Page 62 of Take This Heart
“I bet Dad loved this idea too.”
“He did,” Camden says, grinning. “I’m excited about it too. I just need to hire a few more people to make things run smoothly without me in Colorado. I’ve had one excellent hire since I was here the last time, but I need a few more. Then I can sell my house and be here full-time. I’m ready. I don’t want to miss out on any of this.”
Goldie hugs him. “When Dad first started talking about it, I couldn’t imagine it really happening—that we’d all be here, building something amazing together—but now that I’ve been here a while, I’m seeing it, and I can’t wait.”
He pulls away and looks down at her, still holding onto her arms. “I know what you mean. I hate the reason we’re all making our way back home, but I love what’s coming out of it. I think this place is going to be really special.”
Goldie glances over at me and sighs, like she’s just remembered I’m here and isn’t happy about it. She looks exhausted. It’s a heavy load she’s been carrying, with her dad being sick, this massive project, and the baggage that her asshole ex has left her with.
And the bomb I’ve dropped on her, right as her walls were coming down with me.
I want to make her load a little lighter from here on out. I don’t know how to do that exactly, but I’m going to try.
“You know what?” Goldie says. “It’s time we come upwith a name soon. Nearly everything else is coming together, but we’re still missing that. I think we should do a FaceTime tonight and have everyone throw in their suggestions.”
The intensity in the Whitman household is higher than some design meetings I’ve had with billion-dollar stakeholders. Camden is standing in front of a whiteboard. Tully’s sprawled on the floor with a bowl of pretzels, throwing them in the air and catching them in his mouth. Goldie is bouncing on the couch next to Kevin, who’s curled up on top of a throw pillow. Everett is in his chair sipping tea, calmly watching his kids yell over one another.
Dylan and Noah are propped in the middle of the coffee table via FaceTime, both squinting into their screens.
Grayson pops his head into Noah’s shot, all nostrils. “Hi!” he yells.
“Hi, buddy,” Goldie says, laughing and waving. “Looking good.”
“Hi, auntie!” He holds up a rock and Goldie hums.
“Ooo, you found a good one,” she says.
“Can everyone hear me?” Dylan shouts.
“Loud and disturbingly clear,” Goldie mutters. “Okay, focus, everyone. We’re naming the resort tonight.”
“I submit The House of Kevin,” Tully says, without looking up.
Kevin stretches his little paws out like he agrees to that.
“No,” Goldie says. She reaches over and pets Kevin apologetically. “I love you, but no.”
“North of North?” Everett says.
“That’s a show on Netflix,” Goldie says.
“Really? Gosh darn. I thought I was being really creative,” he says.
“I’ve got it,” Tully says. “Moose N Us.”
Grandma Nancy cackles at that and Tully looks around proudly.
“No,” Camden and Goldie say at the same time.
Tully’s eyes narrow. “You’re supposed to always agree with me,” he tells Goldie. “I’m your twin, not him.”
“Well then, act like it,” she sasses back. She holds up her hand. “Oh…I thought of one. The Windy Shore.”
Everyone’s quiet and then Everett nods. “I like it. A nod to the town and the water that we all live for around here.”
“All right,” Camden says, writing it down. “So far we have…”
He starts writing on the whiteboard and talking at the same time.
