Free Second Chances by Bria Marche

waste them? Let’s turn this mansion into the place everyone wants to call home. It can be like a permanent bed-and-breakfast. Betsy can be in charge of meals, which of course would be included in their rent. There’s three more bedrooms the size of ours that have private baths and three smaller bedrooms that don’t. We’ll charge rent according to the size of the room and how many meals a day Betsy makes. It’s actually doable, Abs.” Melanie and Betsy were clearly excited by the possibilities.
    “Wouldn’t I have to have some kind of business license to do that? I doubt that this house, or street, is zoned to have any kind of commercial enterprise on it.”
    “That’s where you’re wrong, dear Abigail. There’s three B-and-Bs right on East Battery.”
    “Okay, you’re right, but I can’t afford to go through the legalities needed to bring this house to whatever codes are required, like a second-story fire escape, and just the cost of a B-and-B license is probably astronomical. Anyway, we’d be trying to make this place an upscale boarding house, not a B-and-B. How are we going to accomplish that?”
    Betsy gave Abby a sly grin and said, “Quietly.”
    “Okay, on a serious note, how could we really pull it off?”
    “I know a lot of high rollers in the fashion industry, and I do have a degree in marketing. There wouldn’t be any lowlifes trying to move in here. They couldn’t afford it anyway. We’d have to come up with a cost per room, both with and without a private bath, and then the cost per meal. It has to be calculated logically, plus it has to be competitive with what people would spend anyway on meals and lodging. I can use myself as one example. I paid a thousand fifty dollars for eight hundred fifty square feet of space. That was for a cramped kitchen and living room combination, one bath, and a tiny bedroom. My utilities were two hundred fifty dollars a month for everything, and I had to pay for a parking spot, which was another hundred bucks. I spent two hundred a month on groceries but ate out a lot, too, which was an average of another two hundred. Betsy, add all those numbers up, please.”
    “That’s one thousand eight hundred dollars a month, Mel. You must make a good income.”
    “I do, but look at the big picture here. I didn’t live in a stately mansion like this. I couldn’t wander around a six-thousand-eight-hundred-square-foot house and beautiful gardens like I can here. Nobody would have to cook their own meals, and look at the view. The park is right across the street and the ocean beyond that. What’s not to like? People will be banging the door down trying to be one of the lucky ones to live here.”
    “I’m not too bad at reading people, for the most part anyway, having been a relationship counselor before. I’ll be in charge of interviewing potential tenants. We need a way to do a background check and verify their employment, too. I know there are programs you can subscribe to that do those types of things. It’s the same thing employers and rental agencies use. Right now, we have to figure out the room and meal cost that will make sense to anyone that rents. They have to see the benefit of living here over anywhere else. After that, we need to get these potential renters here for an interview without attracting attention from the neighbors.” Abby finally looked hopeful as she spoke. “No matter what, it will cost nearly five thousand dollars a month to support this place. Let’s figure out the cost per room and meals right now and see how it shakes out.”
    ***
    Betsy disappeared into the kitchen while Mel and Abby worked on the room costs. Betsy would be the one to figure out food expenses for a houseful of people, day in and day out. Ten minutes later, she returned with a pitcher of sweet tea and an enormous turquoise melamine bowl full of popcorn. “I thought we might need a little snack to help us think. I’ve heard popcorn aids blood flow to the