Sunny

Chapter 18

           

The schedule was going to be tight. Eli's band arrived later that evening, Eli had called them out earlier so that they could get some work done and be gone by the time Mason's family arrived.  However, Rhea was too busy to greet them. She had already begun prepping the rooms for the following week and then she had to make dinner for everyone. It had been a hectic day.

Cassie had been by her side until the band had arrived and then she had left join them, and Rhea could hear her singing as it drifted down from the house and across the darkened front lawn towards the forman's cottage. Rhea listened to her voice as it was met with Eli's and it made her aware of how talented the woman really was, not only was she talented but she was just as famous as Eli. The famous Cassandra Stevens had spent the day with her, up to her elbows in suds, scrubbing floors and walls, and making beds. It was funny, but she didn't seem famous to Rhea, she felt like an old friend that she had known for years.

Mason's family was planning to come the following Wednesday and would leave the Monday after that. It was now Friday so she had a little over four days to get all of the rooms cleaned, she was going to move herself, Aion, and Phoebe down to the servant's rooms which were off of the kitchen, and Eli had offered to stay in one of them, giving up his room with its private bath to Mason's parents.

There were six rooms on the main floor and her mother occupied one, which left five rooms available.

Plus, there were two more rooms and a sitting room in the Foreman's cottage which could house Mason's two single brothers, it was rough but Mason assured her that Rainer and Caleb were used to living in less than four-star conditions and would be fine, and then he added that if they weren't they could take it up with his mother.

Phoebe was working the closing shift at the restaurant so she would be staying at their father's place in town, but Rhea had no doubt that she would be over on the first ferry with Otto, eager to be around all of the action that Eli's band brought with them. Her parents had appeared sparingly during the day to eat and visit but then they retreated back upstairs, taking Aion with them when they had realized that Rhea wouldn't have time to take care of him as well as their new guests. 

Rhea walked across the lawn towards the house looking at the light as it cascaded from all of the windows. The house felt alive once more. She bypassed the living room, heading straight for the kitchen. She had prepared a simple fare of chili and cornbread for dinner. There was a pot of vegan chili as well; she hadn't forgotten her days in L.A.

She pulled the warm cornbread out of the oven and carried it to the large dining room putting it on the sideboard with the large chaffing dishes of chili. She had also prepared a large salad for those who felt the need to eat a little healthier. She did one last check before she wandered into the living room.

She had never seen it so full before, Cassie and Eli were huddled over the piano and his band, including Red and Paxton, were either standing or sitting behind him in the front window where they had moved some furniture to make room. Lola and Mason were sitting on the couch with another woman, a bleach bottle blond, who Rhea didn't recognize. Mason was looking at a book or something, not in the least distracted by the noise that surrounded him, Lola was watching everything, fascinated, and the blond woman's eyes were riveted to Eli. Rhea couldn't help but feel jealous at the attention that she was paying him, she looked almost as if she owned him.

Rhea moved from the dining room and across the hall, standing against the wall just as she had that morning she had seen Eli for the first time, she watched him in the mirror as he nodded at something Cassie said and played a few keys with her nodding his head in agreement. Rhea held back a sigh as she watched him grin at something that Cassie said, it made her weak in the knees.