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She’d come over to Lily’s rental house in McCall to help her pack up her car, and when it couldn’t hold anything else without warping a door, Sam had shouldered it closed and leaned slowly into the driver’s window. Lily could still smell the faint scent of sunscreen and lake water that lingered on her skin, and she’d closed her eyes, holding her breath and letting it burn into her memory.
“I know you just signed that contract, and you’re freaked out about this writing thing.” Sam’s voice had been deep, achingly familiar and tender at the edges as she’d leaned closer and kissed Lily’s cheek. “But if you need me, I’ll be there. I promise.”
She still remembered Sam in her rearview mirror as she’d pulled out onto the road, the dust rising around her in a translucent swirl as she’d forced herself to look toward her future.
Sam crumpled up the paper wrapper and smiled from across the table as she pulled the two brass keys out of her pocket and handed them over. “I figured, even if I invited you to stay at our house with us, you wouldn’t, so with that in mind, we have one option left.”
“The ropes course platform I saw on my way in?”
??“Very funny.” Sam grinned as she packed up the rest of the food and handed it to Lily. “Here, take this to your cabin. I think we were the last stragglers tonight anyway, so you might as well have something to feed the raccoons.”
“What?” Lily attempted to shift her face into her best innocent look and held the door open as Sam hit the lights on their way out. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Lily.” Sam smiled and glanced over as they stepped out onto the porch. “I used to come over to your house late at night, remember? And they’d literally be standing on your windowsill tapping the glass to get you to feed them more of that trail mix you made. It was in a jar in your kitchen labeled with their names.”
“Yeah. I miss that.” She looked up at the stars as they headed toward her Jeep parked at the edge of the woods. “There isn’t a lot of wildlife where I live in LA, just a few coyotes that visit every once in a while.”
“And by ‘visit,’ you mean they pretty much sleep on your porch?”
“Yeah. Kinda.” She laughed, taking the arm Sam offered as they stepped away from the reach of the floodlights and closer to the edge of the forest. “The harder it is for me to be around people, the more animals come out of the woodwork to circle around me. I’ve never figured it out.”
“That doesn’t surprise me in the least, Snow White.” Sam bumped her shoulder as they walked. “You’re an amazing soul. They’re just protecting you.” Sam grabbed her bags out of the Jeep and nodded for her to follow as she walked in the opposite direction of the other cabins and led her down a path toward the water. “Although, there’s a slight possibility that you may miss sleeping with the coyotes after a few nights with—”
“Honestly,” Lily interrupted, exhaustion draping itself around her shoulders like a weighted blanket. “I couldn’t care less who I have to share a cabin with. I’m just grateful you have a spot for me.”
Sam squeezed her shoulder and guided her down a darker path, only steps away from the gentle lap of the lake water. She pulled the flashlight off her belt and clicked it on, and Lily caught sight of a small wooden sign marked with an arrow: Staff Only.
“All of our staff double up in the cabins, but we have one empty spot this season. One of our waterfront staff decided to stay in her parents’ lake house this summer on the East Shore, so it worked out perfectly.”
Lily stopped in her tracks, anxiety creeping into her mind from the back and rolling to the front like dark water. “But the other person here…they don’t know I’m coming?”
“They will in about one minute.” Sam paused as if she’d just remembered something. “By the way, I handed you two keys before: one unlocks your cabin, the other unlocks the kitchen door. I figured you might not want to eat with everyone until you actually meet some people and get settled.”
“Well, as long my new roommate is okay with it, that works great.” She matched Sam’s stride and looked up at her as they stopped outside a small log cabin with a screened-in porch. Gold light warmed the windows and spilled out onto the path, glossing the tops of her Docs. Lily could almost make out a faint melody of Ella Fitzgerald, which seemed to soften and meld into the background music of the lake water.
“Sam…” Lily trailed off. Sam pulled her into a tight hug, kissing her cheek as she let go. “Just…thank you for this. You really saved me today.”
“Are you kidding? I love that you’re here, and I can’t wait to tell Sara. She’ll be thrilled. She’s been having a tough time lately, and I think you’re just what the doctor ordered.”
“The fertility thing?”
A bat swooped between them with a whoosh, then circled back again, hovering in midair for just a moment an inch from Lily’s nose before flitting off into the darkness.
“I’ll leave you to settle in.” Sam opened the cabin door and quickly looked around before she rolled Lily’s suitcase inside. “Which is code for ‘I don’t want to get divebombed by the welcome wagon.’”
Lily smiled, catching sight of the same bat hovering a foot behind Sam’s head.
“Breakfast is in the lodge at around seven, and both Sara and I will be around for the full two weeks, so we’ll have lots of time to catch up. Sara put her kitchen manager in charge at the restaurant, so she got a break to do something fun for a change, and I took some vacation days.” Sam paused and rolled her eyes. “Apparently, I had no choice. They keep threatening to lock me out if I don’t take some time off.”
Lily nodded, remembering the handful of guest cabins she’d seen just down from the lodge. “How many couples are here?”
“Ten couples total, plus the staff that run the waterfront, programming, and activities. We’ll get you up to speed on everything in the morning so you can sign up for some classes if you want to get out there.” Sam flashed her a wide smile as she turned toward the path to the lodge. “I’ve got something I’ve got to get to, but you’ve got my number, so call me if you need anything, okay?”
Lily nodded as Sam hugged her, then disappeared down the trail. Lily was so tired, the door felt too heavy to pull shut behind her as she stepped into the cabin. The scratchy Ella Fitzgerald lyrics reminded her of an old record player, an
d sure enough, a vinyl record was spinning lazily on a vintage wooden box player, lit from above with a single pendant Edison bulb.
The cabin was one room but open and spacious, with pine-and-iron bunk beds along one side and a small sitting area with overstuffed bookshelves covering the wall behind it. Lily wandered over to the shelves and picked up one of the books. It was an antique, an old guide to camping in Yellowstone, the pages yellow and brittle under her fingers. The scent of aged paper drifted to her nose and melted the tension from her shoulders. She’d always loved the enveloping silence of books, with their whispered promises to fade the world around her with every word, until the only sound that existed was the smooth, dry brush of the page under her fingertips.
