34. Chapter 34
Chapter thirty-four
Gina
I need to talk to Diana, but first, I need to see Benji. I need his arms around me. I need to rest my head against his chest and listen to the beat of his heart. I missed him last night. As much as I needed my mom, I also needed my husband.
Also, he promised me pancakes.
My cabin door is unlocked, and I slip inside. Benji must still be in bed. Trouble comes racing out of the room to wind between my legs and meow his plaintive meow.
Benji will be happy to see me, too.
I walk to my room, Trouble intent on tripping me every step of the way. The bed is unmade, but Benji isn’t in it. He’s not in the bathroom, either.
For a heart-stopping second, I’m terrified he’s left me. But his toothbrush is still in the holder, and his clothes are still in the drawers.
He could’ve gone to the lodge. It’s supposed to be closed today, so he wouldn’t be expected to work, but he might be checking on Diana. I bet she’s opened the lodge anyway.
Trouble’s bowl is empty, so I refill it. The cat doesn’t usually let us forget to fill it, even if it takes him all day to eat the food.
I find a scrap of paper and leave a note on the table in case I miss Benji. I don’t want him to worry.
The door shuts behind me, and I hesitate on my front porch. The mid-morning air is warming up, and the sun has already burned off the dew. A few butterflies flitter around the edges of the meadow.
Maybe I should find Milo. Except I’m not sure exactly where he’s set up camp. I don’t want to tromp around all the usual places looking for him. My truck is still here, and his dirt bike is parked beside it. So he hasn’t left yet.
Milo can come to me. I don’t think any conversation with him will be productive until he’s had time to think about everything.
I toy with the string around my neck. The one tied to the engagement ring. I’ll go to the lodge. Find Diana. Benji, too.
It’s silly how nervous I am as I set off down the trail.
I’ve known Diana all my life. I’ve been living here, in my cabin, for fifteen years.
She’s been a constant, steady presence. I’m afraid to face her disappointment.
I rehearse what I need to say to her, but by the time the trail spits me out into the sunshine, I’m not feeling more confident.
Diana isn’t in her cabin, so I head to the lodge. The camp is oddly quiet this morning. It is a Tuesday, and no guests are checking out today, but for a sunny morning, no one is around.
The lodge is open. Diana is sitting at the reception desk with a cup of coffee. She glances up as I walk in.
“Hi,” I finally manage to say, sounding as uncomfortable as I feel.
She looks at me for a long time, then tentatively says, “Hi.”
“Can we talk?” I ask.
She gets up from the desk. “I’ll make you a coffee. Sit.”
I lean against a table instead, watching as Diana makes me a latte. Benji taught her how to do that. God, where is he? I wish he were here. “I’m sorry I lied to you.”
Diana hands me the finished coffee and acknowledges my apology with a nod. She doesn’t sit, either. “Milo came to talk to me this morning.”
I blink. “He did?”
“He explained what happened and why the two of you felt you had no choice.” She sighs.
“I wish you both had talked to me. I never would’ve pushed for you to get married if I’d known you weren’t together.
But I thought…” She sighs again and sits, so I sit, too.
“It’s just the two of you, all alone out there, and Milo’s so closed-off around everyone else.
Your relationship—when I thought it was one—didn’t seem all that usual, but it seemed to work for you.
But I didn’t think it would keep working for you, not when you took on running the camp.
And if you were both seriously committed to Happy Lake, he should be seriously committed to you. ”
“You know we both love Happy Lake.”
“You can love Happy Lake and still struggle under its burden. Having the right partner to support you can make all the difference in the world.”
She sniffles, and I realize she’s no longer talking about me and Milo. “You miss him.”
“Terribly.” She takes a deep breath and blinks back tears. “Kenneth showed me that true partnership wasn’t what my parents had. It was so much better. It’s not the same without him.”
“He was the heart of Happy Lake for decades.” His booming laugh would echo across the lodge as he regaled guests with fishing stories and local lore.
He was always cheerful and a diehard fan of every Minnesota team.
He had a way of forming instant and caring relationships with the guests.
He’d operate the grill every Happy Lake Anniversary Weekend, handing out brats, burgers, ribs, and wings.
His winter fish fry was legendary in Havenwood.
The regulars still miss him. Milo, too, even though he doesn’t talk about it.
Diana shakes herself out of a memory of her husband and gives me a small smile. “So you’re married.”
I take a sip of my coffee, then nod.
“You just met and got married and didn’t see each other for months until he came here?”
I guess my relationship with Benji isn’t all that usual, either. “I love him. He makes me happy.”
“He’s a good one,” she says, her voice soft. “Reminds me a lot of my Kenneth. In the ways that count,” she adds at my doubtful look.
But she’s right. Like Kenneth, Benji has the ability to draw people to him and form connections. He’s good for Happy Lake, and I think Happy Lake is good for him.
I set my coffee down. “Have you seen him this morning?”
“No. Milo came to my cabin around seven, and I opened the lodge at eight. Benji hasn’t stopped by.”
He could be out for a run or a walk. Or chatting with a guest somewhere. Maybe he wanted to wait for me to return to make pancakes. “So what happens now?”
Diana’s mouth tightens. “You mean am I going to sell Happy Lake to you and Milo after all this?”
My mouth is dry, but I shake my head. I don’t know if Milo still wants to run Happy Lake with me, and without him, I can’t afford to buy it. “I need to know if I still have a job for the summer. If I’m still welcome here. Benji, too.”
“You still have a job, and you and Benji are welcome here. As for Happy Lake,” she stands. “Milo needs to show me that he can step up. If he can take on the responsibility for the rest of the summer—if you can step back and let him—I think I can sell the lodge to you.”
I get to my feet and pick up my coffee, my heart taking flight. We still have a chance. “Thank you. And I’m sorry, again, about the lies.”
Diana waves the apology off, but I can tell from her expression that while all may be forgiven, she hasn’t forgotten. I’m not sure the summer will be long enough for Milo to prove himself.
If he doesn’t give Diana the double bird on his way out of town.
“And I’ll—we’ll—pay you back for the wedding expenses.”
Diana waves this off, too, although we both know this argument isn’t over.
Since the lodge is open, I almost tell her I’ll come in to work later. But I want to spend the day with my husband once I find him.
He’s not on the beach, so I set off on a loop around the cabins. There’s a possibility Pamela and Joelle are forcing brunch and mimosas on him.
Except I find those two standing outside cabin thirteen, arms crossed and looking worried. When Pamela sees me, she waves me over.
“What’s up?” I ask.
“There’s something we have to tell you,” Pamela starts.
Joelle smacks her arm. “We promised we wouldn’t.”
“This is extenuating circumstances,” Pamela protests.
There’s some commotion by the door, and we all turn as Milo guides Wade’s scrawny frame through it. “I told you to stay outside,” Milo grumbles at the old man, disappearing inside.
Wade puts his hands on his hips. “This will go faster if I help.”
“You just want to snoop through other people’s stuff,” comes the voice from inside.
“There’s nothing in there anyway,” Wade huffs but comes over to stand with us instead of trying his luck with Milo again.
Pamela and Joelle are whisper-arguing. Wade is muttering complaints about Milo. So I go inside.
Milo is in the second bedroom, quickly opening and closing drawers, his back to me. “I told you—” he says in an irritated voice. “To stay outside.”
“What’s going on?” I ask.
He spins around, his eyes wide like I’ve caught him red-handed. “Gina.”
“What are you doing?” I demand.
“Jo and I have decided we should tell you,” Pamela says from behind me.
Milo throws his hands up into the air. “Everybody out—there’s nothing in here anyway.”
“The car’s still here,” Wade suggests from the living room. “We could search that.”
“It’s locked,” Joelle calls.
Milo ushers me and Pamela back into the living room, where Joelle and Wade are standing.
“We could break in,” Wade says, throwing his elbow like he’s smashing a car window.
“Nobody is breaking into anything,” Milo snaps.
The four of them start arguing immediately.
“What is going on?” I ask again, my voice ringing off the walls.
Everyone falls silent, turning to stare at me.
“Why are we standing in this cabin when the guests don’t check out until tomorrow?” I demand. “What are you looking for?”
“Wade was out with his metal detector this morning when he saw Benji walking into the woods with the two men renting this cabin,” Pamela says with a glare at Wade, “and didn’t think to mention it to anyone until twenty minutes ago.”
“How was I supposed to know?” Wade throws his arms up into the air. “You never told me they were with the mob. They didn’t have big signs on their backs saying, ‘Hey, we’re mob guys.’”
“Seriously? They look like mob guys,” Pamela says.
“They weren’t wearing fedoras and trench coats,” Wade protests. “No tracksuits. How do you know they’re mobsters?”
Pamela looks at Wade like he’s lost the plot, her lips forming the word ‘tracksuits.’
Joelle cuts in. “Benji said ‘some guys from Vegas’ might be looking for him—who else would that be?”
Wade shrugs. “More strippers? How should I know?”
“Those guys look like dancers to you?” Joelle demands.
“Okay,” I interrupt. “Someone explain. Why would mob guys or guys who inexplicably look like mob guys but might not be mob guys go into the woods with Benji?”
“Benji told us he had something that didn’t belong to him, but he lost it,” Pamela says. Joelle nods. “To come all this way from Nevada? It’s got to be something expensive or important.”
I touch the diamond ring hanging from the string around my neck—could it be that? A woman gave it to us in the cantina, but someone must have given it to her. Could that someone be dangerous? Is that why he’s spent so much of his free time with a metal detector—was he trying to find the ring?
Wade breaks into a smile. “Congrats, by the way. On your marriage to Benji.” He glances at Milo. “Sorry, son. Sometimes these things happen. But you’ll find another one. Plenty of fish and all that.”
“ Sometimes these things happen ?” Joelle asks, raising an eyebrow. “How many weddings did you not go to because they were called off when the bride turned out to be already married, and oh, the mafia is after her husband?”
They all start talking again, except for Milo, who crosses his arms and shakes his head.