imaginary pencil from behind his ear, wets the tip with his tongue, and pretends to be ready to write on nonexistent paper.
I laugh. “Seriously. Get out your phone and take note. Summerdale, New York. A little over an hour from here in the suburbs. No one’s ever heard of it. The people are a little quirky, but if you can deal with a postman who likes to deliver tamales with the mail or a café owner named Rainbow, it’s perfect for you.”
Wyatt pulls out his phone and dutifully types it in. “Yes, ma’am. My new hideaway.” He brightens. “Is there a Mexican community? I love authentic Mexican food, the spicier the better.”
“No. Bill’s white. He’s just a big fan of tamales.”
“Damn.”
“They’re really good tamales, though.”
Garrett nudges my arm. “I know Summerdale. My family goes there every Labor Day weekend. We rent a house by the lake.”
The hair on the back of my neck stands up. So weird that Garrett’s family goes there. I mean, there’s always some houses for rent by the lake, but it’s not exactly a hot spot. And how did a guy from Brooklyn find it?
Wyatt puts his phone facedown and sends me an aggrieved look. “Garrett here heard of it. Sounds like the secret’s out on Summerdale.”
“It’s really not popular at all,” I say, truly surprised by the Garrett connection. “How did you end up renting a lake house there?”
Garrett cocks his head. “Funny connection, right? It started with my brother Jack. He rented it as a prank, pretending he’d bought his girlfriend a house, and then turned it into a proposal in front of the whole family.”
I stare at him, jaw dropped. “A prank proposal?”
“I like your family,” Wyatt says. “Brilliant.”
Garret smiles. “I could ask Jack how he found Summerdale if you want. He probably just searched the internet for a nice house to rent that would fit all of us and be far enough away from the city to surprise his girlfriend, but not too far that it would be hard for the rest of us to get there. Jack’s king of the pranksters. He’ll put a lot of thought into planning out the perfect one.”
I’m still stuck on the reason for the rental. “A prank proposal? Did she say yes?”
He chuckles. “Yeah, she did. They prank each other. Now they’re happily married with a baby on the way.”
“And your family keeps going back to Summerdale?” I ask.
“Yeah, Jack wanted to keep up the tradition to remember the happy occasion, so now we spend every Labor Day there.”
“Which house do you rent?”
He shrugs. “Jack handles all that. I don’t keep track of the address. This last time we rented a different house with a large second-floor deck overlooking the lake.” He turns to Wyatt. “Worth a trip out there to check it out. Lots of trees, the lake, of course, houses tucked away around the lake and up the hill. There’s this one huge house at the top of the hill and, for some reason, there’s a lighthouse on the property. Right in the middle of open land.”
“Obviously it’s for the giant ships approaching by lake,” Wyatt says.
I shake my head. “The lake can only accommodate rowboats and canoes. It’s not that big.”
Garrett squeezes my shoulder, sending a rush of heat through me. The amused look in his eyes tells me Wyatt was joking. I’m not used to so much joking around.
I continue sharing about my hometown in the hopes that Wyatt will be intrigued. “An eccentric recluse used to live at the top of the hill. He died before I was born, and nobody bought the property. People say it’s haunted. I’m sure it’s just overrun by raccoons and other critters, but it always gave me a creepy feeling.”
Wyatt wiggles his fingers. “Ooh, sounds like a Scooby-Doo episode with old man Jenkins.”
“Zoinks!” Josie exclaims, popping up suddenly and putting her arms around Wyatt and Garrett. “You two planning on solving a mystery?”
“Yeah, the mystery of the landlocked lighthouse,” Wyatt says.
“Oh, are you talking about Summerdale?” Josie asks. “We were there a few weeks ago for my brother and sister-in-law’s wedding reenactment. Love it there.”
“Wedding reenactment?” I echo.
“This family is nuts,” Josie says happily. “I fit right in.”
Sean appears by her side, and they take their seats at the table.
Wyatt gestures to them. “Now why couldn’t I have been born into a nutso family? I would’ve fit in so much better.”
Sean smiles. “It can be fun and also aggravating. Everyone’s high energy and hardheaded.”