“Not about the journal,” I say. “About everything I said yesterday. You didn’t deserve that.”
“No.” She laughs, looking at something off-screen. “You’re right. I do this every time. He just lets me down over and over, but I can’t stop hoping it’ll work out in the end.”
“You sure you don’t want to go home?” I say.
“No. I’m exhausted. Even if he weren’t coming at all, I don’t think I could drive back tonight. I’ll give him until tomorrow morning. If he’s not here by lunch, I guess I have my answer.”
I hope it doesn’t come to that. Not that she doesn’t deserve the happy ending with her son and her husband under one roof. I just don’t trust Graham to give it to her. But at least if he shows up and blows it, she’ll know for sure. If he keeps delaying the way he has, Stef will always have questions.
“I’m sorry too,” she says.
“For what?”
“For everything. For showing up on your doorstep. For making you think you have to take care of us. For forcing you to take that stupid job. I know you hate it, but you did it anyway, because that’s what you do.”
“It’s not that bad,” I say. Not today, anyway. I glance at the clock. I still have hours to go before I can go to David’s room, but just the idea of it makes everything seem better.
“I promise, regardless of what happens with Graham, whatever you want to do next, I won’t give you a hard time. If you want to come home and work odd jobs until you can buy another boat, or if you want to be a digital nomad in Vietnam, I will support you.”
“I don’t even know what a digital nomad is,” I say. Marci probably knows. I can ask her in the morning.
Stef grins. “You’d hate it. It involves a lot of computers.”
We stare at each other silently through the screens.
“Maybe when I’m done here, I’ll go to Europe for a little while. See the sights.” With what money, I have no idea, but even just saying the words out loud is exciting.
“Oh, that’s a great idea. You could go to Italy. We went to Florence on our honeymoon. Or France! Before Robbie was born, we—” Stef bites her lip. “Sorry. Getting ahead of myself. I’m sure you’ll pick a destination that appeals to you.”
“Do they fish in Europe?”
Her smile is relaxed now, and I’m relieved to see it. “I’m sure they do.”
“Call me tomorrow after you see him?” I say.
“You bet.”
It takes hours before the lodge gets quiet. The hall outside my door is like a freeway of people coming and going. Marci stops by, wordlessly handing me a small Wild Eagle gift bag and walking away without a backward glance. Finally, as the sun sets, the noise dies down. I let myself out of my room and everything is calm. Even the front desk is vacant. I make a quick trip from the staff door to the main stairs, keeping my steps quiet as I head up to the second floor, then down the hall to the stairway to the third and fourth floors.
I haven’t been up here since the tour on my first day, and everything still smells like new paint. The fourth floor feels a mile away from everything else, and my knock on David’s door echoes loudly. I glance around, expecting Harper to leap out from around a corner and demand to know what I’m doing.
When David opens the door, my breath stops. He’s perfect and dressed in a white collared shirt with one extra button undone and pressed gray pants that fit him perfectly.
He looks like a model.
“Hi,” I say, still trying to get my lungs to work properly again.
“Hey,” he says. “I half expected you to come to your senses.”
“Believe me, I tried.” I was so determined to keep my head down this summer. Fly under the radar and help Stef get back on her feet. But maybe she doesn’t need me anymore, and I can do something for me instead.
The door closes behind me, and David walks away when I expect him to grab me. The room is bigger than the ground floor of my house, and he walks down to the living area, where he’s got a bottle of champagne in a bucket.
“Want something to drink?” He pours without waiting for an answer, and my hand shakes as I take the glass from him.
“You don’t have to seduce me, you know,” I say. “Pretty sure we’ve already got that covered.”
He smiles, his perfect white teeth glinting in the low light. “I wanted to do something nice. You’ve taken such good care of me all week.”
