Lakeshore Secrets: The McAdams Sisters - Kate McAdams (By The Lake Series Book 1) (8 page)

“So if we wait until the last song and encourage everyone to the dance floor, in the middle of the song we will tear the bag and fake snow will fall from the ceiling and our guests will have their own winter wonderland inside,” Emma announced holding her hands up in the middle of the empty ballroom pitching her idea to Marc and Violet.

They looked at each other skeptically.

“They can just step outside for a winter wonderland,” Marc said. “It’s snowing out there.”

He heard Violet stifle a laugh.

“And it sounds messy,” he added.

Emma dropped her hands and her smile. “That’s why we have a cleaning crew.”

“They are going to have to chase people down the halls with a vacuum.” Another partially contained giggle from Violet.

She folded her arms across her chest, obviously not pleased with his feedback. Why did they keep asking him for his feedback if they didn’t like what he had to say? They always ended up doing whatever they wanted anyway. “It would be magical,” she insisted.

“A magical mess. Why don’t you use balloons?”

“Balloons Marc? Really? How 1980’s of you. Snap back to the twentieth century. Snow is the balloon of today.”

He thinned his lips and crossed his own arms, “I don’t know.” He was only teasing, but she had no idea.

“Well, picture this,” she continued holding her hands up to frame the room in front of them. “You’re all dressed up and the music is slow and you ask this girl to dance,” she paused and a ridiculous smile crossed her lips. “Let’s say Melissa.” Let’s say Kate.
Is that how your mind was going to think now?
“And you are moving across the dance floor, in a romantic sway and suddenly the sky opens mid-song and suddenly it’s snowing wonderful thick flakes.” Emma was swaying alone in the ballroom her arms out, twirling like a child.

Marc threw his hands in the air. “Melissa is going to be freaking out. There will be snow stuck all in her hair and all over her dress. She will end up hitting me in the face and screaming at the staff.”

Violet laughed unable to hold a straight face any longer.

Emma dropped her hands and turned to him. “That wouldn’t happen,” she stated firmly. “You’re acting all weird. What’s wrong with you? A simple yes or no would have sufficed.” She placed her hands on her hips.

“I think it’s a lovely idea,” Violet said. “I will look into where to get bulk fake snow.” She glanced at her watch. “Your yoga class starts in fifteen.”

Emma looked at her watch and scooted it out of the room, leaving Violet and Marc laughing.

“Oh no, I think one is in my eye Marc,” Violet teased pretending to be Melissa. “Could you just get a little closer?”

Marc rolled his eyes. “Remind me to avoid the Snowflake Ball.”

She laughed. “You wish.” She was writing notes in her little book likely about fake snow. “So, have you talked to Kate?” He shook his head. “Oh, I thought because of that little run in, you two were, I don’t know...hitting it off again?”

“Nope, just friends.”

“Friends are good.” She smiled. “I wish I was friends with Kevin.” She crinkled her nose. “Actually I don’t. He’s a terrible friend and his friends are the worst.” Violet and Kevin’s divorce a year ago had been long and messy, especially since he ended up dating one of the women from the resort after it was finalized. There was suspicion behind the timing. Marc believed that little home wrecker under his payroll may have been partially responsible for their divorce. But he blamed Kevin, he was the one who had shared vows and brought children into the world with Violet. Those two little squirts were the best thing from that man.

“My babes will be home any minute. Was there anything else you wanted to discuss about the Snowflake Ball?” Violet asked him.

He shook his head. “I will walk you out. I wanted to stop by Dad’s study before I stop by the lunch room to find Kent.” On the walk there Marc explained how they were having some difficulties with one of the water sprinklers and he needed to meet with Kent to see if he could fix it before he called someone else in.

Down the long hallway that separated the resort from the living quarters, their father had built them each a suite that was centered around an indoor pool. They swiped their card at the end, and the study was to the right.

“She leaves today.” Violet said stopping with him at his study. “It’s almost lunch so if you go hang near the check out desk maybe you can have a
friend’s
moment.”

“That’s called stalking.”

Marc pulled the door handle to the study. He’d left his suit jacket inside when Emma had passed by earlier rushing him out before her morning class. It was locked. He turned again. That was strange, the door was never locked. Well, it hadn’t been locked since his dad passed away. His father had spent hours behind these locked walls, which was why it had a deadbolt instead of a swipe card like the rest of the resort. His father liked his privacy. Especially in this room. “It’s locked,” he said.

Violet reached around him and tried the door herself as though she might have the magic touch. She came up empty handed like Marc.

“That’s strange,” she said stepping back.

Marc knocked on the door. “Hello? Is someone in there? Hello?” No reply. He must have accidentally locked it on his way out.

“Don’t you have the key?” she asked.

He shook his head.

“You’re the only one who goes in there. Who would lock the deadbolt? It doesn’t even make sense.”

He agreed. “I will talk to Mom later. I’m going to grab a suit from my suite.”

He opened the glass doors under the double winding staircase that met at the top before stepping into the tropical pool room. As Violet ducked underneath his arm, they heard the study doors open. His uncle walked out of the office looking suspiciously around, probably for whoever was knocking on the door until he found the siblings staring at him.

He straightened his body and dusted his jacket and greeted them with a smile.

“Uncle Carl, what are you doing in there?” Violet called out drawing back her steps away from the pool room. Marc let the door shut.

Their uncle walked towards them with a friendly smile. He shrugged. “Nothing.”

“Why was the door locked?” Marc asked with his own suspicion.

“The door was locked?” he asked, acting innocent. Of course the door was locked...he just unlocked it to get out. Marc had heard the click.

“We were knocking and calling through. Didn’t you hear us?” Violet asked.

He shrugged. “I dozed off in there.” Marc eyed him skeptically. Something was off. “It’s all yours.”

Violet’s phone went off. “Kevin’s here. I have to go.”

Carl took her arm. “I will walk you. I missed those little squirts this week,” he said walking her into the pool room.

“It’s always so quiet when they are gone,” Violet agreed.

The two left Marc. He made his way into the study and grabbed his jacket off the center of the sofa where his uncle would have supposedly fallen asleep. Not a wrinkle on it. He looked around the room, wondering why his uncle would lock himself in and then lie about it, but everything seemed in place. Just another oddity to add to his uncle’s suspicious list.

Through the resort Marc nodded and smiled as he passed the staff and guests until he reached the staff lunchroom. He pushed the door open and found more staff members then he had ever seen making such a ruckus that they hadn’t heard him enter.

He quietly closed the door behind him wondering what they were all gathered around. Then he heard her laugh.

“What does that even mean?” someone asked.

She laughed again. “It means I design ads for companies to sell their products.” She was dressed in black again only instead of a dress she wore tight fitting black pants that disappeared behind black heeled boots halfway up her calves. She wore a black blazer over top of a lace black blouse. Slim, sophisticated and gorgeous. Her hair was down, finally, and longer than he had ever seen it. It fell halfway down her back in large curls that also fell over her shoulders.

“That sounds like a fancy way of saying you draw for a living,” someone else teased and everyone laughed.

Marc chuckled too and everyone turned, and then split away like scattering ants.

“Oh come on,” Kate said as they took turns giving her hugs and kisses quickly departing. “Most of you remember when he was in diapers.” He hadn’t noticed much of the gathered were the staff who had been employed at the resort for years. They chuckled but continued to clear, nodding respectfully past him and out the door.

“See you later,” Kent said kissing her cheek and following the rest of the staff out the door behind him until they were left alone. Instead of stopping Kent, whom he had been looking for, he let him pass and stared at Kate.

She frowned at him. “Aren’t we intimidating?”

He shrugged. “What can I say?” He leaned forward. “I am a Caliendo.”

She nodded in agreement and pursed her lips. “The name is a bit terrifying. But I think they would be able to differentiate all that is you from all that was him.”

He shrugged. He liked that she knew the name had nothing to do with the person attached to it. Him. “In time. Are you leaving?”

She nodded. “Yes, I am. All packed and ready to head out.”

“I will walk you.” He held his arm out and she linked hers in with a quite
thank you.

Abandoning his duties for the moment, he walked her to her car in the underground parking.

She unlocked her car and pulled the door open but didn’t climb in right away. He noticed she squeezed in beside the door though, putting a barrier between them. “The resort looks good. A lot has changed since I was here last.”

“Thank you.”

She nodded and that awkward silence adamant on scuffling between them returned. “It was nice seeing you.”

“It was nice bumping into you.” She flushed as was his intention.

“It was interesting,” she said.

He shrugged. “I’m going to stick with nice.”

A smile curved her red lips. “Alright, you do that.”

He leaned over the top frame of the door and kissed her cheek. “And you take care of your knee,” he whispered.

“I will.”

Reluctantly, he tore away and she practically dived into her car. He waved as she drove away. He didn’t like the unsettling feeling deep in his gut, that he was letting her go again. Just like six years ago, she’d made it clear that she didn’t want to stay.

The next morning Kate had been enjoying the aroma of Abby’s soap while sitting alone in the sunroom embracing her first coffee. She was used of spending her morning alone, so she was alright with Abby’s lazy morning routine: staying in bed and calling lunch breakfast.

It was short lived when she heard the front door open and Sydney’s voice yell out, “Kate!”

She looked at her one-third finished coffee and knew that wasn’t nearly enough to make her function properly.

She wanted to ignore her sister but she called out, “In here.”

Sydney appeared in the doorway looking exceptionally wide-eyed for just past seven. “I tried calling your cell like a dozen times.” Kate had turned it off to avoid texts from Derek. “I tried calling here. Why didn’t you answer?” She looked on the edge of frantic.

Kate shrugged. “The phone didn’t ring. What’s going on?”

“It’s Abby.”

“Abby? Abby’s still sleeping.”

Sydney crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Really? That’s funny since she didn’t come home last night.”

How would her sister know that? Kate reluctantly set her coffee down missing the heat on her hands as she banged on Abby’s bedroom door. “Abby,” she called. She knocked again. “Abby.” When there was no reply Kate opened the door and found an unmade bed but no Abby. Oh no.

“She’s gone,” her sister said from the end of the hall.

“What do you mean she’s gone?”

“Jake called me last night. After she was done with her shift she met up with a wild crowd hanging there. This is not a good crowd. When I got there and went to talk to Abby the guys started to get a little out of control. Jake stepped in and he got in a fight with one of the guys.”

Kate gasped. “Syd, is he alright?”

“Yes, but Abby didn’t stick around and ended up leaving with that Riley guy. I’m not sure about him Kate. I mean Jake says he’s a nice enough guy, but honestly where did he come from? Who is he? What is he running from? Sorry, but I just don’t trust him and Abby right now is kind of all over the place. She goes to work one day, skips the next”

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“I assumed he was taking her home.”

“But he didn’t?”

“Of course not,” Sydney practically screamed. She had grown so much taking on a motherly side to her Kate wasn’t used of seeing. “She’s not in there. She took off with Riley up to the Crystal Hotel.”

“How do you know that’s where she is? And that she’s even with Riley?”

“Mrs. Calvert, how else?”

Kate found her purse and began rustling around inside for her cell. “Did you call her and try to talk some sense into her?”

“Of course I tried, but she didn’t answer and honestly I’m worried. Abby hasn’t been herself and who knows what that tattoo biker can persuade her to do. What if he’s in a cult and he’s been trying to pull some innocent blood in?” First of all, Kate didn’t think Abby was really
that
innocent? Second, that sounded crazy, just like her sister. Third, this was way too much to deal with first thing in the morning. She needed to talk to Abby and go from there.

“Let’s calm down.”

“Calm down, oh my gosh, one day this is going to be Haylee with some, probably murderous, biker guy and I’m going to be alone chasing her around.” Sydney started pacing back and forth in the kitchen getting under Kate’s skin.

Kate rolled her eyes. Haylee was nothing like Abby.  Haylee was nothing like any of them. She was sweet, kind, nice, and book smart. She was innocent in all meanings of the term. Her mother, on the other hand, sounded like a crazy lunatic. And her jumpy body was starting to resemble one.

“We need to go get her.”

“We need to call her.”

“You go ahead and call her. Tell me how that goes. In the meantime I am calling Peyton.” She pulled her cell phone out of her back pocket and was already dialling. Kate was annoyed she still hadn’t found her cell phone. “And telling her the situation. Take your week off work Kate because we are going up there whether you like it or not.”

“I’m going to try calling her first.” As soon as she located her cell. She glanced around the kitchen. Where was Gran’s phone?

“They are on a bike,” she snapped. “They drove down on a motorcycle. Do you understand? He is going to kill our sister in this nasty weather. Have you watched the weather up north, huh, have you? There is snow piling up everywhere and you’re just going to let our youngest sister die alone with a biker!”

“Sydney, slow down.”

“Don’t make me call the twin.” Because Avery was going to be so much help from whichever town he was strumming a guitar in.

Kate looked up at her sister who was going to have an aneurysm at this rate. She wasn’t about to hop on a plane and go home. So what was a snowy drive up North to rescue her youngest sister from the cult grips of a murderous biker?

“Alright, you call Peyton and let’s go get Abby.”