Chapter 18 Under Our Lights #5
At the high-top table, Poppy and Sally reconciled the confirmed list against departures and tomorrow morning's needs.
They used two pens, Sally's phone, and the back of a food invoice. Poppy leaned against Sally's shoulder while she checked the final names, too tired to stand by herself and still too stubborn to surrender the clipboard.
"All guests accounted for," Poppy said.
"Ice, towels, breakfast coffee," Sally read from her phone.
"And more wristbands."
"You used all of them?"
"People like accessories."
Sally added them to the order.
Down at the dock, Luna moved between Dad and James with three coils of line at her feet.
She tested the final cleat while both men checked the boat lifts.
Dad held the flashlight. James locked the fuel cabinet.
Luna tugged once more, satisfied, and switched off the loading light while leaving the path lights on.
"Both dads accounted for," she said into the radio at my belt. "Moderately useful. No injuries."
James's answer carried up the path without electronics. "I can still hear you."
"That's why I said it out loud."
Lucy and Sam stacked the last lounge chairs beneath the pool awning. He carried two at a time until she caught him wobbling.
"Show-off," Lucy said.
"Efficient."
"Those are falling."
They fell.
Sally's laugh carried all the way from the bar.
Bristol, Jeremy, and Grace reset the first-aid station and collected the last guest-care baskets. Bristol checked every cabinet once. Jeremy checked the cabin path. Grace returned the spare keys to their hooks.
Bristol found a damp cardigan under one lounge chair, folded it instead of stuffing it into the bin, and wrote the cabin area and time on a tag. Jeremy held the flashlight over her shoulder. Grace tied the tag on and carried it to the front desk. None of them needed to discuss the next step.
Tina folded clean napkins beside Kit until Jessa swept through with a trash bag in each hand and recruited her for the social area. Ten minutes later they came back with the photo props boxed, the tables clean, and Jessa wearing a pair of oversized sunglasses she'd found under a bench.
"Lost and found," Tina said.
"Finders keepers," Jessa said.
"That's not how a resort works."
Jessa put the glasses in the bin.
I hauled the final cooler from the dock, emptied the grill station, and carried two trash bags to the service shed. Every route crossed someone I loved doing a job I would once have handled alone.
By the time I returned to the outdoor bar, the sink smelled faintly of bleach. The glassware stood in clean rows. Vina checked the last box, shut off the bar lights, and left the string lights glowing above the deck.
"Done," she said.
Poppy dropped her clipboard on the bar and let her forehead hit my shoulder. "Also done. Possibly deceased."
"You have too much energy to die."
"Then hold me until I recover."
I sat on the low bench beneath the lights, and Poppy folded herself sideways across my lap before I settled. Her arms wrapped around my middle. She tucked her face into my neck and sighed like she'd made it back to the only bed she wanted.
The others reached the bar with the people they'd been working beside.
Kit handed Bella the last towel, then fit against my right side and put her hand beneath Poppy's legs on my thigh.
Vina set her completed checklist beside the clipboard and leaned into my left shoulder, my cap still backward on her head.
Luna came up the dock path between Dad and James and draped both forearms across me from behind the bench.
Lucy lowered herself to the deck between my knees, rested her back against one shin, and covered my hand with hers.
Bristol sat on the bench edge beside Kit and placed her palm over my heart.
All six touched me.
Not for the crowd. The crowd was gone.
Because this was where they came when the work ended.
Dad surveyed the bar, the deck, and the clean paths. "Leave the string lights."
"I was going to," I said.
"Then I raised you right."
He and Bella headed toward the lodge. James and Tina followed them inside for one last coffee.
Jeremy walked Grace toward the cabin row.
Sam put an arm around Sally, and she tucked herself against him as they crossed the dark pool deck.
Jessa took the lost-and-found bin toward the front desk, the oversized sunglasses perched on top instead of on her face.
Vina adjusted the cap and let her head settle against mine. Kit's thumb moved beneath Poppy's knees. Luna's chin rested in my hair. Lucy traced the side of my hand. Bristol felt my heartbeat without asking me to explain it.
My phone lit in my pocket.
I pulled it out with the hand Lucy wasn't holding.
Hartwell State University.
Fall move-in information was available.
The lake stayed black beyond the dock lights. Poppy's weight remained across my lap. Kit stayed pressed to my side. Vina's thigh held against mine. Luna's arms stayed over my shoulders. Lucy leaned into my leg. Bristol's palm stayed over my heart.
The screen went dark.
None of their hands moved.