We followed him down the dirt pathway that curled around the grounds and listened as he pointed out each building and what its purpose was. The first floor of the main building consisted of the lobby, which we had already seen, the laundry room, main kitchen and pantry, a bathroom, and an over-sized closet that Fin said served as a first aid room, and an office. Upstairs had several cozy rooms.
When Connor asked why Fin wasn’t staying in the main building he laughed and said, “You’ll see.”
After we passed the detached recreation building, the pavilion, and the sauna, Fin led us down a winding pathway surrounded by neatly trimmed foliage and trees. We were nearing the dark shape behind the trees we had seen from the back patio of the main building when the small path split into a fork. To the left was a tall wooden sign posted near the path that said CABINS 1-7 and to the right was a sign that said SUITES 8-15.
When we turned left I asked Fin where he was staying. “I’m at Cabin Three. It’s right by the dock.” He turned around and casually gestured in my direction. “How long are you planning on staying?”
“Oh. I don’t know.” I paused to look at Connor who was walking next to me, staring straight ahead of him. He seemed uncomfortable and hadn’t said a word since we left the main building. “Is anyone else here?” I asked Fin.
“Nope,” he looked around at the trees while he spoke. “You two are the first I’ve seen since I came up here a few weeks ago.”
“Are you from San Diego?” I asked him.
“Yeah. My brother worked up here last year. It’s probably one of the few places in the area that has working power, water, and a fully stocked pantry. I thought this would be a good place to hide out for a while.”
“We brought our own things, so we should be good for a bit.” Connor seemed irritated. I wasn’t sure if he would be able to see my dour expression from the corner of his eyesight but I glared at his profile anyway.
Fin shrugged and we kept walking on in silence until the pathway opened up before a curvy row of tall cabins. The structures were identical, each with two stories and a sharply pointed roof, covered in what I first thought were skylights. Fin explained the checkered rectangles of glass were solar panels. The pathway widened and became a wooden walkway that continued down toward a long pier where the unfrozen parts of Laguna Lake glinted in the background.
Fin pointed at the cabin nearest to the dock. “That one’s mine.” He turned to face us and gestured at the curvy row of cabins behind his. “They all face the lake, which is nice. And they have everything you need…bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms.” He trailed off and looked at us. “Pick whichever one you want, that’s what I did.” He stuffed his hands in his coat pockets and lifted his shoulders.
“Are they locked?” I asked him.
“No, I walked through all of them when I first got here. Just to make sure no one was inside.” He started moving away from us, to his cabin. “I guess I’ll let you get settled. You can drive your truck around and park in the dirt lot back there, but you’ll still have to carry your stuff down the path.”
“Thanks,” I said to him.
“Sure.” He nodded at Connor, and left us shivering on the open path. I waved at Fin and watched as he went inside his cabin and shut the door. The breeze coming off the lake made my teeth chatter. I tugged my coat collar up close to my ears and tried not to lick my chapped lips. The first thing I intended on unpacking was my Burt’s Bees chap-stick.
Connor sighed heavily and pointed at the empty buildings. “Which one do you want?” he grumbled at me, his accent strong.
Without answering him I started down the narrow pathway by myself, pulling Zoey gently on her leash next to me. Sunlight swept across the path in blotchy patches, stretching my shadow out before us and I heard Connor’s footsteps fall in behind me.
***
Connor watched Riley’s feet pound into the ground, ahead of him. He paced next to the foot impressions she was leaving on the dirt path, careful not to disturb the tread of her tennis shoes, or the small dog prints left behind by Zoey. He was upset with her, that she insisted on staying here before she knew anything about the place or anything about the scruffy looking drunk who called himself Fin. It was barely 8 o’clock in the morning, and judging from the guy’s odor, he had vodka for breakfast. Unless he never went to sleep and the vodka was a late, late night-cap. Both scenarios made sense.
He should have tried harder to convince her to stay at the fire house, at least then they wouldn’t be shacking up next door to a crazy looking alcoholic mountain man with a very large handgun that he probably slept and showered with. What did he need a gun for anyway, in the middle of the woods, with no people around? As soon as the thought crossed his mind he realized he would feel safer somehow, having a gun of his own. Problem was he didn’t know how to handle a real one.
Once he got Riley settled into a cabin, he’d sit her down and talk to her, find out what her plans were, now that they were here…and obviously not alone. What was she planning on doing now? He sure as hell had no idea. The lodge wasn’t very secure, and other than the front gate there was no way to lock the whole place down. If they made it here, he imagined others would find their way up the mountain too. Something told him Fin wouldn’t be happy sharing the lodge with a large group of people, unless of course there was another woman or two in the group. Fin only seemed to look at Riley when he spoke, and made no effort to hide his interest in her looks. And she seemed too eager to trust Fin, perhaps because he was the first one to the lodge and offered them a place to stay, however begrudgingly, or maybe it was because she didn’t want to be alone with Connor indefinitely.
He glared at the dusty footprints as he followed Riley down the pathway to the last cabin. He was starting to wonder why she would choose the building furthest away, but when she walked up onto the cabin’s wrap-around deck, he realized the reason. From this cabin they had an unobstructed view of the south side of the lake, and the sloping mountain side beyond it. He turned to look back up the path where they came from, and knew the scene from each cabin was spectacular, but this one on the end definitely had the best view. He watched her blonde braid sway along her back as she peered inside the cabin windows and he realized that if she wanted to stay here forever, he would do it. To wake up every day in this place with her would almost feel like waking up in heaven. He was sure of it.
***
The cold breeze pushed against us as we leaned into the wooden deck railing overlooking the half-frozen lake. Zoey was sniffing in the corner, pawing eagerly at the bottom of a flower pot. Eventually a lizard dashed from underneath the container and vanished in between the floorboards. The dog whimpered and scratched frantically at the wood. After circling the area, she plopped down ungraciously and rested her head over the crack, keeping her eyes open and alert.
I chewed on my lower lip to keep from laughing out loud. Even though Connor was standing quietly a few feet away, I didn’t want to talk to him just yet…because I wasn’t sure what to say to him. After the dog made it clear she wasn’t moving from her lizard-watching spot, I pushed myself away from the railing and followed the deck around to the back door. It was locked, so I continued around the deck and circled back to the front entrance and found the front door wide open.
“Connor?” I called from the doorway. I stepped across the threshold and let my eyes adjust to the slightly darker environment indoors. The sitting room was full of plush chairs that sat at both ends of a large, overstuffed couch. Pillows covered the couch, and rested in the center of each chair, dotting the room with sky blues, sea greens and sunny yellows. A sanded and lacquered log with its flat side up severed as a coffee table in the center of the room. Similar-styled end tables flanked the couch, each with a lamp made of turquoise-colored glass and dusty brown over-sized shades.
“Not what a little cabin in the woods usually looks like is it?” Connor asked from the far side of the room. He was standing behind a large counter top that separate
d the sitting room from the kitchen. I slowly crossed the room and leaned onto the counter, looking in at the kitchen. Windows ran the length of the room, which let in a considerable amount of natural light, as well as a magnificent view of the lake. Inside each frosted-glass cabinet were tidy arrangements of brightly colored mugs, plates and bowls. The large drop-in style sink was wide and deep enough to bathe the dog in, not that I considered it…for very long at least.
“It’s straight from a magazine, isn’t it?” I smiled as I wandered away from the kitchen and located the small bathroom next to an equally small bedroom, and the sunroom where the backdoor was. I unlocked it and peeked outside to see Zoey still guarding the same crack in the deck. She looked at me and swished her tail from side to side but made no move to get up. I left the door open for her and went back inside. I could hear Connor’s footsteps going up the stairs and met him on the second floor landing.
“There’re two bedrooms up here, another small one downstairs. Plenty of room for you.” He stood still for a moment, with his hands resting on his hips, as if he didn’t know what else to say.
“Wait, you aren’t staying here?” I blinked at him, confused.
“Well, there are enough cabins for both of us, right? I figured you would want your own.” He avoided looking straight at me.
“I don’t remember saying that.” I shoved my hands into my pockets and stared at him. Finally he met my gaze and smiled weakly.
“You didn’t have to.”
I studied his face. The deep line between his neatly trimmed brows that seemed to have formed overnight and the rigid set of his jaw made him look tired and older.
“Are you upset with me?” I asked him.
“Why would I be upset with you? I just got the feeling you wanted your own space again.” He shuffled his feet.
I sighed and stepped close to him and took my hands out of my pockets. When I reached out to him, he took my hands and softly squeezed them.
“Was I wrong?” he said, just above a whisper.
“Yes, you idiot.” I raised my mouth to his and gently kissed him.
“How about you stay here ‘til we get tired of each other?” I smiled at him. “You can even have your own room.”
He laughed at me and pointed to one of the bedrooms, “That one has a better view of the woods,” he paused and turned, pointing to the other bedroom before adding, “…and that one there has an excellent view of the lake.”
My smile widened. “I’ll take that one then.”
“Yeah, I figured.” He smiled at me, then his expression hardened and he slipped his arms around me tightly, pulling me to him.
He murmured into my neck, “Riley, I don’t know what we are, what this is…but I want to be with you, wherever you go.” He brushed the hair from my skin and kissed the side of my neck.
When he looked at me, his bright blue eyes were glossy. I chewed on my lower lip before telling him, “I’m happy you’re here with me, too. And not because you’re the first person I met in the city or because you have ridiculously good looks.” I laughed at his mocked impression of shock. “Okay, maybe your looks have a little to do with it.” I shrugged at him, an innocent expression on my face, and he broke out into a laugh so loud that I heard it echo downstairs.
It felt good to hold him, and have his arms around me. To hear him laugh made something inside me warm up, almost like a flame trying to ignite. When we kissed, that flame sparked between us, pushing away the darkness that threatened to swallow me. It was a feeling I wasn’t ready to lose.
CHAPTER TWELVE
After spending nearly an hour retrieving our things and walking them back to the cabin, I was anxious to find Fin again and get more details about the lodge. When we knocked on his door he opened it with a broad smile on his face and a spatula in his hand.
“Figured you’d find your way back here eventually, so I made some breakfast. Hungry?” He turned and casually walked back into his cabin. Connor and I hesitated awkwardly in the doorway before he called out to us, “Come on in. Hope you like pancakes.”
I smiled at Connor, and told Zoey to stay on the porch before following Fin into the kitchen, which appeared to be the only clean room on the first floor. His cabin was decorated in a very similar style to ours, but the place had a more masculine feel, especially with his muddy hiking boots inside the front door and coats and clothing draped across the furniture. Several empty beer bottles littered the dusty table tops too, almost like he intended them to be permanent decorative fixtures.
Fin had stacked three plates and a handful of utensils on the bar counter next to a glass pitcher of orange juice. And as if he was expecting us to arrive just in time for breakfast, a heaping stack of large pancakes sat next to the stove. Fin returned to flipping pancakes as I sat down at the counter opposite him. His flannel shirt was rolled up at the sleeves, exposing the dark blonde hairs that covered his impressive forearms.
“Thanks for breakfast. It’s very nice of you,” I said to him.
He shrugged and wiped one of his hands on the towel he had draped over his shoulder. “No problem. Haven’t cooked for anyone in a while,” he said, with a shy grin turning a corner of his mouth upwards. “Help yourself to the juice.” He gestured at the full pitcher and Connor poured both of us a cup.
“Oh, there’s coffee too.” He waved the spatula behind him, at the sink, where a large coffee maker sat with a full pot of fresh brew.
“Thank you,” Connor said to him. I could tell he was making a genuine effort to be friendly to Fin, despite his rude behavior earlier in the morning. I beamed at him.
We sipped on our orange juice and watched Fin flip two more pancakes out of the pan before I decided to break the silence. “You’re very good at that,” I told him with a smile.
“Well, I dated a chef ten years ago. I guess you could say I learned a few things.” He set the fluffy tower of food before us, next to a small bottle of syrup shaped like a maple leaf and a plate holding a block of butter. “Dig in.”
***
After breakfast, we all sat on Fin’s back patio in colorfully painted Adirondack chairs sipping hot mugs of coffee while listening to the subtle sounds of bird life in the trees around us. A thin layer of ice had crusted around the edge of the entire lake during the last storm, making it appear smaller than it was. The wind started as a far-away whistle as it came down the mountains before eventually roaring through the trees like a freight train. Every time I heard the rush of air, I froze, thinking it sounded like an approaching truck. Even with the sun beating down directly above us, the air was chilly enough to make my nose run and my fingers stiff.
I sipped my coffee and listened to Fin as he talked about the lodge grounds and his first few days there. Since he had been there before, he knew where everything was, and so far the only problem had been figuring out where to dump the rotten food he found in the main kitchen--he ended up burning it in the fire pit. As he talked about the different buildings, I remembered the split in the pathway on our way to the cabins and asked him what the Suites were.
“Oh, well it’s like a little hotel, one long building with a handful of rooms. There’s no kitchen but I think there’s a small laundry room. You can’t see it from here because it’s tucked into the trees more than the cabins are.”
“This is definitely better than the main building. The view is amazing,” I said to no one in particular as I sipped my coffee.
“Yup.” Fin winked at me and then glanced at Connor, who was rubbing the top of Zoey’s head.
“So, did you two know each other before everything went to shit?” he asked me.
Connor finally looked up from the dog and waited for me to answer. “No, we met downtown,” I said.
“Downtown? Damn, how’d that go?” Fin stretched in his chair and watched me. His eyes darted up and down the length of my body as he drank from his mug.
“It was a mess, actually. There were a few...incidents...so we left.” I looked at Connor
and smiled. “Connor actually saved me from freezing to death in the bay,” I said laughing.
“Really?” Fin looked between me and Connor. “You aren’t from around here, are you?” Fin asked him.
“No. Dublin, originally.” He sipped his coffee.
“Ireland, huh?” Fin’s interest was piqued and when Connor nodded yes, he continued pressing for more information. “Connor your first name, or last?”
I watched as Connor stared at Fin suspiciously before asking, “Why?”
Fin shrugged, and sipped from his mug again before glancing at me. I frowned at him and asked with a hint of confusion, “Why would that matter?”
“I guess it don’t matter who any of us were before, right?” he replied simply.
“What do you mean?” I asked. I sat up straight in my chair, staring at Connor.
Irritation turned to a sort of panic when Connor blurted out, “Fin, wait...” but Fin was already talking.
“Oh, come on...like you don’t know we’re sitting next to a rich movie star,” he chuckled.
I blinked dumbly at Fin. The color drained from Connor’s face as Fin turned to him and asked incredulously, “She doesn’t know who you are? Shit, I’m not the biggest movie buff, but even I recognized you the first time I saw you, man.”
I stood up and crossed my arms at my chest and the three of us stared at each other in awkward silence until Fin cleared his throat and tugged on the front of his collar, loosening it from his neck. “Uh, sorry, I guess I’ll go inside, leave you two to talk.” He left me alone with Connor on the deck.
He stood and walked over to me. “Look, Riley...” he started.
I put my hand up and cut him off. “I don’t care who you were before, just who you are now. Is your name even Connor?”
I Hope You Find Me Page 14
