Page 340 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
I looked away from her. I didn’t want to think about that. And I didn’t know what to say in response to it.
Kayla shrugged. “I don’t know, she picked up and left everything behind to come here, kind of on a whim. She didn’t know anything about the industry, and she didn’t really plan anything before she just up and left. She’s spontaneous. And I love that about her, but I just worry that she’s going to spontaneously decide to stay in Nevada.”
“Why are you saying this to me?” I asked suspiciously.
Kayla sighed. “I guess I’m just telling you to be careful with Bailey. And wondering if maybe I should post something looking for a new general manager for the resort. If Mike’s going to be out for a while and Bailey’s not coming back you have enough on your plate as it is.”
“Things are fine,” I said. I looked at my watch, signaling that I was done with this conversation. “But I really need to get back to work now, Kayla. I want to get those heaters working as soon as possible.”
“Of course,” Kayla said smoothly, but there was still concern in her eyes.
I turned away from her, not wanting to see that. Pretty much everyone at the resort knew that I was a widower. Not many of them knew about Bailey and I, but Kayla was Bailey’s best friend here. She probably knew more about Bailey’s feelings for me than I did. If Bailey even had feelings for me. She had hinted that she did, back at the airport, but that had been weeks ago now, before she had gone back to Vegas. Things could have changed. Easily.
Or maybe she’d just realized that I had been right when I called myself her seasonal fling. Once she got out of this place, she had realized that she had never been all that interested at all, it was just the fact that she would only see me for a few months until the season was over and she left again.
I got started on trying to fix the heaters, but I couldn’t stop thinking about what Kayla had said. Finally, I pulled my phone out of my pocket. If I wanted to know when Bailey was coming back, I could just give her a call. Surely, she had some idea of how long it would be. Or if she wasn’t planning on coming back after all, maybe she would let me know that.
But she didn’t pick up the phone, and I didn’t know how to leave a message asking her about it. I knew that she would see that I had called, and hopefully she would have a chance to call me back that afternoon.
I couldn’t help feeling that maybe she was avoiding talking to me. Maybe she knew exactly what I wanted to talk about. Maybe she really wasn’t planning on coming back and wasn’t sure how to tell me that.
I shook my head. No, she would be back. I was sure of it. She had proven, in her time here, that she wasn’t one of those business owners who let everyone else do the work for them. She had really tried to get involved, wherever she could. She would be back.
I was letting Kayla get into my head. Bailey would be back soon enough. But for now, I put all my frustrations into fixing the heaters. Jen stopped by when I was just about finished with them. “Hey, it already feels warmer in here!” she said, beaming at me.
I glanced over at her, nodding. “Yeah, I think I’ve got everything fixed. But let me know if these things keep acting up.”
“Will do,” Jen said cheerfully. “Have I mentioned how stoked I am that you’re the one in charge around here? You’re an absolute hero.”
I looked at her in surprise, not sure how to respond to that. Was she flirting with me? I didn’t even know anymore. Finally, I just nodded at her. “Thanks,” I said, turning my attention back to my work. She lingered there for a moment more and then finally walked off. I breathed out noisily and tried not to think about the weird encounter.
Hopefully Bailey would be back soon, and I could fade back into just being the maintenance man again.
CHAPTER 48
BAILEY
I was walking into a meeting with the board of directors when my phone started buzzing. I pulled it out to see who it was and was surprised to see that it was Adam. Immediately, my mind went to the worst case scenario; something catastrophic had happened at the resort, and I needed to get back there.
To be honest, I almost wished it was something like that, if it meant that I could get out of Vegas and back where I belonged in Park City. When I had committed to helping Ian keep his job in the old family business, I hadn’t realized quite how much work I was going to end up doing. It had been a long two weeks, and there still didn’t seem to be any end in sight. The board of directors had agreed to drop the investigation of Ian, but they wanted me to help undo some of the changes that he had made, plus get all our regulars to trust us again.
Things were starting to get back to normal now, though, and I was itching to get back to Brooks Mountain. I had been enjoying my role there. Enjoying the challenges of getting to know the industry. And man, it had been nice to be involved in a business that was so much more laidback than this one here.
I had realized the change when I had first gone to Brooks Mountain, but there had been so many things that I was focused on there that I hadn’t really appreciated it as much as I might have. But coming back to the casino business and dealing with all sorts of rich folks, and the glitz and glam of it all, was jarring.
This was the life that I had left. Even before Dad died, even before I had hatched the plan to buy a ski resort in Utah, I had left the casino business. It just wasn’t what I wanted with my life. I was good at it; there was never any question of that. And I did feel like I was letting down Dad and my brother by leaving it all behind. This was the family business, after all.
But I had never been happier with my decision to quit this job than I was now. I really appreciated what else was out there for me.
Still, I couldn’t turn my back on my family entirely. When Ian got in trouble with the board of directors for blowing through the investors’ money on a bunch of improvements that many of them didn’t think our casinos needed, I had agreed to come back and help put things right. How could I not? Ian was worried about losing his job and his entire savings, which he had also sunk into the improvements here at the business. I had no choice but to help him out.
And to be honest, it had been nice to take a little break from Park City. Not just because the weather was a hell of a lot warmer here in Vegas, even though given that it was the middle of the winter, it definitely wasn’t as warm as it usually was. But more than that, it had been a nice pause, a time to reflect on whether or not I had made the right decisions lately.
Buying Brooks Mountain hadn’t been entirely spontaneous, but I hadn’t totally thought through the purchase. Initially, I had just thought about using my inheritance money to buy the condo that Dad used to rent as a timeshare over the holidays when Ian and I were younger. I hadn’t been back to the resort in years, but I guess there was part of me, upon Dad’s passing, that wanted to keep those memories alive.
But then I’d started thinking about the ski resort itself. I knew that those conglomerate companies were snapping up ski resorts left and right, corporatizing them and selling huge multi-mountain passes. Killing the local flavor. I didn’t want that to happen to Brooks. I remembered going there when I was a kid, and remembered that charming small-town feel. I wanted that to endure.
So the next thing I knew, I was buying the whole resort. My time in Vegas had assured me that I had done the right thing. I was happy in Park City. Things were challenging, sure. But I liked it.
