the door wide. "Welcome to our motel." She pretended to throw fairy dust on him. "Now you'll be able to see the fairies."

"Excellent." He squatted down. "Can I tell you a secret?"

She nodded enthusiastically.

"I always wanted to see the fairies."

She squeed the way that only she did, a mix of enthusiasm and joy.

He stood up and came in. "Hi, my name is Lachlan. I'm here to check in for the week."

"Oh, very well." Lachlan was some kind of a big cat, but I wasn't exactly sure which. I wasn't the best at scenting what animals people were, but he for sure wasn't a panther like my mate. Maybe a cougar or mountain lion, or I didn't even know, but for sure a cat. "Welcome. Let me get you all checked in."

During the small talk, as we did all of the paperwork and ran the credit card, I learned that he was in town looking at getting a job. I wasn't exactly sure what job that could be, since there weren't really that many around, but I wished him well and told him that he was welcome to come to any of our firepit nights or into the lobby for coffee in the morning. And that we would gladly arrange for him to have food delivered or a small fridge if he needed one. And by delivered, I meant we'd get it.

He thanked us and went on his way, and then another car pulled in, and another. Zeus came out to help people to their rooms, Thia continued to welcome everyone with the ability to see the fae, and Ripley stayed outside.

He was in the garden, being set up for people to hang out if they wanted to. He also had local touristy kinds of information for anyone who was interested in that.

Check-in went smoothly, incredibly smoothly. Even the internet played nice enough for our credit cards to go through the first time. All of our hard work had paid off.

"We're done here for the night." I grabbed the walkie-talkie, which should signal if someone came in the office door looking for us…in theory. It hadn't been tested yet, the right batteries just getting there this morning. "What do you say? You bring me out back and show me some of the fae?"

"Okay." Thia didn't sound too sure of that, and it was when I reached the gardens that I saw why. It wasn't just Ripley that was in the garden. It was a bunch of our friends from the town, including our friends from the Grizzly. He hadn't been setting up for guests at all, or at least not fully.

"Surprise!" they all yelled.

I looked around. They were throwing me a party. A party celebrating the first day of my motel-owning dream coming true. There was cake and sodas and places to sit set up. But more importantly than all of that, there were our friends from the Grizzly. They were all here to celebrate our special day.

"Thank you." Tears clouded my eyes. "When I came here, it was for a job, but it's become so much more. This place and all of you in here, you've become my family."

Maybe this was that "glorious pack" I used to dream of after all.