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“Your mom wants to hire her. We need a new employee to oversee the cabins at Rocky Pass Vacation Rentals. Your mom is spread thin between the cabins and campgrounds and managing the realty office,” he says.
I turn the wieners, so they cook evenly, and lower the lid to the grill.
“You think it’s worth hiring and training someone to do the job, only for them to turn around and leave at the end of the summer?” I ask him.
“That’s what I told your mother, but you know how she is when she gets something in her head. She and Leona think that working might get Taeli’s mind off things and help her make new friends while she’s here.”
“Sounds like no matter what we think, it’s a done deal, but I do know from what Leona told me that she ran her husband’s office. So, she’s qualified,” I assure him.
He nods and then slaps my back. “Yep, beautiful and smart,” he repeats my observations, “exactly what our office needs.”
I pile a platter with hot dogs in various states of char before throwing buns on the rack to give them a quick toasting. Mom and Taeli cover the picnic tables with paper cloths and then set out the condiments and bags of potato chips.
Leona shows up with pans of baked beans and mac ’n’ cheese.
Everyone settles around the tables, and the women help the little ones add ketchup to their hot dogs.
I sit at the end of one of the tables with Pop and listen as the roar of the children’s chatter and the laughter from Mom, Leona, and a few of their friends rise in the air and float back down around us.
Pop nods toward the crowd. “This is what it’s all about,” he says.
“Yeah,” I agree.
There’s nothing like eating creek side with good people by the light of the stars on a cool summer evening.
Balsam Ridge might not be as exciting as Nashville or as packed as Gatlinburg, but it has a charm unmatched by any other town. That’s why people always return and why some of us never leave.
