Page 28 of Manors & Mischief

It makes me smile a little, but everything has been coming at me all at once lately. Calls and texts from my family back home. The repairs on the house. Me having so many ideas that I don’t know what to run with, and I don’t just want to run with the ideas of what I think will make me money. I want to be genuine. Despite the jab I got from Devon, I really am honored to be in Harvest Falls, and I don’t want to mess it up.

“But really, how do you do it?” I implore. “Like financially. Everything.”

Rose sits back, her foot pushing her back and forth in the rocker. “I’m a little lucky in that the B&B has been an established business for years. I have many of the same clientele as my grandparents did. They remember staying here with their parents, and now they’re bringing their kids and grandkids. In that way, it’s uncomplicated, and I am absolutely pleased when it happens, but that doesn’t mean I still don’t have to work to get new clientele. If I could give you one piece of advice, it would be to diversify.

“Sometimes, it’ s not enough for me to be only a B&B now. I have to hold festivals, I have to show up at local business meetings and make sure people don’t forget about us, I have to offer new things like the tiny van we purchased last year to give our residents free shuttles into town. It’s those kinds of things that stick with people now. It’s always learning. Always growing.”

I rub my temples.

Rose sets her coffee cup down, and it clatters a little on the plate. “I can see how stressed you are. Do you want to talk about it?”

“How much time do you have?” I echo back her earlier sentiment.

“As much time as you need,” she answers.

I search my feelings, discarding the more personal stuff with my family and decide if Rose is willing to listen to me talk about Sleepy Hollow Manor, I’m going to let her. “At the moment, I think my main hang up is that I’m so indecisive that it’s killing me. I want to be on the Haunted History Tour. I want to throw the Ball. I want to have a Children’s Haunted House. I want, I want, I want.”

“But ideas are good! Sometimes I’m racking my brain for ideas. The fact that you have ideas is amazing, so let’s celebrate that.” She picks up her coffee cup, holds it out to me, and I clink my mug with hers.

“Okay, I like that. Thank you. I guess a lot of ideas is better than none.”

“Exactly! And what’s holding you back from doing all of them? Yes, they’re ambitious, especially as the new owner, but if you can handle it, do it. The town will help you. Every time I come into a meeting and talk about having a festival, other business owners are willing to jump in to support because if I do something, it helps everyone. Then when they get an idea, they loop me in.

“You talked about the Haunted History Tour, do it. Let people see all the new work you’ve done to the place. Show off the front of the house, make people interested. If people see that you’ve been putting work into it, trust me, word will spread around here. We’re all a bunch of gossips and we don’t even realize it. That’s your task number one.”

Wow, I like her. Apparently, I need someone to tell me what to focus on first. Haunted History Tour, got it.

“While at the tour, whether you plan on doing the Children’s Haunted House or the Ball or both, have some signage there. Tell people about it. Get them excited. You can’t pass up an opportunity to shove what you’re doing in people’s faces. I’m sure Bea will let you put something up at the café too.”

“Speaking of Bea,” I interject. I pick up my mug and point to it.

She smiles. “It’s her coffee, yes ma’am. We have an agreement that I stock her coffee in all the rooms, and in return for promoting for her, she gives me a wholesale discount. I also have someone run to the bakery every morning, and I serve my guests whatever good thing she has and make sure I tell people all about it. We’re all about helping each other here. I even sell Bea’s coffee in the tiny gift shop.”

Hope fills my chest again. Just these twenty minutes with Rose has done wonders for me and my morale.

“You mentioned the haunted house?” Rose taps her chin, her gaze drifting off toward the beautiful scenery. “I have an idea,” she finally says.

I lean forward. I’m so interested I could burst.

“What if… Okay, hear me out. What if we do a haunted house trail? Let me explain this better. Parents bring their kids to Sleepy Hollow Manor for your haunted house. They get a little postcard with all the other businesses in town who are participating. They get it stamped or something once they go through it. Then, they come to my little haunted house. I’ll have to think about what to do. They get their card stamped. And so on, and so on. Once they go to all the haunted houses, they get a little gift at the end and maybe a special children’s party that we can get the mayor to throw. She loves this kind of stuff. All the kids can attend the party, but if they attend all the haunted houses, they get a bigger prize.”

“I. Love. It.” I can’t even keep the smile from my face. This is exactly the kind of thing I hoped for. The kind of reception and camaraderie I wanted to receive. “You are an angel, Rose.”

“It was your idea!”

“Hardly.”

She waves me away. “You just have to learn to think a certain way when it comes to Harvest Falls. It will come to you. I think you’re going to do a lot for this town, Ember. You just don’t realize it yet.”

Rose and I put our heads together and start thinking up ideas and who else would possibly want to participate when the solid thud of a footstep sounds on the bottom step of the porch.

Rose lifts her head. Eventually, a full smile claims her face. “Hey, Dev.”

My stomach falls. Dev? Really? I peer up and my fears come true when Devon Lachey is standing on the bottom step. It’s been a week since the Bonfire, and I haven’t talked to him since. I even stopped making him lunch every day. It kills me to do it since I’m genuinely a nice person, but I won’t waste my energy anymore. If he wants to be a bully, he can do it to someone else.

“Miss Hathaway.”

She stands up to greet him, giving him a hug. “It’s room five.”