Page 292 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
At first, I was sort of relieved by that. There was really no reason for me to interact with the owner of the resort, after all. Gretchen had been my go-between for years now, and nothing had changed there. However, there was a part of me that felt a little disappointed. Bailey had seemed like she wanted to know everything that I could teach her about the operations of the place so that she could fix things on her own. And it wasn’t that I wanted her to take over my job or anything. It wasn’t that I couldn’t handle things on my own. But I just hadn’t thought that she would be one of those owners who was hands off with their business.
Not that she was, though. That was the thing; she was still interacting with everyone else like normal. She was still going about the place finding jobs that she could do and getting things done. She had had some long talks with the marketing department and came up with some innovative ideas for the coming season, by all accounts, and things were going likewise smoothly for her with the other departments around the mountain.
But she didn’t seem to want anything to do with me, and to be honest, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. If I had said something wrong, I just wanted to know what, so that I could apologize to her. I had hoped that things would just blow over eventually. Bailey didn’t seem like the kind of person to hold a grudge. Clearly things weren’t blowing over, though, and finally, I knew that I had to talk to her about it.
I thought about asking Kayla first. Maybe Bailey had said something to her. The two of them had easily fallen back into being close friends now that Bailey was back. But it didn’t seem professional to talk to Kayla about this, and I was afraid that she would see right through me.
See through to the fact that I actually found myself liking Bailey. In a way that I had never expected to like anyone again, after Beth.
Oh, I wasn’t in love with Bailey. Nothing like that. But she was smart and cute and there was something about her that just drew me in. She was like a warm fire to my cold bones. All I knew was that I couldn’t keep obsessing over figuring out what I had done wrong. Better to just talk to her about it.
I caught up to her as she finished her conversation with Kayla and headed out towards the condos. “You’ve been avoiding me,” I said, walking up alongside her.
Bailey gave me a surprised look which quickly turned sheepish. Was it my imagination or had she picked up the pace a little, like she was hoping to get away from me? I grimaced. I didn’t think that it was my imagination, and it only made me more certain that I had done something wrong.
Instead of telling me what, though, Bailey sighed. “Things have just been busy,” she said. “I feel like I’m being pulled in every direction.” She gave a quick laugh. “I know you told me things were going to get crazy once people started arriving for the holidays, but I guess I didn’t expect anything like this.” She was smiling, though, as she looked down at the resort from up here on the raised part of the base area that held one of the restaurants as well as the condo buildings.
“It’s one of the busiest winters I’ve ever seen here,” I agreed, looking down at everything. I paused. “From what I hear, you’ve been doing a damned good job here. Everyone’s pretty impressed.”
I could see the faintest tinge of pink on Bailey’s cheeks. “Thank you,” she said quietly.
I shrugged easily. “Just calling it like it is,” I said. We were both silent for a moment. Suddenly, I found myself blurting out the words: “Let me take you to dinner tonight. To get your mind off work. And to celebrate a successful start to the season for you.”
Bailey gave me a surprised look. “Adam, I don’t know,” she said, and I could hear something in her voice. Like she wanted this but wasn’t sure if it was such a good idea.
“Just as coworkers. Or friends,” I quickly clarified. “I’m sure you don’t know the area very well, so let me show you some of the good places. It’s the least I can do. Plus, then you’ll have an idea of where to recommend to our guests if any of them ask you.”
Bailey stared at me for a moment longer. I was kicking myself. I knew that I didn’t want to go to dinner with her just as friends, and I definitely didn’t want her thinking that this was just some work thing. But the damage had already been done.
She smiled shyly at me. “That sounds nice,” she said quietly. “What time are you done today?”
“Should be around five,” I said.
“I’ll meet you in the lodge?”
“Perfect,” I said. I watched her walk away towards the condos. I wanted to follow after her, to stop her, to tell her that I hadn’t meant for this to be as friends or about work. I had told myself that I was never going to fall in love again, and I meant that. And what’s more, I wasn’t ready to start anything serious.
But I wanted this to be a date.
I didn’t know how to explain that to Bailey, though. And I knew all the reasons why it couldn’t be a date. They went beyond the fact that I had lost my first wife. Bailey was my boss, and she didn’t know about my history. She didn’t know about Beth, and she didn’t know about Ethan. If we started dating, I was sure to have more than a few moments where I panicked at the very thought of commitment.
Anyway, maybe this was a good thing. If we both approached this as friends, if we really got to know one another, maybe we could hang on to our friendship even if it never could evolve into anything more. I had promised Ian that I would look out for her.
God, Ian. He would probably kill me if he knew that I had a thing for his younger sister. Even if I never acted on it, I knew that he would never approve. Just another reason to let Bailey think I just wanted to go to dinner as friends and colleagues.
I couldn’t keep thinking about this now. I had work to do. Like Bailey had said, there were a lot of guests here this week, and that meant that there were a lot of hot tubs that needed fixing, basic lift maintenance to keep track of, lightbulbs to change, snowmobiles to work on, and everything else that went into running the resort. I had a full list of things planned for that afternoon.
But at the end of the day, even though I hadn’t finished quite as much as I had hoped to that day, even though normally I might have stayed longer and finished up a few more projects, I was only too happy to head to the lodge to meet Bailey.
She showed up just a couple minutes after I did, looking flushed and hurried. “Sorry, I’m late, aren’t I?” she asked, immediately checking her watch.
I laughed and shook my head. “Relax, I just got here a minute ago,” I told her. I eyed the soft green sweater that she had changed into. “You look nice.” I hadn’t realized that she would actually get ready for this dinner together. Especially not since I had very clearly told her that this wasn’t a date, that this was just about work and friendship.
She blushed deeper and shook her head. “One of the guests was having trouble with his car, so I helped him jump it. But anyway, when I was attaching the jumper cables, I leaned up against the car and got all covered in mud.” She met my eyes with a challenge in her own, like she was daring me to question her story.
I shook my head, grinning at her. “Now you know why mechanics are always in old flannels and jeans,” I joked, gesturing at my own outfit.
“You always look good,” Bailey blurted out, then looked mortified at having said that. I couldn’t help grinning, but I didn’t respond to that, just led her out to the parking lot.
