Back to the Lake Breeze Hotel

by Amie Denman

  Alice laughed politely with the others, but the words were a dark cloud in the otherwise sunny sky.

  * * *

  ON SATURDAY MORNING, Nate was the first one up. He tiptoed down the steps so he wouldn’t wake his dad and found the Bayside Times, folded and on the front porch. Nate stood outside on the peaceful morning and studied the front page, where the carousel wedding and story dominated above the fold. There was a picture of the wedding party in front of the carousel and a picture of the bride’s father—the publisher of the newspaper—with his friends from the museum association. The article devoted a few paragraphs to the pledge for restoration funds...but not before reporting every minute detail of the wedding. The flowers, the bride’s dress—organdy in some color called blush with a sequined cathedral train—the names of the bridal party, the food highlights from the reception and Alice’s name listed as the wedding planner were in black and white for all to see.

  There was also a crisp picture of Alice helping the bride onto a carousel horse. Her face was clearly visible and her smile radiant. Anyone who had ever known Alice would recognize her. Would his father?

  Nate took the paper into the kitchen and discovered a dusty cardboard box on the table. A photo album lay open in front of his father’s chair and pictures were scattered over the worn wooden surface where his family had eaten so many meals. He could still smell and taste his mother’s cooking, remembered the pot roast and homemade macaroni and cheese. Those recipes, like her voice waking him up for school, had disappeared in the five seconds it had taken for the drunk driver to lose control.

  His teen years had been takeout and frozen pizza instead of casseroles hot from the oven, and he wasn’t doing much better cooking for himself and his dad. Maybe he could try harder.

  “You’re up early,” his father said as he shuffled into the kitchen in a loose robe and slippers.

  “Work,” Nate said. “You must have done this late last night after I went to bed.” He gestured toward the old box. “If you wanted things from the attic, I would have gotten them out for you.”

  Not that he wanted to. If those memories could stay tucked at the top of a narrow staircase and hidden behind cobwebs, he would prefer it. He carefully avoided looking too closely at any of the photographs.

  “Didn’t want to be a pain in the neck,” his father said. “Bad enough you gave up your life to move home.”

  “I only gave up Florida,” Nate said, smiling. “Not my life. It was too hot anyway, the tourist traffic was a nightmare and the spiders were huge.”

  His father sat while Nate pulled a loaf of bread from the cabinet and dropped four slices in the toaster.

  “Thanks, son.”

  “Butter and jelly?”

  “Yes, but I wasn’t talking about the toast.”

  Nate gingerly moved aside photos of his family to make room for breakfast. He put the box on the empty chair where his mother used to sit and his eyes accidentally fell on a photograph of him and his sister on the kids’ helicopter ride at Starlight Point.

  He closed his eyes while he sealed the top flaps of the box, trying to keep his emotions in check. He was accustomed to some family pictures, including the smiling ones of his mother on the mantel and on his father’s bedroom dresser. Looking at those made him feel as if time had stopped before his mother died. But it hadn’t. He’d lost his mom too soon, and now he was faced with daily reminders that his dad wouldn’t be here forever.

  The only recent photograph in the house was a framed wedding photo of Nate’s sister and their father on her wedding day. It sat opposite a lamp on a table in the living room. If Nate and Alice had gotten married, he imagined their photo would be on that table, too.

  “I was looking through these things because I’m cleaning out stuff around here,” his father said. “One of my old coworkers died a year ago and his kids had a hell of a time figuring out what to do with his lifetime’s accumulation. I don’t want to burden you and Susan like that.”

  “Not a burden, Dad.” Nate filled the coffee maker and hit the power button. “What time is your appointment on Monday?”

  “One o’clock,” his father said. “What’s this?”

  Nate turned around. His dad was holding the Bayside Times and staring at it, forehead wrinkled as if he were thinking about something puzzling.

  “A wedding we had yesterday at the Point,” Nate said. He leaned and pointed at the photo of the wedding party, hoping his father wouldn’t see the other prominent picture in which Alice was visible.

  “Were you there?”

  “Of course. It’s my job to publicize anything good that happens at Starlight Point.”

  His father put his finger on the picture of Alice. “Don’t we know this girl?” He dug his reading glasses out of the chest pocket of his robe and Nate dreaded what was coming next.

  “It’s Alice Birmingham,” he said, hoping to avoid an emotional outburst. He’d purposely used her name instead of a descriptor. Girlfriend, fiancée, former fiancée...they were all too personal.

  “Oh, son,” Murray said, sadness in his voice instead of surprise or anger at the woman who’d humiliated his son. “Do you have to work with her every day? Is that what you have to put up with at your job?”

  The coffeepot gurgled loudly and the toast popped up. Nate turned his back to his father. “You make it sound far more dramatic than it is.”

  “This damn cancer,” his father said. “I wish you didn’t have to suffer, too.”

  “I’m not suffering. I love my job, and seeing Alice once in a while is a small price to pay for getting to watch the sunsets over the lake and get fresh coffee from the lobby of the Lake Breeze Hotel every day.”

  “Are you sure?” his father asked.

  Nate gave his father a practiced smile. “Of course I’m sure.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  ON SATURDAY EVENING, an hour before the spooky Wonderful West carousel and the haunted house in the shooting gallery opened to Starlight Point guests, employees were invited to go through them without battling the crowds. Alice thought the staff should have firsthand knowledge of the haunted house so they could answer guests’ questions.

  Looking around at everyone gathered in the Wonderful West, she was pleased to see so many off-duty employees had shown up for their chance to experience the frights without waiting in a long line. Because the haunted houses were her idea, she had to do it, too, as a show of good faith. It wasn’t even dark outside, but Alice shivered just thinking about going through them.

  “You’re not scared, are you?” Haley asked.

  “Of course I am. We hired professional scarers to put these together, remember?”

  “I wonder how you get a job as a professional scarer?” Haley asked, grinning and using air quotes on the made-up word. “Probably be a psych major in college so you know how to dig around in peoples’ brains and find the really terrifying stuff.”

  Alice zipped up her jacket and buttoned the cuffs. “Or you dig around in your own life and magnify the stuff that scares you.”

  Haley shuddered. “Not going there.”

  The door to the Western Arcade and shooting gallery opened and the doorman ushered in the next group of eight. A couple dozen people stood in line ahead of her and Haley, which gave Alice time to get even more nervous. It was a cool evening with the feeling of fall. Leaves swirled at her feet and the breeze off the lake carried the scent of cold water.

  A moment later, the breeze was blocked and replaced by a warm body right behind her. She didn’t turn around to see who it was, but the air changed and was spiced with a familiar smell. It was some sort of shower soap that smelled like the forest. Damp forest, but not moldy. She’d been trying to come up with a name for it for weeks.

  “Hey, Nate,” Haley said. “Ready to scare yourself to death?”

  “Ready to let the pro
fessionals scare me,” he said, his words so close that Alice almost felt his breath on her neck. “I heard we hired the best.”

  She turned and found herself almost close enough to touch him, although hardly nose to nose since he was a foot taller. He wore a dark green jacket and jeans, and he almost blended into the darkness, but Alice felt she would have recognized him anywhere.

  “I’m not so sure about this,” Haley said. “I may go back to the office and dig gum off the bottom of the trash can. I’ve been meaning to get that done all summer.”

  Alice laughed. “You’re staying and suffering with the rest of us.”

  “As long as someone holds hands with me,” Haley said.

  They waited in silence for two more groups to enter the haunted house ahead of them. The plans Alice had seen showed an Old West–themed fright zone with cowboy skeletons, tombstones and bloody ranch hands. How scary could those be? But she’d seen groups of eight enter the house, then come around the corner from the back of the attraction clutching their chests and laughing nervously—and only half the group got back in line. That was probably a good sign.

  “Next eight victims,” the man at the door announced. He was dressed all in black with skeleton face paint and a black cowboy hat, and he intoned his words as if they were all truly going to their deaths.

  Nice acting.

  In addition to Haley and Nate, Alice’s group included a handful of seasonal employees she knew only by sight. Their group inched into the haunted house and Alice’s heart was racing long before the first ghastly figure lunged at their group with creepy hands and dreadful sounds. Was she really prepared for this?

  “I think I’m about to pass out,” Haley said. She grabbed Alice’s arm and cringed against her. Nate was so close behind them he bumped into them when they slowed down or hesitated. Alice tried to be brave for Haley’s sake, and because she wanted to build a reputation as someone who did not back down even in the face of adversity. Weddings could be almost as frightening as ghosts and zombies.

  Alice steeled her nerves, remembering a haunted farm and hayride she’d survived back in high school. She’d gone with a group that included Nate, but it was before they’d officially dated. Back then, he’d been the quiet boy in her study hall. Her entire group had been holding hands out of fear. She’d held Nate’s hand and a rush of feelings swept her through the haunted house. Having him next to her years later was a cruel irony.

  A woman near her screamed and forced Alice’s thoughts back to the present. Her group moved through an Old West hotel with cobwebs and flickering lights in the corridor. Numbered doors were nailed shut but straining against their boards with hideous creaking sounds as if something could jump out at any moment. A man with an ax loomed at the end of the hall and mirrors and strobe lights made him seem terrifyingly huge and close. Alice and Haley screamed at the same time and Haley’s grip on her arm tightened. Someone took Alice’s free hand and held on.

  She knew the rules of haunted houses. They can’t touch you even though they can scare you to death. Whoever had her hand was not with the fright crew. The hand was large and warm. In a flash of strobe light, Alice risked a glance to her left. Nate stared grimly ahead as if facing his worst nightmare—and he had a tight grip on her hand.

  “Step right up to the slaughterhouse,” their ghastly tour guide said. Leaving them no choice, he opened the door into a terrifying scene of butchers swinging saws and knives. Chains rattled and mixed with the horrible sounds.

  “This is too much,” Nate said. “I’m closing my eyes and following you. Don’t let go.”

  “It’s not real, it’s not real, it’s not real,” Alice repeated. “Haley, it’s not real, okay?”

  Haley was nearly hyperventilating, only taking a break from breathing long enough to scream intermittently.

  The three of them clung together and shoved through the slaughterhouse with the rest of their group. In the next room, they survived a shoot-out with such realistic sound effects they had to check themselves for bullet holes. Someone in their group yelled, “I’m hit!” which brought nervous laughter and more screaming.

  The final scene was a shockingly realistic cemetery at night with quivering tombstones and zombies popping up from behind them. Alice wanted to close her eyes and think of something happy like wedding cake with elegant fondant and buttercream icing. Wedding gowns with layers and layers of tulle with sequined lace. Bridesmaids who all matched and cooperated happily with the bride no matter what their personal opinions were. Groomsmen who didn’t wear their rented tuxedos as if they were straitjackets.

  Yes, those were her happy thoughts.

  Despite the utter terror of the experience, Alice tried to cling to two rational thoughts. The company Starlight Point had hired to frighten its guests nearly to an early grave was worth every penny. And, despite being startled into screaming more often than she cared to admit, she wasn’t truly afraid because a warm, strong hand gripped hers the entire time. A familiar hand that brought with it years of feelings she’d believed hidden.

  When her group spilled through the back door, Haley nearly collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily and fanning herself. “Want to do it again?” she asked.

  “Are you nuts? I thought you were going to faint in there,” Alice said. “You were terrified.”

  “That’s part of the fun. It’s the same feeling at the top of a roller coaster hill just before you go over. The good kind of terror,” Haley said.

  Alice tried to slow her racing heart. “I think I’ve just discovered our target demographic. Eighteen-year-olds with healthy hearts and a sadistic side.”

  Nate laughed quietly next to her and she turned, realizing he was still gripping her hand. As soon as they made eye contact, he released her hand and took one step back. I guess the battlefield bonding is over, she thought. Despite the quick distance Nate put between them, Haley must have noticed the hand-holding, however justified it was by the terrifying experience in the haunted house. She just hoped Haley wouldn’t say anything.

  “I’m done for the night,” Nate announced. He lingered for a moment, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, and then he turned and walked into the deepening dusk.

  “What happened to him?” Haley asked. “Too scared, you think?”

  “I don’t know,” Alice said, even though the truth wanted to fight its way from her chest. Something had happened, but she didn’t know what to call it.

  * * *

  TAKING ADVANTAGE OF the midweek quiet, Alice walked an engaged couple through the haunted house with the lights on and no actors or sound effects. Their wedding was actually taking place on the haunted trail amid the spooky decorations on Halloween night, but they wanted to see the haunted house just for fun. It was an odd request, but Alice wanted to keep her customers happy. As it turned out, the trip through the haunted house was the least frightening part of her meeting with the couple.

  Kayleen and Keith. Their names sounded almost cute together, but after spending two hours with them, Alice felt certain their marriage would last an agonizing and tempest-filled two years at the most.

  They fought about the date, which had already been booked for months. Keith had apparently told his family the wrong date and Kayleen had gloated about being in the right, even though it was only a matter of one day—October 30 versus October 31. Strike one.

  They fought about which horror flick had the best gruesome special effects, even though it was completely off topic. Alice was astonished to learn so many slasher movies had actually been made. Strike two.

  Strike three came as Alice asked them to select menu items for the reception, which would be held under the big tent in the Wonderful West. To her amazement, the lovebirds fought over potato salad’s merits as compared to cole slaw. Bride and groom both invoked the nuclear option of attacking each other’s families, comparing each other’s mothers in dr
astically unflattering ways.

  “Perhaps your guests will enjoy the reception either way,” Alice suggested. “We could come back to that decision after we’ve worked out the details on the music and decorations.”

  Her tone was appropriate and patient because this was not her first wedding where the bride and groom (or their families) quibbled over details that were drops in a bucket compared to long years of marriage and its compromises.

  Despite her outward appearance of professional courtesy and interest, Alice was more uneasy than she had ever been while planning a wedding. This was her twentieth wedding at Starlight Point. It ought to be some kind of milestone. Instead, all she could imagine was what married life would be like for Kayleen and Keith.

  She should tell them the truth, that she believed they shouldn’t get married anytime soon. They’d be angry, and Starlight Point would lose their business, but wasn’t the truth worth sacrificing for, no matter how much it might hurt?

  While they battled over the color of balloons—black or orange or both—Alice walked over to Virginia and Henry, who were replacing damaged pumpkins in one of the displays in front of the antique cars.

  “Squirrels strike again,” Henry said. “Their lack of manners is staggering. They can’t eat the easy to reach pumpkins and squash on the outside row. They go right for the middle every time just so I have to tiptoe in.”

  “And face near death when I throw him replacements,” Virginia said as she lined up a shot and tossed a small pumpkin to her partner.

  Alice sat on the railing surrounding the fall garden. “I might want to trade you anyway. Those two,” she said, nodding toward the prospective bride and groom, who were across the midway, hands-on-hips arguing under the tent, “are getting married on Halloween eve.”

  “Scary,” Virginia said.

  “You don’t know the half of it. So far, they’ve fought over every detail. He even said her mother should come dressed as a vampire because she would suck the fun right out of the wedding.”