Addy awoke tangled in Remington’s arms, to the sound of someone tapping lightly at the door.

She extricated herself gently, draped a blanket over her shoulders and opened up.

An envelope that must have been stuck to the door fluttered to the floor.

Addy bent to retrieve it and saw Honey heading away.

“Honey,” she whispered.

“Hey, Addy,” Honey said, turning and coming back. “I hope I didn’t wake you. I just thought you might want your phone back. The guys who repaired the pipe found it. Your mom’s been calling again.”

Honey slipped Addy’s phone out of her pocket and handed it over as well as a reusable shopping bag.

“Come in for a minute,” Addy said.

Remington was up, another blanket wrapped around his waist. He looked like a Greek god. Addy’s mouth began to water at the thought of him.

“Hello, Honey,” he said in a pleased way.

“Oh, geez,” Honey said. “Sorry to interrupt.”

“Not at all,” Remington said. “We are very glad to see you. I’ll be right back.”

He headed to the bathroom, ostensibly to get some clothes back on.

Addy was glad. She would not be able to concentrate on her friend with him walking around with nothing but a blanket slung around his hips.

“You okay?” Honey asked. But she was grinning in a knowing way.

“Uh, yeah,” Addy grinned back. “I’m okay.”

“So you guys are doing this for real?”

“Yeah,” Addy said, her eyes on the bathroom door, and her mind on the man behind it. “We are.”

“Good,” Honey said. “You’re going to need him. You guys are perfect for each other.”

“I think so too,” Addy agreed.

“There are clothes for you in that bag,” Honey said.

“Awesome,” Addy said. “I pretty much ruined my Floatillion gown.”

“Dang,” Honey teased. “What are you going to wear if you get invited to another Floatillion?”

Addy laughed as she pulled on some underwear, a pair of shorts and an old Maxwell’s t-shirt.

Then she slipped her phone out of her bag.

There were two missed calls from her mom.

And one text message.

Mom:

Addy, check your email.

She opened her email, fingers almost shaking.

Oh Addy,

I know you’re good at reading between the lines and you surely knew what I meant when I put that message in your birthday card, but I was worried anyway because I’m your mother.

I know you and I don’t talk about your dating life, but your dad and I wanted you to go to Maxwell’s every year, not just to let your hair down, but to meet people. We met each other at Maxwell’s when we were about your age.

I love you so much, Addy. And though it’s not the way I expected to find out you’ve met someone, it made me so happy when Carol Emery sent me a link to the video that’s going around of you with your young man. I hope I’ll get to meet him the next time I visit you.

With a young man like that, I won’t have to worry that your life lacks adventure!

Sorry to put this in an email, but I didn’t want you to see missed calls and get worried. Love you, Doc!

Love,

Mom

Addy stared at the screen, amazed.

She was deeply relieved to know that her mom was happy for her. Suddenly the message in the birthday card meant something far different…

May this year be filled with success of EVERY kind!

But what could she possibly mean about seeing Addy in a video?

“Everything okay?” asked Honey.

There was another knock on the door.

“Wow, we’re popular,” Addy said, going to answer it.

Remington stepped out of the bathroom just as she opened the door to the hall.

Kitt, Indiana and Nikki came inside.

“We have a problem,” Nikki said, closing the door behind her.

They all sat on the big bed.

“Someone didn’t evacuate last night,” Nikki said.

“Okay,” Addy said.

“Instead, they stuck around and made a video with their phone,” Nikki continued.

“Oh no,” Addy breathed.

Remington covered her hand with his. “What does this mean?”

“They took a video of you going into the water to stop the gas line,” Nikki said. “And they kept it running until you finally came out of the water again- more than twenty minutes later.”

There was silence.

“And naturally they put it online. And with you being a big hunky guy and all,” Nikki said, “it didn’t take long for the general public to start throwing around the Aerie angle.”

“No,” Honey moaned. “I promised Posey I would keep you hidden.”

“He saved lives, Honey,” Addy said sharply. “Surely Posey wouldn’t have wanted everyone on this place to explode just to keep him hidden.”

“You’re right,” Honey said.

“Here’s what we all need to know,” Nikki said. “The press is about to descend on this place. The public is about to descend on this place. Maxwell’s resort has just gone from a family vacation spot to the center of a media circus. And we all need to be prepared.”

There was another knock on the door.

Addy answered it.

She was surprised to see the founder of Maxwell’s, Mr. Abrams, on the other side.

He ran a hand through his white hair and sighed.

“Addy, may I come in?”

“Of course, Mr. Abrams,” she said immediately. “We were just getting ready to clear out of here. I hope you didn’t need the room for a guest.”

He shook his head and pulled out the single chair from the corner.

“May I?”

“Of course,” Addy said.

“I opened this place when I was a young man,” Abrams said with a smile. “And I love it like it was a child.”

Addy nodded, she knew he did. She loved it that way too.

“You and your friends saved my home yesterday, Adelaide,” he said. “Twice.”

“It was our pleasure,” she replied, relieved that they weren’t in trouble.

“Now I understand this young man is in a bit of a pickle,” he said. “You’re someplace you’re not supposed to be. Is that right, son?”

The three men glanced at each other.

“Yes, sir,” Remington said. “That’s correct.”

“Well, you’ve helped me, so I’m going to help you,” Mr. Abrams said. “The guest roster to this resort is officially closed. Anyone who wasn’t already booked isn’t getting in. We will allow no press on the grounds. Guests will be asked not to use their cell phones to make pictures or videos. We will do all we can to help you lay low until you sort this out.”

“Thank you, Mr. Abrams,” Addy breathed.

“Meanwhile, I think my nephew Jonah may be of some help to you,” Mr. Abrams continued. “He’s a big fellow and good looking. He’s coming in tonight and will be reporting for duty on the wait staff tomorrow. He knows he’s here to help you throw ‘em off track. Make good use of him. He’s a good boy - theater major, so he can do whatever you need him to do.”

He was going to make his nephew pretend to be an alien.

“Thank you, Mr. Abrams,” Addy said, overwhelmed. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t say anything, my dear,” Mr. Abrams said, his voice a little choked. “The important thing is that you knew what to do when things went sideways. So I’m not about to let you down when you need help. We’ll distract the press until they lose interest and then you can figure out what to do afterward.

“Now, don’t go anywhere too quick. I’ll have ‘em send a good breakfast up. But once you go back to work this afternoon, you’ll have to pretend things are the same as they were before, or our little ruse won’t work. Got it?”

“Yes, sir,” Remington said, standing and shaking the older man’s hand. “Thank you.”

Abrams smiled warmly, and then let himself out.

“Okay,” Addy said. “Okay.”

She found herself unable to say anything more.

Remington knelt before her.

“It really is okay, Addy,” he said. “We’re a good team. We can do this.”

She looked around at her friends, all those smiling faces of the people she loved and trusted, and suddenly she saw their predicament for what it really was.

This unexpected turn of events wasn’t a tragedy.

It was an adventure.

And with Remington and her friends by her side, Addy figured she could get pretty good at adventuring.