Conquer

Chapter 5

It will be fine, Lillian said to herself. John seemed nice and he had invited her to take a look at the motel. She wasn’t shaking but there was a ball of anxiety just lying in her stomach. The drive was relaxing her a bit, but not much. The Grand Rock Motel sat a few minutes out of town. It was quiet here Lillian noticed. She parked the parking lot next to a gray Ram pick up truck. It seemed to be the only other vehicle in the parking lot.

Lillian noticed that the door to the motel office was opened. John stood behind the counter concentrating on a large ledger with a frown.

She knocked lightly on the door frame as she walked in,

“Be right with you,” John said, not looking up.

“No problem,” she said.

A smile filled John’s eyes when he looked up and saw Lillian.

She knew she would have to move in order to have him give her the tour. Keeping a smile on her face, she moved forward and stopped at the counter. Was it obvious how nervous she was? If John noticed he didn’t give any clue. He just continued to smile.

“You said to come if I ever wanted a tour. I hope you don’t mind me dropping in?” Lillian said.

John moved from behind the counter and went to Lillian’s side, “Of course not. I was just looking over the books. I can do that later. There hasn’t been much business today, so I should have plenty of time. “

John swept his arm in a dramatic circle. “This is the office where I plan your magical stay.”

He walked with her behind the desk and, with a hand lightly on the smal of her back, he ushered her into the back room. Lilian thought that all the spells occurring here were short ones. A small wooden desk, oak she thought, stood in the middle of the small room with a computer, in and out box and a cup for pens and pencils sitting on its surface. A row of three file cabinets lined the wall behind the desk. A brown leather love seat stood against the wall next to the door. The floor was a gray tile. The desk sat on a round, red carpet.

Lillian smiled, “If you have a computer why do you have filing cabinets?”

John smiled sheepishly, “I admit to being a bit anal, if not outright paranoid. If anything happens to the files in the cabinet they can be replaced by the files on the computer. I don’t know. My father always kept a hard copy of everything. It took Mom ages to convince him to get a computer, even when it got difficult to do business without it.”

“Look,” Lillian said, “I think the kids are so lucky these days. I had to hand write every essay and story and pass that in. Kids now can type their stuff. “

John giggled and led her onto the step outside of the office. Doors for the different rooms line this long step. I unlocked room one and they entered.

Quaint was the only word Lillian could have come up with. The room itself was small. A double bed dominated the room. Sitting beside it was a round night table with two drawers. A white lamp sat on top. A dark bureau stood against the wall at the end of the bed. A green carpet covered the floor with a black square pattern. Lillian could see an empty closet on the wall beside the bed. To her right at the door was a small bathroom with a tub.

Lillian walked to the night table and opened the top drawer. She took out the King James bible and turned to John with a smile. “Just like I expected,” she said.

“It's a staple for any hotel/motel room,” John grinned back, “The rooms are basically identical, so “grand tour” was possibly a bit ambitious.”

‘It’s a find business,” Lillian said finally really relaxing.

Her stomach tightened a bit with his next words. “How about some lunch?”

“Sure,” she answered.

“Your car should be fine here,” he said, “I’ll just get my keys.”

As she followed him to the office to get his keys, Lillian breathed in order to relax again. He didn’t seem to notice. John retrieved his jacket from the chair behind the counter it was draped across. He put it on and felt the pocket, presumably for his keys. They walked out to his truck and got in. He started the engine and they were off. Jeffery’s was almost empty, and they found a booth rather easily. One of the two servers walked over and handed them menus.

“The special is Turkey soup with a Turkey and dressing sandwich,” she said.

John looked at Lilian inquiringly. “Sounds good,” she said.

“Two specials please, “ John said.

The waitress wrote down their order and went to the kitchen.

“ Is it actually just a staple in a motel room, or do you want to keep a little religion in your guest’s lives?” Lillian asked.

“A little of both really,” John answered,”The King James Bible was in every motel room I stayed in as a child. But, I am as bothered as Father Green about religion being taken out of schools.”

“It is a shame,” Lillian said.

“You’re not going to avail yourself of the services of Grand Rock then?” John said and grinned.

“Linda’s is really comfortable until I find my own place,” Lillian said.

“I spend a lot of my days puttering around and changing the linen regularly. All twelve rooms are rarely filled.”

“Twelve rooms. Twelve vacancies,” Lillian quoted “Psycho” which made John grinned again.

“I moved the motel closer to the highway to get more business. I figured that it would attract people to Grand Rock,” John said, “So what’s your story, Lillian Dwyer? What brings you to Grand Rock.”

Lillian hesitated, wondering how much, exactly to tell him. “A bad break up. I need to find out who I am and who I want to be.”

“A small place will help you do that,” John said, “The next General Meeting will be at the Town Hall on Monday. Will you be going?”

“Yes, I will be registering my business, Party Time Event Planning, on Monday. I want to get a feel for the town and what I have to work with. A general meeting should be a good way to start.’

“It should be,’ John said.

The waitress brought over two steaming bowls of Turkey soup and two scrumptious looking sandwiches. Lillian and John realized they had forgotten to order drinks and asked for two lemonades. The waitress set their food down and nodded. She walked off to the kitchen. They busied themselves getting the first bites of their soup and sandwiches.

Lillian discreetly looked up to John. His red brown hair caught the lights of the restaurant. She loved thin men. She concentrated back on her soup and sandwich so he wouldn’t notice. It was nice, though, to admire a man again. A tightness went through her stomach,and it wasn’t tension this time.

The soup was hearty and perfectly seasoned. Large pieces of turkey and vegetables filled the fragrant broth. Obviously it was home made. Lillian closed her eyes and savored the fantastic flavor. Homemade bread, large slabs of turkey and delicious dressing made an amazing sandwich. She munched and her and John’s eyes met. She smiled shyly.

A young teenage boy saw her and John and got up from his table where he was eating, presumably, with his family. He had a piece of paper in his hand and walked purposely to their table.

The boy moved his dark brown bangs from his eyes and cleared his throat softly, “I don’t mean to disturb you Mr. Sheppard,” he said when John looked up, “but I was wondering if you would like to sponsor me for the run-a-thon Father Green is holding tomorrow? For the Parish School, you know.”

John smiled, “Lillian this Harvey Young. Harvey, this is Lillian Dwyer. She just moved to Grand Rock.”

Harvey smiled a shy smile, “It’s very nice to meet you Ma’am. I didn’t introduce myself because I didn’t want to take up too much of your time.”

“That’s fine, Harvey,” Lillian said with a smile, “A run-a-thon? That sounds like fun.”

“It should be,” Harvey said, “I can’t wait.”

John took the paper from Harvey, “I’d love to sponsor you. I’ll even see you there tomorrow. “

“I’ll put in a bit too, “Lillian said and reached for the paper when John was done. Harvey smiled when they had given their pledges.

“Thanks,” he said,” It was nice to meet you Ms. Dwyer.”

As Harvey went back to his parents John smiled. “I love seeing kids get involved with anything, but this especially. You know, the run-a-thon could use all the volunteers it can get. Are you doing anything tomorrow?” John asked.

“Nothing that I can think of,” Lillian answered.

“If you would like to volunteer I can pick you up? I’m only there on Apple Grove Road.” John inquired.

‘Hey, that’s only two streets over from Linda’s,” Lillian said. She beamed at the thought of getting involved with an activity in town. “I’d love to. “

They finished their meal and chatted animatedly. Finally John signaled for the server.

She came over and John paid her leaving a tip. She smiled and thanked them both.

In his truck Lillian said, “Well, it won’t be hard to pick something to wear for tomorrow.”

“Just make sure it’s warm. It’s supposed to only go up to 6. The kids will be running, but for the rest of us…” he trailed off.

“As long as it just stays cold,” Lillian said, referring to the erratic weather that often occurred in this part of the province.

“One can only hope,” John said.

They drove in a comfortable silence until John parked in front of Linda’s house. Before she could even reach for the door latch he had gotten out and opened her door for her. He walked her to the front door. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” he said and, with a small wave, turned and went to his truck.