“Okay, so what do you need me to find?” she asks.
Tanya has a map of the United States hanging in her office upstairs. It has pins all over it and instead of reading “United States of America” above it, it reads “United States of Joy.” I always assumed that the pins represented places she’s visited.
Once Bailey has found it, I ask her to turn on her camera.
“Is there anything that stands out to you about the pins?”
She squints her eyes as she looks it over. “Ooh, yes! So all the pins are gold, but there’s one that’s blue.”
“Where’s that pin go to?” Dani chimes in.
“Mmm, looks like Colorado.” She takes the pin out of the wall. “Hold on, I think I found something.” She puts the phone down, but we hear wrestling noises and tearing before we see her face again. “What would you do without me?” She beams.
“That depends. What’d you find, Franky?”
“When I pulled the pin out, I could tell it was stuck in something underneath, so I took the map off the wall. Ripped it a little, sorry. And look what I found?” She holds up a coaster with a logo for a cabin in Ouray, Colorado.
“We’d be so lost without you, Bailey.” Dani bows down to her.
“You would,” she agrees.
Next stop: Ouray.
Tanya really knows how to pick her vacation spots.
“This is a beautiful area,” Dani says, admiring the gorgeous mountain views from the car window.
“It is.” It has nothing on Dani, but it’s beautiful all the same. Every location has been more breathtaking than the last.
“But do you think we’ll run into bears? I’ve heard bears are an issue out here.”
We get out of the car, and she looks around hurriedly as if a bear is going to run out of the woods straight for her. She is so cute.
“I think we’ll be okay.”
We go to the main cabin to check in and are greeted by a woman with honey-brown skin and blue curly hair. A goldendoodle perks its ears up from its bed and a white and brown cat looks unbothered from atop the desk.
“Welcome, welcome. How can I help you?”
We tell her our names, and she claps excitedly. “Oh, thank God. I was starting to think you guys were mythical creatures.”
“I do think I was a mermaid in a past life, but what do you mean?” Dani questions.
“Oh, I like you. The gentleman who called to book your cabin didn’t have firm dates, so they booked it for a few weeks.”
Did Victor book the cabin right before Tanya died? Jesus.
“Shit,” Dani curses under her breath. A moment later she plasters on a happy face. “Sorry to disappoint; we are real people.”
The woman waves her off. “Eh, it’s fine, I’ll meet my dragon one day. So, welcome to Black Creek Pines, soon to be your favorite cabin in Ouray. I’m Yara Andrews. I’m the manager.” The cat lifts its head to hiss then goes back to sleep. “Along with my co-managers, GingersnapJosephine.” She gestures to the cat. “And Jellybean Theodora.” She waves down to the goldendoodle, who has now decided it’s time to greet us. She stretches off her bed and cozies up to Dani first, then me before coming back with a toy and pushing it into Dani’s hand. “Throw that thing at your own risk. She could play fetch for hours.”
Dani shrugs. “I’m easy.” She walks back outside with Jellybean and starts throwing the toy repeatedly.
“Just so you know, we also call Jellybean Mrs. Steal Your Girl, but it’s never happened that fast.”
“Oh, I’m not worried.” I’ve waited this long for Dani, I can definitely outlast a dog.
“Says a doomed man.” Yara goes through the process of checking us in and informing me of everything there is to know about the cabin, including the possibility of snow today, but they’re not expecting much. She suggests we either head back to town to get groceries just in case or provide her a list so she can do it.
