Page 288 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
Kayla had been right when she said there was a lot that I could learn about the day-to-day operations from Adam. But I could tell that he wasn’t going to just sit down and talk to me about everything that I wanted to know. And I understood it when I saw his office in the back. Jeez were there a lot of papers scattered around, various lists in his handwriting plus the messages from Gretchen, always adding things to his To Do list. I wondered how he could get all of this stuff done and still manage to have some sort of a life outside of work. He had to be exhausted.
I started to wonder if I had been right in caving when he said that he didn’t want me to hire someone else to take over his responsibilities. But I knew now wasn’t the time to bring that up again. For now, I just wanted to see what a normal day in the life was like for him, plus learn more about the operations of the mountain. He had a lot of useful information.
And to be honest, I just wanted to spend a little more time with him. The more chances I got to talk to him, the more likely I was to figure out what it was that had changed him so much from the man that I remembered.
“Can you hand me the yellow-handled screwdriver?” Adam asked from where he was bent down around the lip of the hot tub, working on something with the jets.
“The Phillips-head one?” I asked to confirm.
Adam gave me a surprised look. “Uh, yeah,” he said.
I rolled my eyes. “Look, I may not be up to snuff as a maintenance person here, but I can at least name all the tools in your toolbox.”
“Cool,” Adam said lamely, but I could see he felt embarrassed at having doubted me. I grinned sweetly in response, and slowly he grinned back at me. He stepped to the side so that I could see what he was doing. “So to be honest, this is probably a pretty useful thing for you to know because we have problems with these jets pretty regularly, and it’s a pretty easy fix. This is all you have to do.” He started to explain it to me, and I nodded along.
Then, he jammed the jets again and let me practice it once for myself. “Just like this?” I asked.
His hands came up to correct mine just briefly, but the contact of his skin against mine made me shiver. “Yeah, just like that,” he said, and was it my imagination or was his voice just a bit huskier than normal?
“So what’s your brother been up to anyway?” Adam asked when the hot tub was in working order again and we were walking back towards the condos for the next project. “Is he up skiing a lot? I haven’t seen him around since that first day when he came by with you.”
I sighed. “Actually, he got called back to Nevada,” I told him. “Work stuff that they just couldn’t do without him. I’m trying to get him to come back in a few weeks, maybe for New Year’s Eve, but I’m not sure if he’s going to be able to or not.”
“That’s a shame,” Adam said. He paused. “I would have thought he’d want to be here, to make sure that you really could handle all of this on your own. He’s always been so protective of you.”
I snorted. “Yeah, I know,” I said. “And that was the original plan, but yeah, he just needed to get back.” I shrugged. “Anyway, I don’t need him looking out for me anymore. I’ve grown up. I can handle this just fine without him.”
“I’m sure you can,” Adam said quietly, almost to himself.
“So what else is on the list for today?” I asked Adam, trying to change the subject. As flattering as it was to hear that he thought that I could handle things, it also made me inordinately nervous. What if I couldn’t handle it? Not that I thought that having Ian there would really help. And anyway, I had gotten myself into this in the first place. It was up to me to figure things out.
But I knew that Adam was probably still thinking back to the other day when I had totally screwed up the thing with the lights. And that made me nervous about what might come up around the resort, especially with the busy season starting.
“Honestly, it’s going to be a pretty busy day today,” Adam told me, pulling a list out of his pocket. “I’m really trying to get as much done as possible before next week.”
“What happens next week?” I asked curiously.
“It’s the start of the busiest time of year for us,” Adam explained.
“It’s going to get busier than this?” I asked in surprise. I blushed and shoved my hands in my pockets, feeling silly for asking. “I mean, I’m sure you know. I just don’t remember it being this busy when I was younger. But I must not have realized it.”
“It’s also a really good snow year,” Adam reminded me. “That means there are a lot of people thinking about skiing right now. They’re seeing all these storms on their news channels wherever they live and have planned trips out here. Even the people who only come up skiing every so often.” He glanced sidelong at me, and I laughed.
“Contrary to what you might be thinking, I’m not just here because it’s a good year,” I said, shaking my head. “I plan to be here until, well, I guess if things are terrible this year and I figure out that I’m not cut out for this, then maybe I won’t be back next year.” I gave a self-conscious laugh, and I was surprised when Adam reached up and lightly squeezed my shoulder.
“You’re not going to have that much of a problem,” he promised me. “Honestly, the previous owners were hardly ever here. We all know our jobs, and we’ll make sure that we get things done. And we’re all here to answer whatever questions you have.”
It was the most honest thing that I had heard him say to me, and I was touched to hear it. It sounded like he really was warming up to me a little. At least he was willing to answer all of the questions that I had. That was definitely something.
“How’s the cold been treating you?” Adam asked while we ate lunch together in the main lodge. I was surprised to hear him initiate any sort of small talk with me, and for a minute, I had to think about how to respond.
Finally, I laughed and shrugged. “Honestly, it’s been a little tough,” I admitted. “I’m wearing, like, three layers under my sweater right now. And I could still probably do with another one.”
Adam laughed. “You’ll get used to it,” he promised.
“I hope so,” I said fervently. Even if that was all the small-talk that we managed over the course of the day, at least it was something. And every little bit bolstered my confidence that maybe I did know what I was doing here.
“You’re doing a great job,” Adam said as we were parting ways later that evening.
