Page 46 of Luke

He was still surprised his father had never made a trip to the resort after he bought it. He'd obviously had a lot of complicated feelings about the place, and now he'd left Luke to deal with it all. It was strange; he'd never owned anything big except a car, and he'd bought that used. He rented his apartment, his studio time, and a lot of his equipment. He'd never had a deed with his name on it until now, and he just didn't know what to do with it.

"Are you going in the water?" Brad asked, changing the subject.

"I don't think so."

"I'm going to help the Harrisons get some pictures."

He nodded as Brad walked over to Mrs. Harrison and her daughter, who were trying to take a selfie.

He turned his head, seeing Lizzie caught up in conversation with the couple from the UK. She might not have been trained to run a lodge or be a hotel manager, but her friendly warmth made her the perfect hostess. She'd definitely embraced her new life, and he respected that. It couldn't have been easy to give up her dreams, not to mention losing the closest person to her—Kelly. He doubted she'd even had time to really absorb that loss. Kaitlyn's needs had taken all of her focus.

As he looked around the pool, he noticed that the Harrison boys had left the water, put on their shoes, and were moving toward the next trailhead, which would take them onto a much more advanced and treacherous climb toward Last Chance Rock. Brad had made it clear that the hike was ending at these falls, that the trail beyond was narrow, slippery and incredibly dangerous.

He ran after them, not wanting to take a second to chase down Brad or their parents. He grabbed two skinny arms just as the boys were about to enter the trailhead. He yanked them both backward.

"Not happening," he said firmly.

"We were just looking," the older kid Rex said, squirming under his tight grip.

"You can look from here, or better yet, back there with your parents."

"It's fine," Will, the younger one, said. "We'll go back."

"Good, but here's a warning. If I let you go, and you run, I will follow you, and I will catch you, and you will pay. Got it?"

He was answered with two sullen nods.

"And while we're talking," he added. "Do you know how stupid you were last night to be drinking with a thirteen-year-old girl? Use your head before you do something you can't come back from. Now, go back to your parents before I decide to tell them everything you've been up to." He let go of their arms and shoved them down the path toward the pools.

As he followed them back to the group, Lizzie's gaze met his. She waded out of the water. "Everything all right?" she asked.

"Perfect."

"The boys were going to sneak onto the upper trail, weren't they?"

"Looked that way, but I let them know that wasn't happening."

"Thanks. I didn't realize they'd gone up there until you were sending them back. I should have paid more attention."

"Nothing happened."

"But I don't want you to think that we're careless with the customers on these hikes. Brad is a really good guide. He just got caught up talking to Mr. and Mrs. Harrison, and—"

"Stop. I don't think any of that," he said, calming her worries. "It's possible the kids would have turned back as soon as they saw what was in store for them and Brad would have gone after them if I'd let him know. I figured I could handle the situation myself, and I did. So we're good."

"All right. Thanks."

"To be honest, I might have tried the same thing at their age, especially after the story Tom told last night about undiscovered gold."

"I keep telling him we need to rethink that," she said with a laugh as she grabbed her new hiking boots off a rock and sat down to put them on.

"It might be worth considering."

"Would you risk your life for a gold nugget?"

"I've risked it for a lot less."

She finished tying her shoes and then stood up. "Why do you do it, Luke?"

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