Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
The Family You Make
GHOST
W e went back to see Emily’s parents once more, to say goodbye. Her mother and father both cried as they hugged us at the end of the night, and Emily said they had never been the emotional types before.
“It’s like meeting you, accepting my brother’s death...it changed them,” she said.
I understood that. “It changed me too, meeting all of you.”
“I see it,” she said. “In small ways.”
We were in a cab, heading for the airport after Emily had left her car at her parents’ house. She’d given up her parking spot and apartment and rented a storage unit for her things, and we’d spent the last couple days moving her out.
“You do?” I asked.
“You talk about the navy now,” she said. “And about Jake. And you laugh more easily.”
I knew it was all true. It was as if something inside me that had been kept in a cage had been set free. Things seemed funnier in general, and I remembered a bit of the guy I’d been once, a guy who loved quickly, who told jokes, even.
“Thanks to you,” I told her.
“I’m different too,” she said. “Lighter, happier. Homeless.”
I snapped my gaze to hers. “Are you regretting it? That was kind of sudden.”
She laughed and shook her head as she took my hand. “Not at all. I’ve wanted an adventure for a long time, but I didn’t feel like I could leave my parents. And all the assignments I got were local. Now I can go.”
“We can always go back.”
“We can always go back,” she agreed.
For now, we were heading to Colorado, and then to Costa Rica. Together.
The resort had gotten a dusting of snow in my absence, and the crew had put up the holiday decorations that had just been making an appearance when I’d left. The whole place glowed merrily, and I had the distinct sensation of coming home as Emily and I walked through the front doors into the warm interior.
“You’re back!” Antonio came around the reception desk to shake my hand, slap my back, and hug Emily.
“For a few days,” I said.
“Good to see you both,” he said, stepping back. “Got a last-minute Christmas crew coming in hoping to ski.”
“I hope the weather cooperates,” I said. We had one run open, but so far hadn’t gotten enough snow to justify making snow for the rest. It was a problem, but not one I was stressing about the way I would have done even a few months earlier. What would be, would be. I had a capable staff, and they’d handle it. I would be with Emily in Costa Rica anyway.
“There’s a couple systems in the forecast, coming in from the northwest,” he said with confidence.
“That’s good,” Emily replied.
“Hey, join us for dinner tonight?” I suggested.
“Someone’s gotta work, Ghost.” Antonio shook his head.
“Drinks later then? In the bar?”
“I’ll be there,” he said.
Emily and I headed up to my room, and after the usual business of dropping our bags and stopping through the rest room, we both came to stand in the center of the room next to the big table, looking at each other.
“What now?” she laughed.
“Well,” I said, scrubbing a hand through my hair. “I should probably check in on everyone, say hello to my nephew...you should come.”
“Or maybe I should let you talk to your sister alone first.” Aubrey hadn’t been completely welcoming to Emily at first, but I knew my sister liked her now. Still, I wouldn’t force it.
“If you’re sure. I’ll go see how they’re doing.”
“Yes, do that.” Emily smiled and touched the tip of my nose with her index finger.
“Will you be okay for a few hours?”
She grinned at me. “I’m good on my own. I have lots of prep to do for our next adventure.”
I kissed her and headed for the door, eager to see everyone, to check in, but without the urgent drive that had pushed me to worry constantly before. “I’ll be back before dinner, and we can head down together.”
“Sounds good,” she said, moving to pull her laptop from the bag she’d dropped at the end of the table.
I stepped out of my room into the familiar landscape of the old staff wing hallway, taking a deep breath and recognizing scents that were familiar, but which I’d never really acknowledged before now.
As I slowly walked the hallways of my childhood, of my recent struggles, I saw them in a new light. The resort was growing and evolving, in a lot of ways, thanks to my efforts, and I appreciated it now. I took the stairs down to the second floor, making my way to the platform over the reception desk where the two stairways from the lobby met, and I leaned against the railing there, looking down into the lobby. The massive chandelier shimmered in the center of the dark wood ceiling, casting light over the gleaming floors below, illuminating the scattered seating areas and catching sunlight coming in from the windows at the front and back of the space. People meandered, some checking in, some checking out. The whole place had a storied and glamorous air to it, much like I imagined it might have had in its heyday.
I turned and gazed at the wall of windows on the back of the resort, remembering the first time Aubrey and I had set foot into this space after Uncle Marvin’s letter had arrived. The windows had been dusty and smeared with decades of grease and grime, tempering the light coming through in a ghostly glow.
The whole mountain had felt sleepy and stagnant then, and over the past four years, it had come to life. There were so many more people here now—not just guests, but my family. Fake Tom and Lucy, and their son Teague in the first real house down in the staff housing neighborhood. And I was so glad they’d brought Uncle Marvin’s old friend, Ernie. And then to see Brainiac and Penny, Monroe and Mateo, Sasquatch and CeeCee, and Aubrey and Wiley—all living side by side in this incredible place...I enjoyed a glow of pride as I thought of it. We were all family—the new additions: Teague, Maggie, and baby Finn—and everyone who wandered in. I loved the way the family grew to adopt anyone looking for a place to belong.
That’s what Kasper Ridge had always been, I realized. A soft landing for those needing a home. First Uncle Marvin and Lola, and now me and those I loved. I gazed back down at reception, watching Antonio deftly handling questions and answering phones, and felt a stab of regret. It seemed like everyone had found a happy ending here. But what about Antonio?
He’d come with Sasquatch, acting as his caretaker in a way during the times when Sass was a little unstable. But now? He could leave, but he didn’t, and I was glad. He was part of the family. But once Emily and I headed out on our adventures, filling up our treasure map, he’d be the only part of the original crew still living in the staff wing of the hotel. Still on his own.
I sighed and shook off the melancholy as Wiley waved to me from the front doors. “You’re back!” he called.
I headed down the stairs and followed him into the bar. “For now, yeah.”
“I hear plans in your tone,” he laughed.
“We’ve got those for sure,” I told him.
“We?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Emily’s here. You’ll see her at dinner if you guys can join. And then I was hoping everyone could hang out here a bit. Think Aubrey would be okay bringing Finn up for a bit?”
“She’s dying to go somewhere,” Wiley laughed. “I bet she’ll jump at it, but it’ll probably be after dinner. He sleeps a couple hours and is usually up again around nine, whether we like it or not.”
“Oh no. Well, that actually works well for me. I’d like to see everyone together. One last time.”
That got Wiley’s attention. “Why do I feel like everything’s about to change?”
I winked at him.
“Nine p.m., okay?” he asked.
“Perfect.”
I spent the day dropping through every part of the resort operations, and then headed down to visit my nephew and my sister a bit. I wanted to prepare Aubrey for my departure ahead of telling everyone else. We’d come to Kasper Ridge together, and I wanted to be sure she would be okay without me.
“You’re not going to give your half to me, numb-nuts,” she said when I suggested it.
Baby Finn was nestled in her arms and he cooed and gurgled as she spoke.
“You can run around the world and travel, and I’m nothing but happy for you,” she said. “But keep the resort. It’s all we have, Arch. It’s our legacy. It’s home.”
It was. I just hadn’t thought of it in those terms. I wondered if one day Emily would be okay coming back here, settling down here. It was much too early to think about that, but I filed the idea away in the back of my mind.
“Okay,” I agreed. “I like that plan. And I think one day I would like to come back. To stay.”
“You have to. I’ll need you around to put together the next treasure hunt for Finn and Maggie and Teague, and whoever comes next.” Aubrey grinned at me.
“Another hunt, huh?”
“It’s tradition.”
I kissed my sister’s cheek and promised to see her later that night, an inextinguishable giddiness glowing inside me.
Emily and I had dinner in the restaurant, sitting on our own as everyone wrapped up their duties for the day and grabbed a bite here and there as they could. And that night, we headed into the bar, grabbing a table in the back.
“You look...” Emily paused, laughing. “I can’t tell. Happy? Is this happy?”
“I think it’s content,” I said, squeezing her hand. “For so long I felt like I was in some kind of battle—trying to control my own thoughts, to control nature as we raised this place from the dead...”
“And now you’re not battling?”
I shook my head and sipped a glass of whiskey. “I won.”
She laughed and then stood as Monroe and Mateo came in with Lily, Mateo’s daughter.
“Hope it’s cool that Lily’s here,” Mateo said. “She wanted to say hi.”
“It’s perfect,” I told him. I introduced Lily and Emily, and then explained, “you haven’t met, but you’ve heard of Lily. She’s the one who solved the rebus puzzle, the one where the symbols on the map represented specific words.”
“Ohh. So smart,” Emily said, grinning at the girl.
Lily shrugged, but then said, “I only figured it out because some lady knocked one of the pictures down. It was on the back.”
“And because you’re a genius,” Monroe told her.
“That too,” Lily agreed, accepting the glass of clear soda Mateo handed her and taking a seat.
“Thank you for getting me out of the house!” Aubrey practically yelled this from the door to the bar where she appeared with a bundle strapped to her chest. “I figure this kid’s doomed to grow up in a bar no matter what. Might as well get started young!” She moved around and kissed Wiley, who was helping a couple guests at the far end of the bar. She pulled herself a beer, and then took a seat at my side.
Emily peeked over at the baby. “Is he sleeping?”
“Like a rock. Leave it to my kid to defy expectations at every turn,” Aubrey said. “Good to see you back, Emily.”
“I’m so happy to be back.”
I kissed Emily’s cheek, and soon the table was full, all of my favorite people in the world gathered around it, smiling and laughing, and my heart was close to overflowing with gratitude and joy.
When there was a lull in the laughter and conversation, I stood and cleared my throat. “Hey guys!”
After a few seconds, everyone was looking my way, including a few guests scattered around the bar, which was just fine with me.
“I just wanted to get everyone together here for a few minutes. It felt important.”
“Here here!” Sasquatch yelled, raising his glass.
“I’m not quite done,” I told him.
He shrugged and grinned and CeeCee leaned over and kissed his cheek.
I cleared my throat and tried to organize my thoughts. “I just wanted to say thank you. It’s probably not the case, but it feels like everyone here arrived in some way to look after me, because you knew I needed you. Even you,” I said, turning to look down at Emily. Her dark eyes glowed back at me, brimming with happiness that matched my own.
“This has been a journey. From a run-down resort totally in the red and worries over whether we’d even be able to get it open before we ran out of money, to a destination that’s going to be on the cover of a fancy travel magazine in January...this place has come so far.”
“Here here!” Fake Tom called, raising his glass.
“Still not done,” I said, feigning annoyance. “Anyway, through it all, you’ve proven to me that friendship, love, and family really are the real treasures. I think I’d figured that out even before we found Uncle Marvin’s old movie. And the constant support and friendship you guys all brought was the thing that I think finally led me to Emily. To the woman I’m totally in love with, who I really hope is going to be my partner in every adventure from here on out.”
“Here here!” Monroe shouted.
I sighed and smiled at my friends, who all wore looks of warmth and happiness. “I’m guessing you’ve all been filled in at this point, but Emily is Shazz’s sister. And even though there was a lot to work through there—the accident, her family, my own issues around what happened—I know that I was meant to meet her, and I’m so glad it happened here, in this place. Every single one of you played a role in that, and finding her is like coming to the real treasure at the end of the map and feeling completely satisfied, but then realizing there’s a whole second side of the map yet to be discovered.”
“Here—”
“I’m still not done, Brainiac.”
Everyone laughed, and I went on. “Emily and I are going to leave Kasper Ridge for a while. I can do that because I know you don’t need me here now, and we have adventures waiting for us. Next week we’re heading to Costa Rica, and I don’t know where we’ll go from there. But Kasper Ridge will always be home base. Take care of it while I’m gone.”
“Here here?” Aubrey said, her tone light and joking.
“Yes, now,” I told them, picking up my own drink.
“Here here!” everyone shouted, and as the laughter died down, Finn’s wail picked up.
“Oh, here we go,” Aubrey sighed, putting her nearly untouched beer down on the table. She rose, but turned to face everyone before departing. “Thank you all for bringing my brother back to me. And thanks to you, Emily,” she turned to face the woman I loved, “for loving him and seeing exactly what he needed. I hope your adventures are full of love and discovery. And I hope you’ll stay in at least one yurt somewhere along the line.”
“Actually, there are yurts at this place I want to visit in Norway,” Emily said excitedly.
“We’ll go there next,” I told her, willing to go anywhere she’d allow me along.
“Hey,” Lucy said. “There’s an article, right? Do we get to see it?”
Emily reached down into her bag. “The print version isn’t out yet, but I printed the piece from the site with all the photos for you.” She pushed a little folder out into the center of the table, with a huge photo of the resort on the front. The title, stretched across the top of the piece read, “The Kasper Ridge Hunt Reveals Much More than Treasure.” I’d read it before, so I moved back and let my friends read for the first time.
There were numerous oohs and ahhs, and Lucy pulled the piece in front of her and spread it open as others gathered behind her to read.
“Kinda disappointed you didn’t work the word ‘booty’ into the title,” Sasquatch joked.
“I really did try,” Emily told him.
I dropped my arm around her shoulders as I settled back into my seat, and she leaned her head into me. As I watched my friends and family read her work, I leaned back, utterly content. The woman I loved was at my side and everything in my world was perfect and complete. I couldn’t wait for the next adventure, but for now, I would revel in the calm of just being here, being in love. Being at Kasper Ridge. Being home.