since leaving Amberlynn’s. “That sounds perfect.”
We made arrangements, and I hung up.
“So you’re leaving the nest?” Wade asked, turning back to me.
“Just for the summer,” I said. “Think you can handle things here?”
He grinned. “I got this. You go do what you need to do. Tell Jasper I say hi.”
We drank together for another hour, reliving some of the memories we had from the time when Archie Jasper had lived in Singletree, Maryland with us, and then I crashed in Wade’s guest room. When I woke to the sun streaming through the big windows overhead, I was filled with a sense of hope.
I was about to have an adventure.
Chapter Two
Aubrey
“Who was that?” I asked my brother, tossing a piece of popcorn at him across the living room of the shabby hotel suite we’d turned into our new home.
He grinned at me, his dark eyes flashing. “Hooch hookup.”
“Let me just get out my Archie dictionary,” I said, pretending like I was reaching beside me for something. “What the hell does that mean?”
“Do you remember the Blanchard twins from back when we lived in Singletree?”
“You mean podunk, Maryland?” A shudder went through me. That had not been my favorite place to live on the long list of not great places my dad’s naval career had taken us.
“Yes,” Archie said, ignoring my distaste.
“No. I don’t remember them.”
“Twins? Tall guys?”
I totally remembered them. They were both cute, in a high school guy kind of way. Of course, I’d been a kid, so any and all attraction I felt was both exaggerated and futile. “Okay, yes, I guess so.”
“Well, they’re pretty well known now because they run their family distillery, and they’ve expanded it a ton. So I called them to see if they want to come hook up our liquor program here.”
“Liquor program?” I looked around. So far, the old resort our insane uncle had left us consisted of a main hotel building so run down it might have been legally condemnable, and two ancient chair lifts practically falling down the side of a mountain outside. “For when we give up on this ridiculous plan and decide to just drink ourselves silly?”
My brother shook his head. “Nope. You just focus on getting that yurt situation pulled together. I’m going to have a functional bar here soon, and people are going to travel just to visit it.”
“Why would anyone travel to visit a bar when they can get a beer on any corner in any town?”
“Because Jasper Mountain Resort is going to be a destination.”
That was a little hard to imagine, considering the place qualified only as the kind of destination most folks would flee, but my brother had been known to accomplish some amazing feats. “Okay,” I said. “So, these guys are coming out here?” I pretended that the idea of seeing the grown-man version of my childhood crushes wouldn’t be a big deal.
“Only Wiley. And go easy on him. Sounds like he just ended an engagement.”
I wasn’t sure what to make of this news. I felt a little douse of disappointment for no reason I could put my finger on. Was I sad that he hadn’t come chasing after the twelve-year old sister of a guy he’d known in high school to propose to me instead? Or was I excited at the prospect of meeting Wiley Blanchard again in my decidedly more adult form?
“Okay. When’s he getting here?”
“A week, I think. So we’d better get another one of the rooms cleaned up for him.”
“Roger that.”
I spent the next week supervising assembly of the yurts I’d ordered—high-end tent-like structures being built behind the main lodge on wooden platforms. The idea was to attract the glamping set up here for a high-end adventure vacation during the summer while construction on the main resort was underway.
The yurts were super cool, with king-sized beds and little bathrooms set up inside. They sat around a central fire pit and outdoor kitchen area where we’d serve food and drinks.
During the day, I’d lead hikes and rock-climbing outings in the mountains around us, which I’d been exploring with my uncle since I was a little kid. Archie hadn’t been part of much of that—he always had his head buried in some model plane kit. All he ever wanted to do was fly a plane. He got his wish, but now I wondered if he would have been better off learning to tie rock climbing knots with me.
We didn’t talk about the crash that ended Archie’s military career.
And that was fine