Chapter 7
LUCY
It turned out my family was just as enamored with Eddie as I was.
Ten days after we met at the library, we went on our first date. He’d asked me out earlier, but I was due to take the bar exam, and that was not a test you wanted to screw around with.
So we went out the day after I took it.
It was the best date I’d ever been on.
I know it sounds generic, but there wasn’t an awkward silence the entire time. We spent the whole time talking, smiling, and flirting—lots of flirting. He was polite, confident, and friendly to the staff—all the things you want.
Our second date followed a few days later. And by the time our third date ended, we slept together.
Eddie was dynamite in bed, and I’m using that word intentionally. It’s like fireworks were going off.
It probably helped that I’d been single and hadn’t had sex in a long time. I wasn’t the type of woman who slept around, so if I was single, I could go without sex for long stretches.
I know we’d only been on three dates, but I decided to take the plunge and invite Eddie to my family’s annual trip to Lake Tahoe.
My parents took a trip to Lake Tahoe thirty-five years ago and have returned every year since. The first few years, they’d stay at a hotel or rent a place by the water, but eventually my father bought a house in Zephyr Cove, a beautiful, secluded area on the south shore of Tahoe.
My father, Bruce Tanner, graduated from UCLA with his undergraduate degree and then went to Stanford Business School. Upon completion, he returned to Los Angeles and took a job running a pair of hotels owned by The Archibald Group, led by a well-known local businessman named Ray Archibald.
My father later told me it wasn’t what he’d envisioned when he graduated from business school, but they’d offered him a healthy salary, and it got him into the real world after seven years of schooling. He couldn’t turn it down.
They trained him for six weeks, and suddenly he was managing two hotels at the ripe old age of twenty-six: The Archibald and The Palantino.
Both hotels were within blocks of the Pacific Ocean, but were rundown and not all they could be. My father suggested upgrading the properties, but the Archibald Group seemed content and resistant to change.
He continued to emphasize how valuable the location was and that they were leaving money on the table because of the hotels’ shabbiness, but, with the lone exception of Ray Archibald, no one seemed willing to invest in fixing them up. They were happy with the checks that were coming in.
After several months of trying, my father’s attention moved elsewhere. He met a young woman named Iris who was working as an accountant for The Archibald Group. Sparks flew. They started dating and married four years later. Iris Macintosh had become Iris Tanner.
Two years after their marriage, my parents had the opportunity of a lifetime. The Archibald Group was breaking up and was looking to sell the hotels.
My father had been frugal and saved his money. My mother had done the same. They came up with the crazy idea of looking into buying one of the hotels. The problem was that despite saving all of their money, they were only in their early thirties and likely hadn’t accumulated enough to buy a hotel.
They decided that a guilt trip might help do the trick.
They set up a meeting with Ray Archibald, the face and namesake of the Archibald Group.
They had become close with Ray over the years, and he’d felt a kinship with both of my parents.
The fact that they’d met while working under him was a huge badge of honor for Ray.
My parents asked Ray if he would be interested in keeping The Archibald Hotel in the family. No, they weren’t technically family, but Ray had referred to them as family many times over the years.
Ray said that he and the other investors in the Archibald Group had hoped to sell both hotels to one buyer, but this was proving more challenging than expected.
“I wish I could buy both,” my father said. “But I’m not even sure we can afford just The Archibald.”
“I’m going to be straight with you. I really like you both. I always have. You’ve been great employees, and I love that you met while working for the Archibald Group. You guys know that. I’ve even heard a few rumors that we might soon be adding to the family.”
It was my mother’s turn to charm Ray. “Don’t believe every rumor you hear,” she said. “Although this one happens to be true. We were even thinking that Ray would be quite the middle name.”
My mother later told me that once she saw Ray Archibald’s face melt at those words, she knew they’d be able to work something out.
“I’m overwhelmed,” Ray said. “A true love story originating from our offices. I’ll tell you what. Let’s meet again next week. Why don’t you bring all your financials, and I’ll bring in a friend of mine from the bank? We’ll see if we can make this happen.”
My parents could hardly contain their excitement.
They met with Ray a week later. He had gone out of his way to convince the bank to offer extremely low-interest loans on the two hotels.
Despite the bank’s olive branch, my parents just didn’t have enough capital to make it happen. They were both hard-working and motivated and knew they’d make it work if they could just get the loan, but sometimes the numbers are the numbers.
The banker liked my parents and wanted this to happen, but the fact was that my parents just didn’t have enough money, no matter how hard he tried to fudge it.
After an hour of going back and forth on this, Ray Archibald did the unthinkable.
“How about if I co-sign,” he said. “For both hotels.”
The paperwork was signed a day later.
My parents had immediate plans to renovate the two hotels and had a built-in advantage in this regard.
My father’s father—yes, my grandfather—had been a contractor who’d recently retired. When my father threw out the idea of helping renovate the two hotels, my grandfather jumped at the idea.
“It was your mother’s idea that I retire, anyway,” he said. “I know I’ve got a few good years left in me.”
For the next two years, my father and grandfather, along with the help of some of his old contractor friends, helped The Archibald and The Palantino become more than anyone could have expected.
The Archibald Group had relied merely on location, which was enough to get people in the door, but it wasn’t enough to charge people exorbitant prices. That’s what my parents were shooting for.
It wasn’t easy. When they were redoing a wing of the hotel, they’d have to make several rooms unavailable for months at a time. For my parents, who were already barely able to make the payments, this caused significant stress.
And it’s why they waited to have a child. Those first eighteen months were spent worrying about upgrading the hotels and keeping their finances from going underwater. It wasn’t the best time to have their first baby.
Whenever things became especially daunting, Ray Archibald had their back. He’d come by the hotels and give them words of encouragement.
“You didn’t just take over my babies, you’re improving them,” he’d say.
When the bank worried my parents might have to default on the loan, Ray Archibald would set them straight and told them that when the two hotels were remodeled entirely, Bruce and Iris could charge an arm and a leg for each room.
The bank relented.
And Ray Archibald was right.
Once the renovation was completed, the hotels had gone from probably 2.5-star to four-star. If someone was being generous, you might even say The Archibald was bordering on being a five-star hotel. The Palantino wasn’t quite as fancy.
When Ray had agreed to bankroll them, he’d had one request, and that was to keep the names of the hotel the same. My parents stuck to their end of the bargain.
They had a re-grand opening upon completion, and the Los Angeles Times showed up. They wrote a glowing article about the two hotels. My parents knew things would be different from then on.
Sure enough, they started making money hand over fist and began doubling their payments to the bank, attempting to shorten the loan term.
What had been a monumental risk had paid off in spades. My parents were over the moon.
And that’s when they decided it was time to have a child.
When they told Ray Archibald that their daughter’s name would be Lucy Ray Tanner, he couldn’t hold back the tears.
Fast forward thirty years, and that child—me!—was calling her father to ask about inviting her new boyfriend to the annual Tahoe trip.
“Dad, can I bring a friend up to Tahoe this time?”
“A boy or a girlfriend?”
“A boy.”
“Hmm, I’m not sure I like the sound of that. What does this boy do?”
“He’s a party planner.”
“Is he gay?”
“Dad, you’re not supposed to say that anymore.”
“Is he homosexual?”
“I didn’t mean the word itself. I meant asking his sexual orientation as your first question. You are too much. And no, Eddie is very much straight.”
“Very much straight? I don’t like the sound of that. Am I going to have to put you in two separate bedrooms?”
“Are you going to be like this on the trip?”
My father laughed. “Yeah, probably.”
“So, I can invite him?”
“Sure, honey. And I’ll try to be on my best behavior.”
“Love you, Dad.”
“Love you, too, Lucy.”
Eddie accepted the invitation, and we drove up from Los Angeles together.
My younger brother, Reid, would be joining us from Denver. Although younger, Reid was already married and had a young son. I’d been delighted for Reid when he and Josie had their baby. First and foremost for them. Secondly, for my parents to have become grandparents.
And I’d be lying if it didn’t take a little pressure off of me being the oldest child.
My parents rarely broached the subject, and when they did, it was good-naturedly, but they’d eventually want grandkids, and being the oldest, I put that pressure on myself.
And I probably felt it even more being a female.
But once Reid and Josie had their baby, that pressure subsided.
My parents must have seen us approaching the house because they were waiting outside the front door when we arrived.
Eddie introduced himself and was very attentive, spending a few minutes getting to know each of them.
He then offered to take my bags in. Was it pre-planned to make himself look good in front of my parents? Probably, but they bought it hook, line, and sinker. He’d made one hell of a first impression, just like he had on me.
Reid and his wife arrived a few hours after us. They flew in from Denver with their three-year-old son and then rented a car at the airport.
Eddie bonded with Reid immediately, giving him shit about wearing a Broncos hat despite being raised in LA, and kept saying his Rams were going to kick their ass this year. I’ll never understand how men can bust each other’s balls and be best friends ten seconds later.
We had an excellent dinner at a local restaurant that first night. Eddie tried to pay for it, but my father wouldn’t let him. Not that the end result even mattered. It was definitely a case of “It’s the thought that counts.”
The next morning, we took a boat out and took turns water skiing, all in our requisite wetsuits. Lake Tahoe can be cold, even in the summer.
Eddie turned out to be better than all of us, and our family had been water skiing for decades.
Was there nothing this guy couldn’t do?
When our trip ended a few days later, it was as if Eddie was already part of the family.
That may seem quick, but it’s genuinely how it felt.
My father, mother, brother, and sister-in-law adored him. Even my three-year-old nephew ended up laughing every time Eddie played around with him.
But no one was more impressed with him than I.
I was already in love.