The Hummingbird

The intruder turned halfway, pausing at the sight of a fully-loaded water gun, and raised his hands up. “I’m intruding? Last I knew, the owner of this property had passed away,” he said, cocking an eyebrow.

“Oh, so you thought you could come and go as you pleased?” Delilah mirrored the intruder’s facial expression, wondering what his game was. “I’m the new owner of this Inn, my Aunt used to own this place,” she explained.

“I see, so you’re her niece she always talked about. I’m Adam,” he replied, giving his hand to shake. “I keep the gardens here in order, in case you were wondering why exactly I’m standing in the garden.”

Delilah stroked her chin thoughtfully for a moment before shrugging her shoulders and reaching out to shake his hand. “Alright,” she replied before pulling away and folding her arms, “did my Aunt ever pay you?” Delilah asked curiously.

“Didn’t need to be paid,” Adam answered, “I enjoy looking after the plants here. Why?”

Delilah shook her head, “I’m in charge now, so if you still want to work on the gardens I’d like to pay you to do it, just give me a quote and I’ll work out the details.”

“Thank you Lemay,” Adam smiled, “I’ll have to get back to you on that.”

Delilah nodded her head before turning away and passing the gun to Vivian, who had followed her outside, with a sly smile. “Guess I won’t be needing this,” Delilah grinned, before heading back inside to check on Blake and Christian.

Vivian wasted no time, aiming the water gun at Adam just like Delilah had previously, and pulled the trigger. “What’d you do that for?!” Adam exclaimed, jerking away from the cold stream of water.

“It’s hot out here, I’m sure you were feeling the effects of the sun,” Vivian reasoned, grinning, “Besides, she shot me, so I needed to shoot someone. Feel free to wrestle the gun off me and shoot one of the boys inside,” she said, walking back into the house, Adam following after shaking some of the water off of himself.

“Now that the rooms are cleared, it’s time to plan the redecorating!” Delilah exclaimed excitedly.

“If we plan the colours we want in the rooms, and what furniture we still need, that should be all we have to do for the day,” Vivan mused, taking a seat at the table where the notes lay.

“Sounds good. I think we should go with basic colours then, nothing too overboard, maybe whites, creams and soft pastel colours,” Delilah stated matter-of-factly.

“That sounds nice,” Vivian agreed, “Soft colours nourish, and make people feel at home. It would be good for the guests, and soft colours also encourage cranial activity.” At Delilah’s shocked look, Vivian shrugged. “What? I read!” she defended.

Delilah rolled her eyes playfully but continued with planning, “Once the rooms are sorted out we’ll need to sort the cafe out as well.” Delilah hummed.

“Just focus on one task at a time,” Blake said sternly, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched the girls plan.

“Right, sorry,” Delilah laughed, pulling her thoughts back in and continuing. “We should focus on setting up one side of the rooms first, that way we can start getting guests in as soon as possible. We can just block off the unfinished side of the Inn and work on that whilst making money to cover the costs,” Delilah explained.

“Wow Lilah, you’ve really put a lot of thought into this. And it’s only been one day!” Christian exclaimed.

“Of course she has, she’s Lilah,” Vivian grinned, as if Delilah being herself was self-explanatory.

“I can’t wait to see it up and running,” Adam added, “it’s been years since the Inn’s been taking guests.”

“It’ll be good business for the town,” Blake mumbled.

“I propose a toast,” Vivian exclaimed, standing up and moving to the kitchen.

“To what exactly?” Delilah asked, raising an eyebrow at her friend as she rummaged around in kitchen cabinets.

“Found it!” Vivian crowed, pulling out a half-empty bottle of whiskey from the depths of a low cupboard. Placing the bottle on the kitchen bench, she disappeared back inside the cupboard for a few extra moments to grab enough glasses. “I assume everyone’s taking a glass with me?” she asked, her voice slightly muffled.

“Of course!” Delilah smirked, grabbing a glass from Vivian and waiting for the boys to follow suit, once everyone had a glass they turned back to Vivian and waited for her to talk.

“To making our own way in the world,” Vivian said excitedly, raising her glass.

“For success and happiness!” Delilah cheered before nudging Blake and motioning for him to toast.

“To hard work,” he muttered unenthusiastically.

“My turn?” Christian asked, receiving a nod from everyone. “Okay, here’s to our community!”

“To the beauty of Silverlea,” Adam said, raising his glass up and knocking it to Vivian’s.

“To Silverlea!” they all shouted, clinking noises erupting from their glasses as they collided in the air.