Kate walked in. She was wearing cutoff shorts and a quirky gray T-shirt printed with a giant bicycle that looked like it was parked on top of a tiny old-fashioned circus. The two large Ferris wheels from the circus below magically rose up and morphed into the bicycle wheels. PHERIS WHEELS, ATLANTA, GEORGIA was written underneath it.

Eby found herself studying Kate. She had a face that people liked to look at, just to figure it out. Pretty, yes, but not symmetrical, her eyes a little too wide, her nose a little too long. She was thin, but a thin that could only go so small, stopped by good muscle and big bones. All the women in their family had sturdy frames. They weren’t made to break, but most of them did anyway, blown down by that perfect storm called love.

“I saw that the number nine key was missing off the key wall, so I figured you were here,” Kate said. “I was just wondering about the inventory you said you wanted to do. I want to help all I can before we leave.”

“Thank you,” Eby said. She patted the dusty bed, and Kate crawled up and sat beside her.

“What are you doing in here?” Kate asked as she looked around the room.

“Thinking, mostly.”

“About what?”

“Lots of things. Today I was thinking about George. When we first bought the camp, we spent a year doing repairs. Then, when we were ready to open, George drove far and wide in every direction, leaving brochures anyplace a store owner would let him. The brochures had a photo of us on the front. Our first guests were unconventional—free spirits and hippies. We seemed to attract oddballs, and we didn’t know why. Don’t get me wrong. We loved it. But I’ll never forget the first summer Bulahdeen and her husband arrived. She said they chose Lost Lake because of the brochure. She said that she took one look at the photo of me and George and thought, I’m a misfit like them, so maybe I could be happy there, too.”

That made Kate laugh. “She was right. Misfits need a place to get away, too. All that trying to fit in is exhausting.”

Eby looked over at her great-niece. Her smile changed her entire face, widening her lips and crinkling her eyes. What was she doing here, hiding out with a bunch of old people? She should be moving on, living her life the way it was meant to be lived. She’d gotten through the hard part. Happiness now was inevitable, if she just let it happen. “You said you were in the middle of moving. Aren’t you in a hurry to go back to your new place?” Eby asked.

Kate’s smile faded. “It’s complicated.”

Eby waited.