A few minutes later the two women came back to our table and sat down. They had the “well should we go?” look on their faces. Matt looked at them, saw the signal and said, “What do you say we go back to my house?"
"Sounds good," said Melinda and we all got up to leave. As we were walking out, I suggested they ride with us rather than drive because the roads were pretty slick from the snowstorm earlier in the day. They agreed and followed us to Matt's BMW. It only takes about 10 minutes to get back to Matt's house, but it's almost straight up the mountainside. Melinda and Cara sat in back and the whole way they couldn't stop talking about view.
"So this isn't Park City, is it?" said Melinda.
"Technically, no," Matt answered. "It's Deer Valley, but to everyone who’s not a local, it’s Park City."
As we rounded the next corner I pointed to a house on our right and said, "See that house? It's Steven Spielberg's."
"Really?!?!" the women said in unison. They craned their necks to see the house back in the trees.
"Yeah," Matt answered. He pointed to the next house, "Arnold Schwartznegger," he said in a perfect German accent. “Of course now, it’s Maria Shriver’s.” We all laughed. As we passed the next house he said, "Tom Hanks.” Then, “Paula Abdul, Joe Montana, and Tiger Woods," as we passed the next three houses.
"Wow," came from the back seat.
Finally Matt turned into a driveway and we rolled down his tree lined drive and into his five car garage. A green Range Rover, a silver Porsche 911 GT Turbo, and a white 2014 Maserati Ghibli took up three of the other spaces.
"This is where you live?" Melinda said.
"It is," said Matt matter-of-factly.
I saw Melinda and Cara look at each other. Melinda mouthed the words, 'what the fuck?' Cara just smiled. The garage door shut behind us and we walked into the house. It was massive and had the most incredible views of Park City. I sat at the breakfast bar and Matt rummaged through the fridge while the women walked through the house. About five minutes later they came back to the kitchen.
"Get lost?" I said sarcastically.
"Just about," Cara responded.
They set their purses down and joined me at the breakfast bar.
"Okay," I said. "I know you're wondering who Matt is and why he lives here, but he won't tell you so I will." The women looked at me expectantly. "You see his name isn't just Matt or Matthew. It's actually Maati and his last name is Machelin. His great, great grandfather was the founder of Nokia—as in Nokia mobile phones. He's one of the richest men in Finland." Matt gave me a dirty look for saying too much.
"Wow," Melinda said. You could almost see her calculating in her head the amount of money Matt must have.
"So what about you Chris," Cara said. "Where do you live?"
"Well," I said a bit chagrinned, "I actually live here too, but . . ."
Matt interrupted, "He's a permanent house guest. He’s my Nick Carraway."
They looked at us with blank stares. "You know, The Great Gatsby? . . . Robert Redford?" I said making reference to the movie instead of the book. Still there was no response.
"Nevermind," I said.
"So, ladies," Matt interjected, "as Chris said, I am from Finland. But I went to school in the US and have lived here most of my life, so although I consider myself as American as you, there is one Finnish tradition that I still live with everyday, and that's my sauna." He pronounced the word as "sow-nah" not "saw-nuh" like Americans say it.
"Sow-nah? What's that?" Melinda asked.
I jumped in. "It's the proper way of saying the word 'saw-nuh'," I said. "It's very traditional. All Finns have them."
Matt picked up from there and spent the next five minutes explaining the history and purpose of saunas and their importance in Finnish life. He concluded, "So if you like, I'd love to have you join us in the sauna." He looked at them carefully. "What do you think?"
"Sounds great," the women said in unison.
"Good,” Matt continued, “but there is one rule . . . " he paused for effect, "you can only go in naked... ..... ...."
Cara and Melinda looked at each other. Melinda didn't look too sure, but Cara said, "I'm in." And immediately got up. Reluctantly Melinda got up as well.
"Great," said Matt. "Follow me."
The three of us followed him down the hallway and out the back door. We went down a stone walkway to a wooded area at the back of his property. We turned a corner and there it was: a small building about the size of a one car garage. It was built of wood and stone. Matt pulled the door open and warm air hit us as we walked into the anteroom.
"Well here it is," he announced. He pointed to a door in front of us. "The sauna is in there, and the shower room is in there," he said pointing to another door. The anteroom also served as the changing room so he started undressing. Having become an expert myself, I knew the routine so I started to undress as well. This caught the women off guard, but although Melinda was a little hesitant, Cara wasn't. She started peeling off her clothes right away.
Finally all four of us were naked....