Looking For The Words

Imagine this:

An upscale cottage in the middle of a forest in Vermont. It's surrounded by trees and, in the spring and summer, beautiful wildflowers. There's a ski mountain 5 minutes away for when it's winter and trails going throughout the mountains behind the lodge for long, or short, hikes in the summer. There's breakfast every morning no matter how late you wake up, and it's all owned and run by a family that's done so for the past fifty years.

Sounds like paradise, right?

Well, when you spend every day in paradise, it starts losing its appeal pretty quickly.

My family has owned and operated the Lanser Inn in southern Vermont for longer than I've been alive. My grandparents opened it right after they got married and ever since, it's been a popular destination for the independently wealthy who want to spend their summers or winters in a beautiful mountain setting.

I'm not going to say that I don't like living here. The mountains have become a sort of giant backyard for me and I got to spend all of my free time meeting some new and interesting people that come through the inn.

While a lot of them are just stuck up rich families who decided that going to the mountains would be a great way to occupy their child's time and show off to their friends, but every once in a while, someone came through that were incredibly interesting. Before his first trip to the Olympics, Shaun White passed through and gave me some snowboarding tips, even though I'm more of a skier.

So I've had a pretty good life, overall. And when it doesn't involve cleaning bathrooms, I love working at the inn. My family is incredibly supportive of me, through everything I've ever been through, and I couldn't ask for a better future that's already been set up for me.

I mean, I went to college. I enjoyed it a lot, and learned a lot there. But now I'm back home, with a degree in comparative literature, and ready to take over the inn from my parents. Some people say that this means I don't have any ambition, but I just think it means I love where I'm from and want to carry on my family's legacy.

"Everest!" my mom called from downstairs.

"Yeah?" I said, taking the stairs two at a time to get to where my mom was at the front desk.

"I need to go talk to the ski resort to figure out any deals we can work out for the next season. Can you run the books for a second? I got some new reservations today that need to go into the computer, and you know you're faster at that than I am, so can you do that for me while I'm gone?"

"Yeah, sure." I said. "Anyone interesting?"

"No." she said, but looked a little sheepish. "Just some regulars."

"Mom..." I said, letting her know that I knew that she was hiding something.

"I'll see you later." she said. "Don't freak out too much."

This cannot be good. I rushed over to the guest book the moment my mother stepped out the door and scanned down the list. My eyes reached the name that I knew my mother was the most worried about me seeing, and I swear to god I almost had a heart attack.

Carlyn - 2 rooms - king sized beds.