Page 9 of Stuck on the Slopes

“Come on,” Juniper said with a nod.

I followed him past the metal swinging doors that brought us to the kitchen, all silver tables and hot ovens. When I caught a whiff of freshly baked bread, I couldn’t help but smile. The man responsible for the bread was around the corner, his white uniform hiding some of the flour that coated his abdomen.

“Edgar, this is Rachel, my new hire. Rachel, this is the restaurant manager, Edgar.”

I stuck my hand out, my smile only growing. “Nice to meet you!”

Edgar shook my hand. He had sandy hair cut short, and he clipped back his bangs with bobby pins. The few lines on his pale face revealed his age. “You too. Juniper tells me you’re from Florida?”

“Orlando, yeah.”

He whistled, long and low. “You’re in for a surprise this winter.”

“That’s what I was telling her,” Juniper piped in.

“Well,” Edgar said, “you need anything, Rachel, come on back this way. We run The Elk’s Head separately from the rest of the lodge, so if Juniper gives you a hard time, let me know and I can whip him into shape for ya. Plus, my daughter Mia is around your age, so if you need to get away from us stupid boys, she comes and helps Monday through Thursday.”

Juniper rolled his eyes. I couldn’t help but giggle. “Thanks. I’d love to meet her, so I’m sure I’ll be taking you up on that.”

“Great! And hey, good for you for moving out here to help this sad sack out. I imagine this took you out of your comfort zone.”

Juniper scoffed and crossed his arms. “I am not a sad sack.”

“Oh, please.” Edgar turned back to me. “Want some breakfast? I can get something started for you two before we open. On the house.”

“I’d hate to impose.”

“French toast pancakes,” Juniper said. The words sounded strange coming from his mouth with his flat tone. He looked at me in his peripheral, and said, “They’re to die for.”

“You didn’t strike me as the type to have a sweet tooth.”

“Not particularly. I mean, I like sweets as much as the next person. But trust me on this. Edgar’ll knock your socks off.”

We made our way to a table by the windows. The natural light made Juniper’s eyes pop and look an even lighter shade of blue than before. His pale, ivory skin looked dazzling against the backdrop of snow as if he was made for the winter. We sat in silence, save for Sasquatch panting lightly beneath the table.

Juniper was right: the pancakes were capable of knocking socks off. Cinnamon and nutmeg gave the pancakes their brown speckles, and the whipped butter and maple syrup couldn’t have been fresher—both made from scratch if I had to guess. As we ate, I tried to focus on anything but the way some of the syrup stuck to Juniper’s bottom lip, which I realized had a natural pout to it. Before he could catch me staring, I lowered my gaze to my plate, but the syrup kept making me want to look back up.

“You look lost in thought.”

I took a quick sip of water as I gathered my thoughts. Clueing my own boss into the fact I was checking him out against my better judgment was not the right answer, so once I set the glass down, I said, “Just taking it all in.”

“You’re smart. I’m sure you’ll adjust sooner rather than later.”

From anyone else, it would have been a compliment. But Juniper sounded so blasé, I wasn’t sure if he meant for it to be backhanded or not.

“I’m sure I will too. I think I’m still getting used to the time zone change, that’s all. But I’m super excited to get into the nitty-gritty.” I hoped that would be enough to brush it off and change the subject, but it seemed Juniper had other ideas.

“Excited, huh?” He rose an eyebrow but didn’t bother to look up from his pancakes as he sliced into a corner with his fork and knife. “I know we talked about this on the phone, but I want to reiterate this is going to be a shit ton of work, and it could very well all be for nothing. So, don’t get too excited.”

“Of course, but I’m glad for the opportunity, regardless. I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

“Don’t thank me or anything just yet. Thank me if we don’t completely tank this place.”

At this rate, I wasn’t sure what to say; his negative energy was like an impenetrable fortress. With a forced smile, I said, “Well, we’ll see, I suppose.”

“Not for nothing, but you sounded so confident over the phone,” Juniper said. “What happened?”

It took everything in me not to balk at him. While I knew I agreed to speak freely, it still felt like a gut punch. I blinked back my initial shock to compose myself. “Forgive me for being nervous about starting a new job and moving more than halfway across the country.”

---