120 days... (24 page)

“You break out in hives yet?” he asked.

“No. Although I do feel dirty.” She smiled at him.

“There we go.” His smiled faded. “You didn’t have to do this for me.”

“Yes, yes, I did.” She leaned over the seat and closer to him. “I’ll let you in on a little secret. While I loathe the Packers, the 49ers are even worse. There are a few teams I’ll root for, whoever is playing against them. This is one of those occasions where it’s better to wear a Packers shirt than have the 49ers win.”

“Are you telling me you already had that shirt before I got here?”

“Oh, yeah, I have all thirty-two team shirts, depending on who’s playing when we make it to a game.” She shrugged. “I like to be prepared.”

“Now
that
is impressive. And by the way, you look good in green and gold.”

“I look better in blue and orange. Now those shirts, I have a lot of.”

The traffic became worse the closer they were to the stadium. Ethan had a special parking pass and they were able to park with the rest of the VIPs. He loved to see the wide-eyed shocked look on Sam’s face. He didn’t think people took her by surprise very often.

“What are we doing? What did you do?” She looked at Ethan.

“Just made a couple of phone calls. This is going to be a great game. Come on.” He hopped out of the van and met one of the stadium employees, knowing they’d be following him. “This way.” He walked a few feet over to a large golf cart and everyone took their seats.

Josie was their tour guide and made sure everything was pointed out to them. When they came through the tunnel and were out on the field, the air pulsated with everyone’s excitement. Josie made sure they were on the visitor sidelines.

When Ethan heard Kris gasp, he whirled around and started walking toward him, afraid something was wrong, but everything was fine.

“No way,” Kris whispered.

Ethan put his arm around the man’s shoulders. “Way. We pull out all the stops at Last Resort.”

Members of the Packers team came out of the tunnel and headed straight for Kris. Ethan stepped back and took pictures as the team talked with one of their biggest fans. Kris’s smile never left his face.

Too soon they were leaving, having to warm up. The group then made their way up to the owner’s suite and Sam pulled him aside.

“What did you do?” she asked.

He couldn’t stop the smile. “It’s great, isn’t it?”

“It is, but Ethan, the money . . .”

“Don’t mention it.” He placed a finger over her lips. “I wanted to do this. Come on, did you see the look on his face? This is a dream come true, and exactly what Last Resort is all about.”

“It is. Thank you.” She smiled at him. “But you know, when the Bears come to town, I expect the same treatment.”

“Oh, well, I think I can make that happen.”

“Perfect. Now I want to see this suite we’re going to.” He put his arm around her shoulders as they walked. “You know what would be perfect? If the Packers kicked some major ass here. Seems like we have something else in common. We hope the 49ers lose.”

Sam stopped walking. “Wait. What are we going to do when the Cowboys play the 49ers? . . . Don’t laugh at me. This is a serious question.”

“Maybe we could boycott that game.”

“Yes.” She slowly nodded. “Yes, I think that could work. We should do that.”

“Come on.” He pulled her along. “Let’s go root for the Packers.”

“Yeah . . .” she said without enthusiasm. “Go, Pack, Go!” She raised her fist in the air.

The Packers effectively kicked some 49er ass. The ride back to the resort was upbeat as they all talked about the game and who had the best chance to make it to the Superbowl. Sam could see Kris in the backseat clutching a football, which had been used during the game, to his chest. All of the Packers had signed it for him and given it to him after the game. She had to admit, it was pretty cool they did that for him. Ethan said he didn’t have any idea they were going to give him one of the game balls.

“You know, Sam,” Kris began, “I think you might be the Packer’s good luck charm.”

“No.”

Kris laughed. “I think you should wear that shirt every time they play. Come on, do it for me. Doesn’t your website say something about making sure the guest’s every wish is carried out?”

She turned in her seat and looked at him as the passing street lights lit up his grinning face. “There are some things in life that are just impossible. That’s one of them.”

“Come on, you’ve got to be a closet Packer fan. I was there. I saw you. You were excited and yelling for joy when the Packers scored.”

“Of course I was. They were sticking it to the 49ers.”

“Keep telling yourself that, keep telling yourself that.” Kris nodded toward her.

Sam didn’t let the smile reach her lips. The day had been perfect. Giving Kris a hard time was an extra bonus to the day, and she had already learned that about him. He loved to give it as much as he got it. There was no denying the fact that Kris wasn’t going to be with them much longer and it brought her heart so much happiness knowing this one dream went beautifully for him.

Day 48

Ethan

You know what sucks? A summer cold. Yeah, I’ve come down with something. It takes me longer to get over things than it used to. There are so many things I want to do right now, but I don’t want to get the other guests sick. Sam’s helped a lot, figuring out things I can do with the staff or alone. So here I am, resting in bed as the sun is shining and it’s the perfect temperature out, not too hot, not to cold. Maybe I should move to the hammock. Hey, remember the one Dad bought for Mom? She never sat down long enough to enjoy it, but we did, until we were playing on it and you flipped it over and landed on that rock busting your head open. Ahhh . . . memories . . .

Evan

Ethan rolled over and fumbled for his phone when the alarm went off. He laid there for a moment trying to remember where he was and what day it was. He then realized what was bothering him. Usually Sam woke him up with a cup of coffee a few minutes before his alarm went off. They’d fallen into a rhythm and were spending more and more time together, including nights. Reaching his hand out, he knew she wasn’t in bed with him. His heart began to race, wondering where she could be. It wasn’t like her. If one of the guests had taken a turn for the worse, she would have woken him up.

Once he swung his legs over the edge of the bed, Ethan saw the bathroom light coming through the door, which was ajar. “Sam, honey, are you okay?” He walked over to the door and slowly pushed it open. His heart went out to her as she looked up at him with huge tearful eyes. Crouching down next to her, he rubbed her back. “Is there anything I can get you? Crackers?”

He’d heard the saying about watching someone turn green before throwing up, but he’d never seen it, until that moment. He mumbled to her that everything was going to be okay as he helped to hold her hair back. Looking around, he found a wash cloth and left her briefly to soak it under some cold water. Placing it on the back of her neck, she shuddered, and goosebumps broke out along her arms before she sighed and seemed to relax.

“Why didn’t you wake me?”

“Because it all happened so fast. One minute I was getting out of bed, all normal, and the next I knew, I was going to be sick. I didn’t think. I just ran.”

Ethan pulled another wash rag out of the cabinet and ran it under the water again. This time he gently washed her face off. “How are you feeling now?”

“I think better. Tired, drained, but that’s to be expected, but overall better.”

“Good, let’s get you in bed.”

“But I have so much to do today. We were going to work on the rec hall today, get it ready for Halloween. Plus, I was going to look at next week, and see if there was anything different we wanted to do.”

“And you know I’m perfectly capable of doing all of that on my own. Besides, you of all people know you shouldn’t be around the guests when you’re sick. We need to make sure you’re well before letting you back out into public.” He easily picked her up and walked over to the bed, gently laying her down. “Now you get some rest.” When she tried to sit up, he pushed her back down. “Samantha, listen to me. You work very hard around here, you never take a day off. The last thing this place needs is for you to get sick. So take the damn day off and rest for a change. That includes working on your laptop.”

“But you don’t know what we do for Halloween, we go out. We’ve got–”

“I think I can figure it out. And if you haven’t noticed, you go all out for every holiday. This isn’t a news flash to me.”

“But Halloween is different. You haven’t been here for what we call the holiday season. It starts with Halloween and ends with New Year’s Day. Each one over-the-top big. This is the hardest time of the year for the guests. They’re missing their families and they know they, most likely, aren’t going to be seeing another one. They want to remember the good times, the times from their childhood, when everything was simpler, magical. That’s what we make sure we give them.”

Ethan sat down on the edge of the bed and brushed her hair back from her forehead. “You are truly amazing. I don’t think there’s another person like you out there. Your compassion blows me away, every single day.”

She shook her head. “I’m nothing special. I’m only doing what’s right. Being kind to people, trying to help them. That’s it.”

“Even if it means putting on a Packers’ shirt.”

“Even then, and don’t remind me. I haven’t thrown up in ten minutes. I’d like to make it another five.”

“I think you should take the rest of the day off. I’m serious here. Humor me.”

Her eyebrows pulled together and she frowned at him. “I’m going to be bored. You have to at least let me have my laptop to do some work.”

“I think it might do you good to be bored for once because I don’t know if you can be trusted with your laptop. I think you’ll end up working and not resting.”

“No, not me.”

“Samantha Rose Truman.”

“Fine. How about if I promise.” She looked up at him and batted her eyelashes at him. “For every hour I nap, I get an hour of laptop time.”

“No, for every
two
hours you nap, you get forty-five minutes on the laptop.”

Crossing her arms over her chest, she sighed. “Fine.”

He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. “Don’t make me regret this.” He went over to the table in the corner of the room near the French doors leading out to the balcony, grabbed her laptop and held it out to her. “Here.” He pulled it back toward him. “I’ll be checking up on you. So don’t think you can pull one over on me.” He held it back out to her.

Tugging it quickly out of his hands, Sam said, “I wouldn’t dream of it. I’m going to check my email and then take a nap.” She yawned. “See, I’ll be asleep in no time.”

“You’d better be. Get. Some. Rest.”

“Yes, sir.” She already had her laptop open and was working. “Now go so I can get this done and get some sleep.” She looked up at him when he walked away from her and started getting ready for the day. “I am tired and I’ll take a nap soon. We have about fifty plastic containers of Halloween decorations, each one labeled as to which building it goes in. Most of the staff were here last year, so they will be able to remember and help you if you need it. The first day we usually organize everything, putting the containers in the right areas and putting batteries in the decorations. Not everything gets batteries, which is good. That would cost us a fortune. Only the decorations in the common areas need to make sure they work. Everything else really is only there for show. I should be better by tomorrow to help start to put them all up.”