Page 5 of #Resort Romance
His laugh was low. “I guess that’s my cue to leave, huh?”
All she could do was nod.
“I’ll see you later, Kelse.”
“See you later, Jayce.” Without watching him go, she quickly turned and opened the cabin door before grabbing her suitcase and dragging it inside. Closing the door behind her, she locked it. The cabin smelled like it was freshly cleaned, but as she looked around, she saw there was a lot of wear and tear. The furniture was old and faded, the carpet was worn, and it looked exactly like it did the last time she was here.
She let out a long sigh as she dragged the suitcase to the main bedroom. Laying it on the floor, she unzipped it before taking a few minutes to walk around. This cabin was a one bedroom with a loft. When she was younger, her parents always took the bedroom and she used to love having the loft to herself. It wasn’t overly large, but it had always felt like the coolest little hideaway. Walking over to the stairs—which were really just a chunky ladder—she considered climbing up and checking it out.
“Maybe later.”
The living room was just as cozy as she remembered, the kitchen was tiny but efficient, and the bathroom was almost comically small—not that it used to matter. People came up to Lakeview Harbor Resort because they loved the outdoors. The cabins were merely a place to sleep. There were no TVs, and from what she learned when she checked in, there was no Wi-Fi either. For the next ten days, she was going to be almost completely off the grid and unplugged.
“And it feels weird already,” she murmured, wandering back to the bedroom.
Staring down at the suitcase, she crouched down and finished opening it, pulling out the large, carefully-wrapped urn. Carrying it out to the living room, she placed it on the coffee table before sitting down.
Here we go…
“Well, Mom…we’re here,” she whispered. “But it’s only day one, so…I need some time. I’m not ready yet. For now…you’re stuck hanging out with me here in our favorite cabin.” Tears rolled down her face. This had been her mother’s last request—to have her ashes scattered at the one place their family had made the most memories. At the time, Kelsey had agreed without hesitation, but now? Now her heart was breaking all over again because this meant she had to let her mother go for a second time.
What she wouldn’t give to have her mother there—healthy and alive—so they could talk about all the things they were going to do. That was always their tradition on the first day. They’d talk about what activities they were most excited about and all the people they were looking forward to seeing. The resort had a lot of returning guests and they’d all become friends. As Kelsey had gotten older and started having feelings for Jayce, she and her mom would talk about it.
“Can you believe he’s here, Mom? What are the odds?”
Of course there was no answer, but in her heart and in her mind, she had to wonder if maybe her mom had a little something to do with it.
Chapter Two
It was hard to focus on celebrating with his family when he knew that Kelsey was just twenty feet away.
His parents and grandparents were thrilled to see him because ever since his move to North Carolina, his visits were typically only two to three times a year. Knowing the visit would last ten days was causing a lot of excitement—which was weird to him because he didn’t feel like it was that big of a deal.
They had all of his favorite snacks waiting for him in the cabin and a champagne toast at the start of the vacation; they also took what felt like a hundred pictures. It was such a blessing to have this time with everyone and he knew this was where his attention needed to be, no matter what.
“Should we invite Kelsey and her mom to dinner?” his mother asked. “Do you think they already have plans?”
Jayce didn’t want to seem too eager, so he shrugged. “Maybe we can plan that for tomorrow. We don’t want to intrude on their trip. Kelsey mentioned this trip was for her mom’s birthday, but she didn’t say what day it actually was.”
“They were always such a nice family,” his grandmother chimed in. “It was a terrible thing when her parents divorced.”
He remembered the summer after it happened. Kelsey was devastated, but her mother had insisted that they stick to their annual vacation plans. That was the summer they were twelve and she spent a lot of time being sad, and he spent a lot of time doing goofy things to try to cheer her up.
“People get divorced all the time,” he reasoned. “And it seemed like they moved on and were okay after a little while.” The following summer had been a complete one-eighty. Kelsey had returned looking like the girl he always knew, but suddenly he took notice of her as more than a friend. He’d been completely smitten and did everything he could to spend as much time with her as possible. After going home to Long Island—which was six hours away from Rochester—they would text and call each other all the time. They liked to say they were dating, but he knew she still went out with other boys and he dated other girls. But the summers were theirs.
“It’s weird because we didn’t see anyone go into the cabin before Kelsey got here,” his mother told him. “I saw housekeeping come out, but nobody else went in.”
“Mom, you know it’s possible that she went in while no one was looking, right? You weren’t standing out on the porch with no distractions,” Jayce said with a laugh.
“Maybe.”
“Okay, so what are our plans for the rest of the day? Where are we having dinner—here at the lodge, or are we going into town?”
“Oh, we have to eat dinner at the lodge,” his grandfather said. “That’s tradition! You know that. We always spend the first night having a big dinner up in the main dining room and then we have dessert near the fire.” He sighed happily. “Tradition.”
“So…nothing’s changed here either,” he mumbled.
“What’s that, Jayce? Did you say something?” his father asked.
