Page 273 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
I laughed. “Suit yourself,” I said, even though I was really hoping that he would get out to visit. To be honest, the only thing that was keeping me from feeling one-hundred percent excited about this new life that I was building for myself was the fact that Ian wouldn’t be coming up to Utah with me. I knew that I couldn’t ask him to do that. His life was here. And anyway, asking him to come with me would, in some ways, defeat the purpose of my going.
But at the same time, there was definitely a part of me that wished I could have my brother at my side through all of this. He and I had never been apart for more than a few days at a time, and the idea of not seeing him again until next summer was scary.
Of course, if he really didn’t come visit me until next summer, then I would probably come back here for a visit at some point. I might have poured most of my liquid funds into the ski resort and the condo, but I still had enough to live comfortably on. And there would be more where that came from if the ski resort continued to turn a profit, which it no doubt would in a year like this with great snow.
Ian carried my suitcase downstairs and loaded it into the back of the car while I ran around the house trying to figure out what I had forgotten. But I was pretty sure I had everything that I needed. Anything that I didn’t have, I’d just have to buy while I was in Utah. I took a deep breath and headed down to the garage.
Ian drove me to the airport, and I tried not to feel too upset about everything that I was leaving behind. It was hard not to feel suddenly sentimental about the neon lights of Vegas, the palm trees, the sand. But I knew that I was making the right decision for myself. And besides, I couldn’t even remember the last time that I had gone out in Vegas proper. I wasn’t leaving behind anything that I couldn’t do without.
When we got to the airport, I gave Ian a huge hug. I was surprised when he opened the trunk to reveal two suitcases. “That’s not mine,” I said, pointing at the green bag that he set down on the curb.
“I know,” Ian said, a grin playing on his face. “And I guess now is the time to give you your early Christmas present.” He held up his phone, and I saw a mobile plane ticket with Ian’s name on it. I couldn’t help shrieking with glee.
“You’re coming with me!” I threw my arms around Ian again, and he laughed as he braced himself.
“I could tell that this was important for you,” Ian said as I broke away. “And the more I thought about it, the more sure I was that this was what Dad would have wanted.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “Plus, I figure I need to make sure that you’re okay with running this business. It’s a big challenge, you know.”
I laughed. “Remember, I graduated business school at the top of my class,” I reminded him. “Not to mention all the real-world experience I got with the family business.” I paused. “Speaking of which, I thought you didn’t have any more vacation time this year and that you couldn’t come with me.” It was my turn to narrow my eyes at him.
He shrugged. “Rick and I figured out a way to make things work,” he said. “I’ll have to do some work from home while we’re in Utah, but we’ll still have plenty of time to hang out.”
I grinned and shook my head. “I can’t believe you’re coming with me,” I said.
Ian smiled impishly. “I have to go park the car in long-term parking, but I’ll meet you inside. We’d better go get these bags checked in or else neither of us will be going anywhere!”
He was still smiling as we boarded our flight, sitting next to one another. “I have to admit, I’m pretty excited about this,” he said. “I’ll miss the heat down here, but this could be really fun.”
“Skiing all day, drinks by the fire pit for après, and hot tubbing beneath the stars?” I said, shaking my head. “It’s going to be amazing.”
“Wonder if we’ll bump into anyone we know,” Ian mused.
“Like people from the business?” I asked, frowning as I thought about it. Dad probably wasn’t the only person from Hartland who had a timeshare in Park City, come to think of it. I would have been too young to recognize any of them when we came here as kids, but Ian was right, there was a chance that we might run into some of my former coworkers here now.
But it wasn’t like any of them would say anything about me buying the resort. It was a business venture; that was all that there was to it. It wasn’t like I had said, upon leaving the family business, that I was never going to work again.
Ian shook his head, though. “No, I meant people we know from before, from when we were up here as kids. Like, what was the name of that kid from next door, Mason? Maybe he’ll still be around.”
I laughed. “If he is, I hope he isn’t working for the resort,” I said. “I still remember him as that kid who you challenged to a contest to see who could shove the most bread up their noses.”
Ian grinned. “He was so proud when he won,” he recalled. “But to be honest, thinking back, I’m really not sure that it was ever something to be proud of.”
I giggled. But then, I shook my head. “I doubt we’ll see anyone we knew,” I said. “Probably those families got older and stopped going back, the same as us.”
“Probably,” Ian said, shrugging his shoulders. “Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see.”
“Definitely,” I said, settling in for the short flight.
CHAPTER 5
ADAM
I was going over some of the plans for the base area when Kayla came over to me. “Aren’t you on your lunch break?” she asked, sitting across from me at the table.
I took a bite of my soup and nodded. “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean that work stops for me,” I told her. “You know that.”
Kayla shook her head. “You’re going to run yourself into the ground before we even get to the holiday season,” she chided.
I shrugged, not sure what she expected me to say in response to that. Drop everything and have a proper lunch? I didn’t have time. I hadn’t managed to get everything crossed off my list the previous day, just as I’d feared, and there had been a couple unexpected things added to my list for that day as well. I was swamped in work, basically, and I barely had time to breathe, let alone eat.
