Page 19 of The Sweet Chef and the Corporate Queen

"The entire mountain is getting drenched. I guarantee your strategy session is postponed." I hand her a thermal blanket. "Here. You should get that wet jacket off before you get chilled."

She eyes the blanket skeptically, but a visible shiver convinces her. She removes her damp outer layer and quickly wraps the thermal blanket around her shoulders.

I busy myself with the radio, giving her privacy while I send a brief message to the lodge. Static crackles, then Liam's voice comes through.

"Copy that, Dec. Most teams made it back. All activities postponed until the weather clears. Over."

"Is Mia okay? Over," I ask.

"Having the time of her life making clay animals with Mom. Says the thunder sounds like dragons. Over."

I glance at Jules, who's listening intently. "Tell her we're fine and will be back soon. Over and out."

"Dragons, huh?" Jules says softly. "That sounds like Mia."

"She has quite an imagination." I pull out a small camp stove—not standard issue for the team-building exercise, but something I added just in case. "Tea? I always carry some."

"You came prepared for everything except my navigational errors," she says, humor breaking through her frustration.

"I wouldn't say that was an error. More like an alternative route selection."

"You don't have to be nice about it. I took the wrong trail because I was too stubborn to admit I might have misread the compass."

"If it makes you feel better, that particular junction confuses everyone. The trail was rerouted last spring, but the maps haven't all been updated."

She gives me a skeptical look. "Are you making that up to make me feel better?"

"Scout's honor," I say, holding up three fingers.

Soon I'm pouring hot water into two collapsible cups and add a bag of Earl Gray tea to each. Thunder crashes directly overhead, making the entire structure vibrate. Jules flinches but quickly composes herself.

"Not a fan of storms?" I ask.

"I don't mind storms when I'm safely indoors. Real indoors, with solid walls and electricity."

"This is solid," I assure her, rapping my knuckles against the cedar wall. "Rowan rebuilt this last year for his fiancée, Daisy. She's a children's book author who needed a place to observe the local wildlife for her illustrations."

"There's a small waterfall and pool just beyond those trees," I add, pointing toward one of the shuttered windows. "All sorts of animals come here, especially at dawn and dusk."

"Your brother's fiancée is a children's author?" Jules looks genuinely interested.

"Yeah. They met on one of the trails near the lodge when she got lost. Not during a storm, but their story definitely has that whole city-girl-meets-mountain-man romance vibe."

Jules sits beside me, careful to maintain distance. "And now they're engaged?"

"Yep. Turns out getting lost on a mountain trail can lead to finding exactly what you need."

She looks away, but not before I catch the slight flush in her cheeks. "I think most people who get lost just end up with poison ivy and cell phone anxiety."

"So, Vermont, huh? You mentioned yesterday you grew up there."

She nods. "Small town called Maple Creek. Nothing like this, though. Fewer mountains, more dairy farms."

"How did you go from small-town Vermont to CEO of a tech company?"

"Determination. Scholarships. Seventy-hour work weeks." She shrugs, like her accomplishments are merely the expected outcome. "The usual American dream narrative."

"There's nothing usual about building a company from scratch," I counter. "Mia says you started in your apartment."

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