“Your real birthday present,” Dillon said. “Not a sweater vest. Pick one.”
“Pick one what?” she asked.
“These are the ten keys for the ten cabins of Lost Lake Village Rentals. One is yours.”
* * *
JOEY’S MOUTH FELL open for a second; she was dumbfounded. She wasn’t sure she’d ever been dumbfounded before. Shocked. Stunned. Flabbergasted, yes. But never dumbfounded.
“You’re giving me a cabin?” she asked. “But I haven’t even said I’d take the job yet.”
“You should take it,” Dillon said, grinning. “But it’s not about the job. First, sorry about stealing your birthday to use for our wedding. And second, I just want you to come home more often. I miss you. We all miss you. And no pressure. We’ll sign the cabin over to you and you’ll be the sole owner. When you’re in Hawaii, we can rent it out as part of Lost Lake Village Rentals, or you can lock it up and Chris will check it every couple of days to make sure the pipes don’t freeze or whatever happens out there in nature. You get a cabin to own and stay in as often or a seldom as you want. Chris fixed up eight of them and he’s got two more to do by spring. But you can pick any one of them.”
Chris could see Joey’s shaking hand when she reached for the key chain.
“I want the one we grew up in,” she said. “Our cabin. Mom and Dad gave it to you so we’ll keep it in the family. Our family.” She looked at Chris when she said it because when she said “our” she meant the one she and Chris had shared all week, made love in all week, ate breakfast together in all week. “Our cabin” meant hers and Chris’s.
“All yours,” Chris said, and gave her the key.
“Happy birthday, Jo,” Dillon said.
“Yes,” she said.
“That wasn’t a yes or no question,” Dillon said. “It wasn’t even a question at all.”
“Yes, I’ll take the job,” she said. “Chris talked me into it.”
“I did?” he asked.
“Okay, you didn’t talk me into it but the artist’s retreat cabin did. Seeing my ideas turned into reality in forty-eight hours? You got me. This could be my dream job.”
“You start tomorrow,” Dillon said. “But don’t call your bosses for a week or more. We’ll be on our honeymoon. Starting now.” Dillon kissed Oscar so passionately and dramatically Joey could only roll her eyes.
“You want to get out of here?” Chris asked in her ear.
“Leave my brother’s wedding reception?”
Chris glanced over at Oscar and Dillon, who were still making out, and then back at her.
“There’s a back room here,” she said. “The door has a lock on it.”
“Can you still hear the music in the room?” Chris asked.
“Yeah. So?”
“I can’t get a boner to ‘The Safety Dance.’ Let’s go outside.”
Chris grabbed her by the hand and led her past three Jellicle cats, one Seagull minus the Flock and a very tall but adorable Mary Lou Retton in her American flag leotard.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Back to the future,” he said.
Hand in hand they left the reception and weaved through the lines of parked cars until they reached Chris’s truck. He opened the door for her, she got inside and he followed, shutting the door with a decisive slam. He put his keys in the ignition and turned on the radio. “Interstate Love Song” by the Stone Temple Pilots was playing.
“I feel so much better now.” He sighed and leaned his head back against the seat with his eyes closed.
“It is a good song.”