Chapter 20
When the Kellers built The Overlook, the restaurant with its namesake earning its title, with a perfect overlook view of the lake, they never imagined what it would do for the camaraderie of the campground and its guests. Before opening it the previous year, the only place on site to get a bite to eat was the snack shop. But since expanding the grounds, the restaurant quickly became one of the new hubs of the lodge, always hustling and bustling with people looking for a cocktail freshly shaken behind the beautiful bar, or a burger and fries cooked to perfection.
When Cassie had told Olivia that she wanted to work behind the bar, she immediately jumped at the opportunity to work alongside her best friend at the resort. Not only was she a badass bartender, having worked her way through college, but she had an amazing gift with people. She had a way of making you tell all your secrets to a stranger, but feeling as if you were spilling your guts to your best friend.
So when Olivia walked into the restaurant and saw Cassie easily making conversation with a tall, dark, and handsome stranger, she wasn’t at all surprised. The next thing she heard was Cassie’s whoop of a cheer when she saw Olivia and Sam walk into the restaurant hand in hand.
“It’s about damn time! It only took ten, long, lonely years! Attention! Attention! Olivia Keller and Sam Callahan everyone!” Throwing up her hands in a dramatic slow clap, Cassie got the stares of everyone in the bar. Sam took a sweeping bow and stepped aside so Olivia could do the same.
Laughing they sat down at the bar next to the mysterious stranger as Cassie slammed four shot glasses down on the bar. “Drink up, children! Cheers!” Sam and Olivia clinked their glasses together and tossed back the tequila in one, quick shot.
“Now that Cassie has thoroughly humiliated us, Jensen, meet Olivia,” Sam stood up to introduce his business partner to his girl.
Ignoring the hand he extended to her, Olivia went straight for the hug and drew him in.“It’s really great to meet you. I can’t wait to hear all about the work you and Sam are doing. Thanks for joining us for the 4th.” Pulling back, she noticed a faint smile tug at the corner of his mouth as she stepped back to sit at the bar.
“It’s nice to meet you too. Thanks for having me,” turning to Sam, he gave him a pat on the back. “So, you got lucky, Callahan. The groveling must have worked,” he gave Sam a grin before reclaiming his own bar stool. “I’ve been rooting for you two since the first night he told me about you.”
“Who knew underneath all that swagger there was a hopeless romantic in there,” Sam ribbed as he saddled up to the bar closer to Olivia.
“I wouldn’t go that far. Ten years of moping around after a long lost love was fucking annoying,” Jensen tossed back his own shot.
“Moping, huh? Sounds about right,” Cassie threw a look in Olivia’s direction as she mixed up bloody marys for the group.
“Excuse me. I did not mope…Maybe I threw myself into work and never dated seriously, but moping is a little exaggerated, don’t you think, Cass?” Olivia said as she took a long pull from her cocktail.
“Not in the least bit. You were the Queen of Moping,” Cassie laughed as Olivia stuck her tongue out at her from across the bar.
Pulling Olivia into his side, Sam popped a kiss on her head with a smack. “No more moping necessary.”
“Nope,” Olivia tossed back as she gave him a slow kiss on the lips.
“Ok, maybe I take back what I said. Get a room, you two,” Jensen said sarcastically.
“Oh that was the plan, until your ass showed up and interrupted,” Sam joked.
But his mood suddenly shifted when he saw the look on his friend”s face. Jensen’s usual clear gray eyes quickly turned to slate as he shot a piercing look over Sam’s shoulder in Olivia’s direction.
Taking the silent cue from his friend, Sam turned to look at Olivia. “Liv, why don’t you finish your drink and meet me back at my cabin?”
Sensing the seriousness in his eyes, she knew better than to question him. “Sure, I’ll see you soon.” He gave her a quick kiss before he stood.
“Thanks for the drink, Cassie,” he said as he pushed back from the bar and walked out.
“Nice to meet you both,” Jensen said to them before following Sam out the door. Both girls just stared at the men as they exited, and continued to stare for a few more seconds before looking back at each other.
“Umm, what the hell just happened?” Cassie asked dumbstruck. “Also, can I just say? Those are two extraordinarily good looking men.”
Ducking her head into her drink, Olivia took a deep breath. The last time she had seen that look in Sam’s eyes, they were seventeen and his father had just battered his face with his fists. Trying to calm her breathing, she shook her head and told herself she would tackle it with Sam in a bit.
“Speaking of extraordinarily good looking men, what’s the deal with tall, dark, and handsome? He was clearly giving you ‘the look’,” Olivia wiggled her eyebrows at Cassie.
“I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. He was practically giving me the death stare the whole time,” Cassie said nonchalantly as she began to wipe down the bar.
“Uh-huh. You and I must have very different definitions of ‘the death stare’,” Olivia sucked down the rest of her cocktail, drinking until her straw made a slurping sound.
“You’ve been lusting after the same guy for a decade, I don’t think you’re one to give me advice on men. No offense, Liv.” Cassie popped a hand on her hip and tossed her a haughty look.
“None taken,” she said as she pushed her empty drink away from her and buried her head in her hands.
Planting her hands on the bar, Cassie tapped one finger a few times as she decided how to tackle this. Her best friend was clearly the happiest she had ever seen her, but a blind man could see that there was something brewing under the surface between her and Sam, and it made her weary.
“So. As your therapist bartender, it is my duty to give you advice, you ready?” In a gesture of agreement, Olivia lifted her head, put her elbows on the table, laid her chin in her hands, eyes locked on Cassie.
“I’m all ears.”
“Good. I know you are falling into this fast and hard, and I am over the moon happy for you. But the look I saw in both of those men’s eyes, it makes me nervous, Liv. Just make sure you keep those Killer Keller Instincts about you, ok? Just be careful.” Cassie’s eyes were serious, and in that moment, Olivia was grateful to have someone alongside her in this whirlwind that knew her so well.
“I will, thanks therapist,” she said as she reached out for Cassie’s hand. “Now that our session is over, can I have another round?”
Squeezing her hand in return, she grinned. “Comin’ right up.”
The dirt path that led to the woods on the outskirts of the campground was deserted on this sunny Sunday morning. Everyone was either at the restaurant enjoying the brunch specials or were getting ready to spend the day on the water. The stillness of the woods was a stark contrast to the furious beating of Sam’s heart. He clenched his fists open and closed as he breathed in and out in an effort to calm himself. Even though his outward appearance seemed under control, a fire was ripping through his body in a way he had never felt before.
Jensen followed the form of Sam’s back as they continued further into the trees. His muscles were tight and clearly tensed underneath his shirt and his fists were clenched at his sides. When Sam turned to face Jensen, he hadn”t seen that look in his eyes since the first night he’d met him.
“Let me see it,” Sam furiously held out his hand.
Reaching into his back pocket, Jensen pulled out a folded envelope and handed it to Sam.
“Son of a bitch,” Sam cursed as he snatched the letter out of Jensen’s hands. As he began reading it over, Jensen shoved his hands deep into his pockets and rocked back on his heels.
Sam felt as if he was never going to be able to escape his father. Two states and a decade were still not enough for Sam to outrun him.
The first letter came one week prior to his eighteenth birthday, one week before he was leaving to return to Keller Campground. His bags were already packed and he was counting down the minutes until he could get back to Olivia. But when he had retrieved the mail from the box on that hot, balmy June day, his insides froze as he saw the familiar handwriting on the outside of the envelope.
He hadn’t spoken to his father since the night on the dock. When Sam and Olivia had dived into the water to escape the flames, Greg had run the opposite way. Having heard the sirens coming so quickly, Sam thought his father would be running straight into their cuffs. But he had slipped through the woods like the snake he was.
And he had disappeared without a trace.
Except for the postcards he sent to Sam every year on his birthday, warning him, reminding him who was in charge with threats to stay away from Keller Campground. It brought Sam so much pain, he could almost recite it from memory:
Samuel,
I know you have plans to return to Keller Campground once the clock strikes midnight on your eighteenth birthday. But I am here to tell you that I will not allow that to happen. I put a roof over your head, food in your belly, and you still turned out to be an ungrateful bastard - running off to those pussy-ass Kellers and their fancy campground.
So I figure you owe me. And here’s how you’re gonna do it. Whenever you receive a postcard from me, there will be an amount written along with a PO Box to send the money to. This will help me to run from the cops - I’m not going back to fucking prison. No thanks to you. I’m going to live life as a free man.
Oh, and don’t even think about calling the cops or sending them along with the money. Because let me tell you what will happen if you do: I will ensure that every single inch of Keller Campground is burned to the fucking ground, that there is nothing left. And if I don’t get it all the first time, I will go back until the job is done. Do you understand me?
And one more thing. You won’t be returning to the Kellers. If I find out that you have gone back, I will do much worse than setting fire to those fucking cabins. I will set fire to your heart. I will take care of the Kellers. One by one by one. Starting with that whore of a friend of yours who works at the bar, then that mother fucker who dared come to my house and threaten me, and then finally, that sweet piece of ass you are so obsessed with. And I will do her last, so she can watch her precious family perish right in front of her fucking eyes.
I know you wouldn’t want that on your conscience, would you, Sammy Boy? Send money when I ask. Stay away from the Kellers, and you can live the life I gave to you, understood?
-Your Father-
Oh and Happy Birthday.
He would never forget the fury he had felt the first time he had read that letter. He smashed everything that was within reach and punched a hole in the wall when he rammed his fist through the spot where he had a calendar hung that he was marking down the days until he could leave his temporary home. Once he had calmed, he tried to think through every angle, every possible solution he could find to disobey his father’s orders. But after hours and hours of trying to come up with a plan, the only answer he could come up with was to stay away.
And that is when his fury had morphed into devastation.
There was absolutely no way in hell that Sam would ever knowingly put Olivia and her family at risk. He would do everything in his power to keep her safe, even if it meant shattering both their hearts in the process. So he would stay away, without a word of it, because to tell her would mean to keep her, and watch her suffer, knowing she would do anything to help him, including placing herself in the crosshairs. But to leave her without a trace of where he would go, would mean she would grow to hate him, safely. And after everything the Keller’s had done for him, it was the only choice he had.
Bringing himself back to the present, he felt his rage start to boil.
“Look at the return address, Callahan,” Jensen broke the tension with the piece he knew would send Sam over the edge.
Flashing his eyes up from the letter to Jensen, a snarl broke out from his mouth. “The return address is the fucking campground. He knows I’m here.”
“We anticipated this. This is why I’m here. We stick with the plan, if you’re sure this is what you want to do,” Jensen held Sam’s gaze in a sign of solidarity, and even though Sam hadn’t had many friends in his life, Jensen had become one of the best there was. Sam was a man determined and having made up his mind, nothing was going to stop him. He had lost ten years of his life, ten years without the love of his life, and he was finally ready to take it all back.
“We’re doing it. We’ll debrief tonight - 8pm at my cabin. But before we do, I have to talk to Liv. I have to tell her everything,” Sam said to Jensen as they started to head back.
“Well, if you don’t answer your door, I’ll send out a search party, assuming she’s out disposing of your body,” Jensen tossed at him.
“Gee, thanks,” Sam said dryly as he went to tell Olivia the rest of the truth. And hoped to God she wouldn’t run the other direction.