Page 28 of Staying for You

Making the decision to not have radios or televisions in the cabins was easy for me, but Harry’s family assured me it would be the death of the resort. They assured me that families needed the connection and something to fill their time with like watching TV at night. But I’d made a promise to Harry and I had every intention of keeping it.

Call me stubborn, but I’m holding on to the idea that families haven’t changed as much as society would like us to believe. Kids still want to spend time outside and in nature, falling asleep at night because they’re exhausted from all that they’ve done throughout the day rather than staring at a screen. Parents still want the connection with their children rather than their phones and email and everything that’s pulling their attention.

So far, Harry’s family has been wrong and I couldn’t be happier over that. After Cami told me last night how glad she was that she wasn’t distracted by watching a movie or binging on a television show so she could watch the snow drift and swirl in the night sky, I was thankful that Harry and I stuck to our instincts and didn’t cave to society’s new standards of what makes for a good vacation.

Cami was right. Itwaspeaceful. After I put the kids to bed last night, I sat by the crackling fire, staring out the window rather than turning on the television that I felt like a hypocrite for having in my home and had never felt more relaxed or at ease.

The moonlight shined down on the lake, casting a glow that I’d honestly never paid attention to with as much of an open mind as I did last night. Snowflakes spun and whirled with the wind. And the world was quiet around me. My mind spun, not being able to shut off. But for once, I didn’t mind. I was able to think about my thirty-five years on this earth and what I want for the rest of it. Was I truly happy here? Alone aside from when family or guests arrive? Only leaving The Escape once or twice a year to visit family around holidays? I love the privacy my resort provides me and being a part of something that many places no longer provide for someone looking to get away from it all.

But still, it’s not lost on me that I’ve kept myself closed off from everyone but family for so many years. I didn’t even realize I was doing it until my family and friends started getting married, moving on with their lives rather than staying in the same place like I’ve been doing.

I loved — still love — everything about my life. Not forming attachments was easy because everyone I met was only here for a short time and I’ve just honestly never been a relationship type of guy.

“Owen?” I hear come through the walkie talkie.

The kids and I are still in pajamas, taking it easy this morning. I know I need to get outside and shovel and blade the snow to make a path for everyone to get here but I haven’t quite figured out how to accomplish that with the kids here. Instead of worrying over it, we’ve been chilling, playing, and watching some DVD that my sister packed for Brody.

“Morning, Cami,” I say into the little speaker, releasing the button after I spoke into it.

She doesn’t reply for a few seconds so I call her name again.

“Sorry. I uh, did their parents make it in?”

“No. They’ll be here in a few hours.”

“Do they drive snow plows, by chance?” she says with a laugh in her voice.

I grin, imagining her looking out the window, doubting any possible way for a car to make it through the foot of snow that’s settled on the ground.

“No, they don’t.”

“Well, that should be interesting,” she quips.

“I’ll go out in a little bit and blade a path. No worries.”

“With the kids?”

Yeah. That was my fear also. I don’t have a blade that hooks up to my pickup — it’s on a utility tractor and I can’t necessarily blade when I have two babies sitting on my lap.

“I’ll figure it out,” I assure her, looking at the two little munchkins and wondering if I could somehow get Brody to take a morning nap along with Issy and just keep the baby monitor with me.

“Want me to come up and sit with them?”

No.

Actually, yes. It’s just that I’ve lived up here for ten years doing everything on my own and I don’t like leaning on anyone else for help with anything.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I know I don’t,” she says and it sounds like she’s breathing a little heavy. “I offered, though.”

Issy starts crying and I look down to see Brody sitting next to her, staring up at me with innocent eyes. I’ve seen him bop her on the head and her do the same to him. He, however, never cries. Just scrunches his eyes at her. She, however, is full of drama and makes sure everyone knows that her favorite little person in the world did something that ticked her off.

I put the walkie talkie down and lift her onto my lap. She cuddles against my chest and I pop her pacifier into her mouth. She sighs through her cries, settling in, happy to be noticed. “Did you hurt your cousin, Brody?”

He just stares up at me for a moment before resuming his play with some blocks. I’m sure she picked one of the blocks off his stack and he made sure to let her know that he wasn’t okay with it.

“You gotta be nice, okay?”

---