The Lodge at Whispering Pines

by Melissa R. L. Simonin

  The delicious smell of coffee that greeted us as we crossed the threshold, was almost overwhelming. I thought I was happy before, but I was about to be even happier! Miles placed our orders. When they were ready, we carried our drinks to one of the more secluded tables. Moments later, the Lodge’s former owner walked through the door and joined us. He was a tall thin man with thin lips and thinning brown hair, and he looked nervous. It was probably just as well he didn’t order a drink. The way his eyes darted around and his hands shook, I’d say his nerves were thin too. Add caffeine to that mix and they might just snap.

  “Relax, Ron,” said Miles, as he stood and shook hands with him, then motioned for him to have a seat across from us. “All we want is to know everything you can tell us about Elizabeth, and we’ll be done here.”

  “Well I don’t know what I can tell you,” Ron said, his thin voice shaking as he nervously twisted a paper napkin that lay on the table in front of him.

  “Who did you name the restaurant after?” I asked.

  “I didn’t name it after anyone. It was old-fashioned, and… I chose the name off of a list I found online.”

  I frowned. He was telling the truth. I squeezed Miles’ hand once.

  “Okay,” said Miles. “Is the story of Elizabeth that you perpetuated entirely false, or is there a factual basis for it?”

  “I made it up,” he said.

  I squeezed Miles’ hand again. But how could he be telling the truth, when Elizabeth said otherwise?

  I was feeling a little nervous. Had I lost my ability, since this morning? I quickly opened up to the conversations going on around us, and was reassured. My ability still worked. And what a lot of dishonest people there were here today! I honed back in on Ron.

  “Has Elizabeth spoken to you directly?” I asked.

  “No,” he said. “Not a word.”

  “Yet you have encountered her,” said Miles. “You were unnerved enough to abandon a successful business.”

  “She appeared in my room around midnight. But then she vanished.”

  After he screamed like a girl, but I’d tell Miles that later. It wasn’t relevant to our fact-finding mission.

  “Is there anything else that you can tell us about Elizabeth? Do you know anything else at all?” I asked.

  He thought.

  “No, nothing.”

  I squeezed Miles’ hand once. Ron was telling the truth.

  Miles looked at me, he was having a hard time believing it.

  “He’s telling the truth,” I dared to say.

  “Okay honey,” Miles said slowly, then turned back to Ron. “Thank you for meeting with us. That’s all we wanted to know.”

  We stood and he and Miles shook hands again, then we left. Ron stayed and ordered a drink. He looked a lot less nervous now.

  “How is that possible?” asked Miles, as he pulled out of our parking space and back onto the road. “How can they both be telling the truth?”

  “They can’t,” I said. “I know that he was, though. My ability is working, I tested it on the other coffee shop patrons.”

  “Then… perhaps it doesn’t work on Elizabeth?”

  “Maybe not,” I said. “Why, though?”

  We both puzzled over that as Miles navigated the heavy traffic on our way back out of town, and up the mountain to our Lodge.

  “She isn’t physical… perhaps that’s it,” he said. “I don’t know why that would be, but… maybe.”

  “Yeah. My ability doesn’t work over the phone, so that would make sense in a way. I guess it doesn’t really matter why though, what matters is that it doesn’t work on her.”

  “Are you sure it worked on Ron? If he only seemed to be telling the truth…”

  “He wasn’t telling the whole truth. Elizabeth didn’t just vanish. He screamed like a girl first. So I know it worked on him.”

  “Okay,” Miles said, laughing a little. “I kind of feel sorry for him, he doesn’t look like he has very strong nerves.”

  “No, he doesn’t,” I said. “He looked relieved to know we aren’t upset with him, though.”

  “Yeah. Can you imagine anyone else ending up with a Lodge, and Elizabeth too?”

  “Not the free-with-purchase item that you expect when purchasing… well, anything!”

  Miles laughed at that.

  “You know we have to scrap everything we thought we knew about her. Everything she told us, anyway.”

  “So we’ve no idea when she was born, why she’s there, and… is her name even Elizabeth?”

  “Good point. She’s so confused, she may have latched onto it because it’s written on the doors of the restaurant.”

  “I wonder when we’ll see her again,” I said. “I wonder what good it’ll do when we do?”

  “No idea, but we’ll get this figured out,” said Miles. He squeezed my hand, and I laughed. “What?”

  “Are you telling the truth? Because you squeezed my hand.”

  “Oh. Well, I was just trying to be reassuring.”

  “You are,” I smiled. “Always.”

  ~*~

  The restaurant was dimly lit. All of the chairs, save for those in the private dining room we were in, were stacked on top of the tables while one of Molly’s girls vacuumed the floor in preparation for the dinner crowd. Through the open doorway I saw one of our employees following along behind her, placing the chairs back on the floor and scooting them under the tables. Two others covered the bare tabletops with clean, heavy white tablecloths, crystal, silverware, napkins, and flower and candle centerpieces.

  The vacuum grew louder as it drew nearer to our room, so Miles glanced at the door and it closed.

  “It was the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen in my life!” Xander said enthusiastically.

  “I can’t believe you thought that was cool,” said John, more disturbed than excited. Annette rubbed his back soothingly.

  “Well it was. It was way cool, I wouldn’t mind seeing something like that again!”

  “Xander!” said Jenny, in an unaccustomedly shrill voice.

  “Sorry, honey,” he said, repentant. She still looked at him like she couldn’t believe what she was seeing, or hearing. “I didn’t really mean that.”

  Xander looked at me and I raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything. I did squeeze Miles’ hand twice.

  “Okay, I know spiritual stuff can be dangerous, and I don’t want that,” he said. Now he was telling the truth. “But that’s not what this is, and it was cool. Like I was in a horror flick! Those eyes… You like those movies as much as I do, you know you do.”

  “Yes, but there’s an awfully big difference between reality and fantasy!” she exclaimed.

  “I know,” he said, setting aside his excitement at being alerted to Elizabeth’s presence in the office where he and John were working, when John screamed. “I know. I do.”

  “He’s telling the truth,” I said.

  Xander rubbed Jenny’s shoulder, and she let him hug her.

  “I did tell her Miles wanted to talk to her,” said Xander. “I didn’t try talking to her, myself.”

  Jenny nodded.

  “It’s too bad we weren’t here when it happened,” said Miles. “If only we got back to the Lodge a few minutes earlier, we would have been in the office when it did.”

  Annette gave John a one-armed hug.

  “I’m sorry she went into the office while you were there, but I think I would have screamed and alerted the entire Lodge, if she showed up at the check-in counter. Anika, how in the world did you manage not to have a heart attack when you first saw Miles?”

  “Well, when I first saw him I didn’t realize he was semi-transparent. Then when he moved into the light, I just about passed out, but—he was a lot more solid than Elizabeth, and he was just as sane and good looking then, as he is now.”

  “So my good looks distracted you, is that it?” asked Miles, as he rubbed my shoulder. I knew he was smiling.

  “They still do,” I
said, and he laughed.

  “Other than that excitement, how is everyone?” asked Miles, as someone tapped at the door. It opened, and one of Chef’s new assistants brought in a loaded tray.

  “Bless you, kind sir,” I said, as he deftly distributed our plates of food.

  “You’re welcome,” he smiled. He refilled our drinks, and then returned to the kitchen. The door swung shut behind him.

  There was silence for several minutes as everyone focused on eating. I was starving, and everything Chef Antonio prepares is amazing. I was halfway through my plate of food before my energy was replenished enough to focus any of it on talking again, though. It had been a busy day so far.

  “So how is everyone?” I asked. “Everything going okay? Any needs or deficiencies we’re unaware of? You start, Annette.”

  “Very smoothly so far. There isn’t anything we haven’t been able to handle, and there’ve been no complaints. We’re lucky it’s the middle of the week, and right after the holidays. There aren’t more guests coming and going than we’re able to manage.”

  “That is very fortunate,” said Miles. “If we didn’t have all of your help in addition to Chef, Molly and her girls, and the employees we’ve transferred over from some of our other local businesses, we’d be struggling in spite of it.”

  “Thank goodness we have all of those local businesses to borrow from,” I said. “Thank goodness we remembered!”

  “So how about you, John?” asked Miles. “Anything I need to sign off on?”

  “Not yet, I’m still in the process of implementing the changes we discussed earlier. I’ve secured the system for the time being, I’m sure you’ll be glad to know.”

  “Thanks John, I am glad to know that. I was surprised to see how outdated everything was in that regard. Ron must have tried to do everything himself.”

  “Perhaps to save money,” I said. “He didn’t seem to want to put anything back into the Lodge.”

  “It would have cost him a lot in the long run, leaving himself open like that,” John said. “Imagine what it would do for business if people’s credit card numbers and personal information was stolen. I guarantee it would have been, given enough time, and with practically no system security in place.”

  “It’s good to know you’re taking care of that for us so we don’t face that problem ourselves in the future,” said Miles.

  “I’m having a blast doing it,” said John. “I appreciate the opportunity.”

  “How about you, Jenny?” I asked. “How are you doing?”

  Her eyes lit up.

  “I’m having the best time! This is a dream come true. I don’t want it to end.”

  “Good,” I smiled. “I knew you’d be perfect for this.”

  “Do you see any struggles or deficiencies in kitchen staff?” asked Miles. “I haven’t had a chance to talk to Chef Antonio about that yet.”

  “I don’t see any. The few chef assistants who were already here when we arrived, are doing a great job of making the transition smooth for Chef and me, and the new employees you brought in from your other restaurants. It’s going very well.”

  “Great,” smiled Miles. “Xander, I’ll bet you’d like to get started on the fitness center.”

  “Yes! Especially since you don’t need my services as a waiter, now.”

  “Scope out what the Lodge has in the way of meeting rooms and ballrooms. If we can convert an existing space, that would be ideal. We’ll add on to the building if we have to, but that will take longer to accomplish.”

  “You got it,” said Xander.

  We spent the next several minutes eating, mindful that there was work to be done as soon as we were through, and that we wouldn’t be eating dinner until late tonight, after Elizabeth’s closed.

  We talked about our meeting with the Lodge’s former owner, and our friends were as baffled as we were by the inconsistencies in what Ron and Elizabeth had to say.

  “I know he was telling the truth though, which means she was not,” I said.

  “So she was lying?” asked Xander.

  “Not necessarily. She seems so confused, I’m not sure she knows what the truth is,” I said.

  “She grabbed her head when John screamed,” said Xander. “Of course so did I, I can’t believe how loud you were, man!”

  John popped him with his napkin, which made the rest of us laugh.

  “She grabbed her head when I yelled at her too,” I said. “And when she screamed for help. I wonder if she died of a head injury?”

  “Did Miles ever seem affected by the injuries that resulted in his death?” asked Jenny.

  “Not after my death,” said Miles. “I was certainly affected beforehand.”

  I slapped my hand over my mouth. Because that shouldn’t be funny!

  “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this,” said Xander, shaking his head. “I know it’s true, but man. It’s a shock every time you talk about it. I can’t believe how chilled out you are about the whole thing, you even joke about it.”

  “I did have about a century and a half to get used to the reality of it,” said Miles.

  “Well what about you?” Xander directed at me.

  “That’s the way he was when I met him, so… that was just Miles. What I’ve had to get used to is that he’s alive now, and we have a future to look forward to.”

  Miles nodded.

  “Same for me. For about a year, every time I woke up it took me a second to realize that I’m really here, and we’re really together. Now that we’re married though, it’s not bad at all, because I wake up with my arms around you.”

  “It still takes me a few seconds to remember sometimes, when I wake up and you’re out walking the dogs,” I said.

  “I didn’t know that,” Miles said sympathetically. “Do you want me to tell you when we leave from now on? Maybe then that won’t happen.”

  “Yeah, do that,” I said, squeezing his hand.

  “I just can’t even imagine,” said Annette. The way she looked at John and scooted closer to him made me sure she was trying to, though.

  Realizing what we’d been through probably made all of our friends thankful they never experienced any of the various types of separation that Miles and I had. It probably made them appreciate each other more, imagining how it would feel to lose each other and believe it was forever.

  I was feeling a little teary-eyed. I turned to Miles and he hugged me until I got control of my emotions. Then he kissed me before letting me go. No one gave us a hard time.

  I cleared my throat and blotted my eyes with my napkin.

  “It’s strange how she grabs her head like it hurts, or like she’s struggling to come up with the answers to our questions. It’s as if she’s drugged, and her thinking impaired.”

  “She’s extremely confused,” said Miles.

  “Does she seem to have the abilities you do?” Jenny asked Miles.

  “I’m not sure,” said Miles. “She does have some of the abilities that I used to. She can appear and reappear, John and Xander saw that, and it’s how she managed to show up in our suite, also.”

  “I love how you can put up a force field and leave it,” I said. “I’ll be able to sleep tonight, knowing you’ve done that.”

  “It’s not difficult,” said Miles. “I can’t put one up discriminately if I can’t see what I’m doing, but once I have one in place, it remains until I remove it.”

  “Even if you’re miles away,” I said.

  “Man, it’s so cool what you can do,” said Xander. “You’re like a real live Jedi or something.”

  Miles laughed.

  “In the hospital I’d forget and try to use my abilities. I couldn’t then, I’m not sure why. I thought they were gone for good. Anyway, based on that, the nursing staff thought I was a huge Star Wars fan and my attempt to use the ‘force’ was a residual effect of the missing brain injury.”

  “You must have had them so confused,” said Annette.

  “
Yes, I did. There was no scientific explanation for anything that occurred. I began to think they’d never release me, they wanted answers. Grandma Polly wanted to be certain I was fully recovered, but even she was finally satisfied and put her foot down.”

  “Good for her,” I said. “I couldn’t have survived much longer without you.”

  “Don’t say things like that,” said Miles pleadingly. “I’m afraid that’s too close to the truth, and the thought makes me sick.”

  I didn’t tell him I just realized that was the truth. Now I felt sick too. How horrible to think of him returning only to grieve losing me, the way I grieved losing him.

  “Okay. I won’t,” I said, my voice a little rough.

  “Thank you,” Miles replied softly, and he kissed the back of my hand, which he held.

  Time for a change of subject or I’d be more than teary-eyed this time.

  “How about you Annette, how do you like working here?”

  “I’m having a lot of fun,” said Annette, smiling. “This is so much more interesting than taking classes!”

  “Isn’t that the truth!” I said, and paused. “Actually, it is.”

  Everyone laughed.

  “I agree, but I do intend to finish my degree,” said John.

  “I have no idea what I’m going to do,” said Annette. “Maybe by fall I’ll know what I want to major in. Of course we’ll be married by then, so…”

  “Give it time,” said John. “Whatever you decide, I’m okay with it.”

  “Good,” she said, and looked pleased.

  I wasn’t sure what all that was about, but I’d find out at some point.

  “Are you finished?” Miles asked me.

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Feel like taking a walk with me and the dogs? It’s either that, or you stay in the office or our room, surrounded by a force field.”

  “I choose going on a walk with you and the dogs,” I laughed.

  “Good, I was hoping you’d say that,” Miles smiled.

  Chapter 7

  “It looks like it’s going to snow again,” I said, eyeing the clouds that were massed overhead.

  “It probably will, it’s that time of year,” said Miles.