The Hotel Ch. 01

As always, I have to add my thanks to Randi for her amazing editing and assistance. I must also add thanks to George for his assistance. It's always great to have good people in your corner.

*****

"Oh my god, Reece, it's amazing. Oh bloody hell, I can't believe how incredible it really is, seeing it in the flesh rather than on the internet. It really is awesome." I couldn't remember ever seeing her so exhilarated, almost giddy with excitement.

"Yeah, it's pretty stunning that's for sure, Sierra." Trying to calm her eagerness, I added, "Hell of a lot of work to do on it, though."

"We could do it in stages, you know, spread it out over a few years," she suggested.

"A few? Jesus, Sierra, more like twenty years."

"It wouldn't matter," she said in her happy squeaky voice. "Who cares if it takes fifty years. I love it," she said with a little giggly sigh.

"Yeah, I'm hearing you, babe. I like it as well, but it's going to go way over our limit. You know it will."

"Don't say that." She sighed. "Lets at least try to be positive; we might get lucky. Let's go and talk to the agent."

We were attending an open home, or in this case an open hotel. The building in question was an old derelict roadhouse that hadn't seen any use for anything other than storing hay and old machinery for many years.

We wanted it, oh hell yeah. We wanted it, but the sale price was going to be way over our meagre budget. We had been waiting for over a month for the open day. Although, with that said, looking at the sparse crowd, there wasn't a lot of competition.

While we waited to speak to the agent, we met another young couple who like us, seemed very interested. I knew it wasn't the done thing, but we fell into conversation with them, since they were waiting, as well. The agent waved at us as she talked incessantly on the phone.

"Great place, aye bro?" the guy said to me.

"Yeah, it's pretty special all right. Hell of a lot of work to make it liveable, though."

"We said the same. We would sort of spread the work out over a few years."

"Us too," Sierra added, her excitement unmistakeable.

She reached out her hand. "Hey, I'm Sierra, and this goofus is Reece, my husband."

The guy nodded, replying, "Leif, and this gorgeous creature is my wife, Patience."

We all shook hands. It was Patience who sighed sadly. "I really don't know why we came. This place is awesome, but shit, it's way out of our price range."

I chuckled softly, keeping my voice soft. "Same for us. We've been looking for something like this forever, but honestly, unless we can work a deal, there's no way we can swing it. We were sort of hoping there'd be no interest so they might consider an offer."

Just then, the agent slipped her phone into her purse and wandered over. "All right then. How can I help, what would you like to know?"

Sierra and I grabbed her, dragging her aside. "No sense beating around the bush, what's the minimum the owners would take for it?"

She looked back at Leif and Patience, obviously assessing their interest. "Bottom line, I don't think they will go below six hundred thousand, as is. For that, you would have to accept it in its current condition, including all of the rubbish lying around."

Trying not to show my grimace, I squeezed Sierra's hand tightly and replied. "Sorry, that is too much. We were thinking more like five hundred."

She bit her lip as if pondering it. "I could make them an offer if you are genuinely serious."

I glanced at Sierra, felt her squeezing my hand in expectation. I nodded. "Make the offer."

She pulled out her phone and walked away. Leif and Patience strolled over, looking interested. "Well, how did it go?"

"Not sure," I know I shouldn't have, but I added, "We offered five hundred. Not sure they'll take it."

"Yeah, bro, good luck with that one," Leif sighed supportively.

We ended up talking and exchanging numbers. They were about the same age as us, and Sierra and Patience seemed to hit it off. They were already giggling and laughing like old friends. Leif, who was a big brawny guy, turned out to be a contractor who specialised in fencing. He had that look; his physique was down to hard work, not gym work. Patience was a teacher, although she wanted to spend more time with her other passion, painting. She had dreams of turning the old hotel into a gallery and studio.

Sierra had similar dreams, although her passion was pottery. Our little house was crammed full of her stuff, and we desperately needed more space. This place would have been perfect.

Watching the agent's animated phone conversation, it didn't look hopeful.

The agent eventually wandered over, and her body language told me all I needed to know. She tried to get us to raise our offer, we negotiated a little, and in the end we agreed to think about it. Our problem was the money, no question that we wanted it.

The agent lost a bit of interest and scampered off to see if she could squeeze something out of Leif and Patience. Sierra and I wandered around the site. I took some pictures of the most damaged sections and the ones I considered to be the most costly to repair.

As we were about to leave, I was just opening the car door for Sierra when Leif and Patience came over. Sierra and Patience exchanged consolation hugs before we took off.

Driving back towards town, Sierra said, "Well, we may not have got the house, but I think we have some new friends."

"Yeah, competition though."

"Yeah, they seem nice. I'm looking forward to seeing some of Patience's art work. She's really passionate," Sierra said enthusiastically.

"Oh really, already decided, huh?"

"Yep, do you want to come for a look?"

"Nah, think I'll leave you to it. Another day maybe. When are you catching up?"

"Not sure, during the week."

It was back to the bank. It was a hard sell; they were prepared to loan us up to four hundred, but that was all. We had enough in savings to go as high as five fifty, but that left us nothing to do the required remodelling.

Sadly, it looked like a missed opportunity. We were a little heart broken, but them's the breaks; you can't win them all.

Thursday night when I got home from work, Sierra was in a really bubbly mood. The kids were happily playing as she prepared dinner. I walked up behind her, patted her bum and leaned over for a very sexy little kiss. "How was your day?" I asked.

"Wonderful. I went around to Patience's place after work. Her paintings are really good, and golly, she is so nice." She squeezed my arm as we kissed again. "I really like her, Reece. She's nice. I invited them over for a barbecue Saturday afternoon."

The barbecue was good fun. They had a couple of kids, as well, like us, a girl and boy, and the ages were so similar that they like Sierra, and Patience, became instant friends.

They were an interesting couple. Patience was the deep thoughtful thinker, as well as being a very attractive woman. It was hard not to notice her very buxom figure; she had curves, all right: beautiful sexy curves. Her face was perhaps not beautiful, but bright, with the sexiest smile. Her blonde hair and pale complexion hid the deep thoughtful inner workings of her mind. Her beauty, was internal, it radiated like an aura.

Leif, on the other hand, was the dreamer, although he seemed to enjoy his work. He left school early to start an apprenticeship as a builder, which he never completed. He was not somebody who suffered fools gladly. He said later that the builder who he did his apprenticeship with was an idiot, and he couldn't see it out. Still, he found work easily, and now had more work than he could keep up with.

He was the gregarious happy go lucky one. He carried Patience's deep thinking persona.

With the kids off entertaining themselves, it left us free to talk. It became apparent that they were just as enamoured with the old hotel as we were, and we all sat around talking about our plans for what we would have done, the changes, the designs. Leif had some very cool ideas, and he was able to articulate them so clearly. With his hands waving wildly, he explained all the different elements.

I have to say, I was deeply impressed by his considered approach. Like me, he wanted to keep the history of the place. It wasn't covered by any historical covenants, so seeing he wanted to maintain the building's historical links did make me feel like we wanted the same thing.

The day passed easily, and it was really fun. Strange to meet people in such an unusual way, and after talking on a couple of occasions, it felt like there was a deep bond forming. Even with friends we knew well, we weren't this open.

It was Sierra and Patience who formed the tightest bonds; they talked in their own little world about pottery, painting and the art world in general. Of course, it meant Sierra had to show off her new kiln and some of her most recent pieces.

It was while we were talking about the plans for the hotel, that Patience said, "We should all go out for a squizzy tomorrow. Poke around a bit, see what we can find."

"Yeah, that'd be choice," Sierra replied quickly before I even got a chance to say anything.

"Sweet, we could go down to the river out the back, and the kids could have a swim," Leif added. He glanced at me as he said, "Whatcha reckon, bro?"

"Yeah, sweet, we could do that. We could grab some food for a picnic."

"Yes, let's make a day of it," Patience added happily.

Sunday morning, we piled the kids in the car, filled the boot with towels, food and drinks and we met Patience, Leif and their kids at the hotel.

Leif and I walked around the place, pulling away debris and stuff as we searched for faults we missed on the first visit. He scrambled under the floor to check out the piles and foundations.

Being an electrician, I focused on that aspect as well as the plumbing.

Patience and Sierra took the kids down to the river that skirted the back boundary.

When Leif climbed out from beneath the building, we met and searched for a broken window so we could get inside. We really gave the place a going over. It was so much easier without agents hanging around.

"Whatcha reckon, bro?" he asked as he dusted himself off.

Casting my eyes around the magnificent old establishment, I said glumly, "I still think it's great. I would love to get it, but, shit dude, the price. They're just asking too much."

"I disagree, bro. I think the price is okay. The way property prices are going at the mo, like climbing thirty percent a year, buy this now and without even touching it, you'd be up nearly a hundred grand in a year," Leif mumbled.

I nodded my agreement. "Yeah, guess you're right. I'm just pissed because we can't afford it."

He chuckled heartily. "Yeah, I'm with ya, bro. We can't do it either."

We picked up the chilly bins stacked with food and drink and headed down to the river. The kids were already frolicking in the cool water, the girls sitting on the bank laughing at all the tricks the boys were pulling off.

We dropped the chilly bins, and Sierra asked, "Well, what's the go, is it as good as we thought?"

Leif beat me to it. "Yep, it's perfect. We're doing it."

"Are we just?" Sierra giggled.

Patience threw in questioningly, "Define we?"

"All of us, we're all in," he exclaimed.

There were some giggles as the girls sorted out the food. We had to yell at the kids to get them out of the water.

"God, how good would it be to have this on your doorstep," Sierra sighed wistfully.

"Yeah, Dad, let's buy it," my son Zane yelled.

We had a really fun afternoon. Leif and I showed the kids how to do bombs, splashing everybody.

Walking back to the cars, Leif snuck back inside and threw open the front doors so the girls and the kids could get in.

We all started going over what we would like to do. Leif had a great idea of ripping out the front reception area and turning it into the main living area. With his hands waving around like a conductor, he talked us all through it, and it all made perfect sense. I started to imagine it, my mind painting pictures. Yeah, it sounded great.

Driving back home, Sierra looked very thoughtful. "You know, it would be so wonderful living out there." She giggled a little. "Bloody Leif's onto it; I liked his ideas."

"Yeah, me too. Opening up that entrance area is brilliant. Turn that into a big kitchen slash living area, especially with that huge old stone fireplace."

We were both a little disconsolate. We wanted it so bad, but we just couldn't find the money.

It was a bit of a shock when Tuesday night, Patience and Leif knocked on the door. They had their kids; our children were so happy to see them, they straight away dragged them outside to play.

Patience, Leif, Sierra and I sat around the table. Sierra poured a couple of wines for the girls, and I dug out a couple of beers for Leif and myself. Jeez, we even drank the same beer.

There was a moment of silence before Leif got things going. "Sorry to rock up out of the blue, but Patience and I have been talking, and we wanted to talk to you guys, because we have a suggestion."

"Go on then, let's hear your bright idea," I said as we chinked bottles in a friendly toast.

"All right, bro. Here it comes, but you gotta listen. Give me a chance to get through it."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get on with it, mate."

"Okay bro, here we go. You want the hotel, Patience and I also want it. Separately, we can't do it, but together, we could definitely swing it and have money left over for reno's."

I was about to chime in when he raised his hand. "Nah, bro, you said you'd listen."

Apologetically, I chuckled. "Go on mate, sorry."

"Look, Patience and I talked about this, in fact we have talked about little else. After meeting you guys, we feel like there's a real connection. The kids get on great; they're already like siblings. The four of us have this... I dunno, connection maybe ain't the right word. We don't think we could do it with anybody else, but with you guys, we think it could work."

He took a large gulp of his drink, as Sierra and I stared questioningly back and forth. I was looking for something from her to give me a hint of what she was thinking. I could see her thinking, but couldn't unlock her thoughts.

"Okay, mate, interesting proposition, but I'm sceptical. How the hell would it work?"

He smiled before diving in; he saw my interest. "Look at it this way, bro. The place has ten bedrooms, a restaurant, big kitchen, dining area. There's all that room in the reception area, there's the big storeroom out the back, the public bar, four bathrooms." He stopped for another sip of his beer before carrying on.

"We could have separation, there's room for the kids to play, and with you and me on it, we could do most of the work ourselves."

I was feeling dubious and couldn't hide it. I glanced around the group. Patience and Leif had huge grins, even Sierra looked thrilled, but as she gazed towards me, she saw my scepticism. Her face lost some of the elation that had been clearly flowing through her body.

"How the hell would we survive? It doesn't matter how we cut it up, it would still be two families living under the one roof."

Sierra, seeing my concern, spoke up. "Do you really think we could all live together though, like Reece said, we would be under the same roof; there would be no privacy?"

"If you asked me whether we could do it with anybody else, I would say no," Patience stated. "I, we, feel like there's something between us. I sense something, a friendship, a kinship or something."

"Yes, I get that," Sierra stuttered hesitantly. "But to live together, be in each other's faces all the time. What about arguments, fights? Jesus, Reece and me, when we go at it, things get pretty brutal." Worry lines etched into her face.

"Sweets, we could do it; I know we could," Patience said reassuringly. "Imagine sharing a studio and gallery space; it would be amazing. We would have bedrooms at either end of the place, lots of privacy. We could easily make two big separate living areas, one down one end, and the other up the opposite end. We wouldn't have to be falling all over each other." I couldn't help but admire her absolutely oozing positivity.

Sierra looked up at me, and the worries just seemed to evaporate. "Yes, I'm in." Her face crinkled into a cheeky smile as she stared at me. I felt a little pissed that she thought she could answer for both of us, or gave them the impression she was.

It felt like all eyes were on me, and I felt like a wet blanket. "I'm not saying I'm not interested, but shit, it's a lot to think about."

"Hey, bro, chill. We didn't expect you to make your mind up here and now. We wanted to give you guys a chance to talk about it," Leif replied.

"We would need to sort out how the money side would work, I mean, how do we organise that?"

"We all go to the bank and make our plea. Between all of us, we can easily cover the mortgage."

Sierra got up and started working on dinner. "Do you guys want to stay? We have enough."

Patience jumped up and started helping, and the chatter coming from the kitchen was all giggles and tittering. "Come on, bro, I tell ya, we could do it. The girls get on great, the kids are cool."

"Mate, I'm not saying no. I'm just concerned about how we all protect ourselves. It all sounds great, but what happens if it turns to shit? We would be sinking every cent we have, and a whole bundle we don't. If it went tits up. We would be fucked."

"Bro, we can put together a contract that protects everything. Sew it up as tight as a fish's arse. We could make it so tight that we're all protected. I mean, nothing gets out a fishes arse, not even the water, right?"

His words made me laugh, he had that easy way with words, he was a funny guy, and I did like him. Growing up as an only child, I had never had a brother, Leif, even in the short time I knew him, felt like that's what having a brother would be like.

After they left I cornered Sierra. "Not happy, babe. Why did you say yes without even talking to me?"

"Oh poo, don't be silly, I was just saying I like it. I wasn't committing to anything." She slipped into my arms. "Honey, they're nice people, you said so yourself. I like them and if it means we get the hotel, then I'm prepared to be all in."

"But..."

"Babe, lets talk about it. I just wanted to say, I like it. I like Patience, the kids are already like a family. I love the feel of it." She gave me a funny smiley gaze. "Maybe it's easier for me. When I was young we lived on a commune up in Karamea for a while. I absolutely adored it."

"What? You never told me that," I spluttered in shock.

"There's lots of things you don't know about me, sweets," she replied. "I was really sad when Mum and Dad left. I had all these friends, they were like a monster family, but Dad got this great job offer and we moved. Broke my heart."

We talked the damn idea to death over the next few weeks. The only thing that worried me was getting out if it turned to shit.

We ended up putting all our concerns down on paper, then got a solicitor to draw up a contract. If any one of us was unhappy, for any reason, then the property would be sold and the money divided equally, depending on investment.

I liked the idea that any one of the four of us could enforce the sale. I was worried: what if they had a fight and divorced? At least this way, we all got out with at least what we went in with.

Strangely, the bank wasn't as hard as I expected. They were pretty enthusiastic, and the finance was organised easily. Apart from us, there hadn't been a lot of interest, so when we put in a last and final offer of five seventy five, they took it.

The papers were signed, and one month later we were moving into the hotel. We were under no illusions; it was going to be hard work. The place hadn't been lived in for over ten years.