The regular cycle of check-ins and check-outs never seemed to get easier, no matter how many mornings I faced behind the sideboard counter of Petunia's foyer, a smile plastered on my face and staff hurrying behind me with food from the kitchen and Mom's capable hands to the dining room while Daisy handled the annex and the phone rang and my text line blew up all while I did my best not to lose my mind and go completely psycho.
The endless line of tourists passing through the door on the way to the street felt like a treadmill that then deposited brand new faces that blurred together with the old as my next set of guests arrived. No complaints, no complaints.
No complaints, Fiona Fleming.
As I waved to a nice seeming couple who mirrored every other nice-seeming couple who'd stayed at Petunia's in the last three years while trying to maintain that sense of freshness that ensured the next set of smiling folks who landed in front of me got my very best.