Chapter 107: The Seniors

Rosalie’s soft opening depended heavily on people who had spent most of their lives running a private household, not a bed and breakfast, café, and bakery.

Nobody seemed particularly concerned about that until actual customers arrived.

For decades, Tomas Reyes had served as steward of the Vance ancestral home. He knew which contractor had repaired the east roof years ago, where Alejandro preferred his morning coffee, and which cabinet held table linens nobody had touched since Augustus was alive.

His wife, Angelina, had been part of the household almost as long.

And then there were the Shih Tzus, whose exact contribution to the household remained questionable but whose seniority was apparently enough to qualify them for inclusion.

The first problem involved Tomas.

He’d naturally been assigned to the counter because he was charming, impeccably polite, and considerably better with strangers than several younger members of the household.

The problem didn’t become obvious until the café filled up.

"One coffee and a ham sandwich, please."

"Certainly, ma’am."

Several minutes later, the woman received her coffee and a jam sandwich.

She looked down.

"I’m sorry. I ordered ham."

Tomas leaned slightly closer.

"Jam?"

"Ham."

"Oh."

He apologized immediately and replaced the sandwich.

Nobody thought much of it.

Then another customer ordered an oat latte and received a regular hot latte.

A coffee requested without sugar somehow arrived with sugar.

By then, Alejandro had started paying attention.

The final confirmation came from a gentleman standing at the counter.

"Tea, please."

Tomas nodded seriously.

"Three?"

The man responded politely.

"No. Tea."

"Three teas?"

"Just one tea."

Alejandro slowly looked up from the order pad.

Tomas caught him staring.

"What?"

"How long have you been having trouble hearing?"

Tomas frowned.

"I don’t have trouble hearing."

From beside him, Angelina said, "He said hearing."

"I heard him."

Alejandro stared at him.

Tomas stared back.

That answered the question.

Apparently, Tomas’s hearing had been declining gradually enough that nobody had noticed. His usual duties as steward rarely required him to understand people over clattering dishes, conversations from nearby tables, chairs scraping against the floor, and noise coming from the kitchen.

Around the house, he could simply move closer or ask someone to repeat himself.

Behind a busy café counter, apparently, ham became jam, oat became hot, and tea could somehow multiply into three.

"I can still work, sir," Tomas protested when Alejandro relieved him of counter duty.

"I know."

"I’ve been serving this family longer than Alexander has been alive."

"I know that too."

"Then why am I being replaced?"

"You aren’t. We’re finding you something else to do."

Tomas reluctantly accepted that.

His next assignment was the parking area.

That lasted less than an hour.

The estate had plenty of open space for vehicles, but the individual parking slots hadn’t been painted yet. Someone needed to guide arriving guests so they wouldn’t leave enormous gaps between cars.

Unfortunately, Tomas had never learned to drive.

"More to the left!"

The driver lowered his window.

"My left?"

"Yes!"

The car moved.

"No, the other left!"

The driver stopped.

Tomas reconsidered.

"Perhaps straight."

By then, it was hot and humid, the back of Tomas’s shirt was damp, and the parking arrangement was beginning to look surprisingly creative.

Fortunately, there was enough land that nobody actually ran out of space.

Alejandro eventually brought him back inside.

Parking lines immediately went onto the list of things they needed to fix.

With Tomas temporarily relieved of counter duty, Alejandro took over.

Tomas wasn’t pleased.

Angelina found this hilarious.

"You knew I couldn’t hear properly?"

"I’ve known for two years."

Everyone looked at her.

Tomas looked personally betrayed.

"Two years?"

Angelina continued preparing one of the short orders she’d taken charge of in the kitchen.

"You don’t listen to me."

"I listen."

She looked at him.

"What did I just say?"

Tomas hesitated.

Angelina nodded and went back to cooking.

Alexander found Tomas later, helping clear the veranda after the worst of the rush had passed.

"Tomas."

The older man looked up.

"Yes, Sir Alex?"

"I’m taking you to the city."

Tomas immediately became suspicious.

"Why?"

"To have your hearing checked."

"My hearing is fine."

Alexander raised his voice.

"I SAID I’M TAKING YOU TO THE CITY."

Tomas frowned.

"You don’t have to shout."

Alexander stared at him.

Tomas stared back.

From several feet away, Alejandro covered his mouth.

"We’re getting it checked," Alex said.

"I can still hear."

"I know. That’s why we’re checking instead of holding a funeral for your ears."

Tomas looked offended.

Angelina, who had apparently been listening from the kitchen doorway, laughed.

"You’re going."

If a hearing aid could help, there was no reason Tomas couldn’t eventually return to the counter. He’d actually been good with customers whenever he understood what they wanted.

He was patient and well-mannered, and his natural charm had probably been the only reason several customers accepted their surprise orders with considerably more amusement than annoyance.

The soft opening had uncovered one problem.

At least it had also given them a solution.

The Shih Tzus presented an entirely different problem.

The Vances’ dogs had spent most of their lives treating the ancestral home as unquestionably theirs.

Opening part of that home to paying guests hadn’t changed their opinion.

Every person who walked through the door apparently required greeting, while anything that smelled remotely edible demanded investigation.

By midday, age finally began defeating enthusiasm.

One Shih Tzu fell asleep beneath a chair.

Another stretched out near the hallway.

The oldest made it halfway toward a newly arrived family, apparently reconsidered whether they were worth the effort, and simply lay down.

Alexander became considerably more concerned when he caught a guest lowering a piece of food toward one of them.

"Sorry," he said quickly. "Please don’t feed them."

The woman immediately pulled her hand back.

"Oh. Is he allergic?"

"Not necessarily, but they’re all seniors. We keep track of what they eat."

Alex looked around.

Three elderly Shih Tzus had spent the morning circulating among people carrying bread, pastries, breakfast plates, and sandwiches.

Wonderful.

Apparently, they needed a dog policy.

He found a piece of paper and wrote:

PLEASE DON’T FEED THE DOGS.

Then added:

They have their own feeding schedule. Thank you!

Giovanni appeared beside him long enough to read it.

"You need a proper sign."

"I know."

"And somewhere they can rest when it gets busy."

Alexander looked toward the oldest Shih Tzu, who was currently snoring beneath a chair.

"He lives here."

"I know."

"Everyone else is visiting."

Giovanni considered that.

"Then make the guests behave."

"Exactly."

By the time the last customers began leaving, the dogs had completely given up.

One was asleep near the veranda. Another had somehow claimed the space beneath the café counter. At the same time, the oldest had returned to his usual corner and was snoring loudly enough to prove that at least one senior in the ancestral home had absolutely no trouble hearing himself.

Tomas, meanwhile, was helping Alejandro stack chairs despite repeated instructions to take it easy.

Angelina was still in the kitchen with Rosalie.

Apparently, being a senior member of the Vance household came with a complete inability to sit still.

The dogs were the only ones sensible enough to disagree.