by Jeulia Hesse
“I walked.” Kevin retorted, smiling widely at Christina as she looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face.
“Never mind.” Jeremy said, cutting off her question for Kevin. “Let’s go inside, Christina. We have a lot to discuss, since you’re only here for a few days.”
He took her arm. The dog stepped forward toward the pair, but Kevin gently restrained him. “It’s all right boy,” he said, reassuring the animal in a whisper. “I don’t like him either.”
Then Kevin called after the couple, “Be right there.”
Christina turned back to Kevin with a smirk on her face as Jeremy pulled her toward the house. They shared a brief exchange. They both knew he really had no choice but to stay for dinner. It was Maude’s command, and they were all still a bit scared of her. Additionally, Kevin knew that it would annoy Jeremy to no end if he remained present. And so, he would happily stay for dinner.
Chapter 7
Dinner that evening was a curious event, with Gina and Maude glowering at each other over yet another kitchen territory infringement and Jeremy outwardly annoyed at Kevin’s presence at the table. The scowls and frowns simmered over the steaming serving plates and bowls heaped with delicious smelling food.
Christina was starving. Her stomach growled loudly at the sight of the meal and the scents of home cooking. Both Gina and Maude glanced in her direction, hearing her loud stomach. Christina shrugged, taking a seat at the table next to Maude.
“Some things don’t change,” Maude said to the group, “I can hear that rumble without my hearing aids.”
Everyone at the table glanced Christina’s way and she bushed deeply, shrugging her shoulders, while serving herself a hearty portion of potatoes.
“Geez, in all the excitement, I don’t believe we even had lunch. Luckily, Christina didn’t start World War three...” Gina muttered over the table.
Maude guffawed loudly, coughing into her napkin stifling a laugh. “Live dangerously with this one, when it comes to being without food.”
The table erupted in laughter and teasing as they all agreed earnestly with each other’s assessment of Christina’s low blood sugar behaviors. The mood at the table lifted as they exchanged stories of her hunger-driven outbursts. She was used to this kind of loving abuse from friends and shrugged it off, smiling and laughing with the group.
Kevin joined in the ruckus, while Jeremy remained largely silent, glowering across the table. “One time, she was full-on shouting at me. We were hiking somewhere in the white mountains, I think and it was way past breakfast. I was begging her to eat a snack or to take a bite of something, and all the while, she was screaming, ‘I’m not hungry!!’” The table erupted in laughter with head nods and agreement all around.
“Second breakfast!” Maude and Gina shouted in unison, both pointing and laughing at each other as they said the same thing. The ice was visibly cracking between the pair.
It felt good to have the group at the table laughing and talking, even though Christina was the butt of the jokes. Her appetite and thinness had been a source of great comedy all her life. She looked around the table, and even though there were missing faces and new ones – she had missed this easy camaraderie. She looked at Jeremy thoughtfully. He was the only outsider at the table.
She had not expected to see Kevin so soon, and his presence on her first day back left her a bit off kilter. What surprised her even more was her response to him being there, it was not emotionally tumultuous as she would have expected, especially with the way that they had left things between them all those years ago. There had been so much left to say, but she had needed to leave.
She had imagined a brief interaction, sterile and painless, perhaps on the street or in a store. She would have never expected a full-fledged interaction with him sitting at the dinner table as he had so many times before, chatting amiably with his table companions.
He had always had a knack for conversation and could fit right into any situation. Kindness and patience exuded from him. He had been certainly patient with her own challenges over time, always as a friend and then, as more. Her mind drifted as she gazed at him across the table.
“Can we talk this evening, Christina?” Jeremy asked, trying to get her attention by leaning over the table in her direction. He attempted to raise his voice over the lively conversation.
She nodded her reply, her mouth full of food. She had much to discuss with Jeremy, who was overly eager to meet with her. There was so much information she needed to make some serious decisions.
Jim and Kevin spoke loudly as they exchanged local information, drowning out Jeremy’s further attempt for conversation. “How’s the trail holding up with all the rain?” Jim asked, reaching for the basket of biscuits. He enthusiastically piled up his plate with the abundant food on the table.
“Wet in spots and slippery,” Kevin replied, copying Jim’s enthusiasm for the meal. He piled his plate full of food. “Hope it clears up a bit for the solstice, or it’ll turn into a mess with all the increased traffic.”
Maude reached in front of Jeremy to hand Kevin a heaping serving bowl of mashed potatoes. “Here boy,” she smiled at him, “You must be starved.”
Jim enthusiastically agreed with her. “He must be. You know, Kevin, I saw your dad today when I was in town. He’s lookin’ pretty good. Said he feels stronger every day. He asked if I’d seen you lately.”
Kevin nodded; his mouth full of food. He caught Christina’s concerned look when Jim mentioned his father and swallowed, stating, “Cancer. He’s fine now and is in full remission. It knocked his socks off over the winter though.”
“So sorry to hear that,” Christina answered softly. “I always liked your Dad. Tell him I was asking for him the next time you see him.”
“As I was saying, Christina, there has been some interest in the property...” Jeremy continued, trying to get Christina’s attention.
She nodded to him and assured him that they would talk after dinner. He remained eager to jump into the conversation, and she started to get irritated with his persistence.
“There’s pie for dessert, and I’ll make you up a doggie bag,” Maude interrupted, talking over Jeremy with her deep booming voice. “You need calories with all that walking.”
“Hold on,” Gina piped in, shaking her head in disbelief. “You said you walked here?”
Kevin laughed. “That’s right. I hiked.”
“I’ve been living in the city too long,” Gina said, smiling with him.
“I have one of those summer jobs that you’d think would be really cool when you are younger. You know, just getting to spend your days and nights in the woods, with no people around. And you get paid for doing it!” Kevin continued hungrily eating whatever was in his reach.
In between bites, he was able to answer further questions. “I generally pick up trash or help hikers who are lost or get hurt. Sometimes I do repairs that I can handle on my own or I work with the forest service or the rangers.”
“Do you camp out all of the time?” Gina asked, intrigued by his story.
“Yeah – that was my question too. I thought you went into teaching,” said Christina.
Kevin laughed loudly, obviously enjoying the attention from the women. Jeremy shifted in his chair, evidently displeased with the turn of the conversation away from Christina’s inheritance. “Yup. I teach Biology. I do most of my trail work when school is out. The trail doesn’t get busy until late spring or so. It works out all right.”
“I suppose it helps to pay the bills.” Jeremy offered into the conversation, smiling snidely at Kevin. “Life can’t be easy on a teacher’s salary.”
Kevin smiled widely at Jeremy, refilling his plate once again. Reaching past Jeremy while purposely flexing his biceps, he said, “I do all right. At least it’s honest work, that’s more than some can say.”
The pair stared at each other across the table. Their differences were stark. Kevin was the gorgeous, tanned, and fit outdoorsman
and Jeremy was the pale, bespectacled, yet somehow handsome lawyer across the table from him. The tension in the room began to build.
“Heard there’s been some trouble up there,” Jim supplied, seemingly oblivious to the exchange between the two men.
“Yeah,” Kevin answered, the tension magically broken. “There always seems to be more traffic on the trail after a book or movie comes out.”
The locals and Christina all nodded their heads in agreement, resuming their meals. Gina looked around the table. “A book or a movie about what?”
Jim reached out and patted her hand. It was obvious that he had taken a shine to this exotic beauty. “Oh, there are some old tales around here. One’s an old Indian story that the mountains here are sacred ground. If the mountain’s spirit didn’t want you there, it would swallow you up. Its why the natives didn’t live on the mountains at all.”
“Too damn cold and windy,” Maude mumbled. “They were probably the smart ones.”
Jeremy eagerly jumped into the conversation, anxious to get back the floor. “They call it the Bennington Triangle from here to the other side of the mountain. Hunters and other people have gone missing over the years. People walk into the woods and don’t come out.” He looked fervently at the two women, hoping to have sparked further interest and attention.
Gina, instead, was intent on watching Christina’s response to Jeremy’s words. Christina had stopped eating and placed her utensils on the table with her focus downward. She rose slowly from the table, collecting a few plates along with her own before she went into the kitchen. Noting her exit, Kevin followed her, bringing his empty plate with him.
He paused shortly next to Maude. “Let me get that pie for you.”
“All right then, and also bring out the ice cream.” Maude smiled. “But you can leave those plates. I’ll take care of them later.”
Christina stood in the kitchen, gazing out of the window not focusing on anything. She felt suddenly tired. She’d feared that the weight of being back here would cloud their visit, and it appeared to have been triggered by Jeremy’s words. “They call it the Bennington Triangle. People go into the woods, and they don’t come out.”
Annie had disappeared in a comparable manner. And Christina remembered how some people in town chose that theory to explain what had happened to her.
Kevin quietly entered the kitchen, carefully placing the dishes on the kitchen counter and interrupting her thoughts. She turned and looked at him. He reached out a hand and lightly touched her fingers with his, loosely taking her hand. “They don’t realize how saying those things might hurt you,” he whispered gently.
She turned her face up to his, her eyes cloudy with unshed tears. For a moment, they stood hand in hand, gazing into each other’s eyes. The years fell away, and she felt like no time had passed. She was back in the kitchen of her aunt’s home after all, gazing into Kevin’s eyes as she had done many times before. She could feel his breath on her face. His lips were full and close to hers. Her eyes fell to that mouth, and she imagined it pressed against hers. She leaned towards him.
The kitchen door banged open and Maude entered, her broad arms full of dirty plates and dishes. “Thought we lost you,” she said, addressing Christina. Then she turned to Kevin, demanding, “Find the pie?”
He gave Christina’s fingers a quick squeeze and let them go, returning to the business of pie. Christina exited the kitchen, her mood now subdued. Emotions swirled in her gut. Loss and longing were battling in her psyche. She felt a headache begin to rise from deep in the base of her neck. There was business to take care of, so she opted to focus on that. It felt like one of the few things she could control.
“Jeremy, let’s go into the parlor so we can talk,” she said tartly in front of the group at the table.
Kevin entered the dining room with pie, plates, and ice cream, and Maude tailing behind. The group all admired the pie. Maude served the remaining group at the table, supplying Gina with a heaping plate and ignoring her objections.
Jeremy retrieved his computer from the lobby entrance and eagerly joined Christina in the front room of the inn. She was sitting on the deep couch surrounded by antiques. He sat so close to her that their legs touched, claiming that it was the best way for both of them to easily view his computer screen.
Jeremy enthusiastically filled Christina in on the details of the inn, going over a presentation he had created about the inn and its surrounding property. It was professionally completed with photos and maps of the area. The overview surprised and irritated Christina, as it felt over-the-top. She wasn’t expecting a formal PowerPoint presentation on the inn. She simply wanted to take control of the accounts and review the operations.
“Thanks for putting this together, Jeremy. It looks like a lot of work went into this presentation. I really only wanted to get into the records and accounts.” She chose her words carefully, sensing that Jeremy would not respond well to her criticism. “With my background and experience working in the field with multi-million-dollar hotels, I feel pretty prepared on my own.”
At the revelation of her capability to simply take over, he became agitated. “Yes, but while you’ve been so busy with your multimillion-dollar projects, I have been overseeing the operations here. That’s what Ada asked me to do if she was ever not able to manage on her own.” He abruptly snapped his laptop shut, shoving it into his briefcase.
“That PowerPoint looks like a sales pitch. That’s all I am saying. I would prefer to get into the overall expenses to get a feel for where we are financially.”
He looked at her incredulously. “I assumed I would still oversee the operations here, just like I did for Ada. I had planned to show you the potentials for the property. There are some opportunities for development....”
This was not the reaction that she was expecting. How could he think that he would still be overseeing the operations? She was now the owner and would therefore be the main decision maker.
“Jeremy, thank you for all that you have done. Please don’t think that I am not grateful for taking care of things for my aunt when I was... not available,” she said, raking her hands through her hair. “It’s been a long day and I am a bit more tired than I expected. If you could just let me have access into the books, that would be really helpful. I’m assuming there is some sort of software that you’ve been using. I can hop in and find my way. All I’ve been able to work with so far are some older books from when the inn was fully functioning. I’ve been projecting out a business plan for operating based on those numbers.”
He was taken aback. “You aren’t thinking of operating, are you?”
She wasn’t sure if it was his tone of voice or the vibe she was getting from him, but it seemed as though he felt confident that he knew better than she. She has dealt with that kind of attitude throughout her whole career, and she wasn’t about to put up with it when she was finally the one in charge. Her blood vessels constricted in her temples and her head started to pound. She could feel an old familiar headache rising as she tamped down her response to a civil tone. Be nice, she said to herself. He did help Ada when she needed him to.
“I need to make some decisions, obviously,” she said through gritted teeth. “I need to work through all the details. If you would just let me have access, then we can talk further about your ideas. I’d like to do my own analysis before we collaborate.”
She rose from the couch. He reluctantly followed her lead, standing and gathering his things. “I’ll email you the access in the morning. I went through and automated all the books. Ada had handwritten ledgers and manual accounts. They were quite a mess, actually.”
She recalled the cluttered small office just behind the lobby and made herself a mental note to go through it.
Jeremy prattled on in his irritated tone. “I’ll stop by tomorrow with a history of everything I have. I think you will find what you are looking for in Ada’s office, but seriously, Christina, don’t expect much. She wasn’t very co
nsistent with her books.”
Christina led Jeremy to the door, seeing him out. She sensed that he had expected a later evening and more in-depth conversation. He leaned down to kiss her cheek. They were both surprised to hear a low growl on the front step. The new dog had made himself at home and was watching Jeremy carefully.
“There you are,” Christina said to the dog. She opened the door to let him in. “Come in and sit.
Surprising them both, the dog entered and sat at Christina’s feet, panting, and looking up at her. She laughed, at least one man would do as she wished.
Jeremy left in his Lexus, pulling out of the driveway so fast that he sprayed loose gravel everywhere. She knew he was perturbed at her response to his planned discussion. She shut the heavy front door and turned the lock. It had been a long day and she was tired.
Voices and laughter emerged from the dining room. It sounded as if Kevin was still entertaining the group.
She looked down at her feet where the dog still sat expectantly, waiting for her direction. She smiled at the animal’s eager expression. “Ok, come on. Let’s find something for you to eat.”
The dog bounded up, following her civilly into the dining area. There, he joined her friends, as if he had been doing it his whole life. On her way to the dining room, she passed the door to Ada’s tiny office. The door was closed, but she tried the knob. It was locked. She would need to follow up with Jim in the morning to ask for keys to the room.
She felt a twinge in her gut that something had been off during her discussion with Jeremy. It was indiscernible, but it still made her uneasy. Maybe she was only tired and overreacting. Jeremy had other plans for the inn and the rest of the property, and he had expected Christina to easily agree to them. He had certainly kept things up, because everything appeared to be in great shape; but he had apparently also been using the property for private guests and had garnered interest from real estate developers.