Page 18 of The Newcomer
“You’re the only one who smokes outside this room, and you’re the only one who never heard of an ashtray,” Ava said.
“Okay, okay,” Jensen muttered. The chair creaked beneath him as he stood up, and he walked slowly back to his room.
Ava shook her head and sighed. She looked over at Letty. “Sorry about Oscar. Since his wife died, he’s gotten lazier and more ornery every year. Sue kept him on a pretty short leash, didn’t let him smoke or drink at all. You see what he’s like now. He pays in cash, right before he goes back home to Rochester every year. Arrives in January, leaves in May. I could probably ask a lot more money for that unit of his, but I just don’t have the heart to kick him out.”
“He doesn’t bother me that much,” Letty said. “I guess I could just keep my windows closed.”
“You doing okay otherwise?” Ava asked.
“We’re good, thanks. How come you’re doing the housekeeping?”
“Had another girl quit on me yesterday. No call, no show, nothing. That’s what it’s like this time of year. People can have theirpick of jobs. Somebody offers fifty cents an hour more, they take it, and they don’t look back.”
Ava hesitated for a moment. “I don’t suppose you’d be looking for work, would you?”
“I need to,” Letty admitted. “But what would I do about Maya?”
“You have any family living around here?”
“No.”
“There’s day care,” Ava pointed out. “The Methodist church up the street has a program. Some of our housekeepers have had their kids there.”
“I don’t think so,” Letty said. “Maya’s been through a lot. I can’t see myself leaving her with a bunch of strangers.”
“Here’s a thought,” Ava said slowly. “My Isabelle is in a baccalaureate program at the high school, and she’s a senior, so she only has classes for half a day. She’s back here every day by lunchtime.”
Letty had seen Ava’s pretty teenage daughter coming and going in the jaunty red Jeep that was parked near the motel office. The girl always waved and smiled when she caught sight of Maya.
“What would you want me to do?” Letty asked cautiously.
“Anything and everything,” Ava asked. “I reckon you’re probably more interested in an office job. Are you good with computers? Joe’s been after me to do more online marketing, and to put our reservations system online too. He even bought me the software, but I never have had the time to learn to use it—or maybe I’m just too old a dog to learn new tricks. Maybe you could start with that?”
“I wouldn’t say I’m a whiz or anything, but I used to work in real estate management up north,” Letty said.
“Hate to ask, but do you think you might also pitch in with the housekeeping? Just ’til I hire somebody else? I’ve still got Anita, thank God, but fourteen units is too much for her to manage by herself. She leaves by three every day, because her dad just moved in with her, and he’s pretty high-maintenance.”
It was Letty’s turn to ask questions. “Has Isabelle ever done any babysitting?”
“She used to watch my niece’s two hellions every summer,” Ava said. “To be fair, that was more like zookeeping than babysitting.”
“Won’t she mind you volunteering her to babysit Maya?”
“I promise you, she’d rather babysit than change beds and scrub toilets,” Ava said. “What do you think? You’d work for me however many hours a week you can manage, and I’ll cut you a break on the room.”
Letty’s mind was already doing the math. “What would I do with Maya in the mornings, while Isabelle’s at school?”
“Same thing I used to do when mine were that age,” Ava said, smiling broadly. “I’d sit them down in the office with a picture book, or a puzzle or some crayons. And yeah, some days they watched more television than they should have, but I don’t think it did ’em any permanent harm. Joe, he was class valedictorian, and Isabelle’s already been accepted to Emory, with a full ride.”
Letty felt her spine stiffen at the mention of Joe, the nosy cop.
“I don’t think your son likes me very much,” she said. “What’s he gonna think about me working for you?”
“Probably think it’s a terrible idea,” Ava said cheerfully. “At first. But he’ll get used to the idea, and he’ll get used to you. Anyway, I’m the boss around here, not him. What do you say? Do we have a deal?”
“Letty?”
Maya stood in the doorway of the room, naked from the waist down, clutching the stuffed elephant under her arm. “I think Ellie did pee-pee in the bed.”
