I’d like to thank you, friends, for accompanying me on my journeys around the world. While hotel reviewing can be lonely （traveling solo and undercover, unable to share my true identity or life’s details with anyone I met）， I always felt that you, my readers, were with me. And you haven’t seen the last of Shelly Carpenter! I’m starting a new blog about finding love after a marriage falls apart. I’m calling it The Second Story.
Stay well, friends. And do good.
—SC
Lizbet chokes up when she reads the adjectives Shelly used to describe the staff. Attentive. Friendly. Helpful. Knowledgeable. Kind.
Edie sniffles and Zeke plucks a tissue for her from the box on Lizbet’s desk. （Attentive, Lizbet thinks. And kind.）
Then she reads the section about the ghost, Grace Hadley, and while a part of Lizbet thinks, Just what we need, more guests showing up expecting a haunting, she realizes that what Shelly says is true. Grace Hadley has been looking out for them all.
Next, Lizbet reads the shocking news of Shelly’s retirement.
“Whaaaaaa?” Edie says. “Shelly Carpenter is staying home with her two children and her dog?”
“And her dog?” Zeke says.
“Lots of people have two kids and a dog,” Adam says. “The whole world has two kids and a dog.”
Then Lizbet reads about Shelly Carpenter starting a new blog.
“‘About finding love after a marriage falls apart,’” Adam reads over Lizbet’s shoulder. He honks out a laugh. “It is Kimber. Kimber is Shelly Carpenter!”
At that second, the door to Lizbet’s office opens and Richie steps in.
Edie says, “We got five keys, Richie, did you see?” Then she gasps. “Did you know? Did you know Kimber is Shelly Carpenter?”
“I found out the night before she left,” Richie says. “Kimber didn’t want to tell me until after the review was finished. She’s a professional.” At that second, there’s a buzzing noise and Richie pulls his cell phone out of his pocket. “Hey, boo,” he says. “Yep, they figured it out. We’re all in Lizbet’s office.” He pauses. “Aw, okay, I’ll tell them. Love you.” Richie hangs up and gives them a sad smile. “She says she misses you already.”
August 28, 2022
From: Xavier Darling （[email protected]）
To: Employees of the Hotel Nantucket
It was a pleasure and a privilege to meet you all in person this past week. I’m only sorry I couldn’t stay longer.
Congratulations are in order for the fifth key from Shelly Carpenter of Hotel Confidential. Hear, hear! Shelly has been a formidable critic of hotels and resort properties across the globe, and it was my not-so-secret goal to win the fifth key, but ultimately it was you, the staff, who impressed Ms. Carpenter the most. I will be including a thousand-dollar bonus in everyone’s check this week.
Unfortunately, I must follow this up with some rather somber news: I am putting the Hotel Nantucket on the market, effective tomorrow. I have already received an offer on the place from a friend and colleague who wants to use the building as a satellite office space. This means that, unless another buyer comes forward with a competitive offer, the Hotel Nantucket will no longer operate as a hotel.
I thank you all for your time, energy, expertise, and dedication this summer. Every one of you should feel free to call on me for a letter of recommendation as you move forward into your various futures.
All best,
XD
An e-mail from Xavier arrives in Lizbet’s in-box at five o’clock on Sunday evening, and Lizbet nearly ignores it because she’s exhausted from the excitement of the past week. She wants to pick up a pizza from Pi, draw a bath, and then climb into bed to watch Ted Lasso until Mario gets finished with work. But it’s Xavier, so she can’t wait until the morning.
Putting the hotel on the market. Use the building as a satellite office space?
She feels like she’s reading her own obituary.
Edie cracks open the door and says, “Lizbet? Did you see?”
“I…I…” Lizbet doesn’t have words. For the past two days, she has been floating. Everyone on the island has reached out—calling, texting, messaging on Facebook and Instagram—to congratulate her and the rest of the staff on the fifth key from Shelly Carpenter. JJ sent a bouquet （the first flowers from him in a year that she hasn’t sent back）。 Lizbet’s parents called from Minnetonka. She has heard from countless news outlets, including the New York Times, Travel and Leisure, CBS Sunday Morning, Afar, the Armchair Explorer podcast—wanting to do interviews, articles, segments. But most meaningfully, Lizbet heard from her old dorm mate Elyse Perryvale, who was the reason Lizbet came to Nantucket in the first place. Elyse wrote that her family had, sadly, sold their house on the island but that she would like to book rooms at the Hotel Nantucket the following summer for two weeks.