Page 47 of Just For Her

Crap, I’m getting old.She promised to not let nostalgia cloud her vision as she and Kayla drove up to the family vacation home along the banks of the Columbia. Even if Kayla squealed to see the sloping eaves and the wrap-around porch that had hosted gossip over the decades.

Nothing like coming home.Tove killed the engine. She was already blind to the worst of what lay ahead.

Kayla had seen a few pictures of this property on Tove’s walls, but she was not prepared for the humble grandeur the Fredriksson clan collectively called theirs. From the outside, it was a stately Georgian revival built in the ‘70s at the architectural whim of the former matriarch, Aunt Kiersten’s grandmother (and, presumably, Tove’s great-grandmother.) The grounds were green with wildflowers and clover; the trees native and boastful; a breeze rustled the leaves above Kayla’s head. Yet nothing prepared her for the sweet sounds of the river lazily sauntering down its path.

While Tove unloaded her car, Kayla wandered around the side of the house and peered at the private dock jutting into the river. There was a good hillside’s worth of distance between the small backyard and the riverbank that Kayla wouldn’t traverse today, but she wrapped her sweater around her torso and took multiple pictures of the river at twilight. Her stomach rumbled for dinner, but she didn’t care.

“Front door’s unlocked,” Tove called behind Kayla. “Mind helping with the bags?”

Kayla grabbed her rolling suitcase and purse. The steps leading up to the porch had been retrofitted with an ADA-compliant ramp as more family members required wheelchairs and canes over the years. A slightly musty, mostly perfumed scent flowed from within the house the moment Kayla stepped inside and beheld what Fredriksson money had bought – and renovated over the decades.

Honestly, Tove could have announced this was the house she grew up in, and Kayla would easily believe that.This is a vacation home? For real?She understood that it was built as the retirement home for old Grandma Fredriksson and was transitioned to a family vacation home after her death, but still!This is so unreal.Parts of the house were still in their original ‘70s or ‘80s forms, but most of what mattered, such as the galley kitchen and carpeting (now floorboards or tasteful laminate) were renovated in more recent years. The front hallway as well as the L-shaped stairway was bedecked with photographs from decades past, but there was no time for dawdling. Kayla was expected in the kitchen, where her girlfriend unloaded some of the provisions they brought up with them from Bend.

“Ew. How old is this?” Tove inspected some of the condiments left behind in the double-door fridge. After espousing such a face that almost made Kayla laugh, Tove opened a cupboard and tossed the suspicious ranch dressing into a trash can. “Don’t let me forget to empty this before we leave. Aunt Kiersten is such a stickler about everything being exactly the way it was when you arrived. I’ll never hear the end of it if I forget food in the trash.”

“Is she coming by sometime?”

“Not that I know of!” Tove exclaimed with a start.

Kayla made herself at home in the living room with vaulted ceilings and a remarkably clean skylight.How much does it cost to maintain this place?Tove had said something about a fund everyone contributed to every year, and that she oversaw many of the financials that entitled her to use the house when it wasn’t otherwise busy, but Kayla still couldn’t fathom it. This house came straight out of a ‘90s children’s movie.The McCallisters lived in this place! I bet!That was Kayla’s biggest frame of reference for wealth.Home Alone!

Some of the furniture was a bit dated, but comfortable. The big wood fireplace was now a remodeled gas stove. Old, cracking books that family members no longer wanted but were too lazy to donate lined the built-ins. Photographs in their original frames covered random walls: some were barely still colored, depicting youths in bellbottoms and adults in striped shirts; others were deliciously ‘80s with big, voluminous hair, and bright Memphis clothes. The more digital the photos, the fewer people there were in them. It took Kayla a few minutes to find one with a recognizable Tove standing behind a few children staring at their cell phones.

Flip phones, no less…

“Enjoying your self-guided tour?”

Kayla pried herself away from the photo wall. “You must be in more photos than this. Who are these kids?”

Tove didn’t have to look to know which photos Kayla pointed to. “Those are Nils’s kids. That’s the only reason I’m in that one. I was giving them free financial advice, and you can see how much they loved it.”

“Is the oldest boy the one probably getting married?”

“Elias? Seems like it. We’re not supposed to talk about it though.”

“Why not? Doesn’t everyone know? Even I know.”

“Yes, but my aunt wants to make the big announcement at the family reunion in a couple of months.” Tove glanced around the spacious living room, with its sunken floor and lofted ceilings. “Right here in this room, probably. Or out in the yard, if it’s nice enough for a barbecue. All the big family announcements happen at Christmas or the summer reunion.”

“Did you ever get a big announcement at one?”

Tove looked as if that were a ridiculous question. “Why don’t I give you a real tour? I’ll show you where we’re sleeping.”

Since they were the only ones there for the rest of the week, Tove had picked the choicest bedroom for them to share. When Kayla asked if it had been the old matriarch’s bedroom, Tove answered with a gesture to a hidden closet, an impressive balcony overlooking Hood River, and an acceptable watercolor on the wall.

“So, that’s a yes?”

Kayla sprawled out on the bed with its quilted top, kicking her bare feet up behind her while Tove unearthed something she had packed away in a reusable shopping bag. The bag said Fred Meyer, but Kayla doubted the sealed sheets and pillowcases came from Freddy’s.

“What’s that?”

“First rule of staying at my family’s vacation home.” Tove dumped the contents of the bags next to Kayla, who pulled away from the black sheets and dark gray comforter. “Never sleep in someone else’s gunk. You never know when these were last washed.”

“Oh, ew.”

“Yup.Ew.My cousin Oskar – you remember him? – comes up here all the time with whatever woman he’s currently dating. They always stay in this room so he can show off.” Tove pulled back the covers and inspected the white sheets left behind by the last person to make the bed. “There’s a strict rule that you have to run whatever you use through the washer and dryer, but trust me, most don’t if they’re by themselves.”

“So you bring your own sheets?”

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