Page 329 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
“Anyway, you don’t need to worry about these things,” Ian repeated. “I’ve got new water heaters coming in. Ones that don’t leak.”
I stared at him for a moment, flabbergasted. I knew we were turning a decent profit that winter, but that still didn’t mean that new water heaters were something we could afford. Especially not since the old water heaters were perfectly fine. In need of a little fixing up, maybe, but still plenty serviceable.
“Ian, I don’t think we need new water heaters,” I protested. “Seriously, I can get these things fixed in an afternoon. The only reason I haven’t gotten around to them yet is that I didn’t think it was a very pressing issue in comparison to some of the other things that I’ve been working on.”
“I don’t think this resort pays you to worry about whether or not things need to be replaced,” Ian said loftily. “If I tell you not to bother fixing these, then you don’t need to bother fixing these.” He paused, glaring meaningfully at me. “I’m not asking you to stop. I’m telling you.”
I stared at him for a moment and then pushed away from the water heaters, wiping off my hands on a rag. “Fine,” I snapped, throwing my hands in the air. “You want to replace something that’s working perfectly fine, then you can be my guest.”
“Tone,” Ian reminded me condescendingly.
“What the hell is your problem with me?” I finally snapped. “Look, I get that you don’t want Bailey to end up with someone like me, but I’m just trying to do my goddamned job. And last I checked, you aren’t the owner of this resort, so you don’t really have a say in how I do that job. If Bailey doesn’t want me working on the water heaters, then she can tell me that. But it’s honestly none of your goddamned business.”
I couldn’t help exploding like that. Of course, I remembered that he could still get me fired, but I was starting to wonder if that would be for the best after all. I didn’t know how much longer I could stand to have him lurking around the resort, ready to call me out for just about anything, making me feel like I was somehow doing everything wrong.
I had had this job for years now, and I didn’t exactly need him telling me how to do things, especially not if it meant that two days later, Bailey might turn around and undo everything that her brother had done. It was all starting to be too much.
Between my stress over my job and my stress over the conversation I had to have with Bailey later that day, I just snapped. I couldn’t help it.
Ian stared at me for a moment, a scowl on his face. Then, “Find something else to do,” he said, speaking slowly and enunciating clearly, as though he thought that I might not understand him otherwise, as though I was an idiot. “And if I see you talking to my sister again, I’m going to make sure that you don’t work in this state again.”
I blinked in surprise at him. At first, I wanted to laugh off his threat. Make sure that I didn’t work in this state again? How could he possibly do that? But then again, this was Ian Peters, who headed up a very powerful company that drew in a lot of rich clients. Rich clients like the ones who owned the ski resorts here in Utah. If he wanted to use his connections to make sure that I couldn’t get work as a maintenance man anywhere else in the state, he damned well could do that. I would bet on it.
I swallowed hard. I didn’t want to move at all, let alone move out of Utah. I had lived here for my whole life, and this was home. But if I couldn’t get work, I would have to move. I didn’t want to do that to Ethan. I didn’t want to do that to myself.
So I nodded curtly at Ian and grabbed my toolbox, mentally scratching the leaking water heater off my list. And adding ‘install new water heaters’ to my list for later in the week. That was sure to be a nightmare at this time of year, with the condos nearly full with guests, all of whom probably wanted to take hot showers at some point. But hey, if that’s what Ian wanted me to do, then I guess that was what I was going to do.
I nearly ran into Bailey as I stomped off towards my office, deciding to take an early lunch just so that I could calm down a little.
“Whoa,” she said in surprise. “What’s up? What happened?”
I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it,” I managed to grit out through my teeth.
“Did Ian say something to you?” Bailey asked worriedly.
I laughed bitterly, unable to help it. “So what, you realize that he’s a problem, but you don’t want to do anything about it? Fucking typical.”
I knew that she didn’t deserve that, but I couldn’t seem to stop the words. I was just so sick of being caught in the middle of the two of them, my job and my whole life hanging in the balance. Bailey looked taken aback and then hurt, and for a moment, I thought about apologizing. But I couldn’t help feeling bitter, knowing that she would no doubt side with him over me.
So as she opened her mouth, I cut her off. “Just forget about it,” I told her. “But I swear to god, if you don’t do something about Ian, you’re going to have to find yourself another mechanic.”
I stalked off before she could reply. I needed to get out of there before I said anything that I would regret.
Or rather, before I said anything that I would regret more than what I had already said to her. Because in my mind’s eye, I could still see that hurt expression on her face, and I knew that I had crossed the line.
There was a cowardly part of me that dared to hope that might mean that she wouldn’t try to get near me again. But there was also a worried part of me that wondered if I would really be able to keep this job at all.
CHAPTER 41
BAILEY
I blinked away the tears pricking at the corners of my eyes as I stared after Adam. I didn’t know what the hell had just happened. But I knew that Ian was at the root of the problem, and I could only imagine what that meant. Had he threatened Adam’s job again? Had he told him all about how he didn’t think that Adam was good enough for me? I hoped that he hadn’t done either of those things, to be honest. But I couldn’t help feeling worried.
I hated that Adam had lashed out at me. But I knew that he was right. I really did need to do something about the Ian situation. It wasn’t fair to the staff here to have to put up with all this confusion. I knew that a lot of them had been wary when I had first bought the place, all wondering what sorts of changes I might make here. And I had brought in chaos, unquestionably.
Not only that, but I was standing by and letting Ian be a jerk to Adam. Ian might be my older brother, but I was starting to realize just how much I really liked Adam. It wasn’t fair for me to let Ian treat him so badly, trying to get him fired and mucking up all the orders for the resort.
I wanted to chase after Adam and apologize, get the full story out of him, promise to do something about the Ian situation. But I could tell just how upset Adam was at the moment, and I knew it would be better to give him a chance to calm down. Even if I hated the idea of him sitting there in his office, thinking that I didn’t care about him at all.
