Authors: Kate Sweeney
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll be right down,” he said, smiling at Bess.
Bess rolled her eyes but smiled in return. She really wanted to blow him a kiss but didn’t want to incur Stella’s wrath let alone encourage the youngster.
Kit followed Mark and Dale, but not before she gave Bess and her mother a look of certain death, which Helen took gracefully, blowing her a kiss. Bess instinctively held on to the little gold cross around her neck; she wasn’t Catholic, but right now, she’d kiss the pope right smack on the steps of St. Peter’s if it meant salvation from Kathleen Weston.
“What a delightful young boy.” Helen leaned on her cane and sighed.
Roz watched them disappear up to the second floor, then almost savagely turned to Bess and Helen. “Helen,” she said angrily.
“Are you snarling at me?”
“Hold on, Roz,” Bess said, backing up. “Let me explain. I only knew Helen was coming. It was to be a surprise for you. I know you’ve missed her. I thought she was the guest with the champagne.”
“Some surprise,” Roz said dryly.
Bess set her sights on Helen. “And you, you insane woman. You told me you were planning something for Kit’s
fiftieth.”
“I did. I just didn’t tell you where. Now where do I sign in?” Helen slipped on her reading glasses. “Did you feel all the daggers being thrown by Kit?” She continued to laugh as she looked around. “I love this place, Roz. You’ve done well. You’ll have to give me the ten-cent tour later. Although I should be upset. I haven’t been invited before this.”
Roz hung her head and breathed deeply through her nose.
“You look like you’ve lost weight. And you need to dye your hair. It’s much too gray. Is it the stress of running the lodge?” Helen asked, peering over her glasses.
“No, Helen.” Roz looked up. “It’s moments like these.”
“Don’t blame Bess—”
“I wasn’t…”
“Let’s not quibble. Come here and give me a kiss.”
Roz immediately walked around the desk and pulled her into an affectionate hug.
Bess’s eyes filled with tears when neither woman let go for a long moment; she heard them whisper to each other and honestly felt as though she were intruding on the reunion.
Roz pulled back and kissed her forehead. “You look good, Helen.”
She looked up and cupped Roz’s cheek. “And you look lonely, Rosalind.”
Roz shook her head. “I don’t have time to be lonely, you meddling old woman.” She kissed Helen’s cheek. She glanced at the staircase once again. “So who’s the kid?”
Helen laughed. “Now that’s the Roz I miss. Kit is trying to recapture her youth, I think.”
“Still?” Roz asked sadly.
“Yes. They met a few weeks ago at some ridiculous skydiving thing. That’s what Dale does for a living, I suppose. I don’t particularly care for her, though I’ve only met her a couple times. She’s always so agreeable.
Ohh
, Mrs. Weston, you look so nice.
Ohh
, I love your hair.” Helen waved dismissively. “It’s annoying.”
Bess agreed. “She’s Eddie Haskell to Helen’s Mrs. Cleaver.”
Helen threw her head back and laughed. “Oh, my darling daughter,” Helen said, shaking her head. “Doesn’t even like to fly, but she’s willing to jump out of a perfectly good plane.” She laughed then. “But she backed out at the last minute. There’s some hope yet.”
“So they’re dating?” Roz asked absently while checking the register.
“I’m not sure what you call it after only two weeks. Is it dating?”
“It was with you and Kit.”
Roz ignored the truth in Bess’s statement. “Are they…?”
Helen raised an eyebrow. “Are they what—doing the horizontal mambo?”
Roz cringed; Bess hid her smile.
“Kit may tell me a good deal, but I highly doubt she’d tell me that,” Helen said with an evil chuckle. “I cannot believe Dale showed up here.” She laughed outright then. “And Kit had no clue. I wanted a birthday surprise for Kit, but I didn’t want her to have a stroke. She’s fifty, you know.”
“Of course I know.” Roz angrily stapled the receipt and jammed it into the drawer.
“And I wanted something special for her birthday. So I told Dale—”
Roz’s mouth hit the floor. “You told her about me and Kit?”
“Good God, no. That’s none of my business,” Helen said indignantly. “I would never interfere.”
“Since when?”
“Don’t be rude.” Helen chuckled then. “Dale was not part of the weekend.”
“But you’re enjoying this nonetheless,” Roz said.
“Well, of course. It’s a delightful twist. One has to see the humor in this.” Helen looked from Roz to Bess. “Doesn’t one?”
“No, one doesn’t.” Bess sighed. “Helen, this is an evil thing to do to Eddie,” Bess said, shaking her head. “Let me buy you a drink.”
“It’s an evil thing you did to everyone, Helen,” Roz said sternly.
“I did nothing to that sky jumper. She came here on her own accord. And what’s the difference? You’re over Kit, and she’s over you. Right?” Helen asked.
“Right,” Roz said.
“You need to work on the conviction in your voice, dear. This is an absurd situation between you two, and I have had enough of it. It will be resolved this weekend. Before I die.”
“You said that earlier,” Bess said.
“You see? I’m repeating myself already.”
“You’re not dying,” Bess continued. “Not yet—”
“I will be someday.”
“Helen…” Roz started.
She waved her hand in the air. “Have that nice young boy take our bags to the rooms.” Helen slipped her arm through Bess’s. “Now about that drink.”
As they walked away, Helen called over her shoulder, “Very nice grand piano, Roz. I didn’t know you played.”
Roz stood alone at the desk staring at nothing in particular. She looked up when Mark came bounding down the stairs and noticed for the first time the small piece of toilet paper stuck to his chin. Roz was just grateful he didn’t cut this throat. The way things were going, she might ask to borrow the razor…
“Oh, darn it, where’d Miss Adams go?” he asked breathlessly, looking past the desk in full search mode; he practically sniffed the air.
“Oh, will you shut up and take that luggage to the suite?”
Chapter 4
Kit stood by the window in Dale’s room, which overlooked the back of the lodge. The late afternoon sunlight sparkled, looking like a million diamonds on the creek below. With the Rockies off in the distance, it was a beautiful setting. She couldn’t believe Roz owned all this, and she never knew. The sudden urge to kill her mother and Bess was overwhelming. Why would they do this?
“Hey, Kitty Kat, they have little soaps in here…”
With her question answered, Kit sighed deeply and turned around.
“Surprised?” Dale whispered.
“A lot of places have decorative soap.”
Dale laughed. “Seriously. Are you surprised I’m here?”
“Oh, you’ll never know.”
“Good. Your mom didn’t include me in the planning, so I hope she doesn’t mind I invited myself. She told me what she was going to do, and she wanted to surprise you for your birthday. And I take it you were. I know you were shocked, but you really looked like you were going to faint.”
Kit thought she might be having an aneurysm when she rubbed her temple. “My mother told you about this?”
“Well, yeah,” Dale said, looking confused. “Shouldn’t she? I mean, I know we’ve only been dating a few weeks.”
“Dale, there’s something…” Kit stopped, not knowing how to approach this. She looked at the confused look and sighed. “Oh, I suppose my mother wanted and…oh, I don’t know.” The anger over this situation truly began to annoy her. Some birthday.
“Kit, if you’re upset I’m here…”
“No. It’s fine.”
“Well, I didn’t tell her I was planning on coming, but I did mention to her this might be a good thing for us.” She wriggled her eyebrows. “
Ya
know…”
“What?” Kit felt the anger and exasperation well up deep inside. She felt like a volcano; the top of her head actually itched.
Dale’s brown eyes danced wickedly. “Well, I thought we’d get a chance to be alone and get to know each other better.”
“We’ve known each other for exactly eighteen days.”
“And the reason to get to know each other.” Dale smiled. “Keeping track, huh?”
Kit counted to ten to calm down. She raised an eyebrow and stepped away from Dale. “Don’t you think it’s a little early to be talking about this? And if it’s not too soon, don’t you think it would have been a nice conversation to have between you and me instead of you and, oh, I don’t know, my mother?” The last word came out perhaps a little more incredulous and angry than she wanted.
Dale scratched the back of her head. “I guess I didn’t think this out…” She shrugged then. “Well, there’s not much to do about it now. We’re here, so carpe diem, as they say.”
“I’ll give you carpe diem…”
They were saved by the knock on the door. When Roz walked in, Kit wasn’t so sure now who was saved. She really wanted to wipe that smug grin off Roz’s face. Roz had a silver bucket with a bottle of champagne in it tucked under one arm and carried two fluted glasses; suddenly, all sorts of bizarre scenarios flashed through her mind. She wouldn’t put anything past Rosalind Maguire.
“Thank you,” Dale said, fishing her wallet out of her back pocket.
“No, no. Compliments of the house,” Roz said to her.
“Really? Wow. That’s very nice,” Dale said. “Isn’t it, Kitty Kat?”
Roz looked at Kit with a questioning grin. Kit decided she wanted to slap that off Roz’s face, as well. She pasted on a sweet smile. “Very.”
“My pleasure. The dining room is open for lunch until four. Then reopens at six for dinner. But the bar is always open.”
“I bet,” Kit mumbled.
“Young people in love.” Roz sighed and looked from Dale to Kit. “Well, you kids enjoy.”
Fathead, Kit thought angrily, watching Roz walk out.
“That was so sweet of her,” Dale said, picking up the champagne. “And between you and me, I think she was flirting with me earlier.”
“No, she wasn’t,” Kit said seriously.
“Oh, I think she was.”
“Dale…She—”
“Do I detect a little jealousy?”
“No…” Kit painfully pinched the bridge of her nose.
“We’ll keep the champagne on ice. But first, I need a shower. Do you mind?”
“No.” Kit sighed. “Go right ahead.”
Dale put her hands on Kit’s shoulders. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. You go take your shower. I’ll find my mother.”
“Okay. Get ready for a weekend. I have some plans.” She clenched her fists and raised them in jubilation.
“Oh, I can’t wait,” Kit said, trying to equal her enthusiasm and keep her sarcasm to a minimum. She watched Dale as she ran into the bathroom. When she heard the tone-deaf humming and the shower, she grabbed her key and headed out on a search-and-destroy mission.
When Kit walked into the common area of the lodge, she noticed two things: the huge fireplace with a crackling fire, effectively taking the spring chill out of the air—making the room look like a travel brochure postcard—and the black grand piano next to it. A nostalgic feeling wafted through her as she walked up to the piano, lifted the lid covering the keyboard, and gently ran her fingers across the black and white keys. She remembered how Roz would beg her to play. Kit closed her eyes and smiled.
“It’s tuned.”
Her eyes flew open when she heard Roz’s soft voice.
Kit stepped away from the piano. “Have you seen Mother?”
“The queen is in yonder dining room with her lady-in-waiting. Daiquiris are the preferred poison of the afternoon. I may run out of rum.”
“Thank you,” Kit said tersely. She replaced the cover on the keyboard without looking at Roz.
“Wait.” Roz reached out and grabbed her arm as she walked past. “Kit…”
“Look, Roz. I had no idea about any of this…”
“And you think I did?”
“I wouldn’t put it past you,” Kit said angrily, wrenching her arm free.
Roz shook her head. “Well, your ego is still intact.” She leaned against the piano. “If this is too awkward, I’ll give your girlfriend a full refund.”
“She’s not…It’s not too awkward for me.” She raised her chin and looked into Roz’s blue eyes, remembering how deep blue they were, almost violet. Her knees actually buckled when Roz took a step closer. Kit stuck her chin out farther. “I’m fine.”
“Now that’s the stubborn girl of my dreams,” Roz said and stepped back. “Well, you two lovebirds will have a good weekend.” She turned and walked away.
Kit leaned against the piano and stared at the fire. “Girl of my dreams…The fathead.” She put her hand to her forehead; she felt like bursting into tears.
“All clear?” Bess asked quietly.
Kit laughed in spite of her anger. “Yes. Though I don’t know why I’m talking to you.”
“I had no idea. When I talked to Helen, she suggested we come up here this weekend. She wanted to surprise Roz and not tell her. That’s all. She said she was planning something for your birthday, but hell, I thought it was when we’d get back. She just now told me she didn’t fill me in on it because she knew I’d have blabbed to you. And the crazy woman was right. I would have. I’m so sorry about this.”
“So am I. Dale didn’t tell me…”
Bess chuckled. “I could tell by your reaction. I’m surprised you didn’t have a heart attack. When she asked about the champagne, I thought for sure I saw smoke coming out of your ears. I didn’t know you two were that serious.”
“We’re not serious at all. We just met, for god’s sake.” Kit could feel the anger rising again. “I know she meant well, but we’ve never discussed…I mean, good grief, we barely know each other. I haven’t even had time to introduce you two. We’ve only been dating a couple weeks.”
“It took less time with Roz,” Bess said softly.
Kit grunted. “Roz Maguire…”
“Oh, now don’t blame that solely on Roz. You had quite the sexual appetite if I recall.”
“Well, that was a lifetime ago. Things are different now. I’m…I’m happy.”
Bess raised an eyebrow. “Yes, well, let’s go discuss your happiness…Where is Ed, uh, Dale?”
“She’s in the shower. Let’s go.” Kit was still angry as she looked around. “This really is a nice place.”
“She’s worked hard,” Bess said.
“I’m sure she did. It’s what she wanted,” she said curtly. And before Bess could argue, Kit continued, “Which way to the bar?”
They found Helen sitting at a table by the fireplace, laughing with some woman who Kit could only assume was the chef. The white jacket and the towel tossed over her shoulder were dead giveaways. The tie-dyed bandanna had Kit grudgingly smiling. It figured Roz would have a chef who more than likely attended Woodstock.
“That’s Stella,” Bess said. “She’s the chef.”
“I gathered,” Kit said as they approached the table.
“So I said to him, ‘Zip it up and put that thing back in the stable, Wilbur…’”
Helen threw her head back and laughed. “Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack,” Stella said.
Helen looked at Kit and Bess. “Well, there you are. Meet my new best friend, Stella Collins. She’s the chef and promises wonderful racks of lamb for dinner. This angry-looking woman is my daughter, Kit.”
Stella reached her hand up to Kit. “It’s nice to meet you. What can I get you to drink? I have no idea where Roz ran off to. She left here in a huff.”
“Nothing for me just yet, but thank you. It’s a little early in the day,” she said, smiling sweetly at Helen.
“Treat every day as if it’s your last, my daughter. And you’re too young to be an old fuddy-duddy,” Helen said. “Though you are turning fifty. You old bag.”
“Well, happy birthday. And you’re still a youngster.” Stella stood and offered her chair. “I’d better get back in the kitchen. When you gals get hungry, let me know. I’ll make something for lunch.”
“Have a seat, Kit,” Helen said, sipping her drink. “Roz still makes a good daiquiri. You should try one.”
“No, thank you.” Kit sat down along with Bess.
“No? Hmm. What’s that cocktail called that has brandy and crème de menthe? Oh, yes a stinger. Guaranteed to remove the sting. Do you need your stinger removed, dear?”
Kit sat back and regarded her mother. “Mom, you’ve done some crazy crap in your day, but this really beats all.”
Bess rose.
“Sit,” Kit said, still looking at her mother.
Bess sat.
“What do you mean? Since when is it a crime for a mother to look after her daughter’s happiness?” Helen huffed indignantly. “I have a good mind to leave you alone to your own devices.”
“That would be novel.”
“Well, I would if you made the right decisions.”
“Funny. I always thought it was my life and not yours.” She reached over, took the glass out of Bess’s hand, and took a healthy drink.
“Sure, go ahead…” Bess said, looking at her empty hand. She gave the bar a longing glance.
“Don’t be insolent,” Helen said.
“I was being honest.”
“Same thing. You know you’re still in love with Rosalind. And that baby upstairs is just a diversion. A young toned body with perky breasts. I’m sure she has a washtub belly.”
Bess leaned in. “I think you mean washboard abs.”
“And another thing, she is far too nice.”
“Really, Mother? Too nice?”
“No one is that nice. Even when I’m nice, I’m not that nice.”
“Now, Helen. It’s nice to be nice when you’re nice,” Bess said, reaching for Kit’s glass.
“I think she wants my money.”
With the glass out of reach, Bess rested her chin in the palm of her hand and watched the tennis match.
“And that baby upstairs just might care for me,” Kit said, leaning in.
“So you admit she’s a mere child. Good, we’re getting somewhere. It’s disgraceful. She’s young enough to be your daughter.”
“Oh, please,” Kit said. “She is not.”
“She is,” Helen insisted. “Bess, how old do you think that girl is?”
“Don’t get me involved in this. Not without a drink or a loaded pistol.”
“And another thing. She jumps out of planes, for heaven’s sake. And climbs rocks. Why?”
“She likes the thrill and the danger of it, Mother.”
“Then why bother with a parachute?” Helen leaned on her cane. “Can’t she get a real job?”
Kit pressed her hand to her forehead. “What Dale does for a living and her age are of no importance.”
“Do you know how old she is?” Helen asked.
“No, I do not. Because it’s not important. Don’t change the topic.”
“What was the topic?” Helen struck a thoughtful pose. “Oh, yes, you’re peevish with me. Happy birthday.”
“Did you happen to think about Roz at all? She’s obviously moved on. Look at this place. It’s exactly what she wanted.”
“Exactly what she wanted was this place,” Helen finished her drink, “and you.” She put a hand to her chest, stifling a belch. “Now see what you’ve done? You’ve given me heartburn.”