Page 345 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
I could feel a headache coming on, and he hadn’t even done anything yet. That I knew of.
“Look, I wanted to talk to you about something,” Ian said. “Could we head into your office? I’d rather not be interrupted, and I also think the less people who see me here, the better.”
I stared at him for a moment and then nodded slowly, leading the way back to my office.
Ian grinned as he sat across from me. “So, seriously, how are things going? I know Bailey’s been putting a lot on your plate lately. But she said something about hiring you a helper or something?”
“An apprentice,” I corrected. I shrugged. “It’s fine. He’s fine. He does things the way I tell him to.”
“That’s good,” Ian said. He paused. “Look, I know I’m probably the last person that you want to see right now. I fucked up. I shouldn’t have been so tough on you, and I shouldn’t have done what I did with the casino.” He cleared his throat. “To be honest, I was hoping that Bailey would come back to Vegas to stay. You know, come back to the family business and everything. I know that she was miserable there, but I don’t know, I thought that she would realize that this wasn’t everything that she wanted and would head home.”
“Okay,” I said slowly, wondering suddenly if he was here to tell me that that was exactly what had happened; that Bailey had decided that she didn’t want to be in Utah anymore and Ian was here to let me know that she wasn’t coming back after all.
Or worse, what if she had decided to let him have Brooks Mountain while she went back to Vegas and ran the casino business? If that was the case, I’d be out of a job by the end of the day, I was sure of it.
But Ian shook his head. “Honestly, I was jealous that you got to have her. That you were pulling her away from me. That’s why I was so hard on you. I thought that you were the reason she wasn’t going to come back home. And I’m sorry that I was such a jerk to you over it. It was totally uncalled for.”
I nodded slowly. “I appreciate the apology,” I finally said, because what the hell else was I supposed to say? There was a part of me that wanted to throw him out right now, or to list off all the ways that he’d been a jerk. But that wasn’t going to help anything.
There was also a part of me that wanted to ask if he knew when the hell Bailey was coming back, or if she really was planning on coming back. Maybe Ian was just here because he already knew that he had won. But I didn’t ask.
“Bailey doesn’t want to be in Nevada,” Ian said, surprising me. “You should see her around the casino. I mean, she does everything that she needs to do, and she charms the pants off everyone in the process. But it’s not like when she was working here. She’s just not passionate about it. She really wants to come back.” His mouth twisted. “I don’t know if she’s told you, but the board of directors wants her to stay in Nevada for another month.”
“Yeah, she told me,” I said.
“So I want you to come to Nevada with me,” Ian said.
I stared at him in shock, wondering if I had really just heard those words come out of his mouth. Was I really supposed to believe that Ian had gone from hating my relationship with his sister to wanting to improve it? That would be an extremely sudden change of mind. But he looked dead serious.
I shook my head. “I’m currently in charge of things at the resort here,” I reminded him.
“I know,” Ian said. “But I’m sure we could find someone to take things over for you. Just for a weekend. Bailey would really love to see you.”
“If she wanted me to come to Nevada, she could ask me herself,” I said.
Ian shook his head. “You know Bailey,” he said. “She’s got herself tied into knots over you guys. She’s afraid that you might say no.” He grinned at me. “She really seems to like you. Fuck if I know why.”
I rolled my eyes. “If you don’t want us together, then why are you here?” I asked bluntly.
“Because,” Ian said, shrugging. “I owe my sister one. I owe her big time. And I need to make things right. She’s been there for me, and I need to do something for her. Besides, like I said, I was too hard on you before. If Bailey really likes you so much, we need to put the bad blood behind us.”
I continued to stare at him. Take off to Nevada for the weekend? I was sure that Dad could watch Ethan for the weekend. And I was sure that the other employees here at the resort could handle things in my absence. There was nothing about the administrative stuff that couldn’t wait until Monday. And my apprentice knew enough about the general maintenance and lift operations already that he could handle things on his own, or at least follow my instructions over the phone if worst came to worst.
Not that I expected anything would go wrong. I’d put in a lot of time over the holidays making sure that everything was running smoothly, and especially since Bailey had gone to Nevada. I’d put in a lot of hours trying to forget about the fact that she was gone.
It was entirely possible for me to take off for the weekend. Ian was handing me the golden ticket.
And it would undoubtedly be good to see Bailey again. To talk to her in person. To confirm that she really was intending on returning, or to try my damndest to change her mind if she wasn’t.
But what if she wasn’t planning on coming back and my showing up in Nevada ruined things between us? What if Ian was really doing this as a ploy to get me away from my job, to prove to Bailey that the resort didn’t need me? Or what if Bailey and I really had been just some seasonal fling that now was over?
Ian got to his feet. “Look, it’s your decision,” he said. “And I’m not trying to pressure you either way. But I really do think Bailey would be happy to see you. If you want to come, meet me at the airport this evening at six.” With that, he left me alone to my thoughts.
I stared at the wall for a long time, trying to figure out what to do. I forced myself to go back to work, forced myself to focus on all the things that I had to do. Before I knew it, I had finished everything on my list. If I did leave for the weekend, things would be fine without me.
But should I really leave for the weekend? I still couldn’t decide.
I headed home. “You look distracted,” Dad said, peering at me as I walked into the living room where he and Ethan were watching a movie. “What’s up?”
