The Late Buffet

Lily was brushing down the old wooden desk she used for check-ins when she heard the door open. When she looked up to great her customers, she saw Mrs. Barnschweigel. An older woman, probably in her late 50s, she was particular about her room and everything else. True to form, she headed for the desk and Lily suppressed a tiny sigh – she really didn’t have time for whatever manufactured crisis was coming her way, she had a group of new guests that were due to arrive any minute. But Lily knew the key to the success she had made of the small resort was word of mouth, most of her new customers were friends or family of old customers. She believed in treating all of her guests like family, even the difficult ones.

“Good morning, Lily.” Mrs. Barnschweigel called out as she strode across the room. The woman was louder than Lily liked, she ran a quiet establishment, just like her mother and her grandmother before her. Loud guests were frowned upon, but Mrs. B was a frequent guest and a surprisingly good tipper, so Lily never tried to shush the older woman.

Lily smiled faintly, “Mrs. Barnschweigel.” The older woman had never stated the courtesy, “Please, call me x” that most of Lily’s customers did; Lily thought of her as “Mrs. B”, but would never call her that to her face. Lily had the feeling that the woman liked feeling a little superior and enjoyed being called by her more formal title and would frown upon familiarity from “the help.”

“Lily,” here it comes, “can you send your maid up to my room again, dear? I know that this is a ‘rustic lodge’ but I really must insist that she redo the dusting. I woke up this morning with a frightful sore throat and I’m so allergic to dust.”

Lily knew it wasn’t the dust, Margarite, the housecleaner ensured that each room was spotless. Still, keep the customer happy, “Of course. I’ll send her up right away.”

“Thank you, dear.” Mrs. Barnschweigel had a weirdly formal, old-fashioned manner. Lily thought that the woman wasn’t older than 50, but she spoke as if she had been around in the 1920s. Lily suspected it was an affectation, designed to make her appear sophisticated. The woman wandered off, certain her wishes would be immediately acted upon.

Lily picked up the desk phone and called Margarite, “Hello, Margarite. I hate to ask this, but can you please visit room 213, Mrs. Barnschweigel’s room. She would like some extra dusting.”

Lily heard the door open again, just as she hung up the phone. This time, it was the group she had been expecting. Hikers that were planning on walking the small piece of the Appalachian Trail that ran just behind the lodge. They had reserved four rooms, doubles, and one single. The leader of the group, an older man with grey around his temples smiled as he walked toward the desk. Lily thought he was probably Native American; he had a chiseled bone structure and strong facial features. “Good morning. We’d like to check-in, the Swiftwater group. I’m Darren Swiftwater,” he gestured to the tiny woman by his side, “This is my wife, Siante.” Lily turned to greet the woman, but she was looking towards Mrs. B, her brow slightly wrinkled and her eyes narrowed.

Lily turned back to the man, “Mr. Swiftwater, welcome to the Royson Lodge. Your rooms are all ready, let me get the keys.”

Just then, Siante Swiftwater crossed the room towards Mrs. B. “Karen Oglesbee!” she cried out, and touched Mrs. B.’s arm. Mrs. B. turned with a start.

“Unhand me. You have mistaken me for someone else.” But Lily had seen a touch of panic and, maybe even fear cross Mrs. B.’s face. But those emotions were gone quickly. Now her face was like granite, all emotions erased, leaving only the imperial woman Lily had come to know over the years.

Siante wasn’t deterred. “Karen Oglesbee, I know it’s you. Where have you been all of these years? We thought you were dead.”

Everyone in the room had gone quiet as they watched the two women.

Mrs. B. took in a deep breath and drew herself up. “I said,” her voice deep and cold, “You have mistaken me for someone else.” She shrugged her shoulders tightly and left the room.

Lily turned to Darren Swiftwater, he was standing as still as a mouse caught in an eagle’s sight. He stared at the door Mrs. B. had departed through. His warm brown face had gone pale and his mouth fell open as if to call Mrs. B. back. His wife turned to him, and as she saw his face hers contorted into something ugly, then smoothed out. She came to him and rubbed his arm, “It’s okay honey, I think I was mistaken.”

Lily checked in the rest of the guests without incident and they left the lobby to go to their rooms.

Mrs. Barnschweigel leaned her back against the door to her room. Siante Bravebird and Darren Swiftwater, after all these years? The lodge was 2,000 miles from the small town that they had all grown up in. She couldn’t believe her bad luck in finding them here. She had cut all ties to her home town, to her life, when she left high school. She had even legally changed her name from Karen Oglesbee to Karina Del Mar. She’d always thought it a little ironic that after losing her ugly last name, she married a man with an even uglier last name. After he died, she’d considered changing it back to Del Mar but she enjoyed the status that came with her husband’s name. She’d done a lot to earn it, it was hers. She wasn’t Karen Oglesbee or Karina Del Mar anymore. She wasn’t sure who that made her now because she didn’t feel like Karina Barnschweigel either.

Karina considered leaving the lodge early, but the two weeks she spent here every year was the only genuinely free time she had. The rest of the year was caught up in fundraisers and board meetings. Once Harold had died, it was up to her to keep the foundation running. It was a job she excelled at, she loved. But it took so much of her time and energy that she needed the down time she had at the lodge. Even her staff knew not to contact her when she was on vacation. She wasn’t going to allow people from her past to disrupt it either. She would just avoid them, and if she saw them keep up her “it isn’t me” stance.

Karina quickly decided to order room service, not wanting to chance running into Darren or Siante but was aggravated to find out the lodge didn’t offer room service. She was informed that they had a buffet style dinner and breakfast, and bagged lunches – as most of the guests were mountaineers and hikers and left the lodge for the day. Of course, she had known this but was so rattled she forgot. She decided to wait until the outer edge of the time allotted for dinner, in hopes of avoiding her old ‘friends’. It wasn’t really an inconvenience; Harold had liked to eat later than most and she was used to staying up late and then sleeping in

Around 8:45 pm, Karina left her room and went down to the dining room. She carefully peeked into the room and was pleased to see it was empty. Karina approached the buffet, happy to see her plan had worked but a voice behind her made her realize it had not, after all.

“Hello, Karen.” Said the deep voice from her past. Karen shuddered a little, her body remembering the man. “Don’t bother to deny it. I know it’s you.”

Karina turned around, lifting her nose slightly. “I go by Karina now,” stiffly, not allowing herself to soften.

Darren’s lips turned up slightly at the corners. “Karina, then. How have you been??

“Did you really stalk me to engage in small talk?”

Darren blew out an outraged laugh, “I’m not stalking you, Karina.” He shook his head, his chin tightening in frustration. “I just needed some answers.”

“I don’t have to answer your questions, Darren.”

Darren reached out and took one of Karina’s hands. “Please.”

Karina softened as she saw Darren’s eyes droop in old remembered pain. She knew she was responsible for that pain, for more than he knew.

“Fine. Come sit with me.” The couple went over to one of the small tables by the large window. Karina sat for a long moment, thinking. How much should I tell him?

Darren sat watching Karina’s face, she was struggling with exactly how much truth to give him but he wouldn’t settle for less than all of it. He reached out again, asking simply, “Why did you leave?”

Karina tightened her jaw and looked directly at Darren, “Because your mother paid me to.”

Darren dropped her hand as if he had been burned. “What are you talking about?” He knew his mother didn’t have any money, back then they’d been living on the reservation. They were poor, on the verge of poverty.

“To be fair, she got the money from my mother. Neither family wanted us to be together so our mothers made sure we wouldn’t be.”

“But why would you agree? I loved you, I thought you loved me.”

“I did love you. But you couldn’t take care of me.” Darren’s eyes widened at her words; she knew she was hurting him but he did deserve to know. She’d been as wrong as their mothers all those years ago. At the least, she owed him honesty now; as much honesty as she could afford, anyway. “I was pregnant. My mother was going to kick me out, you and your family lived on the reservation. You didn’t even graduate high school. I knew you couldn’t take care of us, so I took the money and left.”

“Oh my god.” Darren sat still, but emotions skittered over his face. Finally, he looked up at her. “Did you…?”

Karina shook her head, “I had the baby. I gave her up for adoption. Then I took the rest of the money and put it toward tuition. I went on with my life, just like you did.” She hoped the one little lie amongst the larger truths was enough to get him to leave her alone.

“No. No, you didn’t give her up.” Darren’s eyes narrowed as he watched her face. “Even after all these years, I remember how you lie.”

Karina stood up, her voice shook, “You don’t get to tell me how you remember anything. You are married, you have your life exactly what you and your mother wanted.” That last night, Darren’s mother had told her that Darren would marry Siante. He would stay on the reservation and raise his children the way generations of his Native American family had done. She’d obviously been right.

“That’s not what I wanted.” Darren’s eyes blazed hot, “I wanted to marry you, I asked you to marry me.”

Karina shook her head, not wanting to remember, “Yet, in the long run you married the woman your mother picked out for you. Go home with her, be happy. Take care of your wife, your children.”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but Siante and I were never able to have children.”

Karina closed her eyes for a moment. “I’m sorry.” She knew how much he’d wanted children; he’d talked about it even when they were just high school sweethearts.

“I want to see my daughter.”

Karina and Darren locked eyes, she remembered the first time she saw him – long, silky hair even shinier than hers. She was only five years-old, but she fell in love at first sight. She took his hand then and said they’d be best friends. And they had been best friends right up until the night she betrayed that friendship. Karina sighed and took out her phone.

“Dari, there’s someone I want you to meet.”