“It’s so beautiful,” Evie said as he helped her down from the high cab.
“It’s not too bad,” Zach replied with a smile. “We’re on Serrano land. The Spanish came, and then Black people and Chinese people came, then the Mormons showed up. My grandparents bought the place from a Mormon family. Eli Smith. My great-grandfather used to work for him.”
“I wish I remembered growing up here.”
“We had a good time. Speaking of.” Evie watched as Zach reached into the back seat and pulled his wool-lined jacket on over his blazer. He knew how sexy he looked so Evie resisted the urge to tell him, but maybe she could snap a picture on her phone, for the sake of new memories, of course.
“We don’t have to go into the kitchen, but Britnay Lim is our head chef and her girlfriend, Delfi Hernandez, is our guest services manager. I think they’re both still here right now. They were like your best friends in high school. I know they’d love to see you.”
“Oh.” It had crossed her mind, but she hadn’t given a ton of thought to what might happen if she ran into old friends, mostly because she thought she’d be confined to the high fences of Pleasant Lane during her extended stay. As she thought about it though, it might be nice to meet some new people. If they were cool with retrograde amnesia.
“Do you want to see them?”
“Do they know?” Evie’s hand absently rose to her bandage. “About all of this.”
“Well, Britnay checks your Instagram, so she knows you had an accident, but they don’t know about the memory loss.”
Nicole was trying to keep her condition under wraps, so maybe they didn’t have to know. “How long has it been since I’ve seen them?”
“Ten years, I think. They were at Nana Buck’s funeral, but you maybe have talked to them since.”
“If your friend just got out of the hospital you wouldn’t press them for details, right?”
“Nah, not at all. What are you thinking?”
“That maybe we go in and say hello and we don’t have to tell them.”
“Not a bad idea. Britnay is half Chinese and Delfi’s Latina. That should help you tell them apart.”
“Okay, got it. Britnay, chef. Delfi, guest services. Got it.”
“We’ll go in and say hi and then I’ll introduce you to the most important person in my life.”
“Who?”
“My horse.”
“Wait—”
“Come on, Euca.” Zach let out two short whistles and sure enough the large brown-and-white dog jumped out of the back of the truck, trotting after them as Zach took Evie’s hand and led her around the front of the building. As they came around the corner, Evie spotted a sign welcoming guests to Big Rock Lodge. Just beyond that was a sign pointing toward the Sunrise Spa and another pointing in the direction of the Mercantile.
Zach opened one side of the massive double doors that led into the building and ushered Evie inside with a hand on the small of her back. Euca skipped right inside with them. There was a lot to take in in the large foyer. A fireplace, taller than Evie, stood along the far wall, surrounded by large leather chairs. Evie’s eyes were drawn up to the elaborate profile of the mountain carved into the stone above the mantel. Beautiful golden light came from large globed fixtures that hung from the high ceiling every few yards. Zach stood with her while she took it all in. The space was somehow expansive, yet cozy.
“What do you think?” he asked.
“It’s beautiful. Jesse told me about it, but he was giving me stats about square footage and how many employees the grounds required.” She turned and found herself smiling up at Zach. “How many tons of food the animals eat each year. But he didn’t say anything about all of this.”
“And this is just the lobby.”
“I saw pictures of the lobby, but still.”
“Come on.” They walked over to the reception desk, where a young woman with light brown skin and shiny black hair pulled back in a tight bun stood behind a computer monitor. She was wearing a well-tailored blue, white, and green plaid button-down top. She greeted them before Evie got close enough to read her name tag.
“Good evening, Mr. Pleasant. Miss.”
“Iris, this is Yvonne. She’s a good friend of our family.”
“Lovely to meet you, Yvonne. Welcome to Big Rock Ranch.”
