Koos and Olivia, a somewhat older but still very much alive couple, were given the other corner room. On the other side of the floor they heard the cheerful chatter of Tanja and Nancy. A moment later, they saw the girls rush out of their room and go to the door next door. Before the girls could knock on that door, Nancy discovered the elderly couple, and excused herself and her sister for making noise. Olivia laughed: "You should just do that, nice and cheerful a bunch of young girls here! Only at night we do like to sleep," she said with a wink.
"On the bed we'll whisper, ma'am," Tanja promised.
"You girls are great! And call us Koos and Olivia. We may be older, but we feel like young grasshoppers."
This earned her a hooting salvo from the girls. "Hahaha young grasshoppers!"
Laughing, they went into their parents' room: "Mom, dad, can we go for a walk on the property?"
"We were just about to do that too, but I think you probably don't like us walking behind you as guards, so go ahead. We'll see each other later." Rachel smiled at her daughters, "Do you have your cell phones with you?"
"Of course! If we get lost, we'll call!" said Tanja. "Oh sorry mom, that was a lame comment. I'm sure we won't get lost. We'll just stay here on the estate. Maybe we'll run into Lisa and Margreet."
"That would be nice, go ahead!"
The girls stormed back up the landing, hearing Koos and Olivia burst into laughter. Tanja and Nancy waved at them through the open door of their room. "Bye Olivia! Bye Koos! We're going for a walk on the estate!" Nancy called out.
Koos raised his thumb in response, "Do that, cozy!"
In their room, Robert and Rachel heard the brief conversation and looked at each other in surprise. "Apparently our young ladies have already made friends with other guests."
.
Martijn and Naomi arrived at the same time as Leen and Paula. Both women turned out to be sisters of each other. To them, too, Annerieke recounted the standard information she always gave new guests, explaining that they would all be away on Monday during the day for a court hearing. "We do expect to be back in plenty of time for dinner," she said.
Upstairs, she pointed them to the two rooms that were left. Paula responded enthusiastically to the scent of the lilacs, "I love that so much!"
Naomi chuckled, "Even as a child... Paula always put her nose in the lilac bushes. But I thought they bloomed in the summer, so how come these are blooming now?"
Annerieke shrugged, "I know a lot about cooking and baking, but for gardening questions you have to go to our Sjaak. You're bound to run into him in the garden over the next week or so."
The two couples installed themselves in their rooms and then decided to explore the surroundings as well. Thus, the guesthouse quietly flowed empty again...
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