was a lot more open than most of the resort due to it being a restaurant that people from neighboring towns visited. And because of that, it also had substantial lighting along the dirt road that ran in front of the building. This meant I could see her without needing night-vision goggles.
“Where are we going?” It didn’t take her long to question my motives—good girl.
“Well, you said you didn’t want to be alone, so I thought we could go for a stroll and walk some of the liquor off.”
“But I’m still allowed to drink, right?”
The bubble of laughter floated up my chest before I had a chance to stop it. “Of course.”
“Good,” she said with a teasing grin, right before pulling the straw to her lips in the most seductive way I’d ever seen it done. “And now that you have me alone…what else do you want to know about me, Drew?”
With my brain functioning properly—or as well as it could around her—I was able to think of something I wanted to ask. “You said the other night that you heard about this place in a book. What book was it? And what did it say?”
“It was just a diary, and it didn’t say much.”
Again, like the other night, I got the impression that Kenny didn’t care to discuss the book or its contents. Although, unlike the other night, I had no intention of dropping it. “Whose diary was it?”
“I’m not entirely sure, but I think it was my grandmother’s.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Well, it was in my grandfather’s attic with a bunch of my grandmother’s old things.”
I started to understand that maybe it wasn’t that she didn’t want to talk about it; maybe her reluctance had more to do with the fact that she completely sucked at giving information. It was like she only answered the literal question without offering anything else. I was sure this would’ve normally been a trait I’d laugh at.
An exaggerated huff ripped past my lips just as I dropped my head back, my arms outstretched in a very dramatic show of exasperation. I released a somewhat-convincing frustrated groan, reminiscent of a howling wolf, and then resumed my pace next to Kenny. “This is going to take all night.”
The way her mouth curled was just plain devious, as though this had been her plan all along—delivering me to the brink of insanity for her own amusement. “Now you know how I felt last night.”
“What does that mean?” I genuinely didn’t know.
“You dragged out that story way longer than it needed to be. You had me on the edge of my seat and then told me I wasn’t allowed to ask questions. Without prodding you, I might still be on your dock listening to your story right now.”
That was a complete exaggeration of events, but it made me laugh, nonetheless.
“In all seriousness, though,” she continued, “there’s not much to tell. Like I said, I think it’s my grandmother’s journal from when she was in high school. It starts right before her senior year, and it ends right after she moves away for college. There are a few more entries in the back, but they’re sporadic and disjointed. It reads like she only picked it up when she really needed to write about something…all without giving full dates or details. She only used the month and day for those entries, not the year.”
“Well, what did she say about the place? Did she mention the resort by name?”
Confusion narrowed her gaze for a moment before she shook her head. “Oh, no. She didn’t say anything about the resort. I didn’t even know it existed until I looked it up.”
I grabbed her hand and halted my steps, forcing her to stop with me. I turned her to face me, and with my hands on her shoulders, I squatted to bring us as close to eye level as I could. I wasn’t sure if Kenny was deliberately being vague or if this was how she acted under the influence. All I knew was that her fragmented and heavily disorganized story frustrated me.
“Start over, Kenny. Or at least back up a bit.” I should’ve known not to say that to someone who’d been drinking. She literally took a step backward. Any other time, I would’ve laughed—much like she did—but right now, my one-track mind refused to process anything other than the questions I needed answered. “The other night, on the dock before the fireworks, you told me you’d heard of this