Chapter 15 #2
Poor Kell, though. He and Dean were powering through.
Sighing, she drove on, following her GPS. She’d taken a screenshot of a map for good measure, just in case.
So barbaric.
The drive up the old, narrow logging road made her nervous. This time, she was wearing gloves, had a back-up battery for her phone, and had texted Dani to tell her that if Rachel didn’t text her again in three hours, call the police.
Dani’s response?
Are you safe now, Rachel? Because this sounds like the plot of a Lifetime movie.
Once she’d explained it, Dani had understood, and now here Rachel was, climbing up an icy, winding road. A big wooden sign made her sigh with relief.
Camp Wannacanhopa.
Orla’s email about the new development had given Rachel pause, this deal suddenly way bigger than she expected.
In fact, this potential deal–Markstone's acquisition of land, building a theme park, developing hotels–was so big, she would have expected Orla to be taking her place, expectant daughter or no.
Or even Doug. But Orla had addressed that:
Lucinda says you’re the only person she wants to work with and we’re honoring that for now.
Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it. Doug wanted the deal closed sooner, but at least you don’t have a flat no from her, like the last acquisitions person did.
Keep up the good work, but as this gets bigger, be prepared to be replaced.
Please remember your job is on the line.
You have to close this deal or I can’t protect you. You know how it is.
Oh, Rachel definitely knew how it was.
Having no idea where to go, or exactly what her boss and boss’s boss expected her to do, she decided that pictures and a basic written report were in order.
Nothing was ever good enough for Doug, anyhow.
He was king of the vague demand, so you never knew exactly what he was looking for.
You could do your assignment and be ignored, never knowing whether you got it right or wrong and therefore unable to improve and get it right next time.
Sometimes, the goalposts were shifted without warning, so the praise you expected turned into a terse dressing down.
As she climbed the road, starting to get nervous that her little rental car wouldn’t cut it, the road became a flatter surface. A cluster of buildings came into view, arranged around a central common with a huge flagpole.
And then she saw something she really wasn’t expecting: a very familiar truck that said Pulling for You on the side.
What was Kell doing here?
Pulling into a parking spot next to the other vehicle, she steeled herself. Seeing Kell was not part of the plan, and just the sight of his truck got her belly fluttering. She’d thought she’d have some time to just think and process without interacting with him for a bit.
Life said otherwise.
“Hey!” he called out from behind her as she got out of the car, walking toward her with a look of frank curiosity on his face, but that turned into a happy smile.
Another man was with him, covered in cold weather gear, but when he took off his hat, she saw that it was Luke. “Are you stalking me?” Kell joked.
And then it hit her.
She had to lie.
Lie about why she was here.
No one in town could know why she was here.
Even Lucinda and Boyce couldn’t know. Markstone's had a bulldog legal department, and she couldn’t tip their hand in this acquisition, because it was no longer just about Love You Chocolate.
Now the deal included the old tool and die shop in town and this huge camp.
“I, uh, I went for a drive and my GPS failed. Took a wrong turn,” she said, scrambling for a plausible excuse, her gut turning to twisting lead as she lied to his face.
He reached for her, the hug natural and warm. Under any other circumstance, she’d be thrilled at the embrace.
Now, she felt like a piece of slime, accepting it. She didn’t deserve his warmth. Her job was forcing her to become exactly what he’d said she was five years ago.
A liar.
“You were driving out this far?”
“I was trying to get to Nordicbeth. My boss wanted me to check out how they operate.”
“Markstone's wants to buy them, too?”
“Hah. No, but we have contracts with larger hospitality companies. What about you? You left this morning with your dad. How’d you get your truck?”
“I drove separately. He just wanted to make sure I left on time.”
“Oh.”
He slung his arm around her shoulders like it was the most natural thing ever. “Come look around with me and Luke.”
“Hey, Rachel,” Luke said, looking a bit sad.
“Hi! What’re you guys doing here? Tree work?”
“Nope.” A few beats passed, and then Luke said, “Thinking about buying the place.”
Every molecule in Rachel’s body shattered, exploded, fell into an abyss.
She literally went numb.
“What?” She could barely get the word out.
“It’s crazy, right?” Luke said, laughing with a strange bitter sense she couldn’t understand. “Four outbuildings. Bunch of cabins. A director’s house. Lodge and dining hall. A hundred and fifty-one acres. Three docks, two beaches, and a ton of boats and equipment.”
“Not crazy. Your idea is a really good one.” Kell insisted, giving Luke a look that made it clear whatever doubt Luke had, it was misplaced.
“Idea?” she choked out, then coughed to cover her weirdness.
“Luke’s got this idea to buy the camp and turn it into a big family home, kind of a compound.
Get Mom and Dad, me, Colleen, and maybe Dennis to all live here.
The tree service could store all the equipment here, and use the camp office.
We’d take cabins and buildings and renovate them to have separate houses.
There’s way more land than we’d ever need, but there are timber rights we could exploit to help pay it off, and if we pool our resources, it might work. ”
Luke looked at her. “And we’d preserve all this land. I know some company might come in and just turn it into a big old field of condos. I hate that idea.”
“Right,” she squeaked out.
“I spent every summer from the age of four to eighteen here,” Kell said in a tone of wonder. “Mom started me off in the preschool zone. Dennis was a junior counselor that year, so she was willing to let me go.”
“I couldn’t start until first grade,” Luke said with a sniff. “No sibling old enough for that.”
“Poor deprived Lukey.”
They laughed, Rachel joining in, hoping her voice didn’t sound too hysterical. The Luview family wanted to buy the camp? And create a big family home here?
The day just went from bad to apocalyptic.
“It’s commercial property, isn’t it?” she asked, realizing her error the second the words were out of her mouth, hoping they didn’t become suspicious.
“We don’t have a lot of codes around here. Easy to make it mixed use, anyway. Mom and Dad can have the tree service here. Kell can pull weeds. We can all live here, too.”
“I do more than pull weeds!” Kell protested, the argument giving Rachel insight into how his older siblings treated him.
“Of course you do. I just sent all those invoices out. You make a lot of money providing a delicate and difficult service to people across the region,” Rachel said, defending him against Luke’s obvious condescension.
“Huh. And here I thought he just pulled weeds,” Luke said dryly, walking toward a building that said OFFICE.
“Are the utilities on?” she asked.
Luke shook his head. “No heat. Pipes were bled for winter. Electric’s on, though. Want to look around?”
“I actually have a meeting in a little bit,” she said, which wasn’t a lie. If she didn’t text Dani by two, Dani had been instructed to call the police.
Given that twenty-five percent of Luview, Maine’s police force was standing in front of her…
“Ah. Then you have time,” Kell said, tilting his head, the sudden appearance of the sun from behind thick clouds lending a brilliant shine to the snow-covered land.
“Sure!”
“Let’s give her a tour,” he said to Luke.
“On foot, or truck?”
“Foot.”
“Okay, but I have to go, too,” Luke said. “There’s a play at Harriet’s school at one thirty.”
“Oh! How fun for you guys,” Rachel said.
“Oh, I’m not going,” Kell said, laughing. “I have to help Dad with a quote.”
“I meant Luke and Amber.”
All of the fresh air floating between them turned to a cloud of horror as Luke looked at her with so much anger and disgust, then turned to Kell.
“You didn’t tell her?”
“I assumed she–oh, damn it, Rachel, you don’t know.” Kell looked so guilty suddenly.
“Don’t know what?”
“I’m so sorry, Luke,” he said, but his brother was already stomping off. Rachel had no idea what she’d said wrong, but she knew that whatever Kell was supposed to have told her wasn’t going to be pleasant.
“Kell! I didn’t mean to say anything horrible. What did I say?”
Gently, he pulled away from her, somber eyes meeting hers with a distinct grief that made her toes tingle with fear.
“I’m sorry. I should have realized you didn’t know. Amber is dead.”
Gloved hand flying to her mouth, she covered it, throat spasming.
“No!”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“About fifteen months ago. On Thanksgiving Day.”
“Oh, my God!”
As the news sank in, Kell held onto her, letting out a long sigh filled with grief.
“It’s been terrible.”
“Of course! And little Harriet!”
“Luke’s sole purpose in life now.”
“She was so nice! So sweet in that FaceTime call we had! I was hoping I’d run into her.” A memory hit her of asking about Amber at the ER when they’d been glued together, and how Luke hadn’t answered.
Colleen and Kell had avoided the question, too.
“It’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to our family.”
“May I ask–how?”
“Car accident.”
“No! Was Harriet in the car with her?”
“Not that kind of accident. An older man in town, a good guy, had a heart attack at the wheel. Amber liked to go on these long, rambling walks, and sometimes she walked on the road for short stretches, between trails. Wasn’t much snow, and the roads were clear.
It was just the worst timing ever. He lost control of his car and–”