Page 18 of The Christmas Lodge
“Put it out of your mind for now,” Colette said softly. “Let’s just drink our hot chocolate for now. I’m sure it will come to you later.”
Emma nodded, but Colette could tell her mind was miles away. Colette picked up her knitting and began working but, as she did, she kept one eye on Emma, worry mounting in her heart.
* * *
Lacy tucked the thick blanket around her toes more firmly, snuggling into the outdoor chair, and lifted her mug to her lips, taking a long drink of her spiced apple cider. After working on the mansion for three days straight, she was sore and stiff and more than ready to take a break. After coming back from tearing out old wallpaper and scrubbing away years of dust and neglect, Lacy had taken a long shower at the inn and pulled on some leggings and a hoodie. The covered back porch of the inn boasted a huge stone fireplace and the crackling fire within had tempted her back outdoors. With her blanket, her cider, and the fire, she was utterly cozy as she stared out at the snowy landscape.
Shifting to the side a little, she dug her cell phone out of her hoodie pocket and decided to give Madeline a call. She hadn’t spoken to her friend since before she’d left for Snowy Pine Ridge and she knew Madeline was swamped at work, but she figured her friend would have time on a Sunday evening to relax. Taking another sip of her cider, Lacy found Madeline’s name in her contacts and hit the call button. The phone rang against her ear only twice before Madeline picked up.
“Lacy! You’re alive!”
Lacy smiled at Madeline’s dramatic greeting. “Of course I’m alive, Mads. Phones work both ways you know—you could’ve called to check on me too.”
Madeline ignored that comment. “I’m surprised you even have a cell signal out there in the boonies.”
Lacy snorted. “Snowy Pine Ridge may be a small town but it’s hardly the boonies. The hotel I’m staying in right now is like something straight out of a Christmas movie.”
“Sounds magical. So I’m guessing that means things are working out beautifully, then?”
“Hardly. You would not believe the state of the mansion Nicholas left me.”
“That bad?”
“It’s got charm, for sure. I can tell beneath the grime and all the repairs it needs that it has good bones and lots of potential… .it’s just going to take a lot more work to get there, and I’ve already been working myself to the bone.”
“Hey, at least it’s not an eyesore. If you’re putting work into it, that means it’s worth the effort.”
“I think it will be.” Lacy pursed her lips. “No, Iknowit will be. I’ve spent way too much on it already for it not to turn out well.”
“Well, it’s an investment for you. Speaking of, have you decided what to do with your investment yet?”
Lacy tapped one finger on the edge of her mug and blew out a frustrated sigh. “No. I still haven’t been able to pin down what I want to do with it. Please, please, please tell me you have some ideas, because I’m lost over here.”
“If this town is as adorable as you make it sound, then I bet it could work as a B&B. People go nuts for that kind of thing, especially in a dreamy little New Hampshire town.”
“Maybe… the inn where I’m staying already has something of a corner on that market. I don’t know if it could compete.”
“Well, what about turning it into office space? I know that sounds kind of crazy, but think about how many new startups want their businesses to run in a cool location—I mean, you’re offering historic architecture, and you could subdivide it by floors or wings or something. Oh! Or what about turning it into a boutique?”
Lacy mulled these options over. “There’s a lot of ideas there…”
“Well, if you don’t like those ideas, you can just say so,” Madeline huffed, and Lacy laughed.
“Relax, Mads. Your ideas are very helpful.”
“Thank you.” Madeline sniffed dramatically, then laughed and dropped her pretend angst. “Obviously, you know you could just sell it outright. Plenty of people are looking to move out of the big city and end up in a Hallmark card like this Snowy Mountain place.”
“Snowy Pine Ridge,” Lacy corrected automatically. “And you make a good point.” She pulled the blanket around herself more closely. “You know, the craziest thing about being in this town is how much I keep hearing about my grandfather. Everywhere I turn it seems like someone new is coming out of the woodwork and they all have nothing but praise for him. It doesn’t make any sense, Madeline. It certainly doesn’t gel with what I knew about him my whole life.”
“What do you think? Do you think he fooled them all?”
Lacy sighed. “I don’t know. Mom never had anything good to say about him when she was alive, and she spent enough time around him to know. Before he and my father abandoned us, of course.” She rubbed a hand against her forehead, not wanting to think about the confusing subject any longer.
Silence stretched across the line for a few moments and Madeline seemed to sense that Lacy’s mood had darkened.
“We haven’t discussed the most important thing yet,” Madeline pointed out, breaking the quiet.
“And what’s that?”
