Staying For You Page 8

  “Yeah. I see, buddy. You found a fun sticker, huh?” I ask, voice full of humor.

  He nods, so pleased with himself. He pokes at the pad stuck to his shirt then…

  Then…

  He lifts one of the tampons and sticks the sucker right in his mouth.

  “Oh no no no, buddy. No. That’s icky.”

  “Ick?” He looks legitimately confused and offended by the fact that I won’t let him suck on a tampon.

  “Right. That’s not for your mouth.”

  “Unless you’re Christian G…” Cami abruptly stops talking and I turn again to look at her.

  “What? Who?”

  “Nothing. Never mind.” She waves me off and moves in front of me to crouch low next to Brody. “Having fun?”

  He gives her the grin that I’m pretty sure he already uses to get what he wants.

  “Let’s get some of this cleaned up, m’kay?”

  Cami glances up at me with a blush on her cheeks and mouths sorry. I’m not sure what she’s apologizing for because it’s definitely not her fault. If anything it’s mine. Or my sister’s. I’ll go with that. I’m sure I can swing it around to make it Olivia’s fault somehow.

  “Not your fault. But don’t clean him up yet. Just a second.” I reach into my back pocket and pull out my phone, snapping a picture that we can one day share with his future wife. Or just when he’s being a shit during his teenage years. Luckily, he sticks the tampon back in his mouth at just the right time so I can snap a picture and send it to his parents.

  They’re traveling home today so it will be a wonderful little surprise when their plane lands and they turn their phones back on. I take a few more pictures before realizing that I’m actually focusing more on Cami than Brody so I quickly tuck my phone away in my pocket again.

  We get the mess cleaned up and Cami shuts the door to the bathroom after we’re done.

  “Is it always this exciting to hang out with these two?”

  “I could lie and say no but really, they’re a mess. Always.”

  Her smile is mischievous when she says, “I saw the evidence of such mess yesterday.”

  “Thanks for the reminder,” I say, rubbing my forehead. “I’m pretty sure I can still smell the poop.”

  We sit down again on the couch and I look to my left, noticing that the snow is really starting to come down.

  “Wow, it’s really snowing now, huh?”

  “It is. I probably better get back to the lodge.”

  She sighs. “Probably.”

  I stand back up and drain the last of my coffee. “Good coffee.”

  “I haven’t made coffee in a maker like this in a while. I was glad you mentioned to bring regular grounds.”

  I try my best to keep a good list of the amenities that we both have and don’t have in the cabins and send to all the guests when they book with me. I sell a few things at the lodge store, but if people can bring everything they need with them, most prefer it. It’s always entertaining to see people unload their vehicles for their stay. Totes and coolers full of food and drinks, case upon case of water. I’ve even watched people bring their own toilet paper.

  “Are you okay here today and tonight? Have everything you need?”

  “I do. I’m good here. I promise. And if I’m not, I have your number.”

  I snap my fingers. “That reminds me!” I move to my coat and grab the object I’d brought with me to give her for emergencies. “I have this,” I say, handing over a walkie talkie. “It has a wide range and in this weather, sometimes my cell signal is shit. If you need anything,” I tell her then point out which buttons to push and explain, “just push this and speak into here. I’ll keep mine on and with me that way you can reach me. The kids’ parents were supposed to be in tonight but I’m not sure if that will happen with this storm.”

  “Oh, no,” she mumbles, looking at both of them.

  “Yeah. I haven’t heard from them since early this morning when they were heading to the airport but I’m preparing myself for having them to myself for another night.”

  She stretches out her lips and makes an eek face which makes me laugh.

  “Maybe you’ll be the one calling down with an SOS to me.”

  I widen my eyes and nod. “I would keep it close by, just in case.”

  “How about I help you carry these two back up to your place so you don’t have to put them in the carriers?”

  “Then you’re going to have to walk back down.”

  She starts slipping on her coat and gives me a pointed look that says not to argue with her. “By myself, though, which is easier than lugging babies around. Trust me. I’m hardier than you think.”

  I raise my hands in surrender. “I believe you. If you want to, I won’t stop you.”

  “That’s better.”

  We work together to bundle up the kids and then we head out after I get back into my coat and boots, me carrying Brody and Cami carrying Issy. She walks gingerly, holding the back of my niece’s head and keeping her close to her chest.

  The snow is falling around us, dotting her dark hair and clinging to it. She inhales deeply and sticks out her tongue, letting a snowflake fall onto it. Then she giggles when she catches me staring at her. She shrugs, unapologetic that she’s just having fun in the snow. “It’s been a while since I’ve been around snowflakes as big as these.”

  I look around and realize she’s right, the flakes are huge.

  “If I fall I promise to spin around and fall on my back so she’s kept safe,” she says seriously.

  “Good plan.”

  She looks at me out of the corner of her eye and I wink.

  It doesn’t take us long to get up to the lodge and inside. It’s been a long morning and I know Brody will be hungry and both of them ready for naps soon. Which, if I’m being honest, doesn’t sound too bad.

  “Thanks for helping get them up here.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Make sure you turn on the walkie talkie when you get back to the cabin.”

  She salutes me and says, “10-4.”

  Chuckling and shaking my head, I tell her goodbye and close the door behind her, wishing that she wasn’t leaving.

  It’s not as if I’m lonely with the kids here or even in general, however, it’s been a long time since I’ve spent any amount of time with a woman and talked, just for the sake of talking. It’s been… nice. And once the kids are back with their parents, I plan to pick it back up with her.

  I know nothing can come of a relationship with her. She lives several states away. But I want to get to know her.

  Either I’m lying to myself and am lonelier than I thought, or there’s something about her that I can’t resist trying to get to know better.

  Whatever it is, I’m looking forward to the next six weeks.

  Chapter Nine

  Owen

  As expected, their flight was delayed and they won’t be making it here until around noon today. Which is a lot earlier than I expected after last night’s winter storm that barreled through, leaving us with a foot of fresh snow on the ground. Luckily, the kids are young enough that they didn’t know any differently. They’ll just be happy when their parents walk through the door, whenever it is.

  The walkie talkie crackles and I smile, knowing who’s on the other end trying to reach me.

  We talked a few times in the evening. She was loving the quiet of the snow fall and told me she’d never felt the level of peace that she was feeling. Even though I have nothing to do with it, pride swelled in my chest knowing that The Escape had a little bit of a hand in that.

  Making the decision to not have radios or televisions in the cabins was easy for me, but Harry’s family assured me it would be the death of the resort. They assured me that families needed the connection and something to fill their time with like watching TV at night. But I’d made a promise to Harry and I had every intention of keeping it.

  Call me stubborn, but I’m holding on to the i
dea that families haven’t changed as much as society would like us to believe. Kids still want to spend time outside and in nature, falling asleep at night because they’re exhausted from all that they’ve done throughout the day rather than staring at a screen. Parents still want the connection with their children rather than their phones and email and everything that’s pulling their attention.

  So far, Harry’s family has been wrong and I couldn’t be happier over that. After Cami told me last night how glad she was that she wasn’t distracted by watching a movie or binging on a television show so she could watch the snow drift and swirl in the night sky, I was thankful that Harry and I stuck to our instincts and didn’t cave to society’s new standards of what makes for a good vacation.

  Cami was right. It was peaceful. After I put the kids to bed last night, I sat by the crackling fire, staring out the window rather than turning on the television that I felt like a hypocrite for having in my home and had never felt more relaxed or at ease.

  The moonlight shined down on the lake, casting a glow that I’d honestly never paid attention to with as much of an open mind as I did last night. Snowflakes spun and whirled with the wind. And the world was quiet around me. My mind spun, not being able to shut off. But for once, I didn’t mind. I was able to think about my thirty-five years on this earth and what I want for the rest of it. Was I truly happy here? Alone aside from when family or guests arrive? Only leaving The Escape once or twice a year to visit family around holidays? I love the privacy my resort provides me and being a part of something that many places no longer provide for someone looking to get away from it all.

  But still, it’s not lost on me that I’ve kept myself closed off from everyone but family for so many years. I didn’t even realize I was doing it until my family and friends started getting married, moving on with their lives rather than staying in the same place like I’ve been doing.

  I loved — still love — everything about my life. Not forming attachments was easy because everyone I met was only here for a short time and I’ve just honestly never been a relationship type of guy.

  “Owen?” I hear come through the walkie talkie.

  The kids and I are still in pajamas, taking it easy this morning. I know I need to get outside and shovel and blade the snow to make a path for everyone to get here but I haven’t quite figured out how to accomplish that with the kids here. Instead of worrying over it, we’ve been chilling, playing, and watching some DVD that my sister packed for Brody.

  “Morning, Cami,” I say into the little speaker, releasing the button after I spoke into it.

  She doesn’t reply for a few seconds so I call her name again.

  “Sorry. I uh, did their parents make it in?”

  “No. They’ll be here in a few hours.”

  “Do they drive snow plows, by chance?” she says with a laugh in her voice.

  I grin, imagining her looking out the window, doubting any possible way for a car to make it through the foot of snow that’s settled on the ground.

  “No, they don’t.”

  “Well, that should be interesting,” she quips.

  “I’ll go out in a little bit and blade a path. No worries.”

  “With the kids?”

  Yeah. That was my fear also. I don’t have a blade that hooks up to my pickup — it’s on a utility tractor and I can’t necessarily blade when I have two babies sitting on my lap.

  “I’ll figure it out,” I assure her, looking at the two little munchkins and wondering if I could somehow get Brody to take a morning nap along with Issy and just keep the baby monitor with me.

  “Want me to come up and sit with them?”

  No.

  Actually, yes. It’s just that I’ve lived up here for ten years doing everything on my own and I don’t like leaning on anyone else for help with anything.

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  “I know I don’t,” she says and it sounds like she’s breathing a little heavy. “I offered, though.”

  Issy starts crying and I look down to see Brody sitting next to her, staring up at me with innocent eyes. I’ve seen him bop her on the head and her do the same to him. He, however, never cries. Just scrunches his eyes at her. She, however, is full of drama and makes sure everyone knows that her favorite little person in the world did something that ticked her off.

  I put the walkie talkie down and lift her onto my lap. She cuddles against my chest and I pop her pacifier into her mouth. She sighs through her cries, settling in, happy to be noticed. “Did you hurt your cousin, Brody?”

  He just stares up at me for a moment before resuming his play with some blocks. I’m sure she picked one of the blocks off his stack and he made sure to let her know that he wasn’t okay with it.

  “You gotta be nice, okay?”

  In response, he crawls over to me and climbs onto my other leg, patting Isabelle on the back. “You want to give her a hug?”

  He looks at me then hugs her and grins with pride that he made her feel better.

  “Everything okay in here?” I hear Cami’s voice and the three of us turn from our place on the floor to look up at her. She looks like she’s ready for another snowstorm the way she’s dressed. Cheeks are a bit rosy from the short walk up to the lodge and snow trapped where the top of her boots meet her jeans. Her hair is trailing over her shoulders but her head is covered in her yellow beanie.

  “What are you doing here?” I’m suddenly so grateful that I had the foresight to leave the door unlocked in case she did exactly this. Surprised me by just showing up.

  Those expressive eyes look at me as if I’m an idiot. “Uh, helping. Duh. I knew you were going to fight me and I wanted to get outside in the snow. That walk yesterday morning made me realize how nice it was to just spend time outside, no matter the temperature. It recharged me and now I feel a bit addicted.”

  I stare at her. Blink once. Twice.

  She’s so beautiful with her eyes shining with happiness and smile lighting up the entire room. I had a hand in that happiness.

  “I’m glad,” I croak out.

  “Hop to it!” She claps twice, then removes her coat and hangs it up on the coat rack beside the door. “That road isn’t going to clear itself and I’m sure their parents are anxious to see them. Wouldn’t be fun for them to have to buy snow shoes to trudge back here just to do that.”

  My mouth twitches at her bossiness.

  She bends down to unlace her boots and steps out of them. I jump up and grab her a towel to wipe off the snow so she doesn’t sit here with wet jeans and then I change my clothes so I can start throwing on my own gear.

  “I promise it won’t take me long. Issy will need to lie down pretty soon. Her portable crib is in there,” I explain and point to the guest bedroom. “You’ll see which one is hers by all the pink.” I smirk. “She’s a great sleeper, just give her her blankie that’s still in the crib, and her pacifier, cuddle with her for a few minutes then lay her down.”

  “I think we can manage.”

  “I’ll keep the walkie talkie with me just in case.”

  “Okay, then. Go on. We’ll be fine,” she assures me, shooing me out the door.

  Shaking my head, I obey and head out the door and down the steps.

  The snow is deep as I push through it to get to the shed where I keep my tractor. This isn’t my first rodeo in needing to clean up the snow so it doesn’t take me long to get started.

  About thirty minutes later, the walkie talkie sounds with Cami’s voice. “Issy is asleep. Over.”

  I bark out a laugh. “10-4.”

  “Brody is pointing at the Goldfish crackers. Is he allowed to have any?”

  “You forgot to say over. Over.”

  “Over.”

  “Yes. He’s allowed a handful. There’s a small blue plastic bowl in the cupboard next to the fridge. And his sippy cup is on the counter you can fill with water. Over.”

  “10-4. Over and out.”

  I finish bl
ading the snow from around the lodge and a path to get to the cabin Cami’s staying in then get started on the road that leads from the main highway to the resort so my mailman and family can get here.

  “Paging Uncle of the boy who just filled the nastiest poopy diaper that’s ever been filled in the history of diapers. Over.”

  I have to stop the tractor because I’m laughing so hard. “I’m here. Over.”

  “Everywhere. There’s poop everywhere. And dear heavens above, that shit was stinky. But I managed. Over.”

  “I’m proud of you. Over.”

  “You know what else you should be proud of? Over.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You forgot to say over. But I’m kind of sick of the word anyway. I didn’t get poop on my forehead. Roger.”

  “Roger?”

  “Isn’t that another thing people say?”

  Damn she’s cute.

  I start the tractor up again and look behind me before driving forward and letting down the blade again to keep pushing snow. “Roger that. I’m proud of you also for not having forehead poop like I did. You’re too pretty to smell like shit.”

  “Well, aren’t you the sweetest thing?” she asks, letting her southern twang pour out of her.

  We’re silent for the rest of the time I’m blading snow and I’m just finishing up, putting the tractor away in the shed.

  “You doing okay there, buddy? Need anything? Over.”

  I’m beginning to think that Cami might be one of the most fun women I’ve spent time with. She’s goofy and lighthearted. Whoever broke her heart and brought her to me is an idiot.

  “Heading inside now.”

  “Roger that. 10-4. Over and out.”

  I’m chuckling, staring at the walkie talkie in my hand as I push through the door to the lodge and start up the stairs to my home. The scent of something delicious cooking assaults me when I’m halfway up the stairs.

  I open the door and see Cami’s hips swaying side to side with Brody on her shoulders. He’s laughing and she’s singing, holding his hands in the air as she continues dancing around the living room. She spins around and tells him to hold on tight.