Gift of Friends

Chapter Nine

Lynette jerked awake when the car’s momentum slowed.

“Morning, sleepyhead,” Annie said, grinning as she flipped on her blinker. “Or should I say ‘good evening’? I can’t believe you slept most of the way. Were you out late on a hot date last night?”

“I wish,” Lynette said. She rotated her head from side to side and rolled her shoulders to dispel the tightness in her neck. “No, no dates for me. I painted the inside of my new she-shed and stayed up way past my bedtime. I’m sorry I wasn’t good company during the drive.”

Annie turned onto the gravel lane that Lynette remembered would lead them straight to Renee’s lodge. Keeping one hand on the steering wheel, Annie cracked open each of their windows. The fresh scent of pine wafted in, dispelling the last dregs of sleep from Lynette’s mind.

“It looks and smells different in August than it did in January, doesn’t it?” Lynette said.

Annie gazed at the scene beyond the windshield. “It was beautiful in winter, but this is like being plunged into the heart of a forest. Have you ever seen so many shades of green?”

Something scampered across the path in front of them. Annie dynamited the brakes. Even though they weren’t going fast, Lynette had to grab the dash to keep from smacking her forehead.

“I told you not to put your shoulder belt behind your back when you were trying to get comfortable earlier,” Annie said.

“Did you have to hit the brakes that hard?” Lynette rolled her eyes at her friend, then checked her throbbing finger. “Great, I split my nail.”

“I’m sorry, Lynette, but I would have hated to hit that little critter. I think it was a squirrel. Hey, when did you give up the acrylics?”

Lynette tried to chew off the jagged part of her fingernail, but she’d need a clipper to do a decent job. “About the same time I gave up New York City.”

Annie nodded absentmindedly, then pointed ahead. “Look! Jackie and Kit beat us here! They better not be having fun without us.”

Given that they’d planned to be at Renee’s resort for a little over two weeks, including three weekends, Lynette doubted she and Annie had missed much already. She wondered whether her friends were waiting inside the main lodge, just beyond the parking lot, or if everyone was enjoying this beautiful evening outdoors. They’d spent all of their time in the lodge during their earlier winter visit. Renee had created a delightful atmosphere inside, conducive to facilitating retreats, but Lynette was looking forward to exploring the whole resort this time.

“I guess I’m not surprised to see other vehicles in the lot,” Annie said, pulling next to Kit’s red vintage Mustang and cutting the engine. “I know you told her to go ahead and rent out the extra cabins.”

Annie’s memory was spot on. When Lynette reached out to Renee to finalize their trip plans, it was a relief to hear there was interest from other guests in renting out the extra cabins during the Kaleidoscope Girls’ stay. As long as Renee saved the very best cabins for the four of them, it was nice not to have to shoulder the extra expense.

A year ago, Lynette had offered to rent out the whole resort during their stay. She’d been on a high following the lucrative sale of her business. But she wasn’t feeling as flush these days. Receipt of scheduled payments from the new buyers was in jeopardy, though she had no intention of telling anyone about her money troubles.

Lynette nodded. “Last summer we still had so many questions about the pandemic. Lots of things have changed since then. Renee felt comfortable opening the resort again this spring, and since she’d refused to charge us the normal rental rates, I knew she could use the extra income. I hope you don’t mind that we changed our plans a little.”

The two women stepped out of the car and slammed their doors. Despite the many vehicles, no one else was nearby at the moment.

“Of course I don’t mind. Unless that means Renee is going to have to work while we’re here. That wouldn’t be as much fun for her.”

Lynette walked to the back of Annie’s vehicle and rapped her knuckles on the trunk lid. “We talked about that, too. Her daughter, Julie, will be the contact for any other guests, and her sister Val is actually cooking for us. Remember how we had to email Renee a list of some of our favorite meals and breakfast items? Val was going to do the shopping beforehand, and even stock the refrigerators in our cabins.”

Annie finally found her key fob in her purse and popped the trunk. “Perfect! I remember you mentioning Julie’s name. We’ll all throw money in for the food, right?”

“Yep! No worries.”

The main lodge door opened, followed by squeals and laughter.

“The gang is all here!” Renee cried.

She rushed toward the two latest arrivals with open arms. Jackie and Kit weren’t far behind. Hugs and exclamations of excitement rang out.

Kit pulled back first. “Maybe we should be a little careful. Did you all test before you came?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Annie said. “We all followed your directions, Miss Scientist, and we all passed with flying colors.”

“That’s Mrs. Adams to you, chick,” Kit replied. “And sorry, I just had to check. It’s been a strange eighteen months since we were all together the last time. Reflex.”

“I’m just so glad things are getting back to normal,” Renee interjected, taking the heavy duffel from Lynette so she could keep pulling luggage from the trunk. “Whatever ‘normal’ even means these days. Hey, I have an idea. Why don’t you hold off on the luggage? It’s a beautiful evening. I thought you might like to take a tour of the grounds and cabins before it gets dark. The last time you were all here was the middle of winter. Things look different this time of year.”

Lynette took her bag back from their hostess and tossed it in the trunk again. “I was just commenting on that to Annie on the way in—right before she slammed on the brakes and almost put my head through the windshield. I can’t wait to explore!”

Annie came over and slammed her trunk, narrowly missing Lynette’s head. “I told you. I didn’t want to hit the squirrel.”

Renee giggled. “Remind me to tell you my squirrel stories some time. Now, come on. We’re wasting daylight.”

Lynette congratulated herself as they roamed the grounds of Whispering Pines alongside Renee. It was hard to beat the lush beauty of Hawaii, and the sunny February warmth of their Arizona girls’ trip had easily trumped the muck and slush of New York City. But this tranquil getaway would provide a much-needed balm for their pandemic-weary souls.

The beach and lake, only a short stroll from the lodge, looked so different without the heavy cloak of wind-sculpted snow and fractured ice. Lynette kicked off her sandals and let soft waves lap against her ankles. The sand’s texture differed from the white sand beaches on Maui, reminding her instead of long-ago days at summer camp. When she closed her eyes, she could almost hear the chatter and laughter of their youth.

“Promise me we’ll spend plenty of time out here on the beach,” Kit said, bending to pick up a rock. With a flick of her wrist, she skipped the flat stone across the surface of the lake, where it bounced a handful of times before sinking.

Renee laughed. “You haven’t lost your touch. And I promise you’ll get as much beach time as your little heart desires. Now, come on. I’ll show you the cabins.”

While Lynette had glimpsed the log-sided cabins from a distance during their first visit, everything looked so much more cohesive now. The cabins blended harmoniously with the green grass, summer flowers, and leafy trees. Before, the dark cabins had looked stark, almost out of place, against their bleak surroundings.

Only the towering pines that lent the resort its name were unchanged, regal and green regardless of the season. Lynette spun in a slow circle as she walked, wondering what secrets the timeless sentinels could whisper about the antics of countless vacationers over the decades. If only the trees could talk. Had Renee’s Aunt Celia planted any of the pines, or did they pre-date her, too?

She bumped into Annie, knocking her friend off the path and into a bordering flowerbed.

“What is wrong with you, Lynette?” Annie yelped, sidestepping a clump of vibrant Gerbera daisies. “Watch where you’re going!”

Lynette grimaced. “I’m sorry, Annie. I wasn’t watching where I was going. This place is just so beautiful!”

Annie tiptoed out of the flowers and back onto the path. She gave Lynette a playful poke in the side. “I forgive you. But only because it’s such a pretty evening. Besides, you probably owed me after I almost slammed your head into the windshield earlier.”

“Renee, you married Matt here, right? That must have been so pretty.”

Their tour continued. Renee led them past three cabins circling a large firepit ringed with stone, then pointed down a path that led into the woods with a promise to show them their new house later. She showed them both a larger cabin and a smaller unit along the tree line, sharing various tidbits of the resort’s history with her friends as they walked. After taking them back to the duplex that was tucked away on the other side of the lodge, they looped back to the firepit area.

Annie skipped up the steps of one of three small cabins closest to the resort’s main firepit. “I’ll take this one!”

“Are you sure?” Kit said. “It’s smaller than those first two Renee showed us.”

Annie shrugged. “I love campfires. If I stay in this cabin, I can sit out by the pit as late as I want without having to take a long walk in the dark when I’m ready to go to bed. Besides, I know we agreed that two of us would share that big cabin back there, but to be honest, I’m still a little traumatized by how full our house was for most of the last twelve months. I’d love to have a cute little place all to myself. If you guys don’t mind, that is.”

Renee held up her hands. “I already rented two of these out, but I was planning on one of you taking the third.”

“Kit and I will take the big cabin,” Jackie said. “There’s plenty of space for both of us, and we know we room well together. After all the quarantine time, we have lots of catching up to do. And I saw the way Lynette’s eyes lit up when you said there are rumors that the third cabin back there is haunted. Would you want to stay in that one, Lynette?”

Lynette was delighted with the way the sleeping arrangements were working out. “Would I want to? Absolutely! I was hoping I could be in there. Renee, isn’t that the same one you sometimes rent out for bridal couples, too? Maybe I can have a little fun with some local spirits, but also absorb a little lucky romance juju. I’m on a full year dry spell at this point.”

“You poor thing,” Renee said. But she didn’t look at all sympathetic.

“Oh, shut up. Just because you are the little wifey-poo to the sexy local sheriff and probably enjoying hot sex every night, you don’t have to rub it in.”

Just as Lynette was saying this, the door to the cabin next to Annie’s opened and two preteen boys scampered out and past them, mortified expressions on their faces.

The women tried to hold in their laughter, but only Kit was successful. “You idiots are going to traumatize those boys!”

“They hear worse in the halls of their school every dang day. Trust me,” Annie assured her as the boys jogged out of earshot. “Now, back to the topic at hand . . . How is the sex, Renee?”

Renee’s bottom lip popped out in a pout. “Practically nonexistent. At least since May. We had to make the economically responsible decision to move Julie and Robbie back home. They weren’t too happy about it either. They’d enjoyed a year of complete privacy in the two sides of the duplex.”

Annie shuddered. “We just managed to kick all our kids except Relic out. Why are you bringing yours back?”

“Because I need to rent out the duplex to help keep this place going,” Renee admitted. “We lost a full year of income because of the shutdowns. We’ve never rented out the duplex before, but we started to this summer.”

“Hmm,” Lynette said, gazing around the grounds. “That would explain the number of cars in the parking lot. I was struggling with the math. Even if you, Matt, and both your kids each had a car, I was only seeing three other cabins here that we aren’t taking up.”

Renee shrugged. “We do what we have to, right? Even if that means sacrificing passionate sex with the spouse for the summer months.”

“There’s always the beach, when everyone else is asleep,” Kit suggested, earning herself a high-five from Lynette. “And yes, I admit Dean and I have had to get more creative, too, with a teenager in the house.”

Footsteps behind them announced more campers, and they exchanged pleasantries with a young couple that wove around them and went into the third cabin by the firepit.

Lynette sighed. “They’re going to have cabin sex. I just know it.”

Renee shushed her.

“What? Fine. Enough talk about sex. It’s depressing, anyhow. It may be eight at night, but I’m hot. Do you have anything cold to drink?”

Lynette hated how their joking around about sex brought to mind the tattoo she’d spied on Storm’s inner arm. She had yet to mention it, or Storm, to her friends.

“I sure do,” Renee said. “In fact, Val put together a yummy charcuterie board to welcome all of you. There’s a tall pitcher of tea in the fridge, too, and chilled wine. It’s all in the lodge. I’d have had you over to the house, but Matt is working a late shift tonight, so he might still be sleeping. And Robbie’s been home all day, so the kitchen is probably a mess.”

Lynette looped her arm through Renee’s, turning her toward the lodge. “Stop apologizing, Renee. This is supposed to be vacation time for you, too. I know that might be easier said than done, but let’s at least try.”

Renee matched her steps and the rest of the Kaleidoscope Girls fell in line behind them. When their hostess dropped her head to Lynette’s shoulder, a powerful wave of wellbeing made her squeeze her old friend’s arm. She was glad she’d kept in contact with Renee over the years, even if it was sporadic. They would all have lost out if Renee wasn’t still in their lives.

“The resort grounds look beautiful,” Lynette said.

Renee raised her head and patted Lynette’s arm. “Thank you. I will pass your compliment on to my son. Robbie worked hard out here this year, keeping everything top-notch. It’s important that we get people back into the habit of renting from us every year. Repeat customers are our mainstay.”

“As they are for almost every business.”

“Except for the business my middle kid is in,” Annie chimed in from behind them.

Lynette released Renee’s arm and turned to face Annie, walking sideways. “Is Colton back to work at the funeral home, then?”

“He is. Careful, Lynette. We aren’t as nimble as we used to be. When I walked backward like that on Camelback, I darn near broke my neck.”

With a laugh, Lynette saluted her friend and spun around to face forward. “I suppose repeat customers aren’t exactly a thing for funeral homes.”

“Knock it off, guys,” Jackie said, reaching around them both for the door into the lodge’s kitchen. “I’m so done with talk of death and dying. We’ve all had to endure too much of that over the past year and a half. You’ll ruin my appetite. And if Renee’s sister is as good at making meat and cheese trays as she is at baking those delicious granola bars of hers, we are in for a treat.”

Renee held the door so Jackie and the rest of them could file into the lodge. “Trust me, Val is a wizard in the kitchen. She’ll fatten all of us up over the next two weeks.”

Inside, the kitchen was brightly lit but empty.

“She’s not here?” Lynette asked. She was looking forward to meeting this talented sister.

“Nope,” Renee said. “She still has four boys at home, so she got as much ready this afternoon as possible. We’re all set for the weekend, and she plans to come back out on Monday.”

“Her kids aren’t back in school, though. Will she bring them, too?” Annie asked.

“I sure hope not. They’re good boys, but they are boys. The oldest is not quite sixteen and her baby is ten. Not a baby anymore, I guess, but that little Jake of hers is something else. My dad was feeling brave and offered to help Val out with them on and off over the next couple of weeks. Her husband, Luke, works during the week.”

Jackie opened one of the many upper cabinets and started pulling out dishes. It surprised Lynette to see how comfortable she looked in the lodge’s kitchen. “Jackie, did you sneak in here and work during that January retreat we came to a couple of years back?”

She laughed. “No. We were getting things out for our snacks when you two arrived. That retreat was three solid days of pampering. Sneaking into a kitchen to work wasn’t even on my radar.”

The five women worked to set out the tasty-looking treats Val had prepared. The group’s time together in Maui and then Arizona had helped them each claim their areas of expertise, or lack of, in the kitchen.

“Fill a plate, pour a drink, and let’s head up to the library. There’s a window air-conditioning unit up there. I turned it on a couple hours ago,” Renee said.

Fifteen minutes later, all five women relaxed on the comfortable chairs and sofas in Renee’s library. Empty plates littered the tabletops in front of or beside them as they sipped at their refreshments.

“If I lived out here, I’m not sure I’d ever leave this room,” Lynette declared, wriggling even deeper into the cozy chair she’d claimed. “This room has the same vibe I’m going for in my little she-shed, actually, though a fireplace isn’t really in the cards. I wish I had pictures for you, but I haven’t made as much progress on it as I’d hoped.”

Annie laughed. “Aren’t there, like, four fireplaces inside your house?”

“Five, actually,” Lynette clarified, raising her nearly empty glass of sweetened tea in a toast. “But who’s counting?” She winked.

Jackie set her empty wineglass on the table at her elbow. “Why would anyone need five fireplaces in a single-family home, no matter how big it is?”

“Minnesota winters can get cold,” Kit offered.

“Don’t remind me!” Jackie said. Her words trailed off in a yawn. She checked her watch. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m exhausted. I know it isn’t even nine yet, but we have two full weeks of fun ahead of us. Would it offend anyone if we called it an early night?”

Lynette almost protested. She wasn’t one bit tired. But then she remembered she’d stolen an hour of sleep on the way to Whispering Pines. Besides, she was excited to check out the cabin she’d be calling home. She gathered her plate and glass and followed her more agreeable friends out of the room.

Renee moved to close the library door but paused. “I should turn off the air. Give me a minute, will you?”

Everyone held up. Kit wandered over to a full wall of photographs.

Lynette didn’t remember them from her time upstairs during the winter retreat. “Those weren’t here before, were they?”

Jackie shook her head. “I remember there being some old framed pictures downstairs, just inside the front door to the lodge. But I don’t think they’re still there.”

Renee returned, closing the library door, and caught up with Kit in front of the wall of framed photographs. “This display is new. Well, it was new that summer after you guys were all here. There were so many neat old pictures hanging down there, but it was always so dark and hard to see them. Then one fell and I cut my foot on the broken glass. That sucked, but the stitches were the push we needed to move them all up here. Plus, we added a bunch of new ones. There’s a lot of Whispering Pines history on this wall. We didn’t hang all the old ones back up, but the extras are in a new photo album on one of the library shelves.”

The more vintage photographs interested Lynette the most. They reminded her of the bridal pictures she and her mom had discovered in the wooden box from the shed. “Are all these old black-and-white shots of your relatives, Renee?”

“Most of the really old ones are of the resort’s earliest guests. As far as relatives go, it would pretty much just be Celia in the older ones.”

“The infamous Celia?” Lynette asked, even more intrigued.

“The one and only. Here is one of my favorites of her,” Renee said, pointing to a picture of a woman with an old-fashioned hairdo, smiling into the camera.

“She was pretty,” Annie whispered.

“She was, but she was so much more than that, too. I’ll tell you all about her life around the fire over a bottle of wine one of these evenings. At least what I know of it, that is. She led a fascinating life.”

Lynette started at the top left corner of the large display and let her eye travel along the rows of framed photographs. “I like the way you’ve paired old and new shots of similar composition. This outdoor wedding shot has to be from the forties, given the women’s dresses and the men’s suits. Wait, is this colored picture from your wedding, Renee? You positively glowed!”

Renee grinned. “It was definitely one of the best days of my life.”

“Wow,” Kit said, pointing at another of the older pictures. “Check out the classic Ford in this one.”

Jackie laughed and accused Kit of a lack of appreciation for any kind of romance.

She shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a car girl. Here, I’m going to snap a picture of this and send it to Dean and Isaac. They can tell me the make and year of it. Wait, you don’t suppose anyone tucked the car away under a dusty old tarp here at the resort somewhere, do you?”

Renee moved over to Kit’s side again and gazed at the picture. “Unfortunately, no. That would be worth a pretty penny these days, wouldn’t it? That girl is Celia. The other three must be friends of hers. I wonder how old they were when this was taken.”

Jackie motioned toward another of the older framed pictures. “Here are the same group of girls, splashing in the water along the beach. Check out those swimsuits! Forties again, Lynette?”

Lynette nodded. “Right around there. Maybe they were college age. Didn’t most women only go to college back then to find a husband?”

Renee grunted. “Probably, but not Celia. She never married. I didn’t get the impression that she felt like she’d missed out by not having a husband, either. But I guess I never came right out and asked her that.”

“Life is simpler without a husband,” Lynette said.

“It sure was,” Kit laughed, raising her left hand. Her diamond wedding ring twinkled in the fading sunlight that still seeped through the large windows overlooking the lake. “But I don’t regret giving up ‘simple.’ ”

The women quieted but didn’t immediately move away from the wall of pictures.

“Is this my cabin?” Lynette asked, pointing to two framed pictures, side by side. One was black and white; the exterior looked shabby. The other was a newer, colored photograph; there was snow on the ground.

“For the next two weeks,” Renee confirmed.

“Is that blood in the snow in front of it?” Annie asked, moving to stand closer to the framed picture.

“Would it help amp up the whole ‘haunted’ bit if I said it was?” Renee said with wide eyes. Then she laughed. “I think you might need new contacts, Annie. Those are rose petals. We went all out decorating it for my sister and her husband a few years ago.”

“Val?”

“No, Jess. She married her new husband, Seth, in a holiday ceremony. I worried they’d get cold out here in December, but they stayed warm.”

Lynette raised both arms high. “Stop right there! No more talk about sex!”

Everyone laughed.

“I like all these modern shots, too, Renee,” Jackie said, still perusing the wall. But then she yawned. “Man, I’m going to fall asleep on my feet.”

Renee clucked her tongue. “All right, ladies, I’m calling it. Let’s go put the food back in the fridge and you can all get settled in for the night. We can help you with your bags, Annie and Lynette, since we interrupted your unpacking when you first got here. Is everyone still fine with making it an early night?”

Lynette thought about her quiet little cabin on the edge of the woods and the mysterious events that Renee had hinted at. Yes, she was ready to go explore it on her own. Was there any truth to the rumors, or was it simply a product of years of speculation, enhanced to tease apprehensive campers with good old-fashioned ghost stories?

She’d keep an open mind. And who knew? Maybe it would be her turn by the end of their stay to infuse the cabin’s checkered history with even more mystery.