Page 87 of Stuck on the Slopes

LeAnn’s eyes widened. So did Rachel’s.

“You’ve had our backs,” I said. “And if people are going to talk anyway, I’d rather control the narrative.” I nudged Rachel’s elbow with my own. “That’s what you’d do, isn’t it?”

She smiled. “Something like that. But if you’re not comfortable, Juniper, you don’t have to.”

“No, I’m ready,” I said. “We don’t need to drop names or point fingers. But I think it’ll feel good to let it out and share my story. Freeing, even.”

LeAnn nodded. “Say the word and we’ll get set up. We can now before everyone else arrives, or we can wait until they leave.”

“Let’s do this now and get it over with,” I said, “before I change my mind.”

When I’d emerged from my interview with LeAnn, feeling equal parts relieved to have finally said my piece but also anxious as fuck about its future reception, all chaos had broken loose. The two of us looked around at the lobby, eyes wide and jaws slackened as someone nearly ran into us, apologized, and then scurried along.

“What the hell?” I said to no one in particular.

LeAnn whistled. “You can say that again.”

The new staff members zipped about, talking to each other so quickly I couldn’t even comprehend what they said. There was no sign of Rachel, but I did spot Edgar heading down the hallway that led to The Elk’s Head.

“Hey!” I pushed my way past the crowd, making eye contact with him so he could spot me. “Where’s Rach?”

“In the kitchen,” Edgar said. He held up his left hand where he held car keys with five different keychains on them that jingled above the noise and commotion. “Mia’s having me grab something from her car. I’ll be back.”

“Let me see what’s going on,” I said to LeAnn. “Thank you for your time. We’ll be back but let me know if you need anything else.”

I left before she could reply, heading down from where Edgar came. When I entered the kitchen, the metal doors swung open and then shut behind me. Rachel and Mia were meticulously decorating the sides of a three-tier cake. From the way they worked over it, I could only make out the white frosting and some filigree on the sides. They both wore aprons to protect their dresses from any frosting incidents.

“Juniper! Hey!” Rachel exclaimed. “How’d it go with LeAnn?”

“Good,” I said, feeling breathless. “Whatchya got there?”

“A cake,” Rachel said as if it were a perfectly normal response and not completely out of pocket given the circumstances.

My brows furrowed as I felt only further out of the loop. “What kind of a cake?”

“Nora made it,” Rachel said. “She had it sent up the mountain this morning as a surprise gift to congratulate us. We just need to make some… adjustments, that’s all.”

“Why?” I stepped in next to Rachel and examined the cake. “What’s wrong with it?”

Plastic foxes and trees decorated the top of the cake, meant to emulate the name of the resort and the woods on the mountain. But it was the filigree on the sides they were concerned with, and now that I was up close, I saw they were flattening the frosting entirely.

“Look closely at the filigree and tell me what you see,” Rachel said.

“We didn’t have the heart to tell Nora,” Mia said with a pout, and then, with forced enthusiasm, “So here we are!”

The filigree looked to me like a fox’s face from straight on, with the ears at a slight diagonal and the tail coiled around it. Flowers branched out on either side of the fox’s head.

“It’s a fox, right?” But as soon as I said it, I got what Rachel and Mia meant. “Oh.Oh. That is… very much not a fox.”

Rachel muttered, “Bless Nora’s heart, seriously, but fucking shit. I knew today was going too smoothly.”

I stepped back, examining it from different angles. No matter which way I looked at it, it looked more like the outline of a uterus than it did a fox—or any wildlife, for that matter.

“First the icicle, now this,” I said. “What’s next?”

“Tit balloons, probably,” Rachel said.

As she said it, Edgar returned. “I’m not even gonna ask,” he said with a shake of his head. “Alright, Mia, I got your piping bags. You got it flattened?”

---