Finding Reese (Tremont Lodge Series Book 1) (14 page)

Meet me in Room 1510 for a pre-party at 9:00. Then we’ll hit the bars in Tremont City.

Don’t be late.

Lawson

I could cry happy tears, but I need to talk to Helen, and fast. There isn’t much time, and even if she believes me now, how can I convince Lawson to change his mind? “Thanks, Finn. Thanks so much.” I hug him tightly, not caring what I must look like much less what I must smell like, and I understand why he doesn’t hug me back. “I’ll shower tonight. I promise.” He removes my hands from his waist.

“I think you already have a date tonight,” he says, gesturing toward the note.

“No, no, you don’t understand. Lawson sent that note in the box last night with the dress, but I didn’t see it, and I thought you’d sent it.”

“So, what you’re saying is that all you needed to know to go out with Lawson last night was the time and room number of some party?”

“Oh, you sweet man.” I grab Finn’s face with both dirty hands and pull his mouth down to mine. “I would
not
have gone with Lawson, then, or ever again. I don’t need him anymore. And now he can’t fire me.”

“Fire you? What are you talking about?” It doesn’t take long for the rage in Finn’s face to beam red after I explain my encounter with Lawson in the lodge. “I’ll kill him,” says Finn.

“Stop. I’ll handle this.” I put my hand on his arm. “But I’ve got to go because he’ll likely be checking my room to see that I’ve vacated the premises soon. Anyway, there are still unanswered questions…”

“Are you sure you’re ready for the answers?”

“I’ve been ready for the answers my whole life.”

“Let me stay with you.” I shake my head.

“No. This is something I have to do on my own. I’ll find you later.”

“Reese, be careful.” Finn pulls me in close and holds me tightly until the rhythm of our hearts beat in tandem.

“I will.”

“And don’t forget that shower.”

I don’t have any idea where Lawson is right now, possibly even staking out my apartment, so I decide to play the part of the victim. Bree has cleaned up my trash and is sitting on my bed waiting for me when I return.

“I found it,” I say, not able to contain my joy. “But I need your help—and Tinley’s.”

After a quick shower I check my phone. Tinley has responded and set the plan into motion by letting Helen know that I’m going to meet her in the laundry room on the 9
th
floor in ten minutes—and that she has a little acting job planned herself.
Great.

“Bree, are you ready?” I ask, setting my empty suitcase on the floor.

“Yep. I was born ready. You know I’m a natural when it comes to performing.” She whistles a few lines from
Jeopardy!
“It’s double or nothing,” she says. It’s really amazing how you can develop such strong feelings for complete strangers in such a short amount of time.

“Let’s do this.” I open the door in my room and carry my suitcase down the hallway and down the steps to the patio below. Bree comes running after me, on cue, when my suitcase falls out of my hands as I trip down the last step.

“Reese, Reese, don’t go. Please! I don’t understand.” I turn dramatically, picking up my suitcase and brushing off my knee.

“I have to go, Bree. What choice do I have?” Bree almost knocks me over when she throws herself at me with a giant bear hug. She really
is
convincing. Then I walk to the employee parking lot where my car has been parked all summer without having been moved one time. I wave at the few staff members who are still at the dormitory this time of day.

When I have driven out of the parking lot and down the circle drive in front of the Tremont, I turn right and double back to the service road on the west side of the lodge. That is where I leave my car, hidden by three large weeping willow trees that overhang my windshield. Then I run as fast as my legs will carry me to the service elevator and push the button for floor 9. Tucking my hair into a bun and pulling a baseball cap over my head, I hope to give myself an ounce of anonymity should I run into anyone unexpectedly. When the elevator doors open, Tinley is waiting with a laundry cart. I jump inside, and she covers me with dirty sheets. She could have used clean ones! Then she moves us down the hall toward the laundry room.

“Okay, the coast is clear,” says Tinley. “Helen’s right here,” she whispers. I stick my hand up through the laundry and give Helen the note which she reads before returning it to me.

“I never doubted you for a second, honey. You didn’t have to do this.”

“But, Helen, I needed you to know for sure. With everything you’ve done for me and the risk you took standing up for me, I couldn’t leave any doubts.” The door opens, and I shove my hand back under the sheets.

“How dare you, Lawson Oakley!” says Tinley. “How dare you fire my friend?”

“She wasn’t your friend. She thought you were a bubble-headed blonde. You’re better off without her.” Ouch. I
did
think that at first, but not anymore. Tinley’s got a real heart, and there’s nothing fake about that.

“I…you…” she falters for her words.

“Uh, yeah, you’re speechless. Let me enjoy that. Helen, place an ad on the college staff bulletin board. We need someone to start filling Reese’s hours tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll get right on that.”

“Thanks, Helen. You are about the only dependable person left at this lodge.” I can see him in my mind, smiling his evil grin. Most people would fall for his crap, but not Helen. It hurts to hear her have to be so submissive.

“Okay, he’s gone,” whispers Tinley after the laundry room door swings shut. I stick my head out from under the sheets where I feel like I might suffocate.

“Tinley, it’s not true…what he said. I think you have a heart of gold, and….”

“Hush, I know you love me—everyone loves me.” She smiles her million dollar California smile, and my heart melts a little more. “Now get the hell out of here!”

“But, Helen, how do I get Mr. Oakley to talk to me? And will he even care that Lawson fired me without cause?”

“Remember the picture, Reese,” she says.

“What picture?”

“The one from the restaurant you described. Take Mr. Oakley that picture. Tell him that is your father.”

“But I don’t understand. What difference will that make to him?” Then I remember. The woman in the picture on Mr. Oakley’s desk, the woman with the wide set eyes and pretty blonde hair—Lawson’s mother. That is the woman with my father. The woman with my father was killed the day before my own mother died. She fell from a ski lift…or was she pushed? So many thoughts run through my head, but I am trapped.

“Get that picture tonight, but don’t let Lawson see you. He mustn’t know. Then tomorrow go to Mr. Oakley’s office at 7:00 am. He is an early riser and always starts his morning off in the office, with rarely an exception. Tell him you’re a guest. That will get you in the door. Then say what you must say. Now be gone, but don’t go back to your room.”

“Does he know about my father?”

“I don’t know what Lawson knows. Have you told him anything of your past?”

“No, I haven’t said a word—well, that’s not exactly true. He took me to his uncle’s suite.”

“Reese! You went with Lawson to the penthouse?”

“It’s not what you think. There’s a room there.”

“Yes, I know that room very well. I cleaned it for years before he kicked all staff out of his personal quarters. Why did you go there?” She leans over the laundry basket and pretends to fold the dirty sheets.

“I told him I needed to find the guest registries from the summer of 1998, and he helped me find my family’s name…and room number. Do you think he knows who I am? Does my father have anything to do with his mother’s death? And what about my mother?” Helen doesn’t speak another word. Tinley rolls the laundry cart out the door and toward the elevator. I don’t crawl out until the doors close.

“Oh, my goodness, I thought I was going to die in there. Tinley, thank you…for everything.” She nods her head and hugs me quick.

“Text Finn that you’re staying with him tonight. I’ll text Bree to sneak you up to his room, and one of us will bring you clothes later. And good luck, Reese. Helen filled me in a little, and, well…. You deserve some happiness.” I nod in agreement and pull the baseball hat back over my head. When the doors open, I run back to my car. I drive into town and park in front of
Carla’s Café.
Finn answers his phone before I’ve even heard a ring.

“Are you okay?” he asks, showing more than a little concern.

“I’m fine, but there’s been a change of plans. Can you come pick me up in town before your show?”

“Yeah, sure, no problem.”

“Good, because Lawson can’t know that I’m not gone. He probably has a crew to check license plates, and I don’t need him finding my car in a Tremont Lodge parking lot.”

“Just tell me where to get you.”

“You have to be sneaky, Finn. I don’t doubt that Lawson’s watching you, too.”

“That’s ridiculous. Why would he give a damn what I’m doing?”

“I’m not sure. Nothing makes sense, but don’t risk it. Promise me you’ll watch your back.”

“Sure, Reese. Tell me where you are, and I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

After I hang up, I go inside the restaurant to tell Carla that I will be leaving my car on the street overnight. I order a coffee to-go and wait for Finn in my car. More questions pass through my mind. Trouble as deep as my parents may have been involved in never crossed my mind in my wildest dreams. I used to tell myself that my parents went overseas to be missionaries and spent their lives serving the underprivileged and that they couldn’t come home because they were needed more there than they were needed at home—with Blake and me. Now words like
death
and
homicide
and
adultery
litter my brain.

Finn arrives in a silver Toyota pick-up truck. You need to be confident and manly to drive a truck, and Finn has both qualities multiplied by ten. I lock my car and slide next to him in the cab of the truck. As soon as my leg touches his he grabs it and squeezes, but he doesn’t look at me.

“What’s the matter?” I ask.

“My tire was slashed,” he says.

“But, I don’t understand. You got here so quickly.”

“This is Murphy’s truck.”

“Oh.” There goes my stereotype of pick-up truck drivers.

“Do you think Lawson did it?”

“No doubts,” he says.

“Finn, I’m sorry for involving you in my mess, but I think somehow Lawson’s mom and my dad had some kind of relationship, and something happened to his mom right before I was abandoned here. I’m going to see Mr. Oakley tomorrow.”

“Like hell you are,” he says, turning to look at me.

“I have to. It’s the only way to get the answers that I need and to get Lawson off my back. Helen told me to talk to him, and I trust her. She seems to think that Mr. Oakley is going to make it all make sense.”

“You can’t go back to your room tonight,” he says.

“I know,” I say, smiling. “I was hoping you wouldn’t mind me crashing at your place.” I slide my hand down Finn’s thigh and he sighs. Just the answer I needed.

Finn parks Murphy’s truck in the main parking lot in the front of the lodge. Then he walks toward the service road I parked on earlier today. When he’s out of view, I crawl out of the cab of Murphy’s truck and walk toward the same road. No one seems to pay me any attention which is good. When I get to the weeping willow trees, Finn pulls me down to the ground.

“You scared me half to death! What were you thinking?” My hands are trembling.

“Look!” he says, pointing toward the lodge swimming pool which we can see through a row of hedge bushes planted on the other side of the pool fence and on the outer side of the lawn. Lawson and his friends are sitting in the hot tub surrounded by girls on all sides of them.

“I guess this is a good time to make a break for it,” I say.

“Yeah, probably so, but still, we need to be careful.”

“Finn, I’m sorry—again—for the trouble I’ve caused you.” He puts his hand around my waist and pulls me in close.

“Be careful, Reese. I can’t stand the thought of that bastard hurting you.” He rubs my back, and I let the rhythm of his heartbeat calm my nerves.

Finn leaves first, motioning me to come when it’s safe. The day shifts are ending, so someone’s bound to see me. Finn keeps signaling for me to stop. When he does, I duck behind the nearest tree or bush or garbage dumpster, which I am much too familiar with. When he disappears into the building, I begin to panic. What if Lawson intercepted him? What if I’m stranded out here? Is there even anything to be afraid of? I’m running all of these thoughts through my head when Finn reappears with someone wearing the Tremont Lodge mascot costume—a black bear named Tre.

“It’s Murphy,” Finn whispers. I smile. It’s funny how wrong my first impression of Murphy was. He really is just a big teddy bear…and so good to Tinley, too.

Murphy pulls off the head to his costume and hands it to me. “Here. Put this on quick,” he says. I look up at Finn who’s motioning me to move more quickly. I take the costume and slip it over my head. It’s heavy and hurts my neck, but I can see through the mesh eyes which is all I need to be able to do to walk up one flight of stairs. When they have me zipped into the rest of the costume, Murphy walks back toward the dormitory.

“Where’s he going?” I ask, but I have to repeat myself because Finn can’t hear me through the thick costume.
“Where’s he going?”

“To my room. Now be friendly. You’re the lodge mascot, even for the staff. Wave and indulge any hugs that people may want, but don’t talk.”

“Won’t people know it’s not Murphy? Oh, yeah, you’re right. He isn’t much taller, is he?”

“When you get to my room, knock on the door. Murphy will answer, and you guys can change costumes back. I’ll meet you in a few minutes.” He moves toward me like he’s going to kiss me, but he can’t. He pats me on the butt instead, and I almost tumble into the garbage dumpster.

I follow Finn’s instructions and high-five and hug a bunch of staff members on my way to Finn’s room—some that I know, and some that I do not. Bree is one of them. I try to whisper in her ear who I am, but she can’t hear me, so she looks more annoyed than anything that a giant bear keeps insisting on a hug. I wish I could laugh, but this mission is purely business, if in a very unorthodox way.

The exchange in Finn’s room goes smoothly. He has a bag of clothes waiting for me, too—from Tinley. I can only imagine what she picked out for my night with Finn. “Thanks, Murphy, for everything.”

“Just be careful, Reese. And good luck tomorrow. Tinley told me,” he says sheepishly. It seems my summer of secrets is spreading like wildfire. I hug Tre the Bear and close the door behind him.

“I think I need another shower,” I say to Finn, wiping sweat off my forehead. “Thanks again. I’m not so sure what I did to deserve a friend like you.”