Page 76 of The Lodge

“Well, I’m not amonster,” River says with perfect comedic inflection.

“What he means,” Julie cuts in, “is that he knew he’d be stuck at the conference for a week with these people, and he could either fight it or give in.”

“I gave in,” he says, sighing. “I learned a long time ago that it can take more energy to resist.”

“So, what—the travel conference was, like, a front for some sort of fandom event?” I ask.

“Worse,” he says. “Some True North subgroups had posted about the event, and apparently a fewhundredside-hustle types suddenly decided they wanted to work in the hospitality industry.”

“That’s commitment right there,” says Julie, topping off my wine.

“That’sconcerning,” Tyler adds without missing a beat. “Wasn’t that event sold out months in advance?”

“It was, until the fandom took to the internet and offered triple—or more—what people had originally paid for their tickets.” River shakes his head. “The things people will do to meet someone famous—I’ll never understand it.”

“Same,” I say, a little too emphatically, before remembering that half the people present in this room are celebrities. “No offense.”

Tyler takes my hand in his, right there on the table for everyone to see. “I’d feel the same way if I were you,” he says, eyes gentle but intense.

“This is the weirdest coincidence,” Tyler goes on, leaning in toward Julie and River, “but Alix is an entertainment writer, and she interviewed me one time—before. I was an utter jackass to her. It’s a miracle she hasn’t held it against me.”

River looks completely unfazed by this information—no surprise there. I’m pretty sure it’s news to Julie, though.

“If it makes you feel any better, Alix,” she says, swatting Tyler with her cloth napkin, “he was a jackass to everyone back then.”

“Not everyone—”

“Everyone,” Julie and River say simultaneously, cutting Tyler off.

“I was in a bad place,” Tyler says. “At least these two knew me before.”

“Yeah,” River says. “The band turned him into someone else.”

Tyler takes a sip of his whiskey. “It wasn’t the band. It wasJason. Jason and Seb.”

I glance at River, trying to gauge his reaction, but he deftly averts his eyes.

“Is that why you helped Tyler disappear?” I ask, then take a sip of wine.

All at once, their collective attention snaps to me. They obviously know I’m in on the secret—so why does it feel like I’ve crossed a line?

And then I realize: This is the very first time anyone has ever asked about what they did, let alonewhythey did it. It’s new territory for all of them.

“Neither of us wanted to see it get any worse,” Julie says solemnly. She takes a long sip from her tumbler of iced water as if to wash the memory down.

A thick silence falls over them. The longer it goes on, the more I want to break it—wantanyoneto break it.

Eventually, Tyler clears his throat. “They saved me,” he finally says. “I’m in a much better place now.”

Julie and River exchange a glance.

I catch it, but Tyler doesn’t. He’s looking at me.

“Well!” Julie suddenly says, a little too brightly, clapping her hands together. “Who wants dessert?”

She serves us each a generous slice of flourless chocolate cake, spooning warm raspberry compote on top. We migrate to the sitting room, where we eat and talk and laugh for the next two hours, never again circling back to Tyler’s past. It’s breezy and fun and all too easy to pretend the four of us are just on vacation at a gorgeous resort, no deadlines or secrets or unresolved tension between us.

At the end of the night, Julie wraps me in a tight embrace. Despite her birdlike frame, she’s a strong hugger.

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