Finding Reese (Tremont Lodge Series Book 1) (13 page)

I wave at Bree as I walk across the lodge lawn back to the dormitory. My legs drag with the sensation of anchors weighing them down, and a light haze hangs in the air. Even the squeals of the children as they listen to Finn sing are muted against the background of my mind. But seeing Finn with his guitar strapped against his chest lightens the load, and I know that spending time with him tonight is the anecdote that I need.

Tinley has laid out the red dress on my bed along with her black stilettos. If I don’t break an ankle tonight it will be a miracle. I brush out my hair and pull it up to a loose knot on my neck. The humidity isn’t doing me any favors, but I suppose Finn won’t be thinking about my hair when he sees me in this dress. I step into the dress, careful not to break the zipper as everything sits perfectly in its place. I’ve never felt as self-conscious in my life as I do right now, staring back at my reflection in the mirror. But if Finn wanted me to wear this dress tonight, then I will. He’s been nothing but sweet. I check the time, grab my purse, and hobble my way toward Jack’s. Thank goodness there are railings on the stairs.

When I walk in the door to Jack’s I feel the stares immediately. What I would give to have a paper sack over my head right now. To say that I’m overdressed for a burger bar is an understatement, but then I see Finn sitting in a back booth and my heart skips a beat. I wave.

He stands up when I get to the table, no small feat on my part. “Hey, Reese. You, uh, you look very…” My face feels flush. He doesn’t like it? It’s not how he imagined I’d look? I sit down to get out of the line of vision of the patrons on the bar stools.

“Dammit, Finn, if you don’t like the way I look, then why did you buy this stupid dress? I’ve never felt so uncomfortable in my life.”

“Buy your dress?” he asks. “I didn’t buy that dress. Why would I buy you a dress?”

Breathe in. Breathe out.
“
What?
” He shakes his head. “But I got a note in the box. You said to wear this tonight.” I point to the dress.

“Do you have another date after dinner?” Finn is clenching his knuckles into the table and breathing fast. His dimples close, and his butterfly tenses.

“No.
No!
I do not have another date. I promise, Finn. This night is all about you, all about us. Ohhhh…I hate him so much!”

“Lawson?”

I shake my head
yes.
“It has to be. Who else would be so bold?”

“Well, maybe you don’t have plans for tonight, but he sure seems to.” Finn swigs his beer and slams it on the table a little too hard.

“I don’t have plans with anyone tonight it seems. Finn, if you don’t believe me, then that’s your loss. I’m going back to my room to change.” I unbuckle my shoes and walk out of the restaurant with my shoes in hand while a chorus of catcalls follows me.

I see Tinley and Murphy swimming in the pool when I get to the base of the stairs. Fueled by anger, I throw Tinley’s expensive stilettos in the pool, hoping they puncture her raft. “You knew!” I yell.
“You knew!”

“Reese, I’m sorry. I didn’t know for sure. I just knew after I talked to Murphy that no one had ordered a delivery from the gift shop. Plus, if you had thought about it, you’d have realized that something that high-end had to come from one of the stores outside the lodge gift shop. It
could
have still come from Finn.”

“You knew damn well that it most likely didn’t, and you let me believe. What are friends for if not to be honest with them? I hate you!” Then I storm upstairs to my room where I knock over my lava lamp, sending water and broken glass all over the floor at the end of my bed. I drop to the floor and cry. I cry for questions unanswered. I cry for questions answered. I cry for the little girl who saw so much horror that she’s buried it all so deep she can’t remember anything. And I cry for the girl who can’t catch a break, no matter how hard she tries to do what’s right. A light knock on the door startles me out of my pity party. I wipe at my make-up with the back of my hand, black mascara transferring to my hand.

“Go away, Tinley,” I say.

“It’s not Tinley.”
Finn.

“Go away, Finn.”

“You can’t get away from me that easily.” He keeps knocking, and I know he’s not going to leave. I open the door. Finn is standing in the hallway with a dozen pink roses in his hand. He holds them out for me.

“Finn, what are you doing?” I ask.

“Apologizing. It wasn’t your fault that Lawson set you up in some sick little attempt to humiliate you. Can I come in so we can talk?” I turn back to my room which looks a bit like a war zone full of broken glass and water and crumpled blankets. “Did you have a throwing fit?” he asks, looking past me.

“No. I knocked over my lava lamp.”

“Here. Take these,” he says, handing me the flowers. “I’ll clean up your mess.” If only it were that easy.

When I come out of the bathroom wearing shorts and a
Big Bang Theory
t-shirt, my bed is made and the floor dry and clean, the trash bag tied up and sitting by my door. “Wow,” I say. “I thought I was the maid.”

“Domestic engineer,” he says, laughing.

“Geesh, you sound like Tinley—oh man, I told her I hated her tonight.”

“Harsh. What did she do?”

“I accused her of knowing that dress wasn’t sent from you.”

“I’m sure she’ll forgive you. Tinley doesn’t seem to retain a whole lot of anything up there, if you know what I mean,” he says, tapping his head, “and that includes grudges.”

“True, but I can hold a grudge for a long time.”

“Lawson?” he asks.

“He is going to pay for what he did to me.” I sit next to Finn on the bed.

“Listen. I hate the guy. You have no idea, and I have a lot of questions about why you’ve been giving him the time of day, but I don’t want to ruin any more of our time together letting that asshole into our heads. Okay?”

“Okay,” I say, leaning against the wall.

“Although—I will have to say that he has impeccable taste in slutty couture.” I slug him in the arm.

“That’s hilari….” Finn’s mouth finds mine mid-sentence, and I feel my body relaxing.

“You are so beautiful,” he says, kissing my neck and running his hand down my back. I shiver and arch closer toward his chest. He kisses my face, washing away the tears frozen on my cheeks. My fingers tangle into his hair, and I pull him back to my lips. My hands graze the butterfly on his neck as it rises and falls with his accelerated breathing. I kiss it gently. He pulls back his head and looks at me. “Don’t, Reese,” he whispers.

“Why not?” I ask, breathlessly.

“It’s complicated,” he says. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“You have no idea how much I probably would.” He pauses to stare at me, his eyes reaching deep inside to read my heart. Then he kisses the tip of my nose and tugs at my bottom lip with his own lips before pulling my head back into his chest where I lay, safe and sound.

“My mom died of cancer when I was fifteen. After her funeral, my dad and sister and I were at the cemetery getting ready to leave when out of nowhere a flock of twenty or so butterflies landed on top of a bush that was right next to the cemetery tent we’d just left. They didn’t stay long, but to say it was cool would be an understatement. Then again, a few months later, I was visiting the cemetery when a monarch butterfly landed on top of the headstone which had just been installed. It happens a lot. That night you ditched me to be with—well, anyway, that night—I was walking back to my room and a butterfly trailed me all the way back to the dormitory.”

“So the butterfly is like your mom telling you she’s still with you,” I say.

“You think that’s crazy, don’t you?” he asks, his fingers pulling out my hair tie.

“No, I think it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard.” Then I turn to face Finn again and point to his neck. He shakes his head
yes
. I kiss the tattoo gently, careful to respect its significance, and begin to tell him my story in what may prove to be the most sincere, honest, terrifying night of my life. And it feels so good.

Finn left early this morning for work. I pull the sheets up to my neck and smell his scent, an earthy mixture of sweat and his woodsy cologne. I smile, knowing that my secret is safe with Finn and that I don’t have to hide who I am anymore. And, more importantly—that I have found someone who accepts me despite my past, even without knowing all the answers yet.

“Well, well, look who’s going to be late for work,” says Tinley, flying into the room and throwing her things around looking for her maid smock. I’m not so sure Finn was right about his assessment of Tinley’s ability to forget a grudge.

“Tinley, I’m sorry for ruining your shoes.”

“And?” She puts her hands on her hips and stares me down.

“And for saying
I hate you
.”

“Good, that’s all I needed. Maybe we need to find out what that asshole is allergic to and serve him up a little humble pie.”

“I like how your devious mind works, but I don’t want to kill the guy. Still….”

“We’ll think of something,” she says. “Are you and Finn speak—OMG—that’s why you’re still in bed, isn’t it? You slept with him!”

“I did not have sex if that’s what you mean, but…. He was a gentleman.” Tinley rolls her eyes.

“Whatever makes you happy, Reese.”

“He makes me happy.” Tinley nods her head.

“That’s good. Now get dressed or Helen will have a fit.”

Bree is whistling the theme from
The Andy Griffith Show
which is an odd choice, but with all the nostalgia that’s been flying around my mind, it’s a nice start to the work day. I used to watch the old black and white reruns with my grandpa after dinner. Even knowing that I’m going to have to clean Lawson’s friends’ rooms won’t get me down.

Helen hands me my cart when we meet in the laundry room. Her only acknowledgment of our conversation is when she puts her hand on top of my mine before I start into the hallway and squeezes. I shake my head like I understand and mouth the words
thank you
, but I still have a lot of questions like,
How am I going to get Mr. Oakley to talk to me?
and
What am I supposed to say?

I’m cleaning the groom-to-be Carson’s room last today, trying to put off the misery as long as I can. Most of the guests are already out enjoying the day before it gets too hot. I tempt fate and break a maid rule by leaving the television on in one of the rooms to catch at old episode of
Divorce Court
just because it makes me happy to watch the silliness of people.

And you won’t believe what I found on his phone…
a young woman is telling the judge while the husband is raising his hand in objection. This show teaches me everything I don’t want in a marriage, and a cheating spouse ranks near the top of that list. Arguing in the hallway gets my attention, and I reluctantly turn off the television.

“It’s gone, Helen. I’m telling you that bitch stole my credit card.”

“Mr. Lawson, you don’t know that. Reese is a wonderful employee. What proof do you have?”

“The proof is this.” At the sound of my name, I move into the hallway where I am standing behind Lawson but in Helen’s line of vision.” Lawson is holding up his phone screen, but I can’t see what Helen is looking at. “Do you really think she’d be able to afford a dress from
Avinda’s
with a minimum wage salary?”

“But how do you know she used your credit card to buy the dress, Mr. Lawson?”

“Because they called this morning to ask me if I’d like the necklace I allegedly put on hold sent over to my room to compliment the dress I purchased for
the young lady
yesterday. I didn’t purchase any damn dresses, Helen. When I asked how the purchase was made, they said a young woman called on my behalf with
my
credit card number.”

“I’m sure this is just a big misunderstanding,” says Helen, shrinking in size before my very eyes as Lawson lauds himself over her.

“I didn’t take anything,” I say behind Lawson. He whips around so fast it’s a wonder his head doesn’t fly off his body.

“Like hell you didn’t. How do you explain this?” He turns the phone toward me. It’s a picture of me wearing the red dress at
Jack’s.

“How did you get that?” I ask.

“It’s flying all over social media today with hashtag #TremontLodge #checkoutthehotties. We have a reputation to uphold here, Ms. Prentice, and you are nothing but a slutty whore.” I pull back my fist and thrust it forward toward Lawson’s face, but he grabs my wrist mid-air before I have time to think straight. I stumble backward against the wall. But I’m not afraid of Lawson.

“
You
sent me that dress last night to humiliate me. I wore it to Jack’s because I thought Finn ordered it for me to wear, not you, and you know it. Helen, this is all a set up. He’s lying.”

“Get your stuff and get the hell out of here by 3:00 this afternoon, or I will charge you, my dear, with assault. Make that
two
charges of assault and theft.” His eyes flash with hatred. “Helen, you are my witness.”

“You can’t…you can’t do this!” I yell. Guests are popping their heads out of their rooms, but I don’t care. All I care about is staying at Tremont Lodge. There are still questions. There is Finn. How can I leave now? I won’t cry here. I won’t give him the satisfaction. I grab my purse off my cart, rip off my maid’s smock, and throw it at Lawson. “Go to hell.”

I walk toward the service elevator and push the button that will take me out of Tremont Lodge forever. It can’t be real. As soon as I enter the elevator, I crumple to the floor, the weight of the last ten minutes pulsing through every muscle in my body. When the elevator stops two floors down, I am surprised. No one uses this elevator except during shift changes. I stand up and wipe the tears from my face. The devil himself walks onto the elevator, holding down the
stop
button so that I am now a hostage. I shrink toward the corner and tick off what I might have in my purse to use to defend myself, with my keys being a leading contender.

“Why are you doing this?” I ask. “I never did anything to you. You don’t even know me.”

“I told you that no one humiliates Lawson Oakley. First, you tricked me into that room under the pretense of some mystery when you know damn well you wanted me, and then you dissed my kiss in front of your friends. When you ditched me last night, well—one, two, three strikes, you’re out.”

“What are you talking about? I didn’t ditch you.”

“Reese, there was a note in that box that told you where to show up for the bachelor party. I didn’t pick that dress for just my viewing pleasure. You were the eye candy I needed—I deserved. And you made me look like a fool when you didn’t show up.”

“Lawson, I did not see that note. The only note I found told me to wear the dress, but it wasn’t signed. How the hell is this my fault?”

“Would you have come?” I bite the inside of my cheek. “Exactly. You’re getting what you deserve.” He releases the
stop
button and opens the door, getting out on the 5
th
floor. I ride the rest of the way down to my doom. I have to find that note. I have to find a way to prove it to Helen that Lawson sent me that dress.

Finn is painting the other side of the picket fence when I find him on the lawn. The sun is blazing hot, and he’s taken off his shirt. I want to remember falling asleep in his arms last night, but now I wonder if I’ll ever get another chance.

“Finn, where did you take the trash this morning when you left my room?”

“Well,
hello
to you, too, sunshine,” he says, wiping the sweat off his brow.

“I need to know where you put that trash, Finn. It’s really important.”

“Okay. I took it to the dumpster behind the dormitory. Is this a trick question or something?”

“No, sorry.” I run across the lawn, dodging balls and children and happy people.
I
want to be a happy person. Why are the spirits conspiring against me—again? And it continues…the familiar sound of metal scraping concrete as a dumpster is dropped to the ground somewhere at Tremont Lodge. “Nooooooo!” When I reach the patio, I run past the pool to the path behind the trees that leads to the employee ski lift. There is a dumpster that sits beside the employee parking lot. I throw open the top and nearly faint with relief. The garbage truck has not been here—yet. There’s no easy way to do this, so I look around for something to use as a stool and drag over a broken pool chair that is sitting beside the dumpster. Hoisting myself to the top of the dumpster, I flip open one lid while sitting on the other and start rummaging through the trash bags looking for the familiar white bag with the pink plastic drawstring. The garbage truck is turning into the parking lot. I hear it coming but ignore it as well as the stench that sticks to the inside of my nose.

“Hey! What are you doing in there?” The garbage truck driver hangs out his window. I hold out one finger, asking for one minute more. Closing the lid to the side I’d looked through, I jump to the other side and flip open the lid. Underneath a bag of glass bottles (
Why don’t people recycle?
), I find it. Grabbing the bag, I jump down from the dumpster, wave at the garbage truck driver, and run back to my room.

“Hey, where are you going?” yells Bree as I pass her on the stairs.

“No time,” I say, running up the stairs. She follows me because I can hear her feet on the steps below. When I get to my room, I break open the bag and deposit the contents all over the floor, not caring that it smells like rotten bananas and stale beer. I pick through the trash, careful not to cut my hand on the lava lamp glass.

“Have you gone mad?” asks Bree, standing behind me.

“Don’t just stand there,” I say. “Help me find that note.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I don’t have time, Bree. Please.” My face says all she needs to know to get down on her hands and knees and help me dig through the trash for an unknown note.

“Is this it?” She hands me the note from Lawson that I read when the dress arrived. How did I luck out that today is Bree’s one day off?

“That’s
Exhibit A.
Now we need to find
Exhibit B.
” The problem is I’m not even sure there is an
Exhibit B
. Lawson could have been lying.

Bree and I examine and reexamine every piece of trash. The note is not in the bag. My hopes of staying at Tremont Lodge are deflating like a balloon on a cactus. “If you say this note came in a box, Reese, then where’s the box?” asks Bree.

“Oh my gosh! Bree, you’re brilliant. I bet Finn recycled the box. But where is the recycling bin at the lodge?”

“I don’t know, Reese. I’m sorry.”

“I’ll be back!” I leave Bree sitting in my room with a pile of trash while I race back down the stairs and toward the lawn. People are staring—and not just because there’s a maniacal girl running past.

Finn is washing his paint brush under a hose behind the landscaping office.

“Reese, what is wrong with you? Why aren’t you are work? And why do you have a banana peel stuck in your hair? And you smell a little wonky.” He pinches his nose with his fingers. I pull the banana peel out of my hair and throw it on the ground.

“Finn, where did you put the box?”

“What box?”

“When you cleaned my room last night, did you set aside a box to recycle?”

“Yeah, I did that.” He shakes his head like he’s confused.

“Where did you put the box?”

“In my room,” he says, not what I was expecting to hear.

“Your room?”

“Yeah, I needed a box to mail my sister her birthday present.”

“Argh! Have you mailed it yet?”

“No, but it’s in my room ready to go. I was going to mail it over my lunch hour.”

“Reese, do you want to tell me what’s going on?”

“Take me to that box. NOW, please.” I grab hold of Finn’s hand.

“Let me tell my boss I’m leaving early for lunch. Here, take my key. The room number’s on it. I’ll meet you there in a minute.” I grab the key and run back to the dormitory. I find Finn’s room at the end of the hallway in Building A. Nothing is what I expect when I turn the handle. This is no bachelor pad. From the matching curtains and pillows to the modern light fixture hanging from the middle of the ceiling to the perfectly organized shoes peeking through his open closet door, it looks like a regular ad for IKEA. The box is sitting on his desk with permanent marker addressing it to his sister Tabitha. What a cool name.
Sorry, Tabitha.
I pull at the packing tape until it comes loose, and I rip it off the box.

“If you wanted a Tremont Lodge t-shirt so badly, I would have bought you one,” says Finn, standing in the doorframe behind me. I don’t even have time to acknowledge him. When the box is open, I pull out the contents—t-shirt, a bag of suckers, and tissue paper. “She likes Dum Dums. What can I say?” And now the box is empty—except for a wadded up piece of paper that sits on the bottom of the box. I take it out and read it aloud.