With a wave, she started the golf cart again and headed down the road into the camping area.
“So, can I expect a variation of that conversation with all the rest of your relatives?” he asked Shelby.
She pushed a hand through her blond curls and gave him an apologetic smile. “I’ll try to spread the word before you run into the rest of them. They will, however, treat you like an old friend, just because you’re Andrew’s brother.”
He was unable to completely suppress a wince. “Yes, well, I’ll be sure and tell him everyone says hello.”
And he would not tell the Bell family he’d learned about their resort from a brochure he’d found lying next to Andrew’s trash can.
Shelby studied him a bit too closely for comfort before stepping onto the tiny front porch to unlock the door of the cabin. “Andrew stayed in the motel when he was here last summer. He said he didn’t need a kitchen because he didn’t cook, that all he needed was a bed and a table for his computer. But then, he was working, not vacationing.”
Aaron tried to remember when his brother had last taken a vacation. Had it been their hiking trip with their cousin Casey in Tennessee just over a year ago? That would have been before whatever job Andrew had done for the Bell family. It seemed like especially the past six months or so—since around Christmas, perhaps—Andrew had done nothing but work like a demon. And criticize his brother for not doing the same, of course. Even though Aaron had worked damned hard for the commercial real estate firm where he’d spent the past year, and had been successful enough in it that he could get by for a few months before running through his savings, his heart just hadn’t been in that career, something Andrew had predicted from the start.
“I like to cook sometimes. Nothing fancy, but it usually turns out pretty good.” He looked around the interior of the cabin in approval.
Though small, the space was well designed. The open living space was separated from the kitchen by an eating bar with two tall stools. A door to his left probably led into a bathroom, and a flight of wooden steps led up to the sleeping loft. A sofa, an armchair and a wooden rocker provided plenty of seating, and a flat-screen TV hung on the wall. The furniture looked new, as did the gleaming wood floor. A sliding glass door at the back of the room provided a view of a back deck and the lake. Two teenagers on Jet Skis sped past as he looked that way, but the cabin was insulated well enough to mute outside sounds.
“This is nice.”
Shelby smiled. “It’s the smallest of the cabins, but one of my favorites. We get a lot of honeymooners in this one. You lucked out that it’s available now. It took some water damage in that big spring wind storm last month, and we didn’t expect it to be available again until the first of July.”
He glanced around again, seeing no evidence of damage. “I remember the reports of that storm. Cut a swath across this part of the state, didn’t it? Was there much damage to the resort?”
“Luckily, no. A lot of stuff was tossed around, but this cabin took the only real damage when a large tree limb fell on the roof. It looked really bad at first, but most of the damage was cosmetic. Fortunately, the cabin was unoccupied at the time, and we’ve had a tree service out since to take down any other branches that pose a hazard.” She laughed and shook her head. “Uncle Bryan wanted to climb the trees and take the limbs down himself, but the rest of the family overruled him on that. He’s very territorial about the grounds.”
“I assume everyone in the family has a specific job here?” It was that way at D’Alessandro-Walker. Various family members worked in management, investigations, customer service, administrative and IT jobs. He’d tried most of them himself.
Shelby nodded. “Uncle Bryan and my brother, Steven, are in charge of the grounds and general maintenance. My dad mans the marina. Mom and Aunt Linda run the store and the grill. Maggie hires and supervises the housekeeping staff, and Hannah works in the office, taking reservations and handling promotion. My sister, Lori, helps out when she’s home from college, and my grandparents stay busy wherever they’re needed. They never let us forget they were the ones who started this enterprise,” she added with a crooked smile.
“You didn’t mention what your job is,” he reminded her.
“I keep the books. I’m a CPA.”
That surprised him. “You look too young to have earned a CPA.”
“I’m almost twenty-six. We were all expected to attend college,” she explained. “Most of us majored in business courses, though Lori keeps changing her major. I think she’s had three so far. None of which would be particularly useful for working in the family business. Which, I suppose, is her point.”
Aaron thought it possible he shared a bit in common with Lori, though he chose to keep that observation to himself. “Will Lori work for the resort when she graduates?”
“I don’t know. She won’t commit yet, though she’s always willing to fill in during holidays and summer breaks. She’s running the office while Maggie’s away for a few weeks. Steven—” Shelby gave a little sigh. “I think Steven might have liked to try something else, had he not felt so much pressure to help out around here. Just about the time he earned his business degree, the local economy took a hit and it became even more important for us to keep a tight rein on the resort expenses, salaries, benefits, that sort of thing. That was why it hit us so hard that the evil ex was willing to clean us out if he could’ve gotten away with it.”
Even more reason for the family’s gratitude toward Andrew, Aaron mused. “So, did you ever think about leaving the family business yourself?” he asked casually.
She adjusted a lamp into a more secure position on a rustic end table. “Not really. I’ve always known this is where I belong. My family’s a little different, but then so I am. We’re close and we get along very well, for the most part. I like my work, and the people we meet here in the resort. Well, most of the people,” she added darkly, glancing toward the tiny round kitchen window, through which Cabin Seven was just visible.
Following her gaze, he asked, “Is that where the ‘hinky’ guy is staying?”
“Yes. Which makes it all the more convenient that you’re in this one.”
He wasn’t sure convenient was the word he’d have used. He didn’t relish the image of himself sneaking peeks at his neighbor during his impulsive vacation. He moved to look out the window, just to ascertain how much he could see from here. Shelby followed him, standing shoulder to shoulder with him as they gazed out at the slightly larger cabin next door. The blinds were all closed, so they were unable to see in, though he wasn’t sure how much he could have made out, anyway,
through the lightly tinted glass. He spotted movement from the corner of his eye and automatically turned his head to look that direction.
A tall, thin man with buzz-cut hair, a square jaw and a stern expression half hidden by oversized mirrored aviator glasses stood at the back of Cabin Seven, as if he’d just walked up from the lakeshore. Obviously he’d noticed them looking at his cabin, because he’d stopped to glare at them. Aaron gave him a friendly nod, then drew Shelby away from the window.
“You haven’t actually expressed your concerns to Landon, have you?” he asked her, thinking of the other man’s suspicious scowl.
“No, of course not! Though, maybe...”