Page 122 of Good as Gold
“Still. We run a tight ship, and it won’t happen again. But I need to make a change, honey. I don’t feel right staying in Colorado after this season.”
Her eyes widen. “Did you and Leila have a talk?”
“Well, no.” I clear my throat. “Not a good one, anyway. We’re not in a good place, and I’m going to have to do something drastic to fix it. If I don’t, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.”
If I’d been expecting Cara to panic, I’d be disappointed. Because she smiles. “That’s the smartest thing I’ve heard you say in a long time.”
“Really? I’ve peaked?”
She gets up from her chair, crosses the room, and swats me on the arm. “I can’t believe you waited so long to tell me that you’re having a baby together. You let me work you like a carthorse all season, when she’s so far away?”
“That was our arrangement.”
“But now you realize it’s the dumbest arrangement ever made?”
“When you put it that way…”
She laughs. “Matty, go home. I mean it.”
“I will, but we need a plan first. I’ll finish the season. And we’ll figure out where to go from there.”
She points at the phone on her desk. “That call I just made? It was to the Aspen Mountain Corporation. I asked them if they’re still interested in buying us out.”
I stare. “What? You hated that idea.”
She sighs. “Yeah, but I hate a lot of things. Like being a widow at forty-four and letting Sean go. But I also hate watching you sacrifice yourself. Trying to fill a hole that can never be filled.”
“It’s notthatdire. And Sean would do the same for me.”
She spins a chair around and sits down in front of me. “Maybe that’s true, but hear me out. Yes, Sean would have stepped up if something happened to you. He would have made sure your family didn’t suffer if he could help it. But think about it—I’m Leila in this scenario. Would you want Sean to cast me aside out of a misplaced sense of duty?”
“I haven’t cast Leila aside.”
“Really?” She shrugs. “I think Sean would kick your ass right now.”
That lands. After all, Dream-Sean had a few choice words for me. “So you want to sell?”
“Yeah, I do.” Her smile is sad. “I can pay off my house. Send my girl to college. And who knows? I can probably still work here for a while, too. Why not, right? Who runs this place better than us?”
I sit with this for a moment. I try to picture this business under new management. “They’ll erase him, though,” I say quietly. “His photos. His desk…”
Both our gazes travel to the empty desk in the corner, where his favorite coffee cup still sits—featuring a Yeti on a board.
“Theycan’terase him,” Cara says. Her eyes are red, but she powers through. “He built this place from the ground up. We all did. He left a valuable business behind, and his family will forever benefit. That’s what he’d want more than anything.”
My throat is thick, but I know she’s right. “So what do we do?”
“We finish the season. We get our books and records shipshape. And we find a buyer.”
“No—twobuyers,” I insist. “Let them fight over us. It will drive the price up. Our land is valuable. So is our customer database. And our reputation.”
She takes a deep breath. “When is this baby going to be born?”
“Next month.”
“So let’s get to work.”
CHAPTER46
