Page 275 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
And a certain sweet innocence in the way her eyes sparkled as she looked around the resort, as though she had just won the lottery. She smiled to herself, and I had to admit there was something about the expression on her face that made my heartstrings tug in sudden, surprising fondness.
“I’m worried about her,” Ian admitted in an undertone. “I don’t know if she really knows exactly how much she’s taken on. I mean, I can tell that she’s done her research, and she’s smart. But this isn’t an ordinary business, you know?” he paused. “I’m glad you’re still around here, honestly. I know I have no right to ask this, but keep an eye on her for me, would you?”
I nodded, still surprised by that earlier feeling of fondness for her. It was just that I was still thinking of her as Ian’s much-younger sister, though, I was sure. She was still looking at the world with childlike innocence, and I still thought of her as a child. That was where the fondness stemmed from.
But I knew, in my gut, that that wasn’t true. No, I definitely wasn’t looking at her like she was still a child. She had grown up quite nicely.
Still, I nodded at Ian. “I’ll help her out as much as I can,” I heard myself promising. Immediately, I wished that I could take the words back. Ian wouldn’t understand, I was sure, that ‘as much as I can’ wasn’t really all that much. To start with, he didn’t know about Ethan. But moreover, he didn’t have any idea about what my work here at the resort entailed.
Ian was smiling, though. “Come on, I’m sure she wants to see you,” he said, herding me over to where his sister was still standing.
I wanted to protest. She probably barely even remembered me. And besides, I had so much more work that needed to get done that afternoon. But Bailey had spotted her brother and seen me as well, and I knew that there was no tactful way to get out of this. If nothing else, I owed her the respect that I would give to any other boss.
Besides, I had told Ian that I would help her out if I could, and I was a man of my word. I was going to have to interact with her at some point. Might as well get it out of the way with.
I trailed after Ian, wondering if Bailey’s smile was always that broad or if she really was that happy to see me.
CHAPTER 6
BAILEY
The acting manager for Brooks Mountain seemed surprised when I suggested that I should stop by on Tuesday afternoon to say a few words to everyone who currently worked for the resort. Not that I really had much to say, but I wanted to be the kind of owner whom everyone knew. I at least wanted them to know my face around the place before I started making any sort of changes.
This was a family resort, I remembered, and I knew that the staff probably felt like one big family as well. Hell, part of the reason why I had bought the resort was because I didn’t want it to be bought by one of those huge conglomerates. I wanted it to have that down-home, charmingly close-knit feel. The only way to preserve that was to make sure that everyone realized that from the top to the bottom, we were all in this together.
That said, I was a little nervous about the meeting. It wasn’t that I had never given speeches in front of employees before. I had. Many times. I was used to public speaking, and it wasn’t that that was giving me jitters now.
No, it was just the fact that this was all so new to me. The novelty was wonderful; I liked that little bit of shock that I still felt each time I stepped outdoors and saw snow. But at the end of the day, I knew only the barest bit of information about how to run a ski resort. And the trick was making sure that no one at the resort figured that out.
Of course, there was no fooling some people. “Kayla?” I asked in surprise, spotting her at the front desk.
Kayla stared at me for a moment, like she couldn’t believe her eyes, and then a huge grin broke across her face. “Bailey!” she said.
Kayla and I had been best friends when we were kids. Of course, we didn’t get to see one another a lot since I lived half my life in Portland and the other half in Vegas, with only a few weeks or so each year here in Park City. But we had sent letters to one another all through grade school and connected through social media towards the end of high school. We’d taken a few trips together in college, even. But eventually, life got in the way and we fell out of touch.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked her.
She burst out laughing. “What the hell am I doing here?” she quipped. “I grew up in Park City. And now I work here.” She shrugged and then winked conspiratorially. “The pay isn’t great, but they give me a free season pass, so who the hell am I to complain?”
I laughed and shook my head. “That’s awesome,” I told her.
Kayla gave me a dubious look. “Is it?” she asked. “I would have thought that you would be reminding me that there’s a great big world out there beyond Park City. Hell, beyond Utah even.”
“Well, there is,” I agreed. “But this place is great. There’s a reason why I came back.”
“What about you? Are you on vacation?” Then, Kayla’s eyes widened, and she looked around the lodge. “Are you on your honeymoon? Did you get hitched?”
“No!” I said, and Kayla giggled.
“You don’t have to sound so shocked that I asked,” she said. Then, she narrowed her eyes. “Wait, Mike said something about a Peters buying this place. Was that your dad?”
I grimaced, looking away from her. “My dad died about a month ago,” I told her.
“Oh shit,” Kayla said, covering her mouth with her hand. “I’m so sorry to hear that.”
I shook my head. “It’s okay,” I said. “It’s actually part of why I’m here.”
“Had to get away from it all?” Kayla asked sympathetically.
