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“Yeah, pretty much. I knew my uncle wouldn’t approve if I told him about my quest, so I came up with the road trip. Though we did have a lot of fun traveling from coast to coast. But my main destination was always Hampton Cove.”

“How did you find out where your dad was?” asked Odelia, who gratefully accepted a cup of steaming hot coffee from Ted.

“That’s Ted again,” said Addie.

“I’m originally from around these parts,” said Ted, also taking a seat. “Only my family moved west a couple of years ago. But so back when I was a kid, I was hiking out here with a buddy from school when we discovered this old shack. When we glanced in through the window, suddenly there wasthis horrible face staring back at us. We immediately took off, scared out of our wits. And that always stuck with me. Especially because just before the guy’s face appeared, I’d seen a picture of the most beautiful girl in the world, pinned up on his wall.”

Addie smiled, and took the young man’s hand in hers.

“So many years later, when I met Addie in college, I thought there was something familiar about her. It took me a while to remember the picture, which is when I told her about the incident.”

“Which is why I had to come and see,” said Addie. “To find out if he was my dad. And he was.”

“Edward had made his billions, but had a nervous breakdown of some kind,” Ted explained. “He was in a real slump, and felt he needed to get away. To turn his back on his life and try to find himself again. So he ended up out here in the woods, and as months turned into years, he decided that he felt much better out here alone than back in the rat race of the corporate world he left behind.”

“So he left his daughter in his brother’s care?” asked Uncle Alec, who’d taken a very large chocolate chip cookie and was munching on it with visible relish.

“Not just his daughter. He left everything behind,” said Ted. “His house, his business, his investments—his whole life.”

“So you took your trip, and then you disappeared. Why?” asked Chase.

“Like I said, I knew my uncle wouldn’t approve,” said Addie. “I wanted to get to know my dad. Finding him again after all these years, it really means something to me. So I decided to stick around for a while. It was actually his idea to bury the RV, so we could live here. And Ted’s been going into town to get supplies, making sure he’s not recognized.”

“You’d be surprised what a wig and a fake beard can do,” said Ted with a grin.

“I wasn’t going to go off the grid for too long,” said Addie. “I don’t want my uncle to worry, or to suffer, but I did think I deserved this time with my dad.”

“This wasn’t a long-term plan,” said Ted. “Just a couple of weeks, tops.”

“Though I should have known my uncle would try and find us,” said Addie.

“He tried to be discreet about it,” said Odelia. “He didn’t want to attract too much attention to your disappearance.”

“He must have been worried, though. Oh, I feel so bad about this now.”

“There was no way he would have allowed you to live with your dad, sweetie,” said Ted.

“I know, but still. He’s been like a father to me all these years.” She gave us a weak smile. “I’ll go home soon, I promise. But these two weeks with my dad have been so important to me. And I really feel like we’ve established a genuine connection, you know. I mean, I can tell he’s not okay. I’m not a psychologist, but I figure my mother’s passing must have scarred him for life, and the stresses and pressures of his business didn’t help, and so when he finally had a breakdown, it was a major one, and he still hasn’t recovered. But I can also see that my presence has done him good. He seems better now than when we first arrived.”

“He really does, doesn’t he?” said Ted.

“Oh, absolutely. I think he might even be ready to meet his brother again.”

“I have to say I’m impressed,” said Uncle Alec, looking around at the RV’s interior. “How much do you think a setup like this would set me back?”

“You’re not thinking about buying an RV, are you, buddy?” asked Chase.

“Well, maybe not right now, but at some point, why not?” He smiled. “Charlene—that’s my girlfriend—has been trying to persuade me to go on holiday together. First time as a couple. And I’ve been holding off. But traveling in an RV like this? I can definitely see that happening. Betterthan to lie on a beach someplace.”

“You’d have to ask my uncle about the price,” said Addie. “But knowing him, he probably got the best RV money can buy.”

“I’ll bet he won’t be happy that they buried his nice RV,” said Dooley.

“They could have just parked nearby,” said Brutus. “Now they’ll have to dig it up again, and clean it.”

“I think they planned to stay here for much longer than Addie is letting on,” I ventured. “Months, maybe. Only now that we found her, she’ll have to change her plans.”

“Oh, well. It was nice while it lasted,” said Harriet, who was bored already. And I could totally see why: no pets, and so: no kibble!

Then again, what pet would live underground like this? Moles might like it, but not cats.