Page 270 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
“Yeah, I set a third place on the table the other night,” I admitted. “I realized right away that I had made a mistake, but I felt pretty silly about it.”
Ian grinned crookedly. “It’s not like he was even here all that much,” he said.
“I know,” I said, shaking my head. “I honestly never would have thought that I would miss him this much. Guess things will be better now, though, with the litigation over. Like we can finally move on with our lives.” I looked around the kitchen. “At least we won’t have to move out of here.”
“Not for a while, anyway,” Ian agreed, nodding. “Not until the money runs out.”
I snorted. “Did you see how many zeros were on that will?” I joked. “I think we’d have a hard time running out of money in this lifetime even if we were trying to.”
“Yeah, I know,” Ian said. He paused. “Any idea what your first purchase is going to be?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Bet you’re headed right down to the casinos, aren’t you?”
Ian laughed and held up his hands. “Caught me,” he said. He shrugged. “Hey, Dad liked to do a little gambling too, you know that. Hell, he once told me that ‘all business is a gamble’.”
I grinned. “I heard him say that more than once,” I said. In fact, I could practically hear him say it again, now, inside my head.
“So come on, what are you buying?” Ian asked. “New car? New clothes?”
I snorted. “The second one is a bit closer,” I admitted. I took a sip of my coffee. “Actually, I was thinking that maybe you and I could head up to Utah like we used to do with Dad. Get a condo and just spend the winter up there.” I smiled. “Of course, with the kind of snow that they’re apparently getting this year, I’ll need to add a few things to my wardrobe. I don’t even think I have a winter coat anymore. It’s been a long time since I went skiing.”
Ian grimaced. “You know that I can’t do that,” he said. “I’ve already taken enough time off work with the funeral and the litigation and everything. I’m pretty much out of vacation days for the year.” He paused. “And actually, we could use your help around the business. Things are going pretty well, in spite of everything, but we still haven’t been able to find a real replacement for you and Gina is planning on taking off half of December to go back East with her family.”
I stared at him for a moment. It wasn’t a question of whether or not he was being serious; I could tell that he was. But he had always supported my decision to leave the family business, and now it sounded like with Dad gone, he suddenly didn’t support that decision any longer.
I had made my choice, though, and I wasn’t going back there. I still felt kind of guilty for turning my back on all of it. In fact, with Dad’s death, in my darker moments, I had wondered whether the added stress of me quitting had killed him faster. That wasn’t fair for me to feel that way, and I knew it. Still, I never imagined returning to work there. It just wasn’t what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.
“Even if I stay here in Hartland, I don’t think…” I began, but I couldn’t come up with a way to end that without telling Ian that the business was his responsibility. He had really stepped up, and even though I knew that he liked his job more than I had ever liked mine, there was a part of me that still felt guilty about the fact that I had basically dumped everything on him like that. He wasn’t shirking his responsibilities, and he never would. I was.
“I know, I know,” Ian sighed before I could beat myself up about it anymore. “I just thought that I’d ask.” He grinned. “I could offer you a raise, but I doubt that would help. Not when you just walked away with an inheritance in the millions.”
I laughed and shook my head, glad that he had broken the tension in the room. “You wouldn’t be able to pay me enough,” I agreed. I paused. “I really want to head to Utah,” I said.
Ian eyed me for a moment. “What would you do there?” he finally asked. “You don’t have anything waiting for you there. Dad’s not going to suddenly walk into a condo, no more than he’s going to walk in the front door here.”
“I know that,” I said impatiently. “And to be honest, I don’t really know what I’m thinking. But I want to be back where winter is winter. I want to see snow again.”
Ian snorted. “You’ll say that until you actually walk outside on the first morning when it’s actually snowing,” he said confidently. “Then you’ll realize just how cold and miserable it really is.”
I laughed. “We weren’t all born for the Vegas sun,” I said, shrugging easily.
“Where are you even going to stay while you’re there?” Ian asked. “Isn’t it a little late in the year to be thinking about timeshares?”
I paused, taking a deep breath. I had actually done a little bit of research in this area, but I wasn’t sure how to explain that to him. I knew that he probably still wouldn’t be sure that this was the best idea for me. But something in my gut was telling me that all signs pointed to ‘yes’.
“Actually, I looked online and the condo that Dad used to take us to is up for sale at the moment,” I admitted. “There’s no one in there right now; I could buy it and move right in.”
Ian stared at me. “You’re moving to Utah?” he asked.
“Well, maybe not permanently,” I said, shrugging. “I don’t know. But Ian, come on. There’s nothing for me here. I don’t want to work in the family business anymore. I’m just not interested. You know that.”
“I’m here,” Ian reminded me.
“I know,” I said quietly. “And I’m not suggesting moving to the other side of the world. Or even the other side of the country. We would still be close enough that we could visit each other all the time. You could come see me in Utah. I could come back here.”
“Don’t you think that you should maybe, I don’t know, go visit Park City again before you just jump on a piece of property like that?” Ian asked, and I could hear the frustration in his voice. Of course, he would always be happy for me. But he didn’t like change and never had, and there had been more than enough change in our lives lately.
He’d have to get used to the idea, though. I was sure that this was what I wanted to do, and I had all the money I needed to do it.
