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“Do they think your relationship has something to do with…” Elissa stops short of saying it. It feels like no one wants to mention my abduction. I get that it makes people uncomfortable, but if anyone should be uncomfortable it’s me. I’m not though. If anything, I want to scream it from the rooftops. I want this asshole to know that he didn’t win. The more I talk about it, the more I hope people hear it and he’s found.
“It’s okay, you can say it,” I tell her. “I have nightmares and it has certainly changed my life, but I won. I got away, and he’s going to be caught.”
“It’s a guy?”
“There were two of them, and up until a few days ago, I wasn’t certain they both were men. They caught one of them on a security camera stealing a car at the Peak Valley Resort.”
“What happened?” Elissa now asks. “Rumors are just that, rumors.”
“I was walking to Ethan’s house. It wasn’t late or anything, but it was dark out. You know how we all walk everywhere here.”
“I would never think anything of walking around here at night,” Elissa says, echoing my feelings on the subject.
“I was heading up Ethan’s driveway, and I thought he had come out to meet me. It was this thing he did. He didn’t like me out at night and would walk part way to meet me.”
“Oh my god, that is so sweet,” Elissa croons and I nod, knowing how good I have it with Ethan.
“It wasn’t him meeting me. It was a guy that wasn’t Ethan and then a car pulled up. Next thing I was hit in the head by someone coming up behind me.”
I try to tell it like it’s a story I’m telling rather than something I lived, keeping my emotions out of it. I pause, thinking about it all, trying not to let it overwhelm me, but I can see it as vividly as the day it happened.
Swallowing hard, I continue, “He took me to an abandoned motel room, and eventually I escaped.” I let out a hard sigh.
“They interviewed me,” Elissa says. “The police. They came here and interviewed a bunch of us. I didn’t even know what to say. I was really scared and worried about you.”
“It’s okay. I know you had nothing to do with it,” I say. “It’s good to be back with the people I know are always here for me. It’s good to be back to work and back to a routine and back to normal.”
“Speaking of back to normal, I gotta meet with the contractor who is doing the reno on the ski lodge,” Elissa says. “You have some time? You want to come over and take a look at the plans?”
“About damn time Ethan renovates it,” I reply. “Although, I’m going to miss that eighties paneling and the carpet that always smells like mold.”
“It’s kinda bittersweet. We grew up in that sketchy, smelly lodge,” Elissa says, pushing her bottom lip out.
“Yeah, I’ll head over there with you. I have a meeting with my staff in an hour, so I just need to be back by then.”
We both leave my office, heading down the hallway as Elissa stops, and turns back toward the lobby of the hotel lodge.
“Hang on, I want to go grab a coffee,” Elissa says. “I got distracted by the whole you and Ethan being a couple thing that I forgot.”
I follow her, both of us chatting mindlessly about funny things that happened while we worked at the ski lodge together. We’re laughing as we exit the hallway, the feeling of normalcy returning. This is exactly what I needed. I needed to get back here, to see Elissa and remember what it’s like to be surrounded by friends. Having Ethan here is the extra bonus of it all.
Getting back to making schedules and doing tours, holding manager meetings and talking about the expansion are the perfect distraction.
But just as I’m thinking this, Elissa and I walk up on a conversation that is clearly not meant for us, something that I’ve let go for too long.
“They think I had something to do with it,” I hear Casey’s voice hiss, her words like a dagger. “Zoey told them it could be me. Can you believe that shit?”
“They interviewed me too,” another voice says, and Elissa and I stop, her looking over her shoulder at me, holding a finger to her lips.
“Yeah, but they don’t think you did it,” Casey says, making this about her. Shocker. “They asked me if I’ve ever been to the Peak Valley Resort and if I had any issues with Zoey.”
“Well, do you have any issues with Zoey?” someone else asks. “They interviewed all of us. They had to. We work with her and some of us were the last people to see her.” Whoever is defending me is getting a raise and I think back to Ethan and his reaction when I told him about Casey. Maybe I should let her go.
“She has issues with me,” Casey barks, sounding bothered by being questioned. “She has always had issues with me. And now she’s sleeping with Ethan so I’m sure it’s only going to get worse.”
“This bitch is radiating so much jealousy that she reeks,” Elissa whispers, her teeth clenched in annoyance. “I’m going to say something.”
“No,” I say, resting a hand on her shoulder to stop her from walking out there. “I’ll handle this. It’s something I should have handled a while ago. I thought it was just Badger Creek gossip, but it’s obviously more than that.”
