The Hotel Nantucket (19)

Edie laughs and Kimber rolls her eyes. “He’s obsessed. He brought a travel chess set with him, of course, but he accidentally left it at the Connecticut welcome center and it was a river of tears all the way up I-95. I hope you like children, because we’ll never get him out of here. He’ll sit at that chessboard all summer.”

Edie laughs again, though a little less enthusiastically. Louie is able to drag Wanda over to the chessboard while Edie waits to hear what “thing” Kimber is talking about.

When the children are out of earshot, Kimber says, “I was hoping I could pay cash.”

“Cash?” Edie says. The woman is booking a room for four hundred dollars a night for eighty-one nights and she wants to pay cash?

Kimber drops her voice to a whisper. “I’m in the midst of a divorce, so both of my cards have been frozen because they draw on joint accounts, yada-yada. I have cash, but I won’t be able to give you a card, I’m afraid.”

Edie blinks. Who in the year 2022 is crazy enough to think she could check into a luxury hotel without a credit card?

“The charge won’t go through,” Edie says. “We just put a minimum hold on it, fifty dollars per night.”

Kimber Marsh says, “What I’m telling you is that it’s not going to work, the card will be declined.” She clears her throat. “We tried this already at the Faraway.”

“Ah,” Edie says. The Faraway is a fairly new boutique hotel in the center of town. If the Faraway didn’t let Kimber Marsh check in without a credit card, then Edie obviously shouldn’t either. But…she knows it’s the hotel’s mission to distinguish itself from the other luxury hotels on the island. Why shouldn’t they accept cash? Cash is money. But then Edie recalls the unspoken-but-understood reality of the hotel business: Guests lie. Their relationship with you—meaning the hotel staff—is temporary, so they feel they can say whatever they want. How many case studies did Edie read at Cornell about handling sticky situations with guests? Dozens—and yet none exactly like this. Her ex-boyfriend Graydon would probably say that Kimber Marsh was trying to pull a con, using her children as a smoke screen. She says she has cash, but what if she doesn’t? And even if she does, is she just going to hand over a stack of bills?

Edie needs to speak to Lizbet.

“I’ll just be one second,” Edie says. She pops into the back office and calls Lizbet’s cell, but it goes straight to voice mail. Ugh. She remembers that Lizbet is giving a tour of the property to the couple from Syracuse checking into room 303 and shouldn’t be interrupted. Every guest is a potential influencer.

Alessandra comes back into the office. “You’re letting those guests wither.”

Wither, really? Edie thinks. She’s been gone less than sixty seconds. “I need to speak to Lizbet.”

“Why don’t you let me take over their checkin since you’re not comfortable doing it.”

“I’m comfortable,” Edie says. She brushes past Alessandra, goes back out to the desk where Kimber Marsh waits. Edie hears Louie say, “Checkmate.” He starts setting the board up again while Wanda sinks back into the armchair and opens her book. “I really need to speak to my GM before I okay this,” Edie says.

Kimber Marsh leans in. “My soon-to-be-ex-husband left me for my nanny.” She emits a short, bitter laugh. “It’s such a cliché, but the reality is, I lost my spouse and my help. Craig and Jenny are spending the summer together in the Hamptons—Jenny just found out she’s pregnant—so I wanted to take my kids away rather than let them stew in the cauldron that is New York City. But not having a functioning credit card is an issue, I realize this.” She pauses. “What if I give you the first week in cash with an extra five hundred dollars thrown on top for incidentals?” She sighs. “Can you work with me? Please?”

Left her for the nanny? Edie thinks. Who’s pregnant? Of course Edie can work with her. This poor woman needs her help. Kimber Marsh wants her kids to have a fun summer, and Edie is going to make that happen (and maybe win the thousand-dollar bonus for her superlative service!).

She hears Alessandra’s bracelets but she doesn’t look over. She slides two key cards across the desk. “I’ll discuss your payment options with my GM, but for now, let’s get you settled in your suite.”

Alessandra clears her throat.

“Do you have luggage?” Edie asks.

“Yes, the gentlemen out front…” Kimber checks behind her. “There’s quite a lot of stuff. I think they’re just unpacking the car.”

“And they have Doug!” Wanda reappears, though Louie has made himself comfortable over at the chessboard.

“Excellent,” Edie says. She has no idea who Doug is; maybe a stuffed animal, maybe an imaginary friend. “I can’t wait to meet him. Since the bellmen are busy with your luggage, I’ll show you the way.” At this point, Edie has no choice but to turn to Alessandra. “I’m just showing the Marsh family to their suite, I’ll be back in a moment.”

Alessandra’s smile is glacial. “Of course.” And then to Kimber: “Enjoy your stay and let us know if there’s anything we can do for you.”

No sooner does Edie emerge from behind the desk than Adam walks in with the luggage trolley, filled to the tippy-top with bags. Adam catches Edie’s eye and says something under his breath that Edie doesn’t hear and, based on his tone and facial expression, probably doesn’t want to hear. A second later, Zeke English, who graduated from Nantucket High School two years ahead of Edie and who is so smoking hot he makes Edie feel kind of dizzy, comes into the lobby with a dog on a leash—a lean and muscled blue-brindled pit bull. Edie knows the breed because Graydon, her ex, had a pit bull named Portia. This dog, who is wearing a black muzzle, pulls Zeke along, its nails skating across the rare wormy chestnut floors of the lobby.