Piper Rayne
Cleo
Phil gives Bridget a hug as my mom and I embrace, then we switch partners before we watch our parents walk onto the tarmac, out to the plane, and up the stairs.
Neither of them gives us a look back or one last wave. Not that I’m surprised.
When I went to college, I was put on a plane with a suitcase and a promise that my stuff would be delivered the next day.
I arrived on campus and watched everyone’s parents crying, the moms clinging to their children until the last possible second, while I pretended I was the lucky one because mine hadn’t come.
“Just us now!” Bridget slides her arm through mine like she always does, and we watch the engines start and the plane roll down the runway. “Daddy said I can stay as long as I want.”
Truth is, I’m not sure how long I want Bridget here. I like to do things on my own, whereas Bridget likes people to do things for her.
“Let’s go back to the hotel and do a spa treatment and order room service.” Her eyes are already rolling back into her head and her voice lowering to a whisper as if she just dipped into the warm water.
“I have to go to my dad’s. We can stay there.”
Her arm slides out of mine. “I’m not staying there.”
“Why not?” My forehead wrinkles.
“How do you even have to ask that question? It’s dark and dirty and messy and just no.”
I try not to get my back up. My dad and I weren’t overly close, but I’m still dealing with the loss of him and her comment comes off as insensitive.
“And to think people say you’re snobby,” I say as we climb into the Uber I called for.
“I’m not snobby.”
I say nothing because we don’t lie to one another. Plus, I have bigger things to worry about right now.
Bridget leans forward to tell the Uber driver, “Glacier Point Resort in Lake Starlight.”
“He knows. I had to tell him when I put it in the app.”
Bridget smiles widely at the guy.
“Sure thing. I’m from Lake Starlight, so no worries,” he says. I look at the guy’s security uniform, and he catches me doing so in the rearview mirror. “Security at the airport and an Uber driver.
“I’m sorry about your father, Cleo.” He turns in his seat and puts out his hand. “Duke Thompson.”
I shake his hand. He could’ve gotten my name from the Uber app, but he would’ve had to know my dad to know about me.
“How do you know about her father?” Bridget asks.
Duke chuckles. “Your dad never told you?”
“Told me what?”
He pulls away from the curb, but we immediately stop at a light. “Buzz Wheel. There’s an online blog that reports the town news. You and Denver Bailey are gonna run Lifetime Adventures together, huh? My bet was on Denver, but—”
“I’m sorry, what is Buzz Wheel?” Bridget looks as if we asked her to go work in a fast food joint. Her small nose crinkles in my direction and she mouths Buzz Wheel to me.
Duke passes his phone to us, and Bridget snatches it before I can. She laughs and turns the phone to me.
“You’re famous, sis,” she says.
I take the phone from her hand, and sure enough, there’s a picture of Denver Bailey and me. Actually, I’m on my ass on the sidewalk and Denver is looking like a saint, holding out his hand for me.
Great first impression.
I start to read the article to myself, but Bridget grabs the phone back. “Let me read it. To practice for the weather girl job.”
I suppress my eye roll. Bridget called in a favor with her dad and is going to be interviewed for the weekend weather girl down at a Texas news station.
She clears her throat. “‘No surprise that Denver Bailey would run to a woman in distress.’”
“Distress? I wasn’t in distress.”
Bridget nods. “Definitely not in distress.” She glances from me to the phone, asking for permission to continue. “‘But the fact that the woman is the late Chip Dawson’s estranged daughter—’”
“Estranged? I wasn’t estranged. I’ve been up here. Just because I don’t attend the stupid Founder’s Day parade—”
Bridget puts her hand on my thigh to stop me. It’s then that I notice my heartbeat is at max pace.
“Go ahead,” I say.
“Okay, I’m going to start at the beginning. Try not to interrupt, you’re ruining my flow.”
I roll my eyes and nod, watching the snowbanks at the side of the road whizz by.
She clears her throat again. “‘No surprise that Denver Bailey would run to a woman in distress.
“But the fact that the woman is the late Chip Dawson’s estranged daughter, who just inherited all of Chip’s assets, is the surprise.
“Rumors spread while Chip was ill that these two don’t see eye-to-eye.
“No one really knows why there’s so much tension between Cleo and Denver, and more rumors have spread around town today that the two of them are now business partners.
“Chip left each of them fifty percent of Lifetime Adventures.
“‘I think I speak for all of us when I say that it will be interesting to see how it plays out.
“Denver Bailey, who can’t commit to a goldfish, and a woman who hasn’t a clue how to dress for an Alaskan winter and probably shouldn’t be the leading authority on how to survive it.
“At least we know one thing—it will be entertaining to watch these two from afar.
“‘I do wish them luck. We lost Chip Dawson too soon, so the fact that his company will live on can give us all comfort.
“‘In other news, there must be something in the Bailey genes, because pictures were snapped of Savannah Bailey and Liam Kelly making out outside his tattoo shop the other night.
“As lifers of Lake Starlight, they should know that even at one in the morning, there are eyes everywhere.’”
Bridget hands the phone back to Duke but quickly pulls up the site on her own phone. “Savannah and Liam sound like my kind of people.” She leans back into her seat and studies the screen for a moment.
“I want to make it in there.” She squeezes her head between the two front seats. “How do I get mentioned in there?”
Duke laughs. “Most people don’t want to be mentioned in there.”
“Oh, Bridget thinks the Kardashians are goals,” I say.
Duke laughs again. “Don’t worry, Cleo. It’s only up for twenty-four hours, then it disappears and a new one is put up.”
“Thank God,” I say. “At least there’s a small silver lining.”
“I hate when you say that,” Bridget says.
“I don’t care.”
“You always look at the bad side of everything. Your dad died. That does suck.” Her hand finds my leg again and she squeezes. “But he left you his company.”
“Half.”
“Half with a hot guy who owns the other half.”
I blow out a breath. She doesn’t understand. She has her trust fund.
“I mean, you’re the baddest bitch I know. Come on. Stop moping. Who the hell cares about this Buzz Wheel thing?” Bridget asks.
“You seem to care.” I look at her and raise an eyebrow.
She shrugs. “You know what I mean. Go in there and show that Denver Bailey who’s boss.”
Bridget’s little pep talk has me feeling hopeful for the first time today.
“Be done with the negativity. It doesn’t make up for losing your dad, but he obviously thought you could do this.
“We’re going to spend the rest of the day relaxing at the spa, and you’re going to wake up tomorrow ready to win this war.”
Duke’s gaze pings from me to Bridget and back to me, a small smile tipping his lips.
“How? He has the survival and piloting skills I don’t.”
“Remember that time we went camping?” Bridget asks. “With everyone after we graduated?”
“You mean when you and Miguel rented an RV for all of us to ‘camp’ in?”
“Yeah, and we only had that one bathroom and shower for all of us?” Her body shakes a little as though she has the heebie-jeebies. “You’re the one who started our fire.”
“With a match,” I deadpan.
Duke swerves a bit on the road from laughing so hard.
“And when we got lost after Miguel wanted to try hiking because he’d just bought all that new North Face gear?”
“What about it?”
She nudges me. “You got us out of there.”
She has a point but being a survivalist for eight spoiled rich kids isn’t the same as being dropped somewhere deep in the woods and finding your way out.
I’m not even sure I’d want to get on those small planes. “I don’t know the first thing about—”
Her hand covers my mouth. “That sounded like negativity to me.”
I yank my face away from her hand. “It’s the truth—” She pinches my arm. “Ouch!”
“Every time you say you can’t, I’m going to pinch you.”
“That’s abuse.”
She shakes her head and her auburn hair swings side to side. It always looks as though she’s had it professionally done every day. “No, it’s sisterly love.”
“Technically, you’re not my sister.”
Her lips turn down and she pinches me again.
“Damn it!” I put my hand on my arm. “Stop it.”
“I’ll stop it after you start finding the positivity in this situation. You got this, and I’m going to stay here as long as it takes.”
I smile at the best thing that came from my mom deciding her life’s mission was to marry rich. “Love you,” I say with tears in my eyes—everything from the past week catching up with me.
She lays her head on my shoulder. “Love you back.”
We’re quiet for the rest of the ride to the resort.
I love Bridget and her rah-rah cheerleader attitude, but Bridget can stay on Daddy’s dime as long as she wants.
We might’ve grown up together, but we live different lives and sometimes she forgets that I don’t have a safety net. Especially since my dad just died.