Page 3 of The Christmas Lodge
Cliff had given Snowy Pine Ridge access to a unique sport, something not many towns could boast. When Derek was twenty-five, Cliff had decided to move out west to live closer to his children, leaving a void in the town. Derek, nervous but more sure than he’d ever been, knew that he wanted to continue carrying the torch of Cliff’s legacy.
He had founded Winter Run Racing, his dogsledding business, and had worked it ever since. Winter Run Racing was his whole life—-from raising and training his teams of dogs to giving lessons to organizing events to selling merchandise in his shop, Derek kept busy and loved every minute of it. His path had not been a traditional one, but he would not trade it for the world.
And none of it could have happened without the role models in my life,he thought.Cliff Morris, you changed my life. And Nicholas Spielman, you did too.
Nicholas Spielman had provided him with the loan that had financed Winter Run Racing’s beginnings. The older man had looked over Derek’s business proposal and taken a chance on him—something Derek was sure not many others would have. But Nicholas had seen potential in him and given him the loan, changing Derek’s life forever.
Over the years, the men had become friends, and his passing had left a hole in Derek’s heart. Nicholas had been a great man, always spreading his generosity and kindness through the town. Derek knew he wasn’t the only person in town missing him.
“You are missed, Nicholas,” Derek whispered, his words instantly whipped away by a winter wind that scoured across the ridge and shook the pine trees around him. “The world could use more men like you.”
Turning back to his dogs, he moved down the line of them, giving each of them pats and murmuring to them softly. Their tails wagged, showing their readiness to get back to racing along the trails. They loved these excursions every bit as much as he did and, now that they had rested a bit, they were clearly itching to let loose their energy and race down another snowy trail.
Climbing back onto the sled he looked back out over the town one last time, breathing in the clean scent of the pines all around him and savoring the endorphins running through his system.
This is the life, he thought, taking it all in. Then, with a yip and a loud whistle, he sent his team surging forward once more, holding on tight and squinting against the morning sun as it glinted against the whiteness of the snow.The sledding, the views, the scenery, the rush of racing… it just never gets old.
Spontaneously, he threw his head back and let out a loud whoop, his exultant cry ringing through the crisp morning air.
* * *
“He left you amansion?”
Lacy winced as her friend Madeline’s squeal blared through the phone. Pulling her phone away from her ear and frowning, she hit the speaker button and set the phone on her bathroom counter.
“Yes, but as I said before, I don’t want anything to do with it,” Lacy reminded her.
She studied her expression in the mirror, dabbing on more of her expensive mud mask. Her green eyes stared back at her, more startling than usual because of the mask. Her honey-brown hair, which fell just above her shoulders in an A-line cut, was too short for a ponytail, so she’d swept it back with a headband. Satisfied that the mask fully covered her face, she leaned back to check her toenails, holding back her silk robe so she could see her feet.
With the stresses of her job, she had long since made self-care on Saturday mornings a priority. She wore toe separators to keep her freshly painted toenails from smudging. She’d painted her toenails crimson, her signature hue, and she saw with satisfaction that they were nearly dry. Grabbing her phone and padding carefully down the hallway, she poured herself a cup of coffee in the kitchen, adding a hazelnut creamer and inhaling its comforting aroma.
“Lacy, comeon,” Madeline was saying, and Lacy could practically see her friend rolling her eyes. “Look, I know you’ve got some emotional baggage or whatever, but why would you turn your nose up at a free mansion?”
Lacy blew on her coffee then took a careful sip. “Because I didn’t really know my grandfather and, even though he’s gone, I don’t relish the thought of taking a handout from a man who left my mother and me to fend for ourselves.”
Madeline was quiet for a moment, but Lacy could hear the telltale sound of Madeline’s manicured nails tapping. Madeline was a force of nature, always moving and unable to sit still. As a designer in the cutthroat and fast-paced world of fashion, Madeline was always bursting with ideas and the confidence to carry them out. She wasn’t overly sentimental and, like Lacy, was entirely focused on getting ahead in her career. The two of them had bonded long ago, sensing in one another a kindred spirit. Many women their age were focused on getting married and having children, which had made making friends difficult. When Lacy met Madeline, she had been relieved to find another ambitious woman to join her circle of close friends.
“Maybe you need to reframe the issue,” Madeline said, talking faster as she gathered steam. “You specialize in investing. Why not look at this as another investment? It’ll be a new asset to add to your portfolio.”
“I hadn’t considered that…”
“Well, you should! It only makes sense. Sure, you’ve got a less-than-happy history with your grandfather, but he’s gone now and he left you a mansion. Why not get the most you can out of it? He owes you that much.”
And more,Lacy thought, but she didn’t voice the thought. The wheels in her head began turning with possibilities.
“I suppose I could go check it out and get some ideas,” she said slowly.
“That’s the spirit! You never know how you could use it to your benefit. You could sell it and take the profit, flip it into a venue, get someone to run it as a B&B… this whole inheritance thing has a ton of potential.”
“You’re right.”
“And don’t you forget it,” Madeline teased. “Seriously, though, it’s not like you have to move into the mansion and live in whatever dinky little town your grandfather settled in. All you have to do is check the property out and then make a plan from there.”
Lacy took another sip of her coffee, mulling Madeline’s words over in her mind. Madeline was not very sentimental, but she had made some good points. She had been letting old resentments and the turbulent emotions of her youth overcome her. Ronald Carp’s phone call had been all she had thought about Friday, and it had made for a difficult day at her office. She’d thought her pain from the abandonment of her father and grandfather had long since been laid to rest, but it had reared its ugly head with a vengeance and plagued her thoughts since. Madeline’s prosaic take on the situation had, in a way, been a breath of fresh air, and she finally felt like she was on familiar footing again. She knew the world of business and investments and walked through it with cool confidence, totally unlike the grieving little girl she had felt like the previous day.
“You’re right,” Lacy repeated again, her voice firmer now. “See, this is why I keep you around.”
“That and free fashion advice.”
