The Resort Read Online Free PDF

panic.
    Curtis followed his brother. He was just thankful that Ryan wasn’t there, that their younger brother was staying with their parents somewhere by the far shallow end of the pool. He clambered onto the concrete, wondering if he should find someone from the hotel and tell them or wait until he found his dad. He knew he shouldn’t start yelling; that would cause a panic.
    â€œWait a minute, you two!” David, laughing, was swimming after them. “Hold on!”
    Owen, already ten feet away, stopped. Curtis turned around.
    â€œIt’s not a dead body. It’s just a patch on the floor of the pool. What a bunch of pansies.”
    They looked again, and sure enough, from this vantage point, it was obvious that there was no body, that there’d been some sort of work done beneath the waterfall and the vaguely human shape was merely a replastering job.
    Curtis laughed, pretending to enjoy the joke, but the laugh was too forced. He knew what he’d seen, and when he looked into his brother’s eyes, he knew that Owen felt the same. There had been something there. At the moment they’d looked down into the water below them, they’d seen a form far more solid than the flat shape now on the pool floor and much more clearly defined.
    He would be dreaming about that figure tonight.
    They swam around for a while longer, but then David’s parents came to get him— Must be all fucked out, he muttered as they entered through the gate—and Curtis and Owen swam over to where their parents and Ryan had staked out several lounge chairs.
    â€œSo what are our plans for tomorrow?” their dad asked. “There’s a lot to see around here.” He held up the magazine he’d been reading, and Curtis saw that the cover story was “101 Things to Do in Tucson.”
    â€œWe’re tired of driving around,” Curtis said. He kicked his brother under the water.
    Owen nodded in agreement. “Yeah, why don’t we just stay around here? Swim and stuff.”
    â€œYeah, we’re tired of driving around,” Ryan whined.
    â€œSee?” Curtis said. “Even Ryan’s tired of it.”
    â€œIf we do stay,” their mother said, “you’re going to have to play with Ryan. No ditching him. No ignoring him. No teasing him.”
    â€œNo problem!” Curtis looked over at Owen, who grinned.
    â€œI’m tired of driving around, too,” their mother admitted.
    Their dad nodded. “All right, then. We’ll stay here. What the hey. We’re at an expensive resort. We might as well take advantage of it.”
    â€œYay!” Ryan said, bouncing in his chair.
    Curtis was about to make fun of his brother but thought the better of it and smiled at his parents. “Yay,” he said.

Three
    The meal was amazing. Almond-crusted catfish in lemon herb sauce with cayenne grilled vegetables and garlic mashed potatoes for him, mesquite-broiled chili-dusted chicken breast with chipotle rice, black beans and summer squash soup for her—and hot dogs for the kids.
    They didn’t go out very often, especially since Ryan had come along, and when they did, it was generally at a Mexican or Italian restaurant that was family friendly and noisy enough that their children didn’t disturb anyone. So the Saguaro Room was a real treat. They wouldn’t be able to afford it more than this once—it was homemade sandwiches in the room and burgers at the Grille for the rest of their stay—but Lowell was glad they’d come, and having such a fine meal in such a fine restaurant was almost enough to make him forget that the opening mixer of the reunion was going on at the same time.
    Almost.
    Rachel even took pictures of their dinner. It looked too beautiful to eat, she said, and she quickly reached into her purse, whipped out her trusty Canon Sure Shot and photographed the table so she’d be able to remember their foray into the world of